When I was deciding what kind of projects to include in the zine (somewhere back in February or maybe earlier), I knew I had to include the guide on gnomish distillery (I already had it all planned) and a tree-making guide (by then I had done some experiments to make sure it was doable with only basic materials), plus one more that would complement those two. Since the first two leaned toward fantasy, I went with something more sci-fi and simply wrote "futuristic temple" in my notes.
Months passed, and a few weeks ago, after finishing the distillery and tree guides, I finally sat down to work on the third project. I opened my notes, pretty sure that Martin from the past had made all the necessary preparations, only to find that the entire project's notes were two words long.
"Futuristic Temple" was apparently all I had to work with. I'm glad time works the way it does, cause I'm pretty sure that if I got to meet the Martin from the past, we'd be in for a stern talk. I've spent about a week toying with different ideas for the temple. I didn't want to make another grim Gothic cathedral - plenty of those around. I've also watched a YouTube video about over-the-top movies from the last couple of years, and Mortal Engines (the one with cities riding around the world and devouring each other) was listed among them.
So I leaned into this aesthetic and created my very own small walking temple. In my mind, it's like a smaller structure that traverses the world, not a city, but a single large building able to walk on its own. It made me think about hermit crabs for some reason, and I went with it.
And so here it is: The third guide in the zine will help you build your own crawling temple. I don't know, maybe it's like a missionary vehicle in a dystopian world. This will be the final, most advanced guide and also the one that leaves you with the most options.
Shot this photo a few hours ago. The temple still needs a few final touches (maybe a bit of vegetation and more dark stains from the smoke and the diesel engine in the back), but it's otherwise done, along with EXTENSIVE notes for the future Martin, who will be writing the guide next week.
With that out of the way, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to finalize the text and layout by the end of May. Printing should take only a couple of days (zines are cool that way), so I'm pretty confident I can meet the June deadline. We'll see what the future holds, though, and what the future Martin will have to deal with.
