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Author Topic: Craftworld biome/climate/"natural landscapes" - how do you visualise?  (Read 2570 times)

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Offline flatworldsedge

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Hi - hope everyone's week is off to a bright start!

I'm interested in how people visualise craftworld interiors/outer hulls.  As I sketch fluff for mine, I find a wide array of different ideas in this front and am wondering what the general view is.

Some imply craftworlds have a distinct climate, biome or terrain, even suggesting their a large open spaces with an atmosphere of their own.  Other suggest that natural space really only exists as cultivated gardens within large domes.

Perhaps it's as simple as different craftworlds are different, and on the very largest, garden space is truly vast. 

Scale wise I see the word "planetoid" used consistently, which seems to allow up to 1,000 km or 625 miles allow the longest dimension.  I guess you could get pretty big garden domes on such a thing, and perhaps an atmosphere?  If something that large had equivalently large open spaces that weren't being activated weeded, perhaps natural life would sprout up. 

Would love people's thoughts!  Do you imagine there craftworlds with "natural spaces"?  With landscapes and vistas so vast you could believe you were in fact on a planet?  Big enough to fly vehicles around at speed for hours?  Or to hike in for days?  Could you hike out into woodland or mountains and camp for a few days, on a craftworld?  Could you sail on a small sea, visit islands?  If you're traveling from point A to point B are you whizzing down a tunnel or giant corridor, or are there plains or giant voids with paths crossing and routes to plan?  Are such things wild, naturally leading to a dominant biome?  Or are things smaller, more obviously gardened and thus the mix of biomes much more down to choice, cultivation and control?

Offline nesbitt_bub1

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I've always seen the craftworlds as been sterile. Any life there is there on purpose, Even the open spaces are tended constantly.

The reason you have natural spaces isn't because they offer natural growing conditions, It's because Eldar are drawn to the correct path and physically tend, and psychic force/coerce growth. The randomness of nature would be uneconomical. So planting and even the life in the seas are micromanaged so everything works for the craftworld.

In a similar way a craftowrld constantly grows. Eldar don't start a project with planning in mind. There is a need for something, The craftworld itself see's this and draws Eldar from one path to the new one. The project isn't undertaken with drawn plans and organisation. The psychic link to the craftworld drip feeds ideas to the correct path, Those Eldar on that path feel compelled to create/destroy/rebuild. The craftworld itself knows what it wants and needs for the population.

So nothing is random by design, It's mechanical organics. Like a plant growing through a pavement. It doesn't know the final design, but it knows where it needs to go.

I have never drawn a craftworld, but if I did I would do it in stages of population. Start with a core, add in the first population and the basic needs, then work out the second stage, what gets destroyed, what gets added. Then rinse and repeat until you have a population and size that suits.

Craftworlds should also have a solar orientation. There is little to no point having growth domes on the dark side of the craftworld. Solar power is free power. Command modules want to be on the dark side along with most of the weaponry. You would never willingly jeopardise growing habitations by facing it to a foe.
« Last Edit: June 19, 2017, 05:29:32 AM by nesbitt_bub1 »

Offline magenb

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No right answer to this one, craftworlds are inherently different and there is plenty of room to make up your own idea's. Gav Thorpe's  Path of the xxxx series of books have some nice descriptions of craftworld life.

Personally I see them as highly organised and planned, with each dome having a core purpose such as, Military, living quarters, agriculture. This would be a natural extension of the path system as it brings about intense focus on a given area. Certainly smaller craftworlds may share rolls under a single dome, but each would be neatly seperated into its purpose, kind of like Tokyo and their parks.

Basically I imagine the craftworld interiors would be where efficeny and artistic design have harmonised. I would imagine, the wraithbone itself would be a similar colour through out, but in areas like living quaters, vertical gardens would be used to create colour and assist in maintaing air. I don't see any harsh neon signs or any advertising materal being used. 

Since Craftworlds are ships, there will be significant periods of time they are not close to a star, so I imagine the domes will have the ability to make use of both natural and artifical light, with the ability to mimic day/night cycles. Given the technology level I would imagine the artifical light would be a close simulation to natural light and not the type of blubs humans would use.

I'm not sure how sterile it would be, given they can travel to different worlds by running through webway portals, let alone convensional ship travel. Assuming a some what similar immune system, they would have to expose themselves to some level natural bacteria and such so they don't become like Quarians from mass effect, but also have quarantine process to avoid nurgle infections.

The craftworld itself would be very clean, no litter, etc. The 3rd book of the Gathering storm describes a couple of different human environments, like the lead up to the temple on terra having petitions and such lining the streets, all those people standing in the queues for that long is going to leave a mess.
« Last Edit: June 19, 2017, 06:33:10 PM by magenb »

Offline flatworldsedge

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Thanks both - really useful interesting points in reframing how I think of craftworlds and Eldar in general, especially in terms of the way the grow/evolve rather than are planned/built.  Picked up the Gav Thorpe books on eBay for some general reading too - appreciate the detailed responses very much!

Offline nesbitt_bub1

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A good source for non cannon fluff is the Rise of the Tau fan fiction book.

There is a segment in that book where they describe Ulthwe and the dome of the crystal seers. The craftworld at the time is dead, As the book is set at the Rhana Dandra. The scale of Ulthwe is frankly insane in this book, More moon or continent sized that a space city.

It's actually a very good fan fiction book. That finishes the 40K universe in a rather nice fashion.

Just keep in mind when you read it, it is totally non cannon!

RotTFull .pdf - PDF Archive

I just finished creating a Rise of the Tau Complete PDF. : Warhammer40k

If you want more fluff then the 2nd ed codex is actually packed with more than any of the other codexes. The wargear is also very different. Barroth for example is an absolute monster, and is watered down significantly in every codex after this one.

Link removed because it breaches GW's copyright and forum rule 1 - Iris.
« Last Edit: July 15, 2017, 06:43:00 AM by Irisado »

Offline flatworldsedge

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Thanks @Nesbitt - will definitely give that a read!  Appreciate the thought!

Offline Kage2020

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Re: Craftworld biome/climate/"natural landscapes" - how do you visualise?
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2019, 09:17:16 PM »
For a completely fan perspective for how craftworlds are, I tend to view them as much like a honeycomb structure. Put a bunch of them together, and all the spaces between them are for utility purposes (transport networks, electricity, blah blah), while the actual "combs" are for living.

Eldar technology would allow each "dome" to be whatever they would want and, of course, there's no reason that they would all have to be the same size.

Think about this: such a honeycomb structure would also allow the industrial and docking stations that are also described on the edge/perimeter of a craftworld.

Quote from: flatwordsedge
Some imply craftworlds have a distinct climate, biome or terrain, even suggesting their a large open spaces with an atmosphere of their own.  Other suggest that natural space really only exists as cultivated gardens within large domes.
Is there any reason that all--or none--of these might be true?

 


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