Sal-Clirdia Reference Pictures

Today I've got my hands on designing Sal-Clirdia, the capital city of Aironia. In my mind I've always imagined it to be a gigantic trade center with Persian-style architectures, resting on the golden sand of a great desert. Speaking of details, there has to be a lot of fabrics on the buildings, as after all it is the city of air and light, and in my opinion  there is nothing better to illustrate it than colourful fabrics hang on the tall walls, blown by dry, hot, desert wind. In addition, since Sal-Clirdia is such a populated city, it has to have very reliable water supply, so I'm trying to figure out a way to add some water resources to it somehow --- just the right amount, though, as I still want people to recognize it as a desert city.

I've got the basic perspectives, scales and big values set up on canvas. But when it came to details, I found myself wasn't too sure of how exactly I should approach. I've always got vague images in my mind of what it should like, but when it came to actually draw it out, those images faded away. Therefore, though I didn't really want to, I knew it was time to do some research, again.

So here we go. First step, reference pictures. I googled lots of pictures similar to what's in my mind, including Lut Golein from Diablo II, Caldeum from Diablo III (which I haven't got the time to play yet), designs from Prince of Persia series, Heroes of Might and Magic V and, most importantly, photographs of Iraq, Iran and other Persian countries. Here are some of the pictures that I found.

Oh, I thought of a good nickname for Sal-Clirdia --- City of White Nights. How does that sound? Hope you guys enjoy the reference pictures.