REVISED

I hear you You probably haven't got my email. I've prepared something for you: a landscape (probably a bit too dramatic) and a flat softly tiled plane with lightrings from David's and my tutorial (which I prefer). I have the files at http://www.horo.ch/xchg/ where you can rightclick on the zip-files and download them. This should give you a start. Just remove the blue sphere and the cylinder-stand.

What are you looking after? If the center object is suppose to be a "dark mystical orb" of some sort, I don't think there's any chance it would look better on a landscape. Try "locking it" inside an isolated space(a room?). If it's suppose to be a freaky temple, it would look better if there is something under it and if there are some mountains around it that would cover the horozon. Changing the sky and using different light set might also make it better.