"It is said the capital of the northern kingdom has two kings. One on a throne ruling over the country in all his glory. And one hiding in the shadows of the walled city..."

So this is the walled city - slum area and home of Zoe ([link]). You can see the main street here - which is in fact the only broad street in the quarter. The rest of the area is built up with too many houses making full use of every little free space. And the streets are full of nooks and crannies forming a dark labyrinth.
Though the quarter appears to be bland and pale at daylight it is famous for its boozy night live and the annual festivities when you can hear the thundering drums even for miles outside the city walls...

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The concept of the city quarter came into being after I read some interesting stuff about the so called "Gängeviertel" in Hamburg (see German Wikipedia article [link]) - a living quarter for the working classes near the harbour.
Later on I stumbled over an interview with Daniel Dociu (You can read it here [link]), the mastermind who designed Kaineng City from Guild Wars Factions. He was talking about Kowloon Walled City being the real Kaineng. I really never heard anything about KWC before so I was very fascinated by what I found on the internet.
Both - the Gängeviertel and the KWC - heavily influenced my idea of that slum area.

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Done for John Howe's Fan Art Challenge - January 2008: FAR HORIZONS

Corel Painter Essentials 3