We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Roselle - the city of roses and dragon whisperers
Hello everyone and welcome to my first Cities: Skylines city journal! I want to present you the building process of the city of Roselle – a very old city that was created from my imagination for a fantasy story, which I write with a very good friend.
In this journal you will see two things: pictures and lots of text compared to other city journals. The reason behind this: the city has a story and the build is connected to this story. There are some things I am not “allowed” to build, because of the way the city was developing over the years and because of the philosophy of its inhabitants and rulers. I will give some background on this. Some of you may read this, some of you may not – it is up to you.
Introduction of the city
Roselle is the capital of the Great Province Rosenkreuz in the United Kingdom of Aragon. The province itself is one of the richest in the kingdom and the smallest from the three great provinces, which share a border with the Kings Province Aragon. It is famous for its roses and rose oil, jewelry, drapery, culture, rulers and, of course, the mighty dragon whisperers [remark: dragon whisperers are warriors that have a pact with a dragon and speak the dragon’s language, they have partial magical abilities, that are coming from this pact and are usable in battle]. The province has 6 counties: County Somerset, County Rosenkreuz (which gave the name of the province), County Clifford, County Woodville, County Lancaster and County Warwick.
Roselle lies in the county of Rosenkreuz, somewhere in the middle of it. It has its foundations on the ruins of an old city with the same name, which was completely destroyed in the Great Dragon war. It became the capital of the province after the war and under the rule of Lady Roseline Rosenkreuz, the head of the Family Rosenkreuz at the time. She build the city over the ruins of the old one and relocated the main residence of the ruling family near the city. From this point in the history of the Province Rosenkreuz Roselle was its capital.
The city lies in the valley of a sacred river that lead to the Mountain of Fire – the place, where the Fire God Ignis first entered the world of the mortals and created the dragons, which brought light to humankind. The River is called St. Dragons River and was long only partially used for transportation and sailing, because of its sacred character. Today this has changed a little bit and it is used for sailing, transportation and tourism beside fishing and sacred rituals.
Near the city we have a view of the Mountain of Fire and the Mount of the St. Dragons – also a sacred place for the province and the tallest peak of the mountain. [Remark – I didn’t include the temple complex which is located there, because it would be too much to build for me for a first project] Down there, where the river goes through the mountain, lies the resting place of the rulers of the Province Rosenkreuz, hidden somewhere in the old rock. This place is only open to the ruling family and their priests.
Roselle is prospering from the production of rose oil, wine, coal and wood, from the farming lands, which were and still are under the protection of the ruling family of Rosenkreuz, and from tourism and technology research. It is a rich city, which has many things to tell with his culture and beauty. And this I will try to represent in my build.
The build
I am in the process of building the city, so you should be prepared to see some not quite finished places, because they develop with the construction of the city. I started my project by making a custom map with a custom theme and LUT. I am currently working on some main interchanges and the utility section.
Interchanges
This place had actually a cloverleaf interchange (the default from the game), which I destroyed and build a stack interchange instead. I don’t have a name for it yet, but it connects two important highways together: the Lightruler Highway [Remark: name is connected to one of the sacred Names of the God Ignis – Ruler of Light] which leads to the north of the Province and the old capital Lumina, and the Blue Jewel Highway that connects Roselle to the city of Aquatania, the main city of the County Clifford, which lies on the shore of the sea.
There is a meaning behind the symbolic decoration of this interchange: as you can see, it resembles a cross, which is the symbol of the ruling family of Rosenkreuz [Remark: I have a picture of their coat of arms, if you are interested]. The “strange” symbols are a flame (the big one) and a mystic magical symbol, which is used on hexagram symbols coming from the Kings Province Aragon. Why the Kings province you may ask? Well, the rulers of the Kings Province Aragon and the Province Rosenkreuz are blood related since the rule of Lady Roseline Rosenkreuz. Actually the marriage between her and King William Aragon saved Rosenkreuz from a pure destruction in the Great Dragon War and actually created the United Kingdom of Aragon. The Rosenkreuz are proud that their rulers are connected by blood with the kings of Aragon, which they show in architecture and decoration. Also there is a strong cultural and religious connection between the ruling families and strong political trust – the Province Rosenkreuz was leading the diplomacy of the kingdom in the east for many, many years.
The color usage is also symbolic and refers to the connection between Rosenkreuz and Aragon – purple, pink and yellow (gold) are the colors of Aragon. The flame symbol is coming from Rosenkreuz, but in this particular coloring it resembles a magical spirit flame. Normally it is used as an abstract symbol for fire or sun. Here it represents the power of Ignis as the one, who purifies the soul, and the power of the Wind God Aura as Ruler of the Souls of the Death. The reason behind this - Ignis as Ruler of the Light is the protector god of Rosenkreuz, and Aura as Ruler of the Death is the protector god of Aragon. [Remark: in the United Kingdom of Aragon people worship the Gods of the four elements, but each province has its own god protector, a main God is considered to be the Goddess of Earth Terra, because of her power to fuse all elements in one]
The interchange itself is finished. In the pictures you can see some details from it. I want to change the forest a little bit to make it more realistic and add details on the other side, which is now “blank”. I am not quite sure what I will put there, but it will come.
Here are some details from it:
And here is the next interchange:
This interchange is inspired by the Dumbbell interchange build from CrumbsMcGee. It fits there perfectly and connects important national roads with the Lightruler Higway. There is no symbolic meaning in the decoration, like the previous one, but I like it. And it helped me experiment with Move it! a lot, which I am quite happy about. I needed this.
The decoration around is also not quite finished, but it will be as the city grows. The detail work was a hard one. I don’t like the fact that the circles are not really perfect, because I needed to tweak so much with the nodes of the roads, but I won’t do them again. The small road connections to the four lane road should be one way with two lanes (from the tiny ones), but for some odd reason the Road Color Changer won’t apply the color correction for them. It is funny, because the other tiny roads have the correct color as you can see in the picture.
Solar energy is the main energy source for the city of Roselle. It has two reasons for this:
1. although the Province has 4 different seasons, most of the time there is enough sun to produce energy from
2. I’ve mentioned, that the god protector of the province is the fire God Ignis, so in their history the researchers of Rosenkreuz always wondered, how to use the power of the sun to do different kind of things (because they considered this being a blessing from the God) and so they started experimenting, as electricity as an energy source was discovered, they found a way “to make the sun produce it” – no eco thoughts here, sorry for the green ones reading this.
We all know, that solar power plants have one downside – when there is no sun, they stop producing energy. The Rosenkreuz know this as well, so each building in the city has a power generator, which is on “stand by” for the time there is no sun. It is not quite a normal generator as we use it these days, because in this fantasy world they have magic to operate with, but it serves its purpose. So I will not explain this further.
This solar park has 12 solar power plants working on full capacity most of the time. There are some maintenance buildings and production buildings – the company maintaining this also produces solar panels and parts for big constructions based on them. That is why you see so much warehouses, building parts and machinery in this park.
The workers have also a place to enjoy, when they take a break – just imagine sitting there with your lunch box and seeing this big constructions from this angle!
Don't panic, I didn't forget about the journal. Just had some things to do, but I was building and decorating, so here I am with another update (for those, that follow my teasers on twitter know that very well ). Let me present you:
The water and sewage treatment facility
It is located near the Mountain of Fire, a part of which can be seen in the background. On the left side of the picture from your point of view is the River of the St. Dragons. There I plan to place some fishermen huts and small fishing docks. On the right side we see a part from the forest. I am considering to put a second small forestry industry there with a small village next to it, but I am not sure if I will go through with this.
The facility is nothing special, really, but I love how it turned out. Those awesome assets and buildings from Avanya are like made for this theme. With my custom LUT and those vanilla small service roads they are looking wonderful. I was so amazed after I've build this, that I've spent some minutes looking at this build from different kinds of angles. Here is one:
One other thing, that I love about this build are the water purifiers from QuadRioters. In Roselle they serve as both purifiers and water reservoirs. There we have drinkable water stored. They fit the technological progress that the Rosenkreuzer have regarding things they really need and rely on.
The big water tanks store water for industry uses. Farm and rose fields have priority on getting water in emergency situations over other industry, because one part of the production from the farm fields stays for Roselle, while the remaining goes on the opened market. It is a law of the ruling family, that owns parts of the fields. The thing with the roses is this - 1. they are said to be the joy of the Goddess Terra (that is way in Roselle they are special rose festivals that please the goddess), so they are important to her 2. they are the symbol of the Great Province and their value to the people is big 3. rose oil is a important good, that in its purest form costs much more than other goods and it is still a symbol of prestige - so you don't want your oil giving roses to dry!
One thing, before I go on with the build: perhaps you've noticed it by now that most of the important decisions that are taken in the Province Rosenkreuz regarding their progress, thinking and building process are connected to their religion. Well, you are not imagining things, it is really so. Rosenkreuz are said to be one of the most conservative inhabitants of the United Kingdom of Aragon because of their strong believe that dictates their lives. Religions forms the order of the province and that is, what is important for the people living in Rosenkreuz. That is why I will speak a lot of something related to their religion and the traditions that come from there.
So, the build... Were was I? Ah, right. I wanted to show you the biogas plant, that functions as a backup system producing energy for the whole facility if needed. This complex of building assets was made by Accapulco. I know Avanya has made also one biogas plant, but somehow this fit better here (perhaps because of its size):
And here we have the maintenance building complex for the pipelines in Roselle. The company maintaining this is making the pipes. Pipes are distributed also on the open market. On the back of the building you see a parking space for trucks that transport those pipes.
What I am thinking about, is if I should put some more industry warehouses in this area, to indicate this production. I am not sure if this building here and the other tree next to the biogas plant are enough for this. If someone has suggestions, please share.
In the next one, I should cover the new recycling center from Roselle. I hope, I will finish it these days.
I've managed to finish this completely and now it looks like it should. I've struggled a little bit with the buildings/facilities that were needed in this build beside the assets of Avanya, that are the core of this complex. I've added some details and to me it looks kind of realistic.
Here are the main parts:
I've also added the vanilla recycling buildings to take advantage of the wide coverage areas that they have.
I think, I could have made the buildings green in the asset editor, but the red corner here is looking good. Also in the main area there are some red containers, so the red doesn't really bother.
In the back of these recycling buildings you can see the power source of this facility. It is not a backup system like on other places - the company wants to have a separate power source to reduce their maintenance costs and increase efficiency. The recyclables are delivered to the industry to be reused. The trash that is not recyclable is been burned.
I plan to build an old garbage site, which should be completely shut down in 3 years (as a direct order from the ruling family). The structure of this site changed, because they need to sort the garbage out and deliver the recyclables to Colossal Waste Recycling. When it shuts down the rest of the workers are going to be redirected to other industry and places, where workforce is needed. Then it will be decided what to do with the facility.
Here some details from the recycling center:
That is all for now. I the next one I will show you some work on some various places that add detail to the surroundings of the city (farms, gas stations, stops). See you in the next one!
I am sorry for the lack of posts last month. I was quite busy with projects and personal stuff, but I did build Roselle further. So in the next posts I will see, what I've managed to do.
In this update I would like to show you the two Shell gas stations on the Lightruler Highway in the direction of the Kings Province Aragon and the little farm fields in front of the Solar Park. There is not much story behind this builds. More will come with the former village now a district of Roselle called Chisaii. But I will not spoil you any further, so let me show you what I've promiced.
The Shell Gas Station on the Lightruler Higway
Nothing special about this stations, but I like how they look. They are pretty much identical, I copied the first one on the opposite side of the highway with Move it! The pictures I will show you, are from both gas stations. You will see the entrance to the station, the station itself, the parking space behind it (kind of mixed with a truck stop) and the Zaxby's fast food restaurant made by the one and only King Leno. So here you can tank, rest and grab a bite before you go your way.
Stop/Parking space behind:
Some tables/A place for children to play + parking place for Zaxby's:
Zaxby's:
The farm lands in front of the Solar Park:
I think, it is a relaxing view. Notice the custom rural street made by Arnold J. Rimmer for his Seyuba Series. Such I nice fit! I was so happy he made them, because the vanilla gravel road didn't look that good at this place (by the water treatment plant the vanilla looked definitely better). The farm fields are from the great DeCzaah.
So that is from me for now. In the next one I will start uploading pictures from the former village/district Chisaii and tell you a little more about the building tradition in Roselle.
Chisaii - former village in the county of Rosenkreuz, now a district in Roselle
Hello everyone and welcome to the Chisaii-District of Roselle!
Chisaii was a village near Roselle on the other side of the St. Dragons River a long time ago. As time passed the village grew and so did Roselle and today they are both united as part of the capital of the Province Rosenkreuz. In the next posts you will see many pictures of this district. I am still working on this district, so I would like you to excuse the unfinished parts from it. I will be updating them at the end of this month due to my busy schedule at work.
Here you have a view of the district:
As you see I need to detail stuff and place some more buildings. I would like to say that I have pretty much the half of the district done. It should spread on the other side of the highway (your lower right corner of the picture) as well and reach the St. Dragons River, which is not so far. It misses some neighborhoods, a complete cemetery, some docks and a mass transit system. All the other services are working pretty fine and have full coverage. At the moment I am not having traffic problems, but I assume this will change when I build the big industry area (should be in the direction of the upper right corner of the picture) and start the city center on the other side of the river.
So let me introduce you to this place. I will start with the central plaza of Chisaii, which is in fact a big temple complex. (image will be replaced afterwards with a better one)
Before I explain what temples you see, I would like to tell you why the central point of this district is a temple complex. It is an answer that lies in the building tradition of the Province Rosenkreuz.
In the past, when a village or a city were found, the first thing, that was build, was a temple complex always in the middle of it. Why you ask? Because believe was that thing, that represented the stability and order of the world. Gods are powerful supernatural beings, that protect the universe and mankind from the complete chaos. They are strong, give their blessings to the people, watch over their life, change their destiny and ensure everything exists in harmony. They even created the world in which we live! So, to show their respect and ensure their power doesn't vain, people build temples. In Rosenkreuz these temples in the center of towns, villages etc. are a symbol of the beginning of life and the order of existence. They protect all the buildings near them with the power of the gods. So to ensure, that everything is in the correct order, they found a temple first and than build their houses around the temple. Everywhere you go in the province you can be pretty sure, that you have reached the middle of the town or district when you see a big temple complex. Also this complex is the main worship place of the community nearby.
Back to the picture: What you see are two temple buildings in an Asian building style. This style represents the best the philosophy of the province, so that is why I chose it over European churches. Don't get me wrong. I love churches and they are a masterpiece of their own, but they don't fit well in the order concept of the Province Rosenkreuz and their rituals. Mosques don't fit here either. Actually pretty much everything here will have an Asian style of build in some way. But I don't pretend to really build an Asian Style theme with this build.
The temples you see are: the temple of the Fire God Ignis and his Dragons of Light (the pagoda) and the temple of the Earth Goddess Terra (the smaller one). The temple of Ignis has a east-west orientation and the temple of Terra - a south-north one. I assume not all of you are familiar with this kind of stuff, so let me translate in a more understandable language what that means:
Orientation is determined by two things:
1. the direction, that represents the god (Ignis is east, Terra is south, Aqua is west and Aura is north), from this direction it is defined where the god statue must be placed and where the temple should be build
2. the direction where the main entrance lies and from where the follower of the God or Goddess will enter the temple and see the god statue, representing the way towards the God/Goddess
A similar thought exists in the way of building churches and other places of worship all over the world. But that is not our topic. Back to the building tradition of Rosenkreuz:
You can see that these temple complex is big and symmetrical and reminds of a park. It is a inspiration I took partly from Japanese Shrine complexes, which fit in the concept of the province. This is a place for worship and peace, so it must be isolated from the rest of the living area - with a wall and the nature itself. The wall represents the boundaries between the godly place and the human town. At the same time a temple complex must represent a place of godly power and prestige, where humans can gather on festivals and on important rituals. So that is why it is so big and why it lies in the center of the village or town.
In the middle of this complex and in front of the to temples you can see a female statue. That is a representation of the Goddess Terra, which is the patron of Chisaii because of the connection of the village with the rose industry. You can see it as an extra way to show gratitude to Terra for giving the people of Chisaii such a beautiful thing like the oil rose bush.
All the green in the complex comes from Pedelmos Meadow Grasses that came out on the workshop the same day I started to build Roselle with its interchanges. combined with the oak trees from Mr. Maison and these wonderful River Rocks from Ronyx the temple complex looks like a small paradise in the middle of Chisaii. I am really proud how it turned out.
Now, let me show you the buildings around this temple complex.
Starting things with an administrative building, which you can call the district hall or town hall of Chisaii. Lots of trees and two custom made parking places. It lies in the west and from this building you can see the statue of Terra and the temple of Ignis. In the past the hall was used also as a courthouse. To see the Temple of the God, that protects Rosenkreuz, is a reminder of his power and of the justice he brings to the people (because Ignis is also a war God, who fights for justice). The statue of Terra in this context stands also for harmony and divine order. So if you want to judge someone, you should follow the way of justice, harmony and divine order. Or you will be judged in front of these Gods. That is the symbolic behind the orientation of the town hall.
This is the plaza behind the temple of Ignis. A gathering place for everyone, who wants to relax and for the children to play. In the past here were some guesthouses and a small market place. The market is now relocated somewhere else and the guesthouses turned into some commercial buildings, that you no see behind the plaza.
I know, I could have removed those vanilla oak trees in many ways, which don't look so good (I admit, I don't like them that much as other vanilla trees or the bushes you see by the park on the left), but I wanted to show, that they can look pretty much okay, when you combine them with some custom decoration. They don't really bother. Let me show you another perspective, so you can see, what I mean:
The next one I will show you is the police station in front of the temple of Terra:
There is a big bus stop, a basketball court, a kiosk and some commercial on the right. On the left you can find an office building and behind it more commercial.
By the way I forgot something important for the founding of villages and towns in the province. There are two main streets, that over cross in the place, where the temple complex lies. (probably that is why you will say that they are four, not two, but that is not so important). They are always named: Via Pacis (the street of peace) and Via Deus (the street of Gods). Via Pacis goes east-west and the Via Deus goes north-south. In this picture you can see the Via Deus represented by the white birch trees on both sides of the street. I replaced the vanilla trees this time with the help of Network Extensions 2. The trees are from Mr. Maison.
I will leave you with pictures from the commercials behind the Plaza. Buildings are assets by the one and only King Leno. The orange birch trees are made by Mr. Maison.
In the next one I will show the other buildings near the district center and show some important buildings. Take care and lots of inspiration for your builds!
.png "Cities 2017-12-25 11-56-59-78 (2).png")
.png "Cities 2017-12-25 11-56-51-90 (2).png")
.png "Cities 2017-12-19 21-50-16-97 (2).png")
.png "Cities 2017-12-25 11-53-31-35 (2).png")
.png "Cities 2017-12-25 11-53-57-89 (2).png")
.png "Cities 2017-12-19 21-51-27-60 (2).png")
.png "Cities 2017-12-25 11-54-39-30 (2).png")
.png "Cities 2017-12-25 11-54-53-12 (2).png")
). Let me present you:
