Difference between revisions of "Clutch:115"

 Candidates: Edyis, Farideh, Faryn, Keysi, Laine, Rafevan, Sarkev, Schuyler, Sparrow, Tomic, Zadkiel

Egg Writers: Alida, Azaylia, Edyis, Farideh, H'kon, H'vier, Irianke, K'del, K'zin, Keysi, Laine, Leova, Lilah, Suireh, Ulyana

Dragon Writers: H'vier, Irianke, K'del, K'zin, Leova

Dragon Editors: K'del and Leova

NPC Emits: K'del and K'zin

Dragon Puppeteers: H'vier, Irianke, K'del, K'zin, R'hin

Search Committee: Azaylia, H'vier, Irianke, K'del, K'zin, Leova, R'hin

Vallum Hadriani Egg

Rich heather and kelly greens cover the rough, rolling outline of the top of this egg's uneven shell, flecked in semi-regular intervals with wheat and flaxen yellows. The bottom of the egg boasts a similar but more orderly topography, its peat and barley browns sectored and routed with granite striations. The two ends are divided by a ring that seems to cinch the egg at the centre, but differently: the altered browns fade into it, whereas the upper pastoral patterns are cut abruptly by an inconsistent line. In some places, that line resembles slate and limestone, thin and measured, while in others it's turf and peat, imprecise and broad - a boundary line, formed by some changing necessity long forgotten on a singular egg.

Inspiration: Hadrian's Wall, running from Wallsend on the River Tyne to the Solway Firth, designed to keep the Picts out of Roman Britain. The Romans actually called it Vallum Aelium, after the emperor Hadrian's clan or family name.

Credit: H'kon

Restless Volcano Egg

A proud little egg sits short and squat and very much itself. Its narrower, sky-oriented end is colorless in snowy whites with a hint of smoky grey swirling at its flattened peak. Rocky greys and browns collect at its base in place of the white, more dominant on one side than the other.

Inspiration: Mount St. Helens

Credit: Keysi

Verisimilitude Egg

Violet, intense and unfading, swirls and swells and recedes over the egg's satiny shell. Its shade is deep, vertiginous, symbolic as richly rumpled robes. It alters only at base and apex, the latter broad, the former narrowed until each might as well be the other; a pattern of glass-glossy hexagons opposes browner whorls and a colorless, milky spill, but the endless purple between them is for now the same.

Inspiration: Tyrian purple from sea snails was the hallmark of the wealthy, expensively available as early as the 15th century B.C., but the landmark discovery of mauveine in 1856 was the first synthetic aniline dye and made purple available to the masses.

Credit: Leova

Wall Egg

Cobbled stones appear to divide this oblong egg vertically in half: one side painted in dreary tones and abstract shapes, the other a silvered grey, mottled with specks here and there that catch the light into subtle sparkles. They might seem forever separate, but there's one small space on the narrow top curve that the cobbles finally break apart, allowing the two sides to spill into each other. Long threads of silver starlight curve into the bleaker world, while corresponding shadow-fingers stretch into and fail to make it too far down the other side.

Inspiration: 'The Wall' between Wall and Stormhold in Neil Gaiman's Stardust.

Credit: Irianke

Orthodox Egg

This somewhat lumpen-looking egg bears a background of sandstone red, upon which regular lines and curves of bisque imply opaque windows. Most outstanding, though - if figuratively so - are the four plump, graceful 'turrets' that dot it in ordered harmony: each swirling in spirals to its own crowning point, individually rendered in tones of green/gold, blue/white, blue/red, and gold/green. Hints of bright blue at the egg's apex hearken to an autumnal sky against which these towers are set.

Inspiration: This egg is based off St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, Russia. (designlike.com/2011/12/05/100-most-famous-landmarks-around-the-world/58657270-133_3307/)

Credit: Alida

Vibrant Reef Egg

Blues from teals to deep ceruleans eddy amongst themselves, flowing over the surface of this smallish egg. Here and there, soft splotches of tans interrupt the rich colors, much like sandbanks parting the water's course. Nearer the egg's base, smaller and more angular speckles teem with vibrancy, their oranges, yellows, muted reds and even hints of purples vying for space and sight.

Inspiration: The Great Barrier Reef.

Credit: Keysi

Walk of Fame Egg

Propped against a backdrop of shrub-like green and sandy brown, the blocky white angles that wrap around one end of this egg almost look like something one could read. The sand gives way to shadowed depressions at the egg's widest point before the dullness brightens into a jarring whirl of color. Deep red dominates amidst crisp black lines and fronds of green, while flashes of blue and white make it difficult to focus on any one clash.

Inspiration: The Hollywood Sign and the Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Credit: H'vier

Reaching With Futility Egg

This egg is cleanly, horizontally divided in hue. The top is a sun-blasted blue that's darkest at the apex before it washes out towards bone-white at its natural equator. The lower half starts pale and stays that way, hewn in hues of desert sand. On one side, a grand human hand appears to be emerging out of the sandy lower half, its fingers stretched forever skyward - yet doomed to never touch the top.

Inspiration: This egg is based on the "Hand of the Desert," located in the Atacam Desert in Chile. And that's exactly what it is: a giant hand in the middle of the desert. Odd? Definitely. But pretty awesome, too!

Credit: Ulyana

Serenity Midst Verdant Greens Egg

Incredibly large, nearly the largest egg in the clutch, this egg is predominantly green. Lush, beautiful, woodsy greens swirl and zig and zag, their patterns reminiscent of rolling hills and craggy peaks with the occasional stone-hued fleck here and there. A slate-colored circle claims the apex of the pointed end, crowning the top like a serene master who looks upon the entire world.

Inspiration: Lantau Island's Great Buddha.

Credit: Irianke

Honey, Pull The Car Over! Egg

There's a rough-hewn, imprecise look to this broad and sizable egg, as though it were modeled by a sculptor who had never seen a dragon's egg in person. A patchwork of muted colour (perhaps once vivid) splotches the shell in faded streaks of drab olive and burnt orange. Though the pebbled shell is robust, some trick of light and texture suggests brittleness or disrepair, as if delicate flakes of paint might crumble away at the lightest touch.

Inspiration: This egg is based on those kitschy "World's Biggest _______" roadside attractions. Where I live, you often find them in rural towns: run-down, with the paint peeling off, but still somehow managing to draw tourists.

Credit: Laine

Wisdom in Words Egg

Marbled in amber and dulled, ancient gold, and noticeably larger than its clutchmates, there is no mistaking this egg for what it is and what it carries. Tiny dark markings circumnavigate its broad curves, pressing ancient secrets into a shell that looks smooth from afar, neither garishly bright nor so subtle as to fade into the sands upon which it sits. That might seem to be the end of it; only intimate study, close enough to touch, might reveal the fine-grained pattern to be found beneath even that - as if the entire egg had been woven from tiny fibres, drawn together in a consummate whole.

Inspiration: The Library of Alexandria, also known as the Great Library. Long since destroyed, of course, but an ancient landmark nonetheless.

Credit: K'del

Carve Away the Mountain Egg

The shifting of light and shadow lends a sense of roughness to this unevenly oval egg. Bands of green and grey play in concentric circles from tip to base, only occasionally marred by craggy washes of darker green. Pale and subtle touches of yellow-green add depth to those shapes and lines, giving a sense of both organic pattern and geometric structure.

Inspiration: Inspired by Machu Pichu and the Sacred Valley - two Incan sites native to Peru.

Credit: Edyis

Throw Away The Key Egg

Multiple overlapping squares in flat metallic shades - silver, bronze, copper, and brass - shingle the seemingly textured shell of this medium-sized egg, interspersed with an occasional splotch of vibrant red. Its rounded sides give the illusion of bulging outward, as if bowing out from the weight of the heavy metals that mar its surface. Each chunky shape has its own striations and shadows, but they share one constant: a singular dark smudge in the middle, fit for a key.

Inspiration: There are any number of 'love lock' bridges in the world, but one of the most popular is the Pont des Arts in Paris, France. The tradition goes that a couple brings a lock engraved with their names to the bridge and secures it on the fence, then locks it and throws the key into the water below as the ultimate gesture of love~

Credit: Farideh

Academic Magic Egg

Craggy rocks seem painted on this capacious and pointed egg, a dull, brownish grey that dominates its inky backdrop. Lines here and there are reminiscent of turrets and windows of some great hall. In spite of its general dullness, there's a certain shimmer where the surface is minutely faceted, as though some sprinkling of magical dust cast all that grey and brown in a more luminous light.

Inspiration: Hogwarts

Credit: Suireh

Monument to Perfect Lines Egg

This mostly taupe egg may not seem remarkable enough to draw interest, but there is something in its perfect symmetry that might still call the eye. Two steel-grey lines emerge from its expanse, intersecting in the middle to form a perfect 'x' and thereby cut the egg into quadrants. At that crossroads, where those lines meet, they are encased with a darker grey circle - as if daring someone to touch all four sections at once.

Inspiration: From my home state (well and three others), the four corners! Doesn't seem like a remarkable enough landmark to draw people, and yet it does.

Credit: Lilah

Dance of the Spirits Egg

Gossamer, undulating ribbons of pale green weave across this petite egg's otherwise dark and shadowed shell. From a distance, that rippling curtain of luminous colour can give the impression of swaying, sinuous movement. Finer, more subtle details are only visible on closer inspection; the swathe of blackness that enfolds the egg is flecked by tiny, glittering white motes, and that ribbon of translucent colour ranges from a ghostly emerald to delicate jade.

Inspiration: The aurora borealis/northern lights (that's considered a landmark in Canada... kinda... right?).

Credit: Laine

Water Wins Out Egg

Artistic reliefs of light and dark play across the surface of this egg. Where it is light, it is luminous; where it is dark, it is deep. Though what angles there are in its amber planes and shadowed darkness are sharp, pointed whether upward or downward, the dominant texture of the egg is bizarre and beauteous: all drips and curves, as though the surface had been washed unevenly and left to be worn away by the whimsical, unflagging caress of time.

Inspiration: Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico (Image)

Credit: K'zin

Honorable Mentions

We had a record number of egg submissions this time around, and unfortunately we were simply unable to use them all; it was really hard narrowing the list down. Nonetheless, we appreciate all the effort and creativity that went into them, so we would like to make note of all the others here:

1. Neo-Futuristic Egg (Buj Khalifa) - Lilah
2. Sails at the Shoreline Egg (Sydney Harbour) - K'del
3. Faithful Eruption Egg (Old Faithful) - Keysi
4. Endless Falls Egg (Niagara Falls) - Keysi
5. Great Impasse Egg (Great Wall of China) - Keysi
6. Hidden Clay Mesa Egg (Mesa Verde National Park) - Keysi
7. Architect's Anathema (Leaning Tower of Pisa) - Laine
8. Dark Soul's Hope Egg (Shwedagon Pagoda) - H'vier
9. Works of the Ancient Men Egg (Works of the Old Men) - Ulyana
10. A Horse of a Different Color (Uffington White Horse) - Ulyana
11. Crumbling Divides Egg (Berlin Wall) - Edyis
12. Panoramic Lines Egg (Nazca Lines) - Alida
13. Tropical Journey to Paradise Egg (Road To Hana) - Suireh
14. Up Top Egg (St Basil's Cathedral) - Farideh
15. By Any Other Name Egg (World's Largest Rosebush) - K'zin
16. Of Great Migrations Egg (Serengeti) - Azaylia

Celadon green and Yesia

The hatching begins with a bang: the Water Wins Out Egg explodes in a flurry of shards before the candidates have even made it all the way out onto the sands. The celadon green within takes two step forwards, startles herself with her own wings, and then all but throws herself in Yesia's direction (shoving, forcefully, past Laine as she goes). Does that count as auspicious?

Blue / green

The Restless Volcano Egg-- certainly living up to its name!-- shudders and rolls, clattering straight into the Vallum Hadriani Egg beside it. Both crack open at once, revealing a green and a blue who find their partners in quick succession.

Purpleish blue and Olrina

There's a purpleish tint to the blue that emerges from the Verisimilitude Egg, allowing him-- almost-- to blend in with his shell a little longer. But then he's off, teetering away from the remains of that egg and towards the white-robed candidates. White-blonde Olrina gasps, falling to her knees in front of him; she's crying too hard to say his name, but with his head pressed to her shoulder, and her arms around him, there's no question that Impression has occurred.

Green and weyrbred girl / green and boy

Wall Egg and Orthodox Egg shudder into each other, like one solid structure toppling into another; the egg-shell carnage is inevitable. Both reveal greens within, greens that scamper off in different directions. One's quick to find her weyr-born mate; the other is slower, meandering aimlessly-- and increasingly piteously-- before she finally collapses into her chosen boy.

Blue

The undulating green ribbons on Dance of the Spirits Egg begin to move in earnest, to a steady pulse that is practically an expression of the beating heart within. On every fourth shudder, the strength of the hatchling's resolve must flare for that's when the cracks spread, in lopsided rings. The audible splitting of shell away from itself applauds the end of the dance as a blue bows out of the shards and within moments is claiming a partner for the dance of life.

Fierce green

No longer an example of perfect lines and angles, the Monument to Perfect Lines Egg spirals into a chaos of uneven cracks as first a green wingspar punches through the surface and then the thrash of her tail is through. It takes some moments of struggle against the once-perfect cage but then the fierce green has pulled herself out of the shards to wiggle free of the detritus and begin her search on the Sands, one that ends with finding her lifemate.

Green and girl from the Seacraft / blue and Paz

Bang goes the Reaching With Futility Egg, shattering as it smashes up against the last remaining egg-- Throw Away The Key. The blue and green within the pair of eggs get tangled as they escape, making it quite impossible to see which came from which egg. They move off in tandem, finally making the final Impressions: the green to a girl from the Seacraft, and the blue to Paz.