[K2 - Mortis - FF) Life Watching Mortis

[RocketBoy]

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Access to Mortis is never voluntary, so to say the Followers “control” Mortis would be dangerously arrogant, and stupid to boot. How then, do they keep a presence in the Chrelythiumn system? There is a Follower who is allowed—at times—to observe Mortis, which is the closest anyone is likely to get.
                Through investigations, story-chasing, a series of visions, and a long journey of discovery, Follower Gossan Faldspar was given (by whom, he does not know) a tiny, strange, habitable planetoid that orbits the spot where Mortis most commonly appears. Faldspar, known for his literal nature, calls this place “Highest Honor” and resides there still today, having dedicated his existence to watching and writing about his glimpses of the monolith. He welcomes all peaceful guests, whether they’re pilgrims hoping to see the legendary realm-world, or simple travelers in need of respite.

Story

Spoiler

Famous CFS rock band, Gran Pree, become extremely lost on their way to their venue, and find themselves landing on a tiny planetoid at the very edge of the universe. Shocked to discover they can breathe despite the apparent lack of atmosphere, they explore the small planet to find a single inhabitant--an Abyssian monk called Faldspar. 
"Welcome to my planet!" says the monk. "This most sacred of places, Highest Honor. All in need of rest are welcome here."
The four bewildered bandmates file over to the monk's campfire and take a seat, trying to shake off the effects of the spice they had earlier. 
"So, you uh...live here? All by yourself?" asks Pacma, the lead vocalist.
"I do, yes. But that's alright with me. Most of my time is spent in meditation and watching for the great Monolith. I wouldn't be much of a companion anyway!"
"That's groovy," slurs Neebo, the band's autohornist. 
They spend long hours talking with the monk about all sorts of profound and mystical things, the kinds of thing they normally only encounter when tripped out on spice. Everything they discuss has them hopping and inspired to write more music, not least of all when, to the monk's delight, they are on Highest Honor at exactly the right time to witness one of the brief appearances of the Mortis Monolith.
"Aha! You are truly blessed!" the monk exclaims, grinning under his single eye. 
Baftab, the band's bassicast, looks on, jaw dropped. "Woah, dude...this is wild, man."
"Look at that crazy diamond! This gives me an idea for a riff, Pacma!"
Finally, with expressions of respect and admiration ("Keep it cool, dude. You're one of the real ones,") they leave the planet. Once they come back into range with their ships' communicator, they receive an urgent message from their manager. 
"I thought you guys were dead! Dantooine was going nuts! What the speck happened, how come you never made it to the show? Did you get eaten by a space worm?!"
"It's all good, boss man! We'll make it up to Dantooine, you know we love our fans. But just wait 'till you hear where we've been! We've got a killer idea for an album! No one in the galaxy's heard anything like this!"

The Missing Monolith is released a few short months later as Gran Pree's third studio album. The record becomes a smash hit, widely renowned as a lyrical coda for the band, and a masterpiece of atmosphere and synth-ey, ponderous tone.

More Pictures

Spoiler

Spoiler

This one was inspired by the Outer Wilds, which is an underrated game about dying in space. (Not the Outer Worlds, that's something different.)

Thanks for looking!

Edited February 18, 2021 by goatman461

[Stuartn]

I like the build, and the storyline is great too. The vegetation is great, especially that tree, and the use of that snake piece is the pinnacle of Nice Parts Usage.

As with your other recent build, it is great that it still has that Star Wars feel to it, through the vegetation, yet still resembles a peaceful occurence.

Edited February 11, 2021 by Stuartn

[marvelBoy123]

Massive improvement on the landscape - the smaller pieces make it feel far more natural and the little patches of rock work well too! The tree, vegetation and campfire are great too - this really captures the feel of being out in the wilderness. I think the story is great too and a nice length - you've maintained a lot of detail about the characters but it is a slightly shorter read. One thing to possibly think about is the use of the 1wide brown tiles: I'd always associate them with wooden floors so maybe two wide tiles or breaking it up a little with quarter round tiles would make it even better!

[MKJoshA]

Nice way to get a starry background. But I would have cropped it a little more to remove the edges of the table you used.

The landscape is good, but seems just a little blocky. I'm not too good at landscape so take my opinion for what it's worth. That's just where I'd focus to improve the build.

[Darth Bjorn]

Not a fan of the cones for smoke or the gungan in the track suit, but the base is great, and the tree is awesome! ;)

[dvogon]

Nice tree and base! I like those characters as well.