The relic
“Braedan leaned closer to the corroded surface of the object. Even to Malena’s inexperienced eyes the function of the technology was obvious – a metallic protective suit of some sort eaten by sand and time. The petrified remains of its wearer was just visible the the eye.
Malena was nervous, she had violated the taboo of Dosh’Hvat Kandah that forbad any Sadusi to enter the area. The signs of the sand salamanders that they had encountered earlier lower down in the canyon were fresh and the faintest taint of carrion on the wind told her that they were not far away.
“This is not right, Malena” hissed Braedan rocking back on his haunches. “I haven’t seen a dropsuit of this design for a long time and even then only in historical archives. It’s design is Imperial, but from the Founding Years.”
“So?” snapped Malena back, “I have no interest in your curiosities. This machine has been buried for many cycles. How it came to be here Varu’Nah alone knows. We must leave this place. There are salamanders nearby. There is great danger!”
“I know Malena, but the mystery is not in the suit, but in it’s occupant!”
“How so?”
“The remains is not human. They are Sadusi!”
“That is impossible, Taruna. The Sadusi have never been skyfarers. They know nothing of the world that you and I come from…”
As the words faded on her lips, Malena knew that their find was going to shake the very foundations of her world, casting doubt on everything that she, a Wesdraken native called home and her life….”
Technical aspects: Since I began this series in 1999 Malena has gone through a number of revisions. As my skills with Poser 2, 3 and 4 extended I realized that my earlier attempts needed improvements.
This 4th revision of the 3D figure of Malena was made possible by the use of the new “Azura” Poser figure from MorphWorld 3.0. Similar in design to the commercial figure from Daz3D, Victoria, this figure’s possibilities with improved jointing and high resolution texture mapping offered a lot more to me for Malena. Adapting the “Azura” figure to create Malena with morph targets, texture maps and bump-mapping took over 4 months. I am very pleased with the results.
The spacesuit (or the “relic”) was created entirely with Rhino3d 2.0, UVMapped with UVMapper, and textured with a Bryce 4 procedural texture. Malena’s own suit accessories were also created with Rhino3D.
The dunes and canyon wall are Bryce 4 terrains, and the scene is lit with a single volumetric light and one filler light on Malena. Post-rendering was minimal and done with Corel PhotoPaint 10.