The Cathedral

In early 2024, I felt like I was more and more disconnected from my big personal project “Igrin”. A lot of this disconnect came from the fact I was writing about a setting I knew only from afar, and that in retrospect wore its influences a bit too much on its sleeves. So I attempted to rebuild it in a different place, inspired from somewhere that is highly familiar to me: my home region of Normandy.
Igrin became Ygern, a remote island off the west coast of Normandy, hidden by mysterious forces at the end of the middle ages and forgotten by most when the story takes place. During the 7 years war, a spy, sent out to fight an english invasion plan, ends up stranded in the city, and quickly learns that something far more sinister than a conspiracy is afoot there.
At the center of the city stands a grand cathedral, and a lot of important story events will take place there.
So I built this cathedral to challenge myself, see how far I could push a project in Blender. Almost everything about this building is period accurate, its design is entirely based on churches of Normandy and Britanny and the style is something that could have been constructed at the end of the middle ages. It borrows elements of churches Saint Peter of Caen, Saint Ouen of Rouen, Rouen’s Cathedral, Saint Pol de Leon’s Cathedral and Mont Saint Michel abbey. The crossing tower, while being the most fantasy element, is based on Bayeux and Evreux Cathedrals. The houses around are borrowed from britton and norman cities, including Rennes, Vannes, Lannion, Granville and Honfleur.
I’ve always liked building sets, and I’ve had the idea of creating my own kit for a while. So to build this cathedral, I created a kit on blender based on the references quoted earlier, and then used other personal kits and some scans found on sketchfab to do the environment around.