Invisible Cities - MORIANA | Key Thumbnails + Influence Maps



When you have forded the river, when you have crossed the mountain pass, you suddently find before you the city of Moriana, its alabaster gates transparent in the sunlight, its coral columns supporting pediments encrusted with serpentine, its villas all of glass like aquariums where the shadows of dancing girls with silvery scales swim beneath the medusa-shaped chandeliers. If this is not your first journey, you already know that cities like this have an obverse: you have only to walk a semi-circle and you will come into view of Moriana’s hidden face, an expanse of rusting sheet metal, sackcloths, planks bristling with spikes, pipes black with soot, piles of tins, behind walls with fading signs, frames of staved-in straw chairs, ropes good only for hanging oneself from a rotten beam. From one part to the other, the city seems to continue, in perspective, multiplying its repretory of images: but instead it has no thickness, it consists only of a face and an obverse, like a sheet of paper, with a figure on either side, which can neither be seperated nor look at each other. 

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The city I chose to go into further development with! I found myself creating new narratives based off the extracts for each city. I've highlighted (bolded) the keywords that inspired me to recreate this city!

To describe the recreated narrative:

"A massive fish tank city with a tiny gate guarded by faux Samurai Fish people! - A tiny gate they truly do believe will cover up the city. Fish never did have the biggest brains."
Furthermore, the tiny gates cover up a massive fish bowl which is densely populated with civilians ruled over by a Fish Prince smack in the middle of it. He lives in the only house shaped noticeably like a fish. (Darn those protagonists!)
Even though the fish people do not need their glass helmets, they wear them anyway. I'm sure they think they're fooling everyone that they're normal. Y'know, with their gills.


2 comments:

  1. This 'Samurai fish-people' concept is fantastic! I see you were much more inspired by Moriana than I was haha. I must say I really like the idea of having a pattern on the floor that runs on the walls as well. It gives a nice expressive touch to your city! :D

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  2. I completely agree with Julien! These look great, can't wait to see you push them further!
    Love the narrative, gives a lot of depth to these thumbnails!

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