Tatyakori, Dragon of Elehura

TatyakoreIn the Elehura mythology, Tatyakori is the legendary Dragon that resides in the hidden holy land within the mountain of Elehura. No other Dragons exist in the world and very few have actually met her in person, yet her image can be found in most cultures in various forms. Her purpose is not entirely clear, but there is a belief that she is responsible for protecting the hidden paradise from evil.

As said, very few have met the Dragon in all of history, but the most important were the trio of humans that found their way into the hidden land. Each was offered a holy artifact which also granted them immortality. With those gifts, the three created an empire which spanned the globe. The emperor was ultimately consumed by his power, and became so dangerous that the other two returned the artifacts in exchange for the emperor’s removal.

Tatyakore, full sized image

Click for full-sized image


This latest change to the character was the first time I applied the dark coloring to the outer eye instead of the usual white. Similar races like the Gwil/Agwilikans are going to get this look too. The previous version of the character concept:TatyakoreSpeaking of updates, I also adjusted the information on the Elehura Main Page while I put the new picture of Tatyakori in there.

The purpose of the orb she has resting in their horns is… undetermined.

In 2022, I updated the spelling of the name from Tatyakore to Tatyakori.

Crinos Kylal and the Kylal family

CrinosCrinos Kylal is the daughter of the current leader of the Seven-Star Nation, Tessalus. Though she spent most of her young life hidden from public view (often stuck in a book in the library), she has recently become engaged in public affairs, and has shown great potential for leadership during stressful political events that were beginning to overwhelm her mother. Being a Kylal, she is quite tall (over two meters if you include her upward facing horns) and has fire-like stripes, where most Agwilkans have spots.

The Kylal family are essentially the royalty of the Agwilikans. The name comes from Ky, the leader of the Naryyd, who produced the first Agwilikan and Akelikan (Dominesa and Palades). Ky did not produce any more children, while the other six Naryyd went on to create enough descendants to get the new races to viable numbers to form a civilization. Ky’s descendants have some unique genetic traits: each of the Kylal are only able to have one child, but no matter who the other parent is, that child will be a Kylal. This has resulted in a simple direct lineage throughout time, avoiding possible disputes over who will preside over the nation. There is a widely accepted belief that the family is protected by Ky’s power to ensure their survival. However, this faith was shaken when the entire line of the Akelikan Kylals were assassinated at the outbreak of the First War.

Side note: I am looking at giving the Agwilikans, Agwils, and Prerarts (plus similar races in other storylines) dark sclera (outer area of the eye) instead of human-like white, as you can see in this picture of Crinos. The Akelikans will continue to have white sclera, as their eyes resemble the Naryyd’s.

Tail Hill Complex

Tail Hill 5Dominating the terraced hill leading up to the Ayra Katrin Library is the Tail Hill Complex, which is called “pog get bekonah” in the Agwil-Narryd-Prerart language.

Up front are two office-type buildings and the entrance to underground storehouses and workshops. Above those are a patio and a park area. Behind the park’s semicircle fountain is big square opening above the underground plaza. On the next level up and new to this version are the lower Ayra Katrin dormitories. The arch roofed section in the middle is the commons area, flanked on both sides by the individual living quarters.

Below is the last version of the Tail Hill Complex posted (almost four years ago):

Tail Hill ComplexBesides the building upgrades, you can see another big change. The area in which Agwilcress lies is an arid area, so much of the grassy land is being replaced with dirt, rock, and sand.

Here is an orthographic view of the entire tail hill:

Tail Hill 5 OrthoStarting from the lower left and moving clockwise, the complex is surrounded by the National Square and a collection of circular gardens, Civic Square, Civic Hill, the Ayra Katin Library, Agwilcress Grain Factory, and Military Square.

Kylal Palace Ceremony Hall

KP 8-5 aA new design for the Ceremony Hall floor. At the center is an outline of Agwilcress.

KP 8-5 bThe back of the Ceremony Hall now has a dais which includes tiered seats behind the speaking stage. New chandeliers, made out of pairs of three-stars, now hang from the centerline of the roof.

KP 8-5 dAnother view of the dais. Here you can see the seven-star decoration similar to the one at the front entrance, and a better look at the seats.

KP 8-5 cAn overhead view of the palace in its current state. Recently some circular garden beds and fountains were added to the front yard.

The name for the Kylal Palace in the Agwilikan language is “Prikaneko se Kylal”. Kaneko means home (from kanika beko, “people building”), and pri is a common prefix meaning great or greatest.

Residential Block House

Residential Block house, frontThe standard Residential Block house was mass produced during later construction of the military base that would become Agwilcress. Each building contains four upstairs bedrooms, two restrooms, a kitchen, a water room (for bathing and laundry), general living space on the first floor, and a basement.

Residential Block house - roofThe roof can be accessed with a drop-down stepladder, and is a popular spot for gardening and leisure time.
Above the front double doors is the house address. This one has the address “2-12” making it the 10th house in section 2. (Agwilikans use a base 8 number system.)

Here’s how the sections are arranged in the Block:Residential Block Sections

An unusual Pi/Tri update

Pi/Tri on LinuxWhat’s this? Pi/Tri on Linux? Cross platform functionality?

I use Ubuntu Linux as my primary OS at home, and it’s where I have my creative tools: Blender (for 3D modeling), Inkscape (for 2D vector images), and GIMP (for 2D bitmap images). Now joining them is MonoDevelop, allowing me to do my C# programming right along with everything else. No more switching to Windows 7 to run Visual Studio. In a few days I was able to port my rendering code from SlimDX/Direct3D to OpenTK/OpenGL. (The OpenTK library is the OpenGL equivalent of SlimDX for my purposes). Probably some new bugs and tweaks to work out, but so far the game and editor seem to be running all right. I’ll also need to eventually re-port the engine back to Windows, but no rush to do that at the moment…

I tried this porting operation some time ago without success. Luckily MonoDevelop and OpenTK matured a bit since then, and hopefully they will do the job well.

Agwilcress Grain Factory

KeletetoneThe Agwilcress Grain Factory (Kel-et-eh-tone) produces products from the seeds of the Kelet plant. The facility has sections for cleaning, storing, and milling the seeds into flour. This all-in-one design was set up when Agwilcress was a military stronghold, and was intended to ensure a reliable supply of food even if the city was besieged.

It’s been a while since the grain factory was worked on. It used to look like this:

Old Grain FactoryIt was ridiculously oversized. The new design is a bit more down to earth.

Agwilcress Grain Factory LogoThis is the logo for the grain factory, which is stamped on to all products made here. The central three marks represent the purple flower of the Kelet plant. Similar marks are used in Agwilikan culture as a symbol of health and prosperity.

Very very belated Pi/Tri update

Yes, despite not reporting anything since… February? Wow, that’s pretty bad.

So anyway, some updates about the engine’s progress.

Image Offsets

Images now have an offset value. This allows the sprite designer to set image positioning with no need for programming.

The editor now uses standard window controls instead of a custom rendered GUI.

The editor now uses standard window controls instead of a custom rendered GUI.

GUI layouts can be designed like world maps, using mostly the same program.

GUI layouts can be designed like world maps, using mostly the same program.

Transit Departures and Transit Destinations are used to facilitate movement between world maps. Departures search all known maps for destinations for simple selection.

Transit Departures and Transit Destinations are used to facilitate movement between world maps. Departures search all known maps for destinations for simple selection.

The cinematic scripting has evolved into a more complex scripting language.

The cinematic scripting has evolved into a more complex scripting language. Supports conditional logic (if, else if, else, end if) and the ability to run scripts on the universe, dialog boxes, and entities.

Scripts can report errors in syntax or logic.

Scripts can report errors in syntax or logic.

Solid image resources, a combination of sprite and collision data, allow for the creation of basic map entities without the need to do extra programming.

Solid image resources, a combination of sprite and collision data, allow for the creation of basic map entities without the need to do extra programming.

World maps can be divided into zones. The camera and most entities stay within their current zone. Entities outside of the active zone either go dormant or get destroyed. The player can transition between zones by touching adjacent borders.

World maps can be divided into zones. The camera and most entities stay within their current zone. Entities outside of the active zone either go dormant or get destroyed. The player can transition between zones by touching adjacent borders.