[Starlight] Hell is real, and it is Bangladesh (Patreon)

Almost twenty years ago my grandparents took a job at the US foreign embassy in Bangladesh. I must've been just six or seven at the time and I don't recall much more about it than my grandma telling me to be sure I learned to like more types of vegetables by the time she got back (joke's on her, I'm vegetarian now). She came back a few years later and had some clothes for me and I went on with life and didn't think too much of it,

...until just last month when you may recall I went out of town for a weekend. We spent time talking about mostly nothing and during that nothing she recounted a certain story (and not a bad one-- I will have to share it with you sometime) that, as I kept thinking about it later, seemed to be oddly resonant with the world I have been imagining for Hell. That story went onto inspire a certain in-game location which I'm looking forward to you all being able to see.

After coming back home and continuing to think about it, I sent her an email, explained my angle, and asked for more.  A couple days ago I got a huge manila envelope in the mail full of about 30+ typed pages about her experience in the country. She also emailed me some pictures, and has mailed a CD with the rest of them for my perusal.

So, why is Bangladesh almost-twenty-years-ago like Hell? As she described it, the level of education, technology, quality of life, etc was pretty similar to what I'd had in mind for much of the population. The air is polluted, the heat is stifling, and most people live day to day just trying to get by on the few cents they can get at a time.

I did some further research after getting home and thinking about it and found out something even better. As of just a year ago, Bangladesh was in a water crisis (I never heard about this?? did you guys hear about this???? where is this in the news???????). A water crisis, you say? Perfect for a world like Hell, which has no natural water source. I've been reading a lot about it since then. There are many ways in which I can use this as a basis for designs.

The above picture is one of the ones she took and emailed to me. I'll include a few more of my favorites in this album. These kinds of things are almost certainly going to be used directly as reference images when I get to making graphics and maps.

Although they'll become reference images, make no mistake-- I'll still be dyeing them in ceraunic fantasy. It's just details and patterns I'll take from this. 

Scanning through this, I see things like this rock column  in front of the shop's ledge, the way these bricks in the wall  just rot out, the pattern of ...whatever this is, drenched down the walls -- the layout of the buildings in the photo above, the way this street  forms a smooth curve because of the junk vehicles crammed into the corner and how the texture of the wall changes ... so on and so on.
...among many other things, and more coming.

To be honest, as I keep reading more about the country, I gain another motivation. I'd like it if, later on, I can say "Hell is based off of Bangladesh," and maybe that'll lead some people to actually find out about and care about what's been going on there-- because it's bad. Maybe it won't still be bad by the time Starlight's done, but in case it is, it would be nice to shine some attention on it. Art reflects life-- and can also heal it. If only one person takes an interest in the country, I'd call that a win.

I could probably talk for a while about this. But less talk, more development. Peace.