Category: Design

Kalazanbaar

Durok founded the dwarven kingdom [of Kalazanbaar] when he killed the Titan Raxis, and split the mountain

Splitting the mountain is such a strong image that has to be the core of the arms. Initially I had the split come to a point at the bottom of the mountain but by widening it you get a greataxe in the negative space (no doubt the axe Durok used to slay Raxis).

The split mountain is in red, the blood of the titan, the sky/axe is in white/silver (yellow/gold would be getting too close to the orcs of Urshok).

We want to differentiate these dwarves from those of Korim. Korim is represented by hammers so using an axe (albeit an abstract one) for Kalabanzaar makes for a neat distinction. And the palette is distinct from Korim itself and its great houses so there’s little chance of confusion.

The Orcs of Urshok

Beastmaster – Kennel master of the dire boars that accompany the Warhounds into battle.

Headtakers – The elite death commandos of the Warfather. Assassins who employ garottes, and literally take the heads of their victims.

Sunbreaker – Amarax the Shaman, who begins his rituals at dusk when the sun falls

I posted a bunch of ideas for the Orcs a couple of weeks ago, this is definitely my favourite direction. It gives them something distinct from anyone else and it has a nice raw edge.

The sunset represents the sun setting on the Orcish empire but it shouldn’t slip calmly into darkness, it should rage against the very sky.

Titan’s Gate

I had a look at the Port when it was unnamed, now it has a name I’ve taken another run at it. The obvious choice for Titan’s Gate would be some sort of colossus (think Rhodes, Braavos) but I wanted to avoid that. The titan was some dread foe, not a mighty protector, instead I like something that shows the port as a gateway to the Northern Sanction (represented here by the three stars).

I also don’t mind this being more elaborate. I like the kingdoms having something simple and easily recognisable but the city can have something more elaborate. It’s also most similar to Haldrim but I don’t mind that either. Blue is the logical choice for a port and Haldrim is the nearest kingdom.

Dreshmoor

The swamp is ruled by Lizardman tribes. The lizardmen ambush human trader for their metal.
Serve the Queen of Stone, Magora, the medusa.

The Eye of Magora had to be the lizardman emblem. It’s incredibly simple but so striking (and faintly reminiscent of something or other…). Picture our heroes staring down a wall of poisonous eyes as the Lizardman horder bear down on them.

The lizardmen themselves wouldn’t need the colour-differentiated shields to distinguish them – their scales mark their tribe – but this might be what the men of Haldrim use to mark their settlements and movements on maps or similar.

Tal-Onarafel

Now, Duke Oranis, The Lord of Autumn, the last surviving member of the White Iris Court is in mourning, his wife and children, slaughtered by the Drow. He is a paladin of the High Elf god Polaris. He refuses to take up the mantle of nobility and the High Elves follow his lead. They call his noble retinue the Court of Fallen Leaves.

Most of the elves follow the lead of their Duke and want to fade away. But some seek revenge against
the Drow! They call themselves the Court of Winter and follow Lady Verit, the Countess of Willow.

We had a sneak peek of these a couple of weeks ago too.

I really liked my ‘top-down’ iris but by using something closer to the traditional fleur-de-lis we can play with orientation.

The White Iris Court is simple: a white iris on a blue field.

The Lord of Autumn switches this to autumnal shades and the lowest petal becomes a single tear to represent his sorrow. The Court of Fallen Leaves inverts the iris and is placed upon a black field in mourning. I thought about the Court also taking the red/yellow of Duke Oranis but this way he stands out more.

Finally we have Lady Verit and the Winter Court. It turns out Willow trees are tricky to represent on a shield! This seemed to be the coolest way, anything else ended up being too oddly proportioned or overly complicated. I also like that if these were in blue or white they could be icicles and she leads the Winter Court.

For the Winter Court I wanted something harking back to the Iris court so we get a blue flower on white rather than a white flower on blue. At first I had four petals which I liked but then I thought that six is more like a snowflake.

The Men of the Scale Hills

[The Scale Hills are] home to the Yuan-ti, who battle the Dragon Men of Zir. They are being driven over the mountains into Cardus. Worship the dead tian Raxis. They were his children

I love the idea that the snakemen’s symbol is just the two fangs. The first scaled example here (I’ve been playing with scales for the Lizardmen, Yuan-Ti, and the Dragonmen) is sort of a cheat in heraldry but I would consider it diapered. Diapering is adding textural interest to a large expanse and this seems appropriate.

I’m not sure what to do with the colour scheme here. I like a poisonous green but I guess Yuan-Ti can come in a variety of colours? And the men of Cardus over the hills have a green field on their arms. Not sure.

The only major faction I’m yet to post anything for are the Dragonmen of Zir, but don’t worry, I have ideas :)

Check out my other work on the Arms of the Spinelands here.

(It’s more heraldry.)

It was the third stream tonight, I had a crack at drawing while Matt was streaming. This may have been ambitious. Trying to listen to Matt, read the chat and draw was pretty nuts. I came up with a couple of ideas that might have potential:

The Orcs of Urshok are the known as the Red Suns (or Red Sun tribe, I forget), Matt specifically said their emblem is the setting sun which leads to instant Japan/Greenland associations. It was also straying into red/black Ban Tuur territory. I quite like the jagged sun, feels raw and orcish, like the sun is a ball of writhing flame and not just a serene orb. I might have a go at trying markings for some of the different troops at some point.

The High Elves of Tal-Onarafel were led by the Court of the White Iris (again, I think, I’ll double check the doc when Matt updates it). A heraldic iris is actually a fleur-de-lys but I wanted to play with a different view first. Since the High Elves fell, only the Duke of Autumn remains but he’s too caught up in mourning to make any attempt to rebuild (I’m not sure about the colour switch or the fleur -de-lys but I *do* like that on the Duke’s shield only the bottom leaf is a tear). There’s also the Winter Court who do seek to restore the High Elves, they could have something cool (I initially mistook it for Willow rather than Winter so spent a bunch of time trying to do a willow tree – I think Willow was a suggestion at one point. Anyhoo.)

We also covered the Dwarves of Korim and some of their Great Houses, all named after metals (annoyingly in trying to multitask I missed the opportunity to throw in The Crucible as the name of their great council but tbh it would work better as a name for the ‘lower house’ of their government, where the smaller houses vie for greatness, or a proving ground, or I can just tuck it in my back pocket for some future world-building). Plenty to play with there anyway, I’ll need to have an evening of angular knotwork.

The Port is now called Titan’s Gate so I’ll take a look at reworking the existing Port arms at some point.

Building this world is so much fun. As (it turns out) is drawing a crapload of geometric shapes:

If this tickles your fancy why not read more about my armorial efforts and the world of Collabris.