Topic: Coral Road

[Terry K. Amthor]

This is what a Coral Road might look like.

http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2012/12/kamchatka-ice-cave.html

[yammahoper]

Beautiful.  Saved and ready to print when needed.

[craggles]

That's a very helpful image!

[Terry K. Amthor]

That's a very helpful image!

Pretty amazing, isn't it? Hard to believe that it is real. Of course the Coral Road floor would have a clear area to walk on. Here's an earlier image of an ice cave that also looks very 'coral road'

[Guillaume]

All the Glacier outpouring caves will fit then, they all look that way.
( I've seen quite a few while doing Alpinism in the Alps and in Greenland ), only the size will change ( Strangely the ones in the Alps are smaller than the ones in Greenland  )

After to reproduce the picture from the website you'll need to be deep enough to avoid the external light and the right photography technique ( open flash at first glance ). There's also the option of a glacier with ice thin enough so that the light diffuse through it down to the cave... Both would probably give that kind of picture.

Oh and yes, the pictures is beautiful.

[Malim]

Arent the device that cut them described as a machine that makes a very lean smooth surface?

[RandalThor]

Arent the device that cut them described as a machine that makes a very lean smooth surface?

Even if it is, coral is a living thing, so being unattended for so long means that it is not very likely to still be smooth.

Oh, and: very nice.

[Malim]

And how do they work.. what is the travel speed gained or is it like portals?

[RandalThor]

They operate like normal roads, you have to have your own source of transportation (walking, horses, etc...), with the added caveat of being totally enclosed underwater so no inns to stop at along the way. Traveling along one of these means doing a bit of pre-planning so you don't starve or die of thirst.

I would also imagine there would be far (FAR) fewer "random" encounters.

[Terry K. Amthor]

And how do they work.. what is the travel speed gained or is it like portals?

Actually, they are described in some detail in the new edition of Cloudlords, pg 96. They are enchanted, with some sort effect where travel speed is increased by up to 10x between entries and hubs.

[Terry K. Amthor]

Arent the device that cut them described as a machine that makes a very lean smooth surface?

Even if it is, coral is a living thing, so being unattended for so long means that it is not very likely to still be smooth.

Oh, and: very nice.

Hmm, I don't remember ever saying that about the Coral Roads. The Subshuttle tunnels were perfectly smooth (probably cut by lasers); the shuttle cars went very fast in a near-vacuum. The Coral Roads were 'grown' by the Earthwardens using Essænce, so they will look very organic.

[Bruce]

Terry your artwork is always amazing. It's hard to believe this picture is real. Is there any way you or someone else might be able to doctor it up to look more inline with your vision?
I don't have the skills, or the processing power.....
Bruce