Greetings, travelers. It is time to look at another one of the sigils from the world of Tellest, and today we have one from a heavily seafaring city, Valtega. Valtega is relatively new to the lore that we’ve been writing, but in a lot of ways, it was just beneath the surface, as it was there in spirit ever since the Child of the Stars trilogy. Because of the naval presence of Valtega, we opted to go with a stylized compass. The symmetry really helps it pop, and it looks great in a variety of ways. We’ll be looking at a few different variations of the sigil in use, and we’ll talk more about Valtega while we do it.
Conceptually, Valtega is meant to look very similar to Mdina in Malta. You might also conflate your perception of it with King’s Landing from the Game of Thrones series, since that’s where a lot of it was filmed. Valtega is a bit smaller, certainly, but it also doesn’t have nearly the height variance that the city in Westeros does. It just has that sort of closed-in, intimate spacing that you feel in that area of our world. Valtega is a bit on the older side as well, and while there are parts of the city that have been restored thanks to the riches that pass hands amongst the nobles and merchants, there are also low-lying sections of the city that would show the sigil displaying some wear and tear. Old administrative buildings, long since abandoned to be made anew in wealthier sections of the city, would still have the sigil on the ground outside, the brickwork becoming dilapidated over time.
One place that the sigil would certainly show up on is atop the masts of any of Valtega’s many ships. Valtega is one of the cities in Tellest that has a tremendous naval presence, whether it be serving under the military rule of the city, or a privateer or pirate vessel owned by one of the more influential people from the city. In any case, it’s very likely that if anyone saw the compass flying atop the brown sea of canvas, they would know to give it a wide berth if possible. The people of Valtega are more than equipped to handle any sort of encounter at sea.
Valtega keeps expanding southward into Saveon, and as it goes, great and gorgeous limestone walls continue to be expanded upon in the fields. The path into Valtega is lined with beautiful stonework as well, and while the main road displays the sigil in that style, there are plenty of places within each of the sections of the city where the compass would be quickly painted instead. More often than not, the sigil is used for representation of the seafaring professions, so it is seen most frequently around the coastal sections of Valtega.
As always, we leave you with one final picture: the phone background. I hope you enjoy it!
In a few weeks, we’ll be taking a look at another coastal city, but this one is on another continent, and populated by a completely different race than that of Valtega. We’ll talk about that soon!
Michael DeAngelo
Latest posts by Michael DeAngelo (see all)
- Sci-Fi Promo – L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 40 - May 3, 2024
- Sci-Fi Promo – The Dissonance Series, by Aaron Ryan - May 2, 2024
- Concept Art – Xanadar’s Bowl of Scrying - May 1, 2024