Canella, The Town of Zero - Riptide Concept Art

These environmental concept pieces were done by the insanely skilled and horrifyingly talented Grassfur.  Please show them support!! :D
--
Before you read, please do let me know if you prefer long written posts, if you'd rather I gave no insight, or if you'd rather an audio attachment of me reading what I'd type. I do enjoy gushing about the art for Riptide but because its me personally typing it all out, It does slow down them getting published quite a bit.

THE DESIGN PROCESS

I'm so stoke about these pieces. They look like official artwork for a D&D  book. GOD. SO THRILLED!!!!

This island had a unique situation where it's somewhere that the players had seen before but due to major conflict, was able to look very different and have a completely fresh vibe the second time they arrived.

Previously all I described Canella with was its topography of forested mountains, and rivers bisecting the trees and the cliffs and even parts of the town. All the buildings of the multi-layered town were white concrete and brick with red roof shingles, some slate gray. It IMMENSELY lacked personality, because it was overseen and ruled by RAFT. Which is why there was one big circular tower at the peak of the town. I'll admit, because this is the very first town i created in my entire life's history of being a self-taught world builder and writer, I was definitely a little inspired by a certain town with a certain cylindrical tower from a certain pirate anime. So, in a way, the towers destruction and the rejuvenation of this town also symbolizes my growth as a "creative writer," but A LOT of it's dopeness & appearance should be attributed to Grassfur's wonderful design and research process.

The first thing we did was create a Pinterest board for Canella to try and establish a mood and general vibe of the whole place.

The next thing was for me to send Grass the new lore and description:

After RAFT pulled away from battling the citizens of Zero, the town was left with a ton of damages, plenty of casualty. A particular gang led a lot of the fight, but the town's collective creativity is what won them the battle. Winning meaning survival. In the few months since the battles end, they have somewhat recovered, but are still in the process of rebuilding. Due to lack of RAFT, they are building with character, and with individual artistic style. They are going from a very bland town to a very colorful and vibrant place. Canella will be known for its artists, for its society of creative minds, for its inclusive & diverse people of any race, any size, anything. However, tragedy and trauma still creeps beneath the mask. These people, at any moments notice, will be ready to protect themselves and what they love, by any means.

The center road is still intact, though the steps are multicolored, painted from bottom to top. The large stone tower has collapsed, but it has not been replaced until the town decided on new leadership. It may become a gallery. There are plenty more trees in between buildings, as well as rivers that still flow down the mountain, but also intersect parts of the town and act as traversable canals in some areas.  Midway up the steep incline main road is the Zero District, a grand center circular break in the thousands of homes that climb up the side of Canella's mountain. This is where Gillion gave his speech that rallied the people, and on it's center fountain is a statue of a fish with a coral crown, and an orange bird holding a barrel of gunpowder. From here you can easily get to the other main arteries of the town that lead to the other Districts.

The Bubble District is full of self producing and duplicating bubbles, as well as all manner of restaurants, cafe's, and treats.

The Umbrella District has floating umbrellas above the roads, and is known for its small private academy. Many tradespeople and craftspeople operate around here, some having their own shops, doubling as both their workplace and home.

The Revenue Avenue (previously named Renaissance Ave,) is a collection of massive and antique homes for the oldest and wealthiest families to settle the island.

Last, which has the least, is The Canvas District. Nothing is here but an atmosphere of despair brought by the destruction of battle. Some dingy residential homes, with even less well off residents. Much of the town's wreckage, rubble, garbage, and debris, is tossed here and forgotten. However, people believe this district can one day become something new, but for now it is blank. Like a canvas. The "gang," that participated in much of the front lines against RAFT, operate mostly around here.

After this, grass had questions, i had answers and then they sent back a FANTASTIC bundle of ideas with sketches and scribbles!! What an elite level of skill, I'm extremely happy grass agreed to working on this project.

After that, I didn't have much more of a role, Grass did all the cool stuff. We followed the same process for the keep & the infirmary/apothecary.

I was told a lot of the inspiration for the architecture came from places like Brazil (Latin America,) Spain, and Italy! I'd never thought to look at real life places for inspiration when designing an island, town, or city, in Mana. I usually look at fantasy concept art for inspiration when creating a new place. I think this makes Canella feel more like a real place, a real home, even if it has buildings shapes as books! A real home is what I wanted this place to be. I wanted to be a place The Riptide Pirates could go if they ever had to... start from Zero.

Anyways, here's some fun facts about Canella that probably will never come up in the campaign!!

• There is a carnival tent in town. I considered making it an entrance to Kas' Karnival. Will i? who knows!
• A bundle of candles in the top right of town is called, "The Candlewick Memorial," which is where people can go to place a candle after its lit, in memory to their lost loved ones. The big ones are many stacked candles that sorta merged together. Gryffon spent some time here.
• Mr. Rico could easily become a mayor, but he is too in love with running his bakery to have any other responsibility. Oliver spent a lot of time with Mr. Rico, often hiding from bullies there.
• The gang leader's name was Him. It may have been a nightmare, but that wasn't a joke in EP 97. Originally, he and his group were going to be one last adventure to pursue with Ollie, but as most things in my campaign do, he developed over time into a background force, and his story/lore changed with that. Now, Him and his gang were underlings to a pirate crew under Captain Daeger (as mentioned in ep 99.) This implies that Captain Daeger may be a steadily increasing oppresive force local to the southern ocean. Now that Zero's been saved from them, it's like The Riptide Pirates have made a new enemy, but I'm not sure if it'll ever be relevant to the story as of now.
• The Keep is forever tied to Chip because of the nature of The Deck of Many Things, however, his good DEED to sign Ensa's name on the magical cartoon DEED, is such a lovely gesture and so I personally consider the Keep to be Ensa's. Ensa, however, will share that home with them without hesitation, she's a very generous person. In the event of Chip pulling a card that destroyed all his possessions though... well... the deck would likely consider the house to be apart of them. We'll see if that EVER happens though. SURELY NOT!! haha.
• Ella was taken care in a more proper setting in the Revenue District, but was transferred to the Canvas District due to lack of funds.  Ella doesn't have lack of funds, but she refuses to use them for things outside of taking care of Ollie.

Well, anything you're curious about? Be sure to ask!! I have more concept art to write about and share with you guys, so look forward to it. Don't forget to support grassfur!

As always, Just Roll With It.