Category: Alagariel

Finally, Relief

Since I was already using OGIS height information, the step to rendering those height differences wasn’t huge. Getting editing tools working the way I want, was somewhat more complex. Still work-in-progress, but we’re making headway.

This is an overview shot, with the relief exagerated by something like 15 times to make it visible on a global scale. You can change the exageration on the fly.

The Thetwick area (features prominently in The Half Elven Orphan), with map overlays turned on. You can see my new snow feature lays over the top of it for currently unknown reasons.

Exact same shot with map overlays off. As you can see, I’m still working on refining the brushes to be able to get natural heights. Keeping rivers flowing downhill is an interesting thing for the tool to have to accomodate.

As I’m working on this, I’m beginning to think that maybe I will be able to place buildings and plots with this eventually. Mainly I’m wondering if I can keep it usable. This now already has a two-step system where it shows the changes made immediately, then bakes it in in a background process.

Photomode Distractions

My new Godot tool, other than the mapping functions, has a photomode for use with the (so far rudimentary) scenes I’ve generated. Still, it’s already usable to produce some imagery that I think is getting to capturing the ‘feel’ of the tales of Vatan setting.

Alagariel, the protagonist of The Half Elven Orphan practicing sword forms (I.33 sword and buckler) near Maiden's Tower.

Alagariel practicing sword forms (I.33 again) at night, with Maiden’s Tower in the background.

The Fire Wraith (pass 3)

Another incremental improvement to a Godot 4.7 photomode render of the Fire Wraith scene out of The Half Elven Orphan. I like grounde settings so the tower is an amalgamation of historical ruins from the period 850-1050. Planet curvature, moonlight etc all derived from the moon and the star system also modelled in Godot. The Wraith herself is Makehuman and Blender, with a historical kirtle-and-chemise outfit. The sword-form pose is from the I.33 manuscript.

I’m doing this because I’m finding it’s very hard for an author to generate promotional material. Walls of text don’t draw people in to a post, pictures and video does. So, this is my solution. Get assets into Godot, make compositions and make stills or animations with them. I’ve used Claude Code to help me make the tools for this (I would never have had the time for it otherwise), but the creative input is my own or the artists I hire. Besides the widespread irrational hatred for generative AI, it’s also just very poor at making the image you want. I’ve experimented with it, but I’d say generating 10,000 images per usable one is about the hit rate. It’s a waste of time, quite aside from the fact that you never know how closely what it flops out is plagiarising someone’s work.

I have more ideas what I might want to do with these 3D assets in the longer term, but I’m a very long way from getting any of that done.

Temptations while mapping

I couldn’t resist the urge to use Godot, Blender, Claude Code and my shiny new OGIS height maps together with my written text to try and generate some 3D scenes. Getting this to where I want it is going to be a long process, but I do have something to show already. There’s a scene in my first book (out now) that gives Maiden Tower, a ruined keep, its name. Since I’m building places in 3D and I have pretty good idea what I want the place and the surrounding geography to look like, I decided I’d try generating it in order to make promotional screenshots.

Maiden's Tower, near Thetwick with a Fire Wraith dancing around its base
Maiden’s Tower, near Thetwick with a Fire Wraith dancing around its base

Those who have read the book should recognise this scene (The Fire Wraith). This is a Godot 4 level, with the geography informed by the OGIS map and the moon position informed by the system view. I did have to fudge the geography and add hills of specific heights in specific spots in order to make everything work with the descriptions in the book, but it’s a scene that can exist in Vatan without having to fudge the possible reality. That sort of result, things that work systemically, are always nice.

This was the second pass, obviously it’s going to need more detail, so it’s an ongoing project. I’m going to use this approach with the Droopy model as well. For promotional purposes I often find myself limited by the fact that writing doesn’t produce much eyecandy. By having my world (partially) described in Godot, I’m hoping it’s going to be far easier to generate promotional screenshots for use on social media and the like. I love Daria’s art but she both doesn’t have the time and I could never afford enough art to promote as much as I need to to sell any books. If sales go up, I’ll happily contract more artists, but even then, these 3D tools will help them create imagery that is plausible.

Progress Dropship Down (Cover soon!)

A view of Earth from 80,000 feet of altitude.
Credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

Work is progressing on getting Dropship Down (Clausewitz #1) ready for publication. Daria is working on the cover. The attached image is a view of Earth from 80,000 feet captured by the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering in 2014. The opening scene of Dropship Down takes place at roughly the same altitude, but then over a different planet, named Celestia. The cover art will be a view from a similar altitude over that planet.

For the rest, editing is always hell, but slow progress is being made. Hoping to have it all ready soon ™.

After that, work begins on getting The Value of Nobility (Alagariel #2) ready for publishing. There’s going to be a bit more work involved there as I’ve decided to add some stuff in the first half of the book. I felt the characters were rushing through a large portion of Iurrak that really deserved a little more colour and depth, especially since that area will be visited a few more times in book #3 or #4.

The Half Elven Orphan in Stock

I have enough copies of The Half Elven Orphan in stock if anyone wants to order from me directly. It doesn’t seem worthwhile to put together a whole webshop for just one product, so if you want one, just send me an e-mail (books@jceberdt.eu) or use the contact form (below). Please let me know in the mail roughly where I’ll need so send the book.

I’ll send a Paypal payment request and send you a copy. Currently pricing is 20 euro’s, including shipping (unless shipping costs are crazy for your region but I’ll let you know before you pay anything if that’s the case).

The cover of The Half Elven Orphan, with the protagonist, a femal half-elf, crossing a river at night mounted on a black horse.
Name

Publishing Mystery

The Half Elven Orphan is the first book I’ve published and I’ve done it independently, so everything is a new experience. First off, it looks like I’ve actually sold some books. Not enough to buy more than a junk food lunch, but it’s not zero. My primary channel is Ingram Spark and they have a dashboard where you can see where sales have been made. To my great surprise, the first four print books that have showed up there have been sold in Germany. I mean, I do know people in Germany, but them buying more than one or two books when I’ve already told them I will give them copies for free doesn’t make sense. It stands to reason, then, that these must be other Germans. Which is very odd. My website has almost no traffic from Germany that I can’t match to people I know.

Beyond that, I know that there must be some e-book sales too, as the book has a sales rank on some e-book only sites, but they haven’t showed up yet. So, thanks (or Dankeschön) everyone who has bought one. For e-book buyers, there will be another sale over on itch.io starting the 17th of December. I still highly recommend itch if you want the e-book. No DRM, it comes with a pdf with a a Table of Contents and Glossary and files for the artwork and map. Oh, and they give the author a far large proportion of the proceeds.

A Parcel Has Been Delivered

Despite the best efforts of his superiors, a parcel with some books from Milton Keynes has arrived.

I have yet to understand why I was charged for the privilege of receiving 0% tariff book while I have VAT and EORI numbers, but they’re here and that’s certainly something.

I’ve decided to fulfill direct orders. Obviously, I don’t have to pay the retailer 55% like I do on in-store prices, but I do have to ship it. The book is 349g, which means that with packaging it’s quite expensive to ship individual copies. So, it’s the same price as in stores which is €20, but shipping is free everywhere in the EU.