Obmunjalae: Kinetic Engines and the Magic of the Voidplane

The Voidplane is a place saturated with magic. The most common applications of the power to defy the physical rules of the universe are based on manipulating elementary components of reality. The most commonly mastered types of these are thermal energy, light, electromagnetism, object manifestation, and kinetic energy. Specific applications of these are often classified into elements such fire, lightning, water, blade, and wind, especially when they are used in combat.

So a random thought crossed my mind last night. Why do the Obmunjalae’s engines use air propulsion like an Earthly jet plane instead of utilizing direct kinetic magic?

The twin nacelles attached to the back of the vessel are its main propulsion. In the picture you can see that I changed them to be symmetrical on the front and back, removing the previous air outlet nozzle. The engines work by inducing magical kinetic energy directly into a material that is highly sensitive to that kind of magic. One added benefit of changing how the engines function is that they could be capable of reverse movement now.

I’ll have to consider if the openings for the lateral engines still serve a purpose. Perhaps the kinetic impulse generates waste heat that has to be vented. This also means I’ll probably have to update the Voidskimmer vessel again. I made complicated air inlet/outlet ducts on the sides, and now I have to consider if they are unnecessary.

Obmunjalae: Bathing Pools

It just didn’t seem right for this luxurious vessel to lack a place to bathe in style. However, the placement of pools was tricky. It would not have been structurally sound to place heavy bodies of water in the suspended upper floors alongside the guest rooms. The pools are placed within the hangar along the wall by the elevators. It’s a little awkward for them to be in the hangar, but it was the only place that worked. Along with the privacy curtained pool (left in the picture), there are two shower stalls, two changing stalls, and a restroom.

Of course, to maintain symmetry, there are four pool sets, two on the obverse side and two on the reverse. The two pools on top of each other have slots in the bottom so they actually share the same mass of water, which naturally distributes itself evenly between the two sides.

There is also some new wall/ceiling decorations, the arches of purple slats that resemble the roof of the Obmunjalae’s home base.

A view of the inside of the pool. The person in the water is Tisi, a member of a new and as of yet unnamed race of immortal Voidplane natives with an aquatic affinity, hence the placement here.

Obmunjalae: Machine Room

The machine room is at the back of the Obmunjalae vessel. The two prominent machines found in here are the crystal core assembly and the primary air propulsion engine. The central tower that reaches to the ceiling is the air inlet for the engine, connecting via the horizontal tubes to the pair of nacelles on the outside that provide the vehicle’s forward thrust. Two smaller towers draw power from the crystal core for distribution to the various pieces of magically powered equipment and lights throughout the Obmunjalae.

On the right of the picture, behind the cabinets, is a redundant set of the pilot’s controls. In case of maintenance or emergency, the ship can be controlled from within the machine room.

New to this iteration of the room are the aforementioned power distribution towers and pilot’s controls, more details in the crystal core, a second floor deck, grated flooring, and some adjustment to the two bridges that cross over the horizontal tubing. Here’s an image of that sparser room from earlier on:

Obmunjalae: dining and hanging out

The area that was previously designated as a sort of lounge in the back section of the vessel has annexed more territory and upgraded to a dining room.

A wall that separated a small lobby and the lounge area was removed. There are pillars remaining from that wall, which you can see in the middle of the picture. Two side rooms that are now off of the dining room instead of off the main hallways have been designated as kitchens.

Due to the sloping ceiling in the dining room section, a dividing wall has been added (the violet line with the two bumps) so people won’t bump their head. Two kitchen storage spaces fill in the awkward corner spaces.

The hangar now now has a lower ceiling. Instead of having a full floor filling in the space above, there is an open framework.

Included in this space are catwalks and a ‘hidden room’ which is above the large circular logo and light ring. These are accessed by what used to be a 4th floor balcony overlooking the hangar.

Obmunjalae pilot’s deck and ‘flippers’

There’s not really much that one could call weather on the Voidplane, but the pilot’s deck of the Obmunjalae did not feel complete without a roof over it, so I created one.

This is the dock door at the center of the big window on either side of the hangar. There is now a control station (on the right) that includes the lever to open the door, an intercom for communicating with the pilot’s deck or machine room, and a four-color dial that can be used to communicate a basic status to those same central stations. Typically the pilot’s deck is the center of command for the vessel, but a fully redundant control and communication system is located in the machine room for emergencies or maintenance.

The contraption to the left of the door is a “flipper”. The voidplane presents a unique challenge when movement from either side of the plane is required. As an object passes through the plane, the part that has crossed effectively experiences reversed gravity. How does one conveniently and safely transfer themselves? The flipper is one such device that facilities moving from the obverse side to the reverse and vice versa. It is a rectangular four-walled box with two moving floor panels. The video below shows how the transfer process works.

The right side of the video shows the reverse side of the same flipper.

The box is sized for a person and has a button on the inside of the box that triggers the transfer. The user lies on their back and presses the button. The floor panel they are lying on moves away from them, lowering them into the plane and leaving them to float in it as the panel rotates out of the way. The second floor panel swings in and moves towards the user, pushing them through the plane. Once the machine halts, the user can then transition to their hands and knees, then to their feet. They then can exit the flipper, now technically upside down from when they entered it.

Ayra Katrin Library – Construction

I’ve made various updates to the library recently. In the shot above you can see there are sets of skylights in front of the front hexagon, the seven-pointed star symbol in the middle of the main tower is now a window, and the gazebos to the sides of the library have glass tops now. I removed a decorative tower piece from the south tower, as being able to see the big sculpture (upper right) from the back area would make for a better view.

My posting of an update has been delayed because I’ve been doing more than just designing the building. I’ve also been imagining the process how the building was actually constructed by the Ayra Katrin Engineers. I’ve finally gotten to the point where I can make a little video showing off the construction process concept:

Ayra Katrin Library Floor Maps

While working the recent changes to the library’s structure, I got the inspiration to create maps of each floor.
Yellow: interior floors
Gray: exterior floors (except the two diamond shapes on floor 1, those are bathing pools, too lazy to adjust that)
Tan: natural ground
Blue: areas open to floors below

The first and second, or “lower” floors.

On the left, the third or “ground” floor of the library. On the right is the “fourth floor”, though it only amounts to a bookcase walkway in the main library. The south tower has six floors, with the top three floors depicted at the lower right.

Ayra Katrin Library Underground

It’s been a long while since I made a proper architectural update. Back to the Ayra Katrin Library, which is called “che keh-ah-bek-oh se ayra katrin le agwilcress” in ANP Kahwan (Agwil-Naryyd-Prerart language).

The two lower main floors of the library were constructed to artificially appear as being under ground and are enclosed by the perimeter road that forms the “tail tip” of Agwilcress. I’ve been building out these floor layouts to more thoroughly fill in the space. The main library and south tower are the only sections that rise above the third floor. The north underground section includes a first floor entrance and the kitchen. The south underground section includes a first floor entry into the south tower and bathing pools. Both sections also have restrooms, showers, and general gathering space. The are four residential sections, each with sixteen rooms accessed from a triangular atrium. The west and east sections are now officially dubbed the library’s wings. That’s where the latest major changes have taken place.

In this picture you can see the new layout for the wing, with bookcases that wrap around the buttresses and circular bookcase clusters to fill in the spaces between. The hexagonal space underneath the gazebo is now an enclosed reading room. New additions also include side passages that connect the wings to the underground sections. The wings initially only had one exit which went to the main library, but now they have three. There was also enough room to add a little alcove to each residence room that accommodates a private toilet and sink.

A view of the library wing. This is looking north along the passageway against the main library. There are light fixtures that sit atop the circular clusters.
In the wing, looking towards the entrance to the reading room.
The interior of the reading room.

You can see in the first image of this post that there’s some unclaimed territory around the south tower, so I might be expanding its lower two floors. I’m not sure there is enough space to make something out of the slivers of space on each side of the underground sections.

Obmunjalae’s Home Base

Obmunjalae’s Home Base is a massive structure (136 vertical meters between the tops of the arches) that serves as the hangar for the titular vessel. It also contains the foundries that forged the components of the Obmunjalae’s structure, and the equipment used to put those components together.

Along the sides of the base are four rows of buildings. Industrial sections are on the outside, and residential on the inside. Terraced balconies of the residential sections can be seen on the left side of the image.

Ayra Katrin Library – Front area updates

Some more changes to the front area of the Ayra Katrin Library. There was an area of sloped terrain near the top of the stairs that has been replaced with some more patio area. A small room with a spiral staircase links the covered patio areas below with the new upper ones.

There is only a small layer of sand/soil at the top level of the library campus, with the top of the underground floors just below. Because of this, trees would not have enough room for their roots up there. I removed the trees from the area, but added a grove in the lower section to compensate.

Speaking of which, here’s a better view of the lower section. Small lamps were added to the walkways and some adjustments made to the shape of the walkway and railings.