Last September, a long-overdue spurt of SoD inspiration hit me. I wanted to model another fully custom zone for Shards of Dalaya, similar to Zenn Malath but bigger and better. The main attraction was going to be at least one new race option for Beastlords. (Others on the dev team had toyed with the idea previously but never pursued it, so it seemed like an easy sell. Eventually, I might even have tried begging for one or two other new race / class combos to be unlocked so the new starting zone would seem even more worthwhile!)
I envisioned a cozy, autumnal forest north of Kelethin / GFay, tentatively titled Goldleaf Glen (or perhaps Faydark Uplands, though I didn’t like the idea of people OOCing “FU” jokes all the time). This zone would act as 1) a Beastlord starting city, 2) a scenic hub zone for high-end players, and 3) a newcomer-friendly hunting ground that would carry any character all the way through the early 30s without ever having to leave the zone.
Shortly into my work on Goldleaf Glen, I sensed I may have difficulty implementing the zone due to no one being at the helm of SoD, so to speak. But I persisted, plugging away at custom NPC textures, 3D modeling, and so on for several months. By early January of this year, I realized that none of my requests for help on implementing the zone were going to be answered, so with great frustration and disappointment, I shelved the project indefinitely.
Now that ~8 months have passed since I gave up on Goldleaf Glen and its chances at ever being developed don’t seem to have improved, I figured I’d share its visuals here for everyone’s enjoyment. Even if it never materializes, pics are better than nothing. Note that these screenshots were all taken in 3DS Max, which doesn’t handle transparencies well in preview mode, so you’ll have to use your imagination for the awful-looking tree leaves!
————————————————
Here's a bird's-eye view of Goldleaf Glen. The landscape is dominated by red, orange, and yellow trees as well as giant mushrooms. Large pine trees are visible on the outskirts of the zone to convey its proximity to GFay. It also uses several of those big rock spires from Goblin Skull Mountains (Butcherblock) to further tie it to Faydwer.
This is an average view of Goldleaf Glen's terrain from the player's perspective:
Here's the Beastlord city, whose centerpiece is a large, hollowed-out tree similar to the one found in Plane of Earth (Plane of Growth). The houses are all modeled after those in Kelethin but with more muted colors.
Here's a watchtower on the edge of town. That's a birdbath in the foreground. (The Human and Ogre you see atop the ramp are to-scale dummies I keep on hand when 3D modeling to make sure everything is kept in proper scale.)
Every town can use a well.
This is the merchant area, which is housed under a big canopy tent (taken from Southern Newport / Qeynos).
Some of the merchants set up shop on picnic blankets. Like I said, cozy! And these are people of culture, too — look at that little bust of Michelangelo's David I included on the bookshelf texture.
This was to be the foodseller's spot, complete with the autumnal staples of pumpkin pie, apples, and nuts.
This area was going to be home to an armor merchant with a special affinity for footwear. (Note the shelves of shoes.)
At the back of town, there was going to be (to my knowledge) an SoD first — a toilet! There's even a chair and reading material on the ground outside for anyone who's waiting their turn. (Hopefully the moon design on the door makes it apparent that it's an outhouse.)
This is the local tavern / inn.
Here's a close-up of the tavern's sign. (Name not finalized.)
One of the tavern's main draws is music. The bartender's husband insisted on importing a laughably fancy harpsichord that he plays daily to entertain guests.
A little artwork of Kelethin on the tavern wall to remind people of GFay.
And another piece of art at the back of the tavern where the beds are.
For those who want to enjoy their food and drink outside the tavern, these cleverly designed tables will suffice. (Who needs a manmade umbrella when a giant mushroom will do?)
The city may have an inn, but some people simply prefer to sleep outdoors under the great tree.
I envisioned this area just outside the treehouse to be the main gathering spot for players. Pick your favorite blanket, bench, or haybale and warm yourself by the fire while your friends are on their way! (This is probably where a gate neck would place the player if I decided to make one.)
Speaking of the treehouse, let's take a closer look. This is the entrance on the ground floor. Note the Beastlord / Kelethin motifs here and throughout the treehouse / city.
Inside the treehouse is a bank. That clock was a gift from the Gnomes of Underhill, who helped with much of the city's engineering (e.g., the plumbing for the aforementioned toilet).
Here's the bank sign up close. (Name not finalized.)
The treehouse has a mess hall and several beds for Beastlords and others. My favorite bit here is the couple of upside-down chairs on the back table just like in restaurants!
The central support pillar in the treehouse is adorned with the heads of various nefarious creatures. The Beastlords regarded them as worthy adversaries and wanted to immortalize them via taxidermy.
Alternate view of the mounted heads:
This is a playpen area where baby Beastlord pets would roam. Interacting with them and seeing them in motion would help Beastlords decide which one to pick for their own pet.
The Beastlord guild itself occupies the upstairs floor of the treehouse.
Here's the sign outside the Beastlord guild doorway. (Name not finalized.)
The main Beastlord guildmaster has his own desk inside.
Back outside, there's an archery range not far from the tavern. Gotta accommodate all those Rangers visiting from Kelethin!
There's a quaint little farming operation just outside the city. I call it Green Stables.
The grumpy Dwarf lady who runs the farm dislikes Gnomes, so she uses scarecrows that resemble them.
A closer look at the barn. That spot in front of those haybales looks pretty Instagrammable — the perfect spot to take a screenshot selfie!
On the opposite side is a corral/stable area for horses.
Moving into enemy territory, here's one of the early hunting spots. It is a pair of dragon remains (parent and child) that have given rise to toxic mushrooms. (The giant mushrooms here are all green, whereas they're blue everywhere else in the zone.) No-good mushroom monsters live in those mushroom huts.
This part of the forest has been burned due to an out-of-control fire inside that smoldering tree. It's overrun by Fire Elementals, Salamanders, and maybe even a evil Imp!
The forest is strewn with several small Goblin huts. Their only form of art seems to be these big stones they paint with their own faces.
Here's the largest of the Goblin encampments. There's that face again!
Near the center of the zone is a medium-sized lake.
At the center of that lake is an island that has been settled by Gnomes who've decided to use the region for astronomical study. (Note the telescope poking out of the right hut!)
The Gnomes, being a civilized and refined folk, have their own outhouse, of course.
One of the Gnomes living on the island is an avid artist. Here's a peek inside his hut at his pride and joy — the Gnoma Lisa.
GFay has a Druid ring, but it has never been functional for some reason. This one in Goldleaf Glen would be reachable via a Druid port spell.
The forest is also inhabited by a race of unusual Minotaurs. Like the Gnomes, they have an interest in astronomy, but it's really more astrology to them; they worship the moon and have cut down a bunch of trees around this moon shrine in order to get a better view of the night sky.
Goldleaf Glen has a vicious Bixie population, too. They've set up large beehives around this stone spire in order to pollinate all the nearby flowers. (You might recognize the beehive model from Tears of Elael / The Burning Wood!)
Oh, no! One of the hives around back has fallen down!
This isn't the first time Dalayans have tried to settle in the region. One corner of the zone features Dwarven ruins complete with a church, cemetery, and housing all in the style of Kaladim! (This was an early, ill-fated attempt by the Dwarves to re-establish themselves after Kaezul destroyed their original home, hence all the imitative architecture.)
Unfortunately, the replica of Kaladim's Dwarf statue hasn't fared well over the years.
A close-up of the Dwarven cemetery, which features the same headstones found in Goblin Skull Mountains (Butcherblock).
Here's a look at the church, which looks even more battered than its brother in Kaladim B.
Things inside look just as bleak.
The most amiable natives of the forest are the Aviaks. This is one of their giant birdhouses, although they've recently been ousted by a clan of wicked Harpies.
A peek at the top of the birdhouse. Unlike the Aviaks in South Badlands (South Karana), these ones build nests!
The Aviaks are skilled stonemasons, marking their territory by way of giant bird statues.
They even have their own well.
Here's a bird's-eye view (hah!) of the Aviak city with all the trees removed to give a better impression of its scale and aesthetic.
Now for the custom NPC textures! Let's start with the three new BST pets, all of which are right at home in an autumnal forest....
First up is the Fox, a retextured Wolf. I expect this would be the most popular choice.
Then there's the Hedgehog, a retextured Armadillo (although maybe I could make the Rat model work too since it's already global).
And with how often the Squirrel item is linked in OOC jokes, I figured it was time SoD had live ones as the third BST pet option. As you can see, it's a retextured Skunk.
Being adjacent to Kelethin, the city in Goldleaf Glen would need plenty of Wood Elves. Here are the ladies:
Here's another "Wood Elf" lady that's actually a reskinned High Elf. She looks good with the skirt!
And this "Wood Elf" is actually a Human / Gypsy with Wood Elf textures! That design on her apron is meant to be a maple leaf, but at low resolution it unfortunately looks like this woman is into a different type of plant.
Here are the male Wood Elves:
Here's a closer look at gentleman #3 because his hoity-toity eyewear (a.k.a. pince-nez) deserves to be shown off!
And here's a close-up of #9. I wanted to show off his friendly smile, which I created using Photoshop's face recognition filter! Despite the low resolution of the original Wood Elf face textures, Photoshop was still surprisingly able to recognize a face and manipulate it convincingly.
Remember that little Gnome settlement? Here are two of the lads who live there. The guy on the left is having a bad day (which would have been explained in his quest). The right guy might look like a Terminator, but that's actually headwear designed to help him with his astronomy work.
This Gnome lady also lives on that island. @fuwok says she looks like a liberal arts major. (Hey, there's a male Gnome face with green hair, so why can't there be a female counterpart?!)
Gnomish engineering sometimes requires a strong arm, so this kind, simple-minded Ogre fellow also lives on the Gnome island to help with manual labor.
His sister, a Beastlord, has followed him to the region to keep an eye on him while furthering her own studies at a new Beastlord guild. Check out that denim!
Ogres aren't the only big guys in town. This Troll Beastlord came to make his fortune selling wigs. (Just don't criticize his own hairpiece!)
This is the grumpy Dwarf lady who runs Green Stables, the farm mentioned above. Her full NPC name would have been Gran of Green Stables. She used to have red hair in her younger days.
This chap is a relative of hers. I'm not sure why, but his little vest is one of the things I'm most proud of. Look at that fit! I bet you recognize those tree decals from the base male Wood Elf textures.
Sticking with Dwarves, these baddies haunt the Dwarven ruins shown above. Both the males and the females have textures for a guard, a citizen, and clergy.
This dashing but secretive Erudite is visiting the region in hopes of establishing a Wizard spire there.
Here's a High Elf Magician / merchant looking to make a living far from Felwithe.
Something of a local legend, this Human archer lass roams the forest in search of poachers. She steals whatever coin she can off them and gives it to the poor. Her name is Hooded Robin.
And this is Hooded Robin's right-hand woman, Little Jane, who specializes in the quarterstaff:
Goldleaf Glen also has a few friendly "monsters," such as this female Liodreth (Kerran). I'm proud of her little bell collar!
If there's a friendly cat, there ought to be a friendly dog. The rightmost fellow here is a Gnoll with fox coloration.
Remember me mentioning mushroom monsters? These are them. The passive blue ones roam the forest, whereas the aggressive, toxic green ones live among the dragon remains.
Like Goblin Skull Mountains (Butcherblock), the occasional Giant may roam Goldleaf Glen. These guys are meant to look like lumberjacks.
And here are the orange Goblins that live in those tents shown earlier. Look at how unamused his face looks!
These are the evil Harpies that drove out the Aviaks and stole their birdhouse city for themselves.
I did mention Minotaurs, and here they are.
This was going to be an autumnal Specter boss, probably named something like The Harvester. I really liked the exposed ribcage under the robes.
Remember Gran of Green Stables? These were going to be her three prized horses — Ginger, Merrylegs, and Beauty:
Similar to Kirby the Good Luck Manatee, Goldleaf Glen was also going to be periodically visited by this being, known as a Manacorn. Whenever it is visiting the zone, mana regen is boosted significantly for all players in zone.
This cursed creation isn't particular to my zone, but I figured I'd show it off here while I'm on the subject of the Horse / Unicorn model. It was going to be used for piñata GM events.
Although I planned on using the native Bixie textures for the Bixies in my zone, the Wasp model (despite regularly being referred to as a bee in SoD!) didn't look bee-ish enough for me, so I made this custom texture on the right. These icky insects patrol the Bixie hive area, basically serving as slaves to the Bixies.
And lastly, the more powerful Bixies have been known to enchant globs of honey for the purposes of cleaning and hive defense. These honey globs are, as you can probably tell, retextured Gelatinous Cubes:
————————————————
So that's a thorough look at Goldleaf Glen. If server circumstances change and I see an opening to further develop this project, I'll be happy to. For the time being, however, sharing these screenshots will have to do. I know entry-level content doesn't tickle most people's fancy, seeing as the server has been incredibly top-heavy for well over a decade, but I hope these screenshots of "the zone that never was" bring some amount of joy to you all.
Thanks for sticking with me through such a long post!
I envisioned a cozy, autumnal forest north of Kelethin / GFay, tentatively titled Goldleaf Glen (or perhaps Faydark Uplands, though I didn’t like the idea of people OOCing “FU” jokes all the time). This zone would act as 1) a Beastlord starting city, 2) a scenic hub zone for high-end players, and 3) a newcomer-friendly hunting ground that would carry any character all the way through the early 30s without ever having to leave the zone.
Shortly into my work on Goldleaf Glen, I sensed I may have difficulty implementing the zone due to no one being at the helm of SoD, so to speak. But I persisted, plugging away at custom NPC textures, 3D modeling, and so on for several months. By early January of this year, I realized that none of my requests for help on implementing the zone were going to be answered, so with great frustration and disappointment, I shelved the project indefinitely.
Now that ~8 months have passed since I gave up on Goldleaf Glen and its chances at ever being developed don’t seem to have improved, I figured I’d share its visuals here for everyone’s enjoyment. Even if it never materializes, pics are better than nothing. Note that these screenshots were all taken in 3DS Max, which doesn’t handle transparencies well in preview mode, so you’ll have to use your imagination for the awful-looking tree leaves!
————————————————
Here's a bird's-eye view of Goldleaf Glen. The landscape is dominated by red, orange, and yellow trees as well as giant mushrooms. Large pine trees are visible on the outskirts of the zone to convey its proximity to GFay. It also uses several of those big rock spires from Goblin Skull Mountains (Butcherblock) to further tie it to Faydwer.
This is an average view of Goldleaf Glen's terrain from the player's perspective:
Here's the Beastlord city, whose centerpiece is a large, hollowed-out tree similar to the one found in Plane of Earth (Plane of Growth). The houses are all modeled after those in Kelethin but with more muted colors.
Here's a watchtower on the edge of town. That's a birdbath in the foreground. (The Human and Ogre you see atop the ramp are to-scale dummies I keep on hand when 3D modeling to make sure everything is kept in proper scale.)
Every town can use a well.
This is the merchant area, which is housed under a big canopy tent (taken from Southern Newport / Qeynos).
Some of the merchants set up shop on picnic blankets. Like I said, cozy! And these are people of culture, too — look at that little bust of Michelangelo's David I included on the bookshelf texture.
This was to be the foodseller's spot, complete with the autumnal staples of pumpkin pie, apples, and nuts.
This area was going to be home to an armor merchant with a special affinity for footwear. (Note the shelves of shoes.)
At the back of town, there was going to be (to my knowledge) an SoD first — a toilet! There's even a chair and reading material on the ground outside for anyone who's waiting their turn. (Hopefully the moon design on the door makes it apparent that it's an outhouse.)
This is the local tavern / inn.
Here's a close-up of the tavern's sign. (Name not finalized.)
One of the tavern's main draws is music. The bartender's husband insisted on importing a laughably fancy harpsichord that he plays daily to entertain guests.
A little artwork of Kelethin on the tavern wall to remind people of GFay.
And another piece of art at the back of the tavern where the beds are.
For those who want to enjoy their food and drink outside the tavern, these cleverly designed tables will suffice. (Who needs a manmade umbrella when a giant mushroom will do?)
The city may have an inn, but some people simply prefer to sleep outdoors under the great tree.
I envisioned this area just outside the treehouse to be the main gathering spot for players. Pick your favorite blanket, bench, or haybale and warm yourself by the fire while your friends are on their way! (This is probably where a gate neck would place the player if I decided to make one.)
Speaking of the treehouse, let's take a closer look. This is the entrance on the ground floor. Note the Beastlord / Kelethin motifs here and throughout the treehouse / city.
Inside the treehouse is a bank. That clock was a gift from the Gnomes of Underhill, who helped with much of the city's engineering (e.g., the plumbing for the aforementioned toilet).
Here's the bank sign up close. (Name not finalized.)
The treehouse has a mess hall and several beds for Beastlords and others. My favorite bit here is the couple of upside-down chairs on the back table just like in restaurants!
The central support pillar in the treehouse is adorned with the heads of various nefarious creatures. The Beastlords regarded them as worthy adversaries and wanted to immortalize them via taxidermy.
Alternate view of the mounted heads:
This is a playpen area where baby Beastlord pets would roam. Interacting with them and seeing them in motion would help Beastlords decide which one to pick for their own pet.
The Beastlord guild itself occupies the upstairs floor of the treehouse.
Here's the sign outside the Beastlord guild doorway. (Name not finalized.)
The main Beastlord guildmaster has his own desk inside.
Back outside, there's an archery range not far from the tavern. Gotta accommodate all those Rangers visiting from Kelethin!
There's a quaint little farming operation just outside the city. I call it Green Stables.
The grumpy Dwarf lady who runs the farm dislikes Gnomes, so she uses scarecrows that resemble them.
A closer look at the barn. That spot in front of those haybales looks pretty Instagrammable — the perfect spot to take a screenshot selfie!
On the opposite side is a corral/stable area for horses.
Moving into enemy territory, here's one of the early hunting spots. It is a pair of dragon remains (parent and child) that have given rise to toxic mushrooms. (The giant mushrooms here are all green, whereas they're blue everywhere else in the zone.) No-good mushroom monsters live in those mushroom huts.
This part of the forest has been burned due to an out-of-control fire inside that smoldering tree. It's overrun by Fire Elementals, Salamanders, and maybe even a evil Imp!
The forest is strewn with several small Goblin huts. Their only form of art seems to be these big stones they paint with their own faces.
Here's the largest of the Goblin encampments. There's that face again!
Near the center of the zone is a medium-sized lake.
At the center of that lake is an island that has been settled by Gnomes who've decided to use the region for astronomical study. (Note the telescope poking out of the right hut!)
The Gnomes, being a civilized and refined folk, have their own outhouse, of course.
One of the Gnomes living on the island is an avid artist. Here's a peek inside his hut at his pride and joy — the Gnoma Lisa.
GFay has a Druid ring, but it has never been functional for some reason. This one in Goldleaf Glen would be reachable via a Druid port spell.
The forest is also inhabited by a race of unusual Minotaurs. Like the Gnomes, they have an interest in astronomy, but it's really more astrology to them; they worship the moon and have cut down a bunch of trees around this moon shrine in order to get a better view of the night sky.
Goldleaf Glen has a vicious Bixie population, too. They've set up large beehives around this stone spire in order to pollinate all the nearby flowers. (You might recognize the beehive model from Tears of Elael / The Burning Wood!)
Oh, no! One of the hives around back has fallen down!
This isn't the first time Dalayans have tried to settle in the region. One corner of the zone features Dwarven ruins complete with a church, cemetery, and housing all in the style of Kaladim! (This was an early, ill-fated attempt by the Dwarves to re-establish themselves after Kaezul destroyed their original home, hence all the imitative architecture.)
Unfortunately, the replica of Kaladim's Dwarf statue hasn't fared well over the years.
A close-up of the Dwarven cemetery, which features the same headstones found in Goblin Skull Mountains (Butcherblock).
Here's a look at the church, which looks even more battered than its brother in Kaladim B.
Things inside look just as bleak.
The most amiable natives of the forest are the Aviaks. This is one of their giant birdhouses, although they've recently been ousted by a clan of wicked Harpies.
A peek at the top of the birdhouse. Unlike the Aviaks in South Badlands (South Karana), these ones build nests!
The Aviaks are skilled stonemasons, marking their territory by way of giant bird statues.
They even have their own well.
Here's a bird's-eye view (hah!) of the Aviak city with all the trees removed to give a better impression of its scale and aesthetic.
Now for the custom NPC textures! Let's start with the three new BST pets, all of which are right at home in an autumnal forest....
First up is the Fox, a retextured Wolf. I expect this would be the most popular choice.
Then there's the Hedgehog, a retextured Armadillo (although maybe I could make the Rat model work too since it's already global).
And with how often the Squirrel item is linked in OOC jokes, I figured it was time SoD had live ones as the third BST pet option. As you can see, it's a retextured Skunk.
Being adjacent to Kelethin, the city in Goldleaf Glen would need plenty of Wood Elves. Here are the ladies:
- [#1 is a native texture.]
- #2 is the tavern owner.
- #3 is actually reskinned to be a High Elf Paladin!
- #4 is a BST guildmistress.
- #5 is a guard.
Here's another "Wood Elf" lady that's actually a reskinned High Elf. She looks good with the skirt!
And this "Wood Elf" is actually a Human / Gypsy with Wood Elf textures! That design on her apron is meant to be a maple leaf, but at low resolution it unfortunately looks like this woman is into a different type of plant.
Here are the male Wood Elves:
- [#1 is a native texture.]
- [#2 is a native texture.]
- #3, the fancy looking fellow, is the snooty harpsichordist whose wife owns the tavern.
- #4 is the Druid who tends the aforementioned Druid ring.
- #5 is a BST guildmaster.
- #6 is a BST guildmaster. (Notice how each of the three guildmasters wears a shirt of a different autumnal color — red, orange, and yellow.)
- #7 is an older guard.
- #8 is a newbie guard.
- #9, with his fancy little neckwear, is a clothing merchant.
Here's a closer look at gentleman #3 because his hoity-toity eyewear (a.k.a. pince-nez) deserves to be shown off!
And here's a close-up of #9. I wanted to show off his friendly smile, which I created using Photoshop's face recognition filter! Despite the low resolution of the original Wood Elf face textures, Photoshop was still surprisingly able to recognize a face and manipulate it convincingly.
Remember that little Gnome settlement? Here are two of the lads who live there. The guy on the left is having a bad day (which would have been explained in his quest). The right guy might look like a Terminator, but that's actually headwear designed to help him with his astronomy work.
This Gnome lady also lives on that island. @fuwok says she looks like a liberal arts major. (Hey, there's a male Gnome face with green hair, so why can't there be a female counterpart?!)
Gnomish engineering sometimes requires a strong arm, so this kind, simple-minded Ogre fellow also lives on the Gnome island to help with manual labor.
His sister, a Beastlord, has followed him to the region to keep an eye on him while furthering her own studies at a new Beastlord guild. Check out that denim!
Ogres aren't the only big guys in town. This Troll Beastlord came to make his fortune selling wigs. (Just don't criticize his own hairpiece!)
This is the grumpy Dwarf lady who runs Green Stables, the farm mentioned above. Her full NPC name would have been Gran of Green Stables. She used to have red hair in her younger days.
This chap is a relative of hers. I'm not sure why, but his little vest is one of the things I'm most proud of. Look at that fit! I bet you recognize those tree decals from the base male Wood Elf textures.
Sticking with Dwarves, these baddies haunt the Dwarven ruins shown above. Both the males and the females have textures for a guard, a citizen, and clergy.
This dashing but secretive Erudite is visiting the region in hopes of establishing a Wizard spire there.
Here's a High Elf Magician / merchant looking to make a living far from Felwithe.
Something of a local legend, this Human archer lass roams the forest in search of poachers. She steals whatever coin she can off them and gives it to the poor. Her name is Hooded Robin.
And this is Hooded Robin's right-hand woman, Little Jane, who specializes in the quarterstaff:
Goldleaf Glen also has a few friendly "monsters," such as this female Liodreth (Kerran). I'm proud of her little bell collar!
If there's a friendly cat, there ought to be a friendly dog. The rightmost fellow here is a Gnoll with fox coloration.
Remember me mentioning mushroom monsters? These are them. The passive blue ones roam the forest, whereas the aggressive, toxic green ones live among the dragon remains.
Like Goblin Skull Mountains (Butcherblock), the occasional Giant may roam Goldleaf Glen. These guys are meant to look like lumberjacks.
And here are the orange Goblins that live in those tents shown earlier. Look at how unamused his face looks!
These are the evil Harpies that drove out the Aviaks and stole their birdhouse city for themselves.
I did mention Minotaurs, and here they are.
- [#1 is the default texture.]
- #2 is an unimplemented custom texture I made for Taurine the Red in Steamfont Hills.
- #3 is a standard moon-worshipping Minotaur. They were going to be called "mooncalves" because "mooncalf" means someone who's slightly crazy and foolish, and it made a nice pun with the fact that they are moon-worshipping bovine monsters. Note that their horns and hooves use the same texture as their moon shrine shown earlier.
- #4 is an exceptionally rare Mooncalf. He only spawns once in a... blue moon.
This was going to be an autumnal Specter boss, probably named something like The Harvester. I really liked the exposed ribcage under the robes.
Remember Gran of Green Stables? These were going to be her three prized horses — Ginger, Merrylegs, and Beauty:
Similar to Kirby the Good Luck Manatee, Goldleaf Glen was also going to be periodically visited by this being, known as a Manacorn. Whenever it is visiting the zone, mana regen is boosted significantly for all players in zone.
This cursed creation isn't particular to my zone, but I figured I'd show it off here while I'm on the subject of the Horse / Unicorn model. It was going to be used for piñata GM events.
Although I planned on using the native Bixie textures for the Bixies in my zone, the Wasp model (despite regularly being referred to as a bee in SoD!) didn't look bee-ish enough for me, so I made this custom texture on the right. These icky insects patrol the Bixie hive area, basically serving as slaves to the Bixies.
And lastly, the more powerful Bixies have been known to enchant globs of honey for the purposes of cleaning and hive defense. These honey globs are, as you can probably tell, retextured Gelatinous Cubes:
————————————————
So that's a thorough look at Goldleaf Glen. If server circumstances change and I see an opening to further develop this project, I'll be happy to. For the time being, however, sharing these screenshots will have to do. I know entry-level content doesn't tickle most people's fancy, seeing as the server has been incredibly top-heavy for well over a decade, but I hope these screenshots of "the zone that never was" bring some amount of joy to you all.
Thanks for sticking with me through such a long post!
