An Artist’s Touch [Svartown]

[Brent Forrester]

An Artist’s Touch
55 Ymiden 720

The walls of the temple were almost complete and there was wood scaffolding all along the vaulted ceilings as new stones were systematically placed using a pulley system and the careful maneuverings of the workers. There was elation in his heart as Brent surveyed the construction. It hadn’t been without its trials but it was getting closer and closer to completion. Yet despite the beauty of the vaulted arches and multi-coloured glass, it was lacking an artistic touch. Svariella, was of course the spirit of the lake, but she was also much more than that. Rainbows and wind chimes were but the most common symbols of her beauty and Brent wanted something that could really resonate with the people of Svartown.

As such, he had drafted up some letters, posters, and even given a bit of coin to heralds to cry out the news of Svariella’s temple and thus seek out an artisan worthy enough to craft something in her image. As a spirit, it would be impossible to truly represent the Induk’s swirling rainbows and iridescent fish but he wanted a special touch to grace the new temple. It had been a few trials ago since he sent the news out, but only a couple bites so far. One had been a weaver. He wasn’t entirely sure where such a tapestry would go, but when he saw a sample of her work, he had to tell her a firm no. Not only was it lumpy but the imagery was crude like a child’s drawing. The other prospective artist was a painter but he insisted that he would only paint in black or shades of grey. It was a little unusual and truthfully Brent thought that the man had never learned to use a variety of colours. And for a spirit of rainbows, the artist was dismissed as unfit for the job.

Despite growing anxious that he wouldn’t find a good match, Brent continued overseeing and frequently assisting in the construction of the temple. He briefly lent a hand to the team pulling at a rope to hoist up a carved stone to the second storey of scaffolding. Straining on the rope, the basket went up and up and up. Once it reached the top, three other workers teamed up to lift it out and onto the solid wooden planks. It was yet another stone that would be part of the arched ceilings when the temple was finished. Already the shape was pretty clear since there was a wooden replica to support the stones until they were all laid out and could support one another.

There was the temple that was mostly going to be one large indoor gathering space. It would be most important during the cold cycle when people could not comfortably gather outside. Whereas they were also finishing the small platform and shrine right at the Svariella Stone itself. This was Brent’s way of honoring the healing stone of the spirit while also incorporating a shrine and outdoor gathering space.

Now that several more stones had reached the second storey of the scaffolding, the workers were all up top maneuvering the stones into place. He couldn’t remember how many times he’d done up the sketches for the stones. They all had to fit perfectly against one another, and it meant that the carvers needed to know what they were doing too. This was both in the flat plane and the vertical plane. Fortunately, a small saw cut or a bit of mortar could fix any discrepancies but it was the solid stone that leant the most strength to the structure.

Brent moved on to the much smaller construction of the shrine to clear his head. No one was working there right now, but a couple of the pillars were up and he was trying to imagine what sort of artistic embellishment Svariella would appreciate.

Imagery

Edit: Checked with Pig Boy and he's good with the concept of the imagery. Images are mostly for context. And just because something isn't shown in the picture, doesn't mean it can't be added (like if Tristan has awesome ideas).

Svariella Temple


Svariella Stone Shrine

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Template Credit: Navyri

[Tristan Venora]

Tristan was just on his way to a client. A certain Mrs. Isabella Gudmundsson had been looking for someone to make a sculpture of her beloved cat, Harald (which was a rather unusual name for a cat, he supposed) and since he loved cats, he had immediately accepted the job. He was just passing through the gate that separated the Vaettir Hold and the Alfar Hold and moving past a little café where he sometimes drank hot chocolate when a loud voice caught his attention. He paused for a moment, furrowing his brow slightly as he did so, and then he decided to investigate because this was a pretty unusual occurrence, everything considered, and he was a little early, anyway.

A middle-aged man that was clearly identifiable as a Melrathi due to the intricate tattoos on his face, his Embla, stood on a pedestal of sorts and exclaimed loudly that Brent Forrester was looking for artisans to craft something for the Temple of Svariella. Tristan didn’t know who Brent Forrester was (Some sort of ranger, maybe?) but he had heard of the Induk before. While he had been raised with a different faith, he respected the spirits that the Melrathi worshipped, and he was especially curious about Svariella.

She seemed to love to hear stories, and he loved to tell stories, so he considered her to be a kindred spirit (literally).

For that reason, he approached the man who seemed to be quite happy to talk and asked him for the exact location of the temple, wrote it down in the little notebook that he always carried with him, and then he continued on his way, wondering if he should bring a sample of his work when he met with Mister Forrester and which one he should bring. He had made a sculpture with Vhalar, the Immortal of Art once which was something that no other sculptor in all of Idalos could claim as far as he knew. He was not sure if Mister Forrester or Lady Svariella would appreciate his bringing something that had been touched by an Immortal into her temple though.

There was the sculpture that he had made of the Sessfiend that had troubled Rynmere once upon a time as well, of course. He was not sure if a sculpture of an evil, cannibalistic monstrous hound would be acceptable either though. Maybe he should … the sculpture that he had made of her was rather personal, but it was a good demonstration of the unique technique that he had invented; and besides that, it was just beautiful. He had made it at after he had perfected his skill as a sculptor. If that didn’t convince Mister Forrester that he was the right man for the job, then he didn’t know what would.

~~~

Later that trial, after he had visited Mrs. Gudmundsson and her cat (who had turned out to be old, grumpy and nearly toothless), the young Duke who was currently in exile due to a nasty plague and a couple of unpleasant political crises (including wide-scale magicide, which was what he had decided to call the murder of mages) made his way to the Temple of Svariella, on horseback since it was too far to walk.

He was dressed like a wealthy Melrathi rather than a noble from Rynmere in order to fit in better and demonstrate that he was serious about this, in a royal blue tunic with a silken sash and metallic threads along the trim and a matching cloak, among other things.

Behind him, one of his employees, Brandon, followed with a cart that contained the sculpture that he had decided on, the life-sized, hyper-realistic and colourful sculpture of a barbarian woman.

He had also packed a few smaller sculptures into a bag though, just in case Brent wouldn’t be content with just one sample of his work.

He gave Brandon a sign to stop some distance away from the shrine, dismounted his horse (a huge black stallion called Maxos, named after one of the most dangerous men in Rynmere, Peake Maxos Andaris), tied him to a nearby tree and approached the shrine in order to address the man that was working there, unaware of the fact that he was actually the one.

“I’m looking for Mister Brent Forrester. I heard that he wants to hire an artisan to craft something in Lady Svariella’s imagine, and I’m interested in the job. My name is Tristan Venora, and I’m a sculptor”, the young noble (who had runic silver markings that almost looked like some sort of Embla on the left side of his face) introduced himself in a very polite and friendly tone of voice, and then he waited for the other man to speak, and hopefully tell him what he was supposed to do and where he was supposed to go.

[Brent Forrester]

Brent found himself pacing around the small incomplete shrine. A couple tools hung from his belt, clearly marking him a worker or at least involved in the construction. However, when a cart approached with a remarkably distinctive statue held in place so it wouldn’t fall, Brent stared openly at it. Was this a true artist? And were they coming to the shrine? The builder glanced around, as if afraid that the cart and its nobleman rider were about to make a sudden turn elsewhere. No, this seemed like the only logical destination. It was a small town and there weren’t many other destinations.

The nobleman was well dressed in brightly coloured silks and had a stately looking black horse that was clearly well-bred. The contrast was striking compared to Brent’s simple brown linen clothes, but the builder was far more interested in the statue than fashion statements.

Had the statue not been fixed to the cart, Brent might have mistaken it for a true barbarian woman. There was a life-like quality to it. Her face contorted with rage and anguish as if she had lost something very dear. Her clothes almost rippling in the breeze. Distinctive scars making Brent wonder what battles she had fought in.

Brent almost didn’t notice as the nobleman dismounted and approached him, as he was so fixed on the statue in the cart.

“Mister Brent Forrester?? Y-yes, that’s me.” Brent stammered as he jolted himself back to reality. Fortunately, he managed to catch the nobleman’s name.

“Tristan Venora, Mister Venora, Sir…” He was momentarily tongue-tied as he tried to determine the right title, but then it dawned on him that Venora was not a typical Melrathi name.

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” he summed up quickly, trying not to make more of a bad first impression than he already had. Shifting his weight uncomfortably, he instead gestured to the cart and statue behind the noble.

“Is that your piece of work? It is stunning, to say the least. I am most certainly looking for an artisan to craft something for Svariella’s Temple. May I take a closer look?”

So long as Tristan didn’t completely deny his request, Brent would cautiously approach the statue on the cart. It was quite impressive, and he found it hard to keep from reaching out to see if it was real. There was substantial detail to it and the only area he could really find fault were some of the painting techniques used.

Turning back to Tristan, Brent tried to regain a bit of his composure and authority.

“Do you have other samples of your work? How much do you know of the Lady Svariella? If you’ll excuse me, but Venora is not a typical family name in these parts.” He was cautious about sounding too impertinent so he carried along quickly. “Ideally we’re looking for a large statue to grace the Temple halls. This shrine, here, will already have the beauty of Svariella’s Stone.”

Brent gestured to both the large temple under construction and then to the rainbow coloured stone several paces away from the shrine. Once the shrine was completed, the iridescent stone would be carefully moved to the constructed platform, but for the meantime it was not to be disturbed.

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Template Credit: Navyri

[Tristan Venora]

When the dark-haired man that had been working on the shrine told him that he was Brent Forrester, a bit of blush colored Tristan’s pale cheeks for a moment as he was embarrassed about that. A moment later, he extended a hand with fingers that ended in black nails for him to shake and remarked, smiling, “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Mister Forrester. And yes, the sculpture’s mine. Feel free to take a closer look. I used a special technique that enables my creations to produce small sounds or movements to make it”, he remarked. Others might have taken the opportunity to brag about their great skill (sculptures with movement and sound were a rare occurrence); Tristan on the other hand was just explaining his creation, and his tone of voice was friendly.

“It’s not magic”, he added as he was aware of the fact that some people in Melrath had a problem with that (Tristan himself didn’t; he didn’t think that having a spark automatically made you a danger to society).

Brent had a couple of questions, and he talked quickly, but Tristan didn’t mind that at all. He talked rather quickly as well sometimes after all, although he had a bit of a hard time figuring out which matter he should address first. Finally, he decided on telling the other man more about his family name as he had already been wondering about that before.

“I’m not from Melrath”, he told him in a fairly light-hearted tone of voice. He was aware of the fact that the people of Melrath could be quite xenophobic sometimes and tended to give foreigners a hard time, but he saw no reason to hide his origins or act ashamed. He just saw an opportunity to educate people and show them that not all Outlanders were bad. “I’m originally from Rynmere. A number of political crises and the plague forced me to leave my duchy and find a new home though as it was not safe anymore. I hope to become a citizen soon. I’m engaged to a local”, he explained, as Brent might be wondering why he had decided to settle down in Melrath of all places.

“As for what I know of Lady Svariella”, he continued in the same friendly and polite tone of voice as before and momentarily paused in order to give Brandon a sign to bring the bag from the cart to them. “I know that she calls Lake Svariella her home and loves music and stories. She is said to be peaceful and gentle and a protector of her people. I have yet to meet the Maiden of the Lake though”, he admitted, his tone of voice softening noticeably and becoming almost reverent for a few moments.

“I can make the statue as large or as small as you want me to”, he sat while he opened the bag, pulled a couple of sculptures out of it and set them down on the ground between them. “I’m also an alchemist of some skill, in case you want me to add special effects to it”, he added before he directed Brent’s attention to the sculptures.

There were half a dozen all in all, a hag and a noble looking knight with a sword among them. The knight was not standing still; it almost seemed as if his sword were moving, or maybe that was just a trick of the light?

“The founders of my homeland”, Tristan explained before he smiled and asked, “What do you think, Mister Forrester? Is there anything that you would like to ask me?”

[Bumblebee]

Sweet! A Review!

Brent Forrester:
I lament your absence! I always love a good Brent thread and I find him a down to earth, interesting character. Please reach out should you return and we'll hook you up with whatever rewards we can (you are just a touch shy of 1500 words but since it's not a habit, I see nothing wrong). In regards to your thread, I love the descriptions you use, painting such beautiful imagery for your reader. Brent's humble and modest stumbling in conversation remains as endearing as always. I wish I could have read more.

Experience: 15xp
Knowledge
Business Management: Drafting fliers and posters to find an artisan for hire
Business Management: Assessing the skill of a potential artisan
Construction: Using ropes and pulleys to lift heavy objects and materials
Construction: Using wooden scaffolding to support stonework during construction
Strength: Improving arm strength by pulling ropes laden with heavy objects
Design (architecture): Stones must fit together both on the horizontal and vertical plane

Renown: +5 Brent is becoming a reliable and valued member of the community.

Tristan Venora:
If I remember correctly, both Tristan and Brent have had a bit of interest in Ashling at one point or another? When Tristan revealed that he was engaged to a local, it made me read a little faster. I'll admit, I was hoping she might be name dropped. hehehe I've read a number of your threads, and your characters. They never fail to make me smile. Great job.

The only issue I note in the review request is that you requested sculpting, but Tristan has not sculpted in this thread. He only brings some of his work to show and hasn't learned anything new about his craft. Picking up a job would fall more under business management, leadership, or logistics (or a number of social skills). Let me know what else you pick to replace it, and I'll edit the review. Any comments, questions, concerns, please reach out to me on discord or site PM.
Edit: Tristan has changed his Sculpture knowledge (x2) to Business Management (x2), per mod request. All approved now!

Experience: 15xp, not to be used for magic
Knowledge:
Detection x2
Mount (Horse) x1
Writing x1
Business Management x2

Renown: +5, those Tristan passes have taken note of his attire and the powerful sculpture he has with him.