City of Surakosai

Welcome to Surakosai, one of the gems of Noantri New Earth! This attractive seaport is the biggest city in Trinacria and a center for both business and tourism. Here you see the original harbor which has been re-developed as a place of vacation entertainments, lined with luxury hotels and casinos. A cruise ship is about to dock at the main jetty. The pale oval structure is the Convention Center belonging to the Crystal Harbor convention, casino, and hotel complex. The tall pointed skyscraper is the tallest building on the North Coast of the Middle Sea. It is the "TanaNoantri Tower," built by the marine insurance industry. Surakosai's restaurants are some of the best in the Noantri world, and you are invited to party along with the Keilians at their many pubs, music halls, and hostels. Lovers of Paleomusic and Archeovisual arts can visit the Aeolian Cultural Complex for orchestral and opera performances as well as exhibits of authentic pre-Crossing art and artifacts. There's something for everyone in Surakosai.

Artist's notes on this image: I've been working on this for months. I could only do a bit at a time, but since it is digital, I could pick it up when I had the time and store it without messing about with paint and a large panel. All the buildings in this matte painting are created by me in Photoshop. No photographic textures or other images were used in creating this scene. I've made a larger image available here, just click on the picture to see Surakosai in more detail.

"Surakosai" is Photoshop, 4271 x 1970 pixels, about 14" x 6.5", 300 dpi, January - April 2011.

In this close-up detail, you can see some of the most famous buildings of Surakosai. The white building up on the hill is the Nouergic Institute, the home and school for techno-mages. This new complex was designed by the techno-mage Khemaru architect Mereth Kahn, and completed in 217. The Tananoantri Tower is the tall pointed building in the center. To the right is the Aquamarine Plaza, designed by another techno-mage architect, Apsou-Ari, in the second century. In the center is the Crystal Harbor hotel and casino, and next to it is the Golden Sigil casino and hotel.

In this image, the small cruise ship "Star of the Sea" arrives at the dock at twilight. This Khemaru-based ship, along with its sister ship "Star of the East," cruises the Middle Sea with an elite clientele of no more than 100 people. After the ship docks, the cruisers will debark for a couple of days of fun in Surakosai, the City of the Crystal Sea.