Elvenesque
Organic elements, flowing lines, and an absence of sharp angles and corners all are elements of the Elvenesque style of architecture.
The Elvenesque style is a rather popular form of architecture found in the Midlands. To many people, the name elven is synonymous with high quality, and consequently, high price. While the trend started many years ago with elven chainmail. While human armorers were eventually able to copy the armor, down to its component abilities, this human-made ware never reached either the popularity, or the price commanded by its elven counterpart. Elven crafts continued to outsell there human counterparts with ease.
While some groups such as the enigmatic Via Humanitae planned sedition and libel against elven goods, others such as the Elven Green Tea Company sought to exploit the popularity of elven goods. As the espression goes, imitation is the sincerist form of flattery, quite a few human stonemasons and stonecutters began what would eventually become the Elvenesque style.
Pillars and columns were shaped to resemble the trucks of trees, some going so far as to have stone branches near the crown. Moldings and cornice work were now being carved to resemble leaves, birds nests, and other natural features. The sharp angles of wall joinings were capped over, some adding a tree pillar to eliminate the angle, other flaring it out into a rounded corner, of adding a small water basin/catch pool.
In this style green marble, or granite with veins of malachite, serpentine, and rich dark brown sandstones are very popular. White marble, slate, and limestone became secondary to the more colorful stones. This had a minor effect of altering the stone economy in areas where the style became more popular. White marble, traditionally a popular material found its price dropping, while secondary mines that were cutting the green ores for copper smelting found their stone worth more shaped and faced, rather than smashed and melted.
Other Notes
It would be difficult to create plot hooks for a style of architecture, since it is almost exclusively a background element. There could be violence between the degrees of stone miners, but that would be more about money, than about the way the new Duke's palace is decorated.
First Entry in the Systems/Architecture category
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? Responses (8)
I like it. Good points for filling in a category. I like the idea and how it would be applied.
Yes it is background material. But that is not only okay, it is a great thing to post. The community has a mark propensity to produce Big Things that would define the setting should they be included. That means you can really only use 'one'. We should be producing little things; things just outside the dramatic spotlight. These submissions add an instant level of detail to the game for those who utilize them. Thus the GM could use dozens of the lesser things to fill elements of their world in.
WOW! this is the type of submission I would never think of myself. I think thats why I like it so much! Subtle, memorable, and useful!
It is so beautiful and makes me think of marble palaces.
A great background element. Settings should be full of thigns like this
Beautiful, helpful to set a mood.