With an official opening ceremony slated for midday SLT on Friday, February 20th, 2015, the six regions of the 2015 Second Life Science-Fiction Convention, organised by the SL Sic-Fi Alliance, are now open and will remain docked in Second Life through until March 1st, 2015 inclusive.
The theme for this year’s events is that of Sci-Fi resorts, and the names of the six regions, selected by popular vote on the part of residents, reflects this:
- Pern Sound (Red Sector) – Named for the planet Pern, central to Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders mythology, and the third planet orbiting Rukbat.
- Magrathea (Gold Sector) – Named for the homeworld of the legendary planet builders in Douglas Adams’ Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, and perhaps best remembered for mice, missiles, whales and petunias. Oh, and a designer called Slartibartfast as well, of course…
- Risa (Orange Sector) – Named for the “interstellar vacation planet” in Star Trek, and also referred to as Epsilon Ceti B II.
- Fhloston Paradise (Purple Sector) – Named for the luxury cruise where The Fifth Element’s Corbin Dallas, together with the Fifth Element, Leeloo, must retrieve the first four elements.
- New Vegas (Blue Sector) – From Babylon 5, the Earth Alliance resort city on Mars which draws its name from Earth’s Las Vegas.
- Sihnon (Green Sector) – The third planet orbiting the White Sun, and one of the two major planets of the universe created by Joss Whedon for his television series Firefly. It is also the home of the person from whom I took my name: Inara Sierra 🙂 .
Each sector has its own teleport hub (provided in the links above), allowing for quick and easy hopping between regions – although most people will likely want to explore on foot once they’ve arrived. However, do remember that, in a change from previous years, the 2015 convention doesn’t only take place on the ground – there are booths to be found overhead as well, out “in space”, adding to the sci-fi feel of activities . So keep your eye out for teleports and other means to go skyward to destinations (and don’t forget the Zocalo from Babylon 5 is under the waves of Pern Sound).
One way of getting around is via the convention taxis, tours, and shuttles. The taxis are self-fly, can carry up to three people and can be rezzed at any of the taxi stations like the one I used in Pern Sound. I found a starting point for the dragon tours in Magrathea; I didn’t notice any others in my travels, but might have missed them. The shuttles offer a kind of convention auto-pilot “bus service”, ferrying people around (and over) the convention regions.
When exploring the regions, one will find an interesting mix of merchants and role-play groups (see the exhibitor list for details) and, for those engaged in the scavenger hunt, quite possibly the stars you are looking for (so to speak). A programme of entertainment has been put together for the convention, starting with the aforementioned opening ceremony, which will take place at Merciless Ming’s. There will also be live entertainments, DJ, film screenings and more, with full details of all goings-on to be found via the convention’s Events Calendar. In addition, information givers located next to the major telehubs also provide a run-down of the current day’s events for those arriving in any of the regions, if they wish to find out what’s going on and when.
Whatever your interest in science-fiction, be sure to set your phaser on fun and head back to the future with a visit to the SL Sci-Fi convention, and as this is a Relay for Life event, keep an eye-out for RFL-related vendors and kiosks as you explore.
Related Links
- SL Sci-Fi conventions website
- Conventions teleport hubs:
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 