"An Afternoon at Whitebridge" - at long last, I have beaten my old foe, Whitebridge.

My first effort failed dismally - http://fav.me/d4cc5eo - with horrific rendertimes and a corruption to boot. Since then, all attempts to model/create the village of Whitebridge, and even the White Bridge itself, have met with problem after problem.

Eventually I gave up.

Recently, however, David and I started up The Horse's Head - thehorseshead.com - to do our pre-A Memory of Light reread. As a part of this, there is a slot for banner art. The first piece I did for the banner art was Winternight in the Westwood - http://fav.me/d4lznpp - a great deal of fun. In the following chapters, however, we had two delicious options for WoTish scenery porn - the Tower of Ghenjei and of course the White Bridge. I knew I wanted to do Ghenjei when we reached Towers of Midnight, so remaining was Whitebridge. (Or one of the other wonders Domon mentions, of course.)

For those uninitiated to WoTdom (or rusty):

"Men dashed about the boat, bare feet thumping the deck, hauling on ropes, tying off some lines and untying others. Some brought up big oilskin bags stuffed almost to bursting with wool, while others readied cables as thick as Rand’s wrist. Despite their haste, they moved with the assurance of men who had done it all a thousand times before, but Captain Domon stumped up and down the deck shouting orders and cursing those who did not move fast enough to suit him.

"Rand’s attention was all for what lay ahead, coming plainly into sight as they rounded a slight bend of the Arinelle. He had heard of it, in song and story and peddlers’ tales, but now he would actually see the legend.

"The White Bridge arched high over the wide waters, twice as high as the Spray’s mast and more, and from end to end it gleamed milky white in the sunlight, gathering the light until it seemed to glow. Spidery piers of the same stuff plunged into the strong currents, appearing too frail to support the weight and width of the bridge. It looked all of one piece, as if it had been carved from a single stone or molded by a giant’s hand, broad and tall, leaping the river with an airy grace that almost made the eye forget its size. All in all it dwarfed the town that sprawled about its foot on the east bank, though Whitebridge was larger by far than Emond’s Field, with houses of stone and brick as tall as those in Taren Ferry and wooden docks like thin fingers sticking out into the river. Small boats dotted the Arinelle thickly, fishermen hauling their nets. And over it all the White Bridge towered and shone.

"“It looks like glass,” Rand said to no one in particular.

"Captain Domon paused behind him and tucked his thumbs behind his broad belt. “Nay, lad. Whatever it be, it no be glass. Never so hard the rains come, it no be slippery, and the best chisel and the strongest arm no make a mark on it.”

“A remnant from the Age of Legends,” Thom said. “I have always thought it must be.”

"The captain gave a dour grunt. “Mayhap. But still useful despite. Could be someone else built it. Does no have to be Aes Sedai work, Fortune prick me. It no has to be so old as all that. Put your back into it, you bloody fool!” He hurried off down the deck.

"Rand stared even more wonderingly. From the Age of Legends. Made by Aes Sedai, then. That was why Captain Domon felt the way he did, for all his talk about the wonder and strangeness of the world. Aes Sedai work. One thing to hear about it, another to see it, and touch it. You know that, don’t you? For an instant it seemed to Rand that a shadow rippled through the milk-white structure. He pulled his eyes away, to the docks coming nearer, but the bridge still loomed in the corner of his vision."

- The Eye of the World (Robert Jordan, 1990), Chapter 26, "Whitebridge".

I will post the link to the ship models when I refind them - they are free(!!!!) on ShareCG and magnificently detailed. (That schooner is an Andoran Customs ship, by the way.) The building I believe is by Luca Rodolfi (feel free to correct me if I am wrong; its info is missing since I reinstalled). The birdies are one of Barry Marshall's bird alphas. The bridge and atmo are MINE.

I must also thank Barry again for so much help in this image. It was a monster to render the first time - 117h58', from memory - and with his tips I was able to cut that down to about 24h(!).