The Halls of Artifice (a work in progress)

Wait! What is this?!?!? Having delved even further into Artifice, and sampled several other (somewhat more heinous) paradises (and the denizens that seem to enjoy them), proceeding through yet another golden doorway has caused you to materialize within a cobweb-covered dungeon corridor filled with the strewn bones of seemingly hundreds of poor, lost souls. The architecture here is confusingly reminiscent of so many of the ancient stone passageways that litter the underworld of the realms of Novia, and as you begin to wander through them you realize that every turn and twist feels like the last, and yet seems to lead to more and more such paths, winding away in every direction like some labyrinthine hell. The only lights here, except perhaps your own, are torches emitting pale blue flames and the ever-present profusion of even more golden doorways that now seem to taunt you, taking you to places you may not wish to go... As if to add to the confusion, tarnished mirrors that provide little in the way of reflection hang forlornly on the walls at every turn, and soon you begin to realize how so many could have come to die here,...alone,...in the perpetual twilight of this haunted place...




Just as it seems this torture might never end, you suddenly find yourself back again in a place of relative comfort and refinement. What was that terrible maze,...someone's twisted paradise? Surely not! Why would such a thing exist in the glorious Halls of Artifice? Perhaps it was just a fevered waking nightmare after all... Merely the result of too much euphoria in so little time. But what does time mean in a place such as Artifice?

Along the periphery of the comfortable chamber before you, chairs are arrayed around small tables, a few books rest on small shelves, and here and there a few bowls of fruit tempt the observer to come, sit, and rest. At the room's center, beneath a recessed ceiling lit by an ornate chandelier, is a desk littered with books, scrolls, and an inkwell. Beyond the desk another set of bronze doors lay closed before you, but no locks seem to bar your way. Here you will be greeted by a functionary of this mystic place, and an apparent servant of he who occupies the royal hall beyond those waiting doors.




As you enter the lavish throne room beyond, you immediately realize something is wrong. Debris from the ceiling above litters the floor, several of the great columns which support that ceiling have fallen to ruin, and cobwebs formed by years of neglect cover almost every surface, creating the look of aged veils that drape the stained glass windows like ghastly shrouds. At the far end of the hall, a figure sits on a regal throne, ancient rot having left nothing behind of him except his very bones. This grand hall was meant to house hundreds of members of this apparent monarch's court, and yet he sits alone, contemplating the crown that lays on a footstool before him, his empty sockets gazing out at you as you approach.



Regardless of anything else that might transpire in this chamber, you could wonder if this is what becomes of someone's personal paradise when life has passed you by. Here this once mighty ruler sits, ruminating on the culmination of his reign, and the meaning of such power, for all time,...while the remains of his grand accomplishment rots and crumbles around him. Behind him, at the top of a small flight of stairs, yet another set of doors await, and beyond them, yet another golden portal beckons,...always beckons,...as you travel deeper and deeper into this place of eternal desires fulfilled...

Ah yes,...glorious Artifice... Why would you EVER want to leave...

I hope this finds you well...

Scottie ^_^

 

Great Work Scottie!! Love it!

 

You approach the throne, and from the skeletal corpse comes a booming voice --

Who is foolish enough to disturb the sanctity of Khmash-Gor? Come you seeking treasure? Well, it is death you have found!

 

That pair of smaller-scaled, mirrored Boreus statues is something that would come in useful for my decorating purposes btw :/

 

wow. just wow...

@Scottie - will we be able to make those tables, chairs, desks, and church pews at some point, too?

 

The throne room is awesome. Fantastic work!

 

That's an excellent question. And I do know that Dallas and Rick, even now, are beginning to set aside a large number of props that I've either made or used for Artifice to hook up in some way with the crafting system, and to make them available in other ways as well... We'll see what they decide!

Scottie ^_^

 

Thanks so much, folks! It's a lot of effort that seems to be paying off!

Scottie ^_^

 

Great work, your effort is it worth @Scottie, player will love and remember the places you have designed with so much eye for the details.

 

@Scottie, I await the day that @bobcooksey is tasked to make player housing with the architecture style of the last two rooms. Although with less stone pillar and more wood/plaster.

Pretty please?

 

I'll make sure he has access to all the different wall treatments I designed, and then we'll see what happens! ^_^ Of course, at the end of the day,...it'll be up to Starr and Dallas whether a few more "Victorian" style player houses are added to the mix... I can get away with it in Artifice because of its purely magical nature (kinda out of time and out of place, in a sort of dream-like way)...

Scottie ^_^

 

Artifice just keeps getting better and better! Both in looks and interesting storyline. Can't wait to explore this place.

Keep up the great work Scottie!

 

Amazing! Absolutely amazing. Thanks so much, @Scottie.

 

This is looking amazing. Easily the best looking scene in the game to me.

 

Fantastic , great work !

 

And so we continue our journey deeper into bowels of Artifice...

Passing beyond the golden doorway that leads from the crumbling throne room causes you to appear in a narrow and oppressively-hot natural passage that issues directly into a noisy chamber blazing with fiery light. The hammering of metal and the constant sound of steam accost you as your skin seems to slowly bake in the furnace-like heat.

As you peer out and down into the large chamber beyond, you are met with a sight both impressive and terrible. From all sides what appears to be molten stone or metal flows in deadly streams from the mouths of carved wyverns as it cascades down angled troughs toward pools of bubbling slag below. Suspended above, large bowls full of human bones wait to be tossed into repositories littered with bones, ash, and shining nuggets of ore that lay between the channels of flowing magma. Movement is seen below as some huge, brawny being can be glimpsed beyond the enormous pipes, toiling at some terrible task.




As you pick your way carefully down the narrow stone steps, you slowly begin to realize that this is where all the lost souls of Artifice eventually come to "rest". You have descended from the apparent heavens that lured you above as they eventually transformed into the hell that greets you now... The cascading streams of lava seem to actually be composed of a nightmarish molten mixture of all the things you see before you; the ore, the grey ash, and the bones of the dead... What could this place possibly be? And why would it rest at the very heart of Artifice's glory?




Though the mysterious blacksmith and all the terrible weapons he is forging will eventually be seen here, for now you must be content with moving forward into yet another chamber, found deeper still in this foreboding place. Choosing the larger central path, a staircase can be seen dipping down into the cooler shadows, and yet another golden door glimmers down the hall. Passing thankfully beyond this infernal place, you appear in a corridor that leads into what must be the largest library you have ever seen!




Descending from the middle gallery level and down into the lower halls, hundreds of bookcases can be seen at every turn. If what you see can be believed, you are standing in the legendary Lyceum of Novia! This is the fabled repository of all the world's knowledge, and it is said that every tome ever written by any hand can be found here... How can the treasures gathered above possibly compare to the apparently infinite wealth of lore arrayed here? One could spend a lifetime perusing the works shelved in this place, and still never read them all...or so it seems. In every direction the halls stretch on and on, and yet you appear to be alone. Should you seek an egress? No skeletons adorn this place, at least... And yet,...what is that distant sound? Is there another soul wandering these stacks? It seems to be footsteps you hear upon the wooden parquet...but then...they resolve into something you begin to recognize... Is that the echoing clip-clop of hooves upon the floor?




Hopefully you've found this intriguing...

Scottie ^_^

 

So... Did we just find where bonesteel is made? So cool! Looks amazing.

 

What is bonesteel?

 

Hey everyone. I fixed Scottie's post to unhide some text he intended you all to see.

 

You get a bonesteel dagger if you start on the Path of Truth in Blood River.

Richard tweeted about this video a while back:

@RichardGarriott Thanks Ness Creighton for the reference on Bone Steel to be found in Shroud of the Avatar: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/090908-taiwan-sword-video-ap.html​

Unfortunately, the video is no longer on NatGeo, but I found it here on YouTube:


So, tying all that together, I believe that is what Scottie is referring to in this snippet: