How would you describe this place?

[elemtilas]

This is not my art. I'm just wondering how different people write visualizations.
Click here if you want to see it bigger http://wallpapersonthe.net/wallpapers/l/scenic_city_floral_river_anime_oriental_tree-10442.jpg

Enlalle sat in front of the book shop waiting for the trolley that would take her down to the Imperial Precinct where she worked
in the law courts. Here in the Precinct of the Sun Goddess, all was dappled green and comfortable shade. The broad canals and
spacious pavements were a striking contrast to the crowded avenues and thronged pavements of the government districts
where people from all over the Empire and beyond came together for the daily ritual of power and majesty of the Capital.


Above the book shop, her aunt's and her mother's before her, was a shrine dedicated to Nammale, the Sea Goddess. Cross
corner from her aunt's building was the Utunummunde, the temple of Utulle the Sun Goddess, perched up on the shoulders of a
tall residential block. As with all the buildings in the cities of the Empire, the Utunummunde was crowned with two elements ---
the green of trees & gardens and the duppa, hexes of the saints and deities of a place.


Across the Canal of Living Waters, the uptown trolley came gliding along, barely stirring a ripple in the water. She paused to put
her broadsheet down and watched as her cousin boarded. She waved through the open transom and Enlalle waved back. Some
foreign tourists in their tall peaked caps and long light colored clothing were waiting to board one of the long narrow hyrmu that
would ferry them all over the imperial city.


Enlalle watched her cousin's trolley disappear around the corner to head up the Canal of the Sun. Anutu, a girl from Loran
Province, who worked in the same bureau as Enlalle walked along the pavement then, her bag slung over her left shoulder. Even
though she'd lived in the capital for some years, she still favored the silver furred udu, a kind of shaggy round cap with long fur
and two long hair sticks of hard wood over the darker numu of the central lands with its shorter fur, trimmed neatly.


Anutu was better than any clock the artificers could make. She appeared at the trolley stop a minute or so in advance of its
stately arrival every working morning. Enlalle had grown accustomed to her coworker's punctuality and quietly relied on it to let
her know when she had to finish reading her broadside and gather her things up.


Just as she folded her paper and tucked it into her own bag, she stood up from the battered old chair that sat before her aunt's
bookshop, straightened her skirt and went to stand next to Anutu as the trolley came gliding to a stop at the kerbside.

 

[Nomadica]

If any one is interested, I have more. You could do just one or string them together in any order with a story.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

If any one is interested, I have more. You could do just one or string them together in any order with a story.

Huh, I'm highly intrigued by the third. Especially the cat humanoid creature.

 

[elemtilas]

Huh, I'm highly intrigued by the third. Especially the cat humanoid creature.

Ruskamme sat waiting for the uptown water trolley. Her eyes, ever alert for something interesting to examine, flitted this way and that, from the Utunummunde and its bright golden glow to her auntie's book shop across the canal to the tourists waiting by the hyrmu stand for their excursion cruise to begin. Her inquisitive gaze focused upon the slender figure wearing the tall peaked cap. He didn't appear to belong with the others, unless the folk from distant Rikuyuo had finally come up with a new fashion in hats! She took out her pocket book, flipped through the many pages of sketches and notes and began to outline the group of tourists.

In the corner of her eye, she caught sight of movement across the canal. A hint of things fluttering. Probably her cousin Enlalle reading her broadsheet. That one never went anywhere without a broadsheet to fill her brain with the doings of the imperial district. But her focus remained on the foreigner. Though one of thousands to flock to the City, this peak-capped stranger held all her fascination. By the time the uptown trolley came gliding along the canal, Ruskamme had made three good sketches of the unknown figure.

Finally, she had to put her pocket book and stylus away in her bag and prepare to board the trolley. She took her usual seat on the far side of the trolley, waved at Enlalle through the transom and settled down for the ride towards uptown. As she watched the figure of her cousin diminish and at last disappear around the corner of the Canal of the Sun, she wondered what it must be like to work in the great law courts down in the Imperial District. The Law was so logical, so straightforward, she mused. The Emperor made a decree, the Parliament turned the decree into a bill for debate and passage, the Curia tidied up the loose ends and the Emperor ratified the new law. What could be simpler? I guess it did get a little messy once the solicitors and judges got a hold of it. It was all well and good to punish someone who took a whiz in one of the municipal canals, but did it really make sense to take a cane to the thigh of a small child who knew no better? Or caning the face of a refugee who stole an over ripe starfruit from a market stall right after caning the face of a thug who had just robbed an elderly grandfather of his morning tea money? Mgmg. Maybe the Law wasn't quite so tidy as it seemed!

Ruskamme's meditations on the Law were interrupted as the water trolley pulled up at Artificers Way. This was her stop and as she got off, she readied herself for another day, far away from the tidy wonder of the Imperial District or the green and gold of the residential neighborhoods. She stepped into a tiny shrine at the corner of Arificers and Canal of the Sun and made her morning prayers before the altar of Samrasse, the saint who watched over all those folks, like herself, who, well, watched over other people.

As she stepped out of the shrine, Ruskamme threw the crimson cloak over her shoulders and took up her only weapon, a dragon-staff with a sapphire stone set in its head.

The way narrowed as ancient arcaded porticoes and stone columns gave way to long wooden poles carven with curious signs that suspended broad cloth awnings. The broad avenue broke up into a warren of smaller streets and alleys; the imperial writing gave way to a whole collage of strange letters, runes and sigils of a hundred languages. The smells of a thousand cuisines vied for her nose's attention, but soon she caught scent of her favorite meat pie monger. Mm! A thin pastry crust surrounding well seasoned meat paste! Couldn't be beaten by the best restaurants down in the Imperial District!

But before Ruskamme could satisfy her nose, a voice, sinuous and silky, came to her ear: "Rrrrruskamme, my love!"

Drat. Ancatamissay. His green eyes unblinking, almost as active as hers, looked out upon the world beyond his lamp shop from a fat grey furred face. The purple collar was a bit ostentatious for his drab brown overcoats, but the gold tipped fangs were all Ancatamissay and all business.

There was no love in his greeting, and he was not trying to sell a lamp to Ruskamme...

Drat. What could that anfelayan possible want with me now?

 

[Nomadica]

Nice. Is this to be continued? Cause now I want to know what he wants.

 

[Nomadica]

A story popped in my head the first day I posted those 3 pics. I wrote the first part but I didn't post it yet since I wasn't sure when I'd have time to post the rest of it. Each part pertains to one of the pictures. But I'll post it now. But I warn you it's super nerd stuff.

I entered the bazaar in search of a fairly rare green crystal, and even rarer still harpi feather. Both ingredients I needed to complete a portal to the 5th dimension. The king was in possession of a dimensional eye, an orb he used to secretly view the 7 dimensions. He believed that the orb had shown him his future bride. Unknown to the girl what future awaited her. I doubt she would have had a say in the matter, but all that was non of my business. The bazaar was shaded under a canopy of colorful fabrics. Tents lined both sides of the walk way. I made my way past people in long, hooded robes and capes, carrying wooden staves. I knew exactly where I was going. The Fat Cat's tent was known for specializing in the rare and unusual. If anyone was carrying the items I needed it was going to be him, for a price. Fat Cat was also known for driving a hard bargain, and not just in gold. He'd swindle you out of your sister if you didn't watch your step. He had a way of reading the costumers, of knowing what they want. As I approached Fat Cat's tent he smiled in a way that made me uneasy, his yellow/green eyes sly and squinting. He was a tabby, wearing a richly colored robe with a glowing stone hung about his neck. Spread out on the table in-front of him were many different crystals and enchanting agents, some I recognized and some I didn't. colored glass lanterns and enchanted orbs dangled from the beam above, glistening in the light. An empty bird cage hung to the side that, just last week, contained three or four sprites costing more than any respectable mage makes. Pretty little things they were. Pity their size. What one did with females that size was beyond me.
"Ah Rolin" He practically purred.
I looked at the table between us, then up at Fat Cat.
"I'm looking for a green casting crystal"
"those aren't easy to come by " He whispered
" That's how I knew you would have it, how els would you bargain your costumers out of their souls?"
He laughed and terned as he vanished behind a curtain, appearing moments later with just what I was looking for.
"How much?" I said with a nod as I reached for my bag of coins.
"No gold, I'm looking for a favor, a trade."
"What trade?"
" I need you to bring me a green flame"
"I don't touch those, nobody does"
A green flame has the power to unravel reality, allowing you to then insert your own, however it is very unstable if the slightest thing is done wrong. I remembered the story of a man who tried to undo his wifes death, only to have it erase her from ever being born.
He stroked his whiskers. "Ah but you know where one is, els that would have been your first objection"
"I know where one is rumored to be, that is all"
"I have a very powerful client who keeps coming back looking for one"
He vanished again behind the curtain for a few moments, then out with a harpi feather.
"How did you know...?"
"I saw you coming for it a mile away. Go to the place you believe the green flame to be, if you find it bring it to my client and the casting crystal and feather are yours and more"
"I guess I can try"
"One more thing, I have a vanishing stone necklace you might find useful, I'll let you use it if you promise to return it to return it to Ivar Hill"
"Vanishing as in invisible?" I asked, holding the necklace in my hand.
"Not quite. It will cause you to be imperceptible so although people can see you with their eyes, their mind won't notice you"
"Okay I'll do it"
"Good. Now just sign the contract stating our deal, that you will receive these items as payment at our next meeting after completion of your mission and that you are borrowing the necklace and will return it to Ivar Hill within one day of completing the mission"
I singed it, grabbed a scroll Fat Cat handed me and left for the gryphon keepers.