CCC2 - skyshards II

--- About ---

This track was built for Lentilion's Cornucopia Campaign Competition, a mappack consisting of 25 high-quality community-built maps featuring all styles.

I decided to go with my most confident style, creating a dirt route deprived of so called "edge dirt". You can find both: very open platform turns as well as tight dirt-road turns. For scenery I went all out, creating a dusty and muddy set of lakes pouring water between each other through waterfalls, with a bit of spice added by colorful lights.

The map is a sequel to my Canyon map called Skyshards (duh). The connection between those maps is explained in Story down below.

--- Story ---

Two years ago, in the empty parts of Colorado Plateau, a gravitational anomaly was discovered. Giant rocks were spotted flying in the air as if they were made out of paper. At the time of discovery, it was uncertain whether this unnatural sight would exist for much longer. The news about the anomaly instantly spread around the world, and sparked interest of multi-bilionares, one of whom ordered to quickly create a one of its kind autonomous Race Track.

One week after the track's completion, 4 weeks after the discovery, the Great Hunting Competition has been hosted. Challengers would remotely connect from a driver's centre 200km away to the autonomous vehicles serviced by limited on-track staff. To say that the event was popular is an understatement. It has flooded all sorts of media ever since the competition's announcement. People would follow the track's building proccess via a public video stream, and the main event has been watched by bilions of people worldwide. Out of hundreds of exclusive participants from 52 countries, the one and only Great Hunter was revealed.

Unfortunately the track didn't last forever, after 3 months of nearly constant usage the anomaly has had a burst of weakeness, which caused the track to collapse into the ground. Upon impact, parts of the shards broke off and returned to the skies. Immediate action was taken. The government ordered to restrict the whole area due to safety hazard. It looked as if Skyshards would never see racing action again...

The legacy of the event didn't dissolve. Just one week after restricting the area a new group of investors has been created to bring racing action back. For some it was a no-brainer after seeing the exposure of the original event. We can't really tell how the government's orded was lifted, but it should be quite obvious. The plans were way more ambitious than just the race track. Not only would the spirit of Skyshards be brought back, but the whole area would undergo extreme terraforming never seen in the history of humankind. Ambitious plan involved creating the Sky Gardens: the biggest botanical garden in the world with a race track inside, a place where families can admire the beauty of nature and racefans can express their love for the sport. It was estimated that the whole project will take around 10 years to complete.

However, the world couldn't wait that long, and the investors knew it. After 15 months of slow preparation, the creation of a temporary racetrack has begun. Due to excessive amount of water being pumped, the surface of the area became a mix of dust and mud, which luckily won't be lifted up by the anomaly. A new off-road course has been completed just 2 months ago. Unlike its predecessor, the drivers would experience the tracks in person. This caused a controversy, as many feared that the anomaly's inconsistency would cause a disaster once again, and it has been recorded that the gravitational pull has been weakening over the months.

Racing has officialy returned to Skyshards with the event Great Hunting Competition 2021 which followed the steps of its predecessor, with the exception of drivers feeling the adrenaline live. Since then there has not been a day without racing action. Worldwide drivers are willing to pay thousands of dollars to experience the track themselves.

The off-road course will operate for the next 3 months. After that a maintenance will be performed depending on the deformation of the terrain. This cycle will repeat until one year before Sky Garden's opening. In the near future the skyshards will be carefully removed to prevent a disaster. One shall admire the area's identity as long as it lasts.