Odyssey Concept Sketches: Carthage

Odyssey's Carthage bears a very limited resemblance to the historical Carthage (this is true of all five countries - the relationship isn't unlike that of Albion in any Arthurian story and the real Britain, but that isn't the point) and this is especially true when it comes to costume. Very little remains of real Carthage, given the various invasions and assorted defeats. From what one can gather, however, real Carthage clothing drew very strong influences from Rome and Egypt - something that is rather unhelpful in a world setting in which it is important to have very visually distinct cultures.

In some ways, Carthage was the most fun to sketch for since it was very much about the strings of beads and assorted danglings.

The man to the left is wearing a capelet (probably made of a thin wool), leather armour and trousers. A clutter of braided leather and strings of beads are around his waist. I suspect only wearing one bracer is somewhat less advisable in the actual game, but I think it rather adds to the asymmetrical look that he's got going on in there.

This woman (to the right) was the first Carthaginian sketch I drew, rather closely modelled on my own kit for a troll I play at the local live roleplay system. The basic premise of leather armour, furs, beads and lots of bones seems to be running on the same theme as Carthage and all that was missing were long flowing robes.

The Designer and myself attempted to put the outfit together (somewhat hurriedly) from what we had at hand at the end of our day at the Botanic Gardens. It pretty much amounted to hanging everything that was vaguely troll-ish off me whilst I wore some robes. More photos and discussion of that outfit to follow.

Oh, and the Mercenary learnt that she really can't draw veils.

A similar premise was behind this outfit: combining robes with leather armour and a spray of beads. The picture is of a man, but the Designer questioned the figure's masculinity and I do confess that the flare of the skirt makes the whole thing look more like a woman.

The armour in this particular sketch is based loosely on that worn by Mathayus, the titular character in The Scorpion King. Of course, he did not wear it under a giant black robe in the film.