A taste of Dystopia in Second Life

Dystopia // [flit ink] + aberrant – click any image for full size

Dystopia is the home of the [flit ink] and Aberrant brands. It is also another of those in-world commercial locations well worth a visit whether or not you’re looking for avatar accessories, simply because of the amount of care and attention which has gone into making the region both photogenic and open to the potential for casual role-play.

As the name might suggest, together with the About Land description, the role-play in this case centred on a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future where climate warming has run amok, and (it would seem) civilisation has broken down, leaving the shattered remains of an urban area – where is not stated, although it presents a curious blending of American, British and Japanese cultural elements – which now appears to be in the hands of gangs, or perhaps tribal units.

Dystopia // [flit ink] + aberrant

It’s a haunting place, roughly divided between the three districts: Dystopia, Carnage City and The Slums, and caught in a perpetual night, although I opted to use daylight settings when taking pictures. All three areas naturally flow one to the next, providing a continuous setting for role-play and / or photography.

The given landing point drops visitors on the upper level of the region, alongside the two stores.  Nearby, a fuel tanker is ablaze, perhaps the first indication that things are amiss. Across the road a deserted children’s playground overlooks the weed-choked river which diagonally cuts through the town, its far bank home to a strange conglomeration of buildings and metal shipping containers. Litter lies on the tarmac, graffiti covers walls, and everywhere windows are boarded, batter or broken.

Dystopia // [flit ink] + aberrant

Follow the road past the burning tanker and around the corner and you’ll walk past rudimentary club houses, shattered shops and what appears to be a hastily evacuated school-house, now given over to the base of operations for a local gang. Just beyond this, a bridge provides access to the remnants of a decaying amusement park. This sits alongside the shanty-like village of containers and wooden structures  first seen from across the river. Built with the aid of a massive construction crane, this shanty town, with its ladders and connecting aerial walkways looks to have been built for defence as much as anything else.

To the west of all this, and lying on lower ground, the rest of the town has been overtaken by rising sea levels. Here the sidewalks are barely above water which has turned the streets into rivers. The futuristic awning of a subway station rises from the flood, the handrails of steps down into its bowels offer a forlorn pointer to the platform and rails submerged below, where a strange mix of Japanese signage and very British destinations can be found – although unsurprisingly, all trains to them have been cancelled.

Dystopia // [flit ink] + aberrant

With a smaller, more rural elements which include dirt tracks, shingle sided church, tree houses, and hilltop moonshine still, a trailer park a plane wreck and even a small run of tunnels, Dystopia offers a lot of space for exploration and – as noted – casual role-play for those so minded.

For those interested in the role-play element, the region has an accompanying website where more information can be found. However, this doesn’t appear to have been updated in a while, so I’m not at all sure how active the region is RP-wise or events wise – but still offers a good starting point for finding out more.

All told an engaging design by Flit Ulrik (of Flit Ink), Dylain Nikita (of Aberrant), Epidural hematoma (Epimitheus), and MollyWolliDoodle, Dystopia makes for and interesting visit.

Dystopia // [flit ink] + aberrant

SLurl Details

• Dystopia // [flit ink] + aberrant (Excalibur Serendipity, rated: moderate)

With thanks to Loverdag for the pointer, and apologies to Epidural hematoma for missing his name off the list of designers.