Day: October 7, 2019

Unconditional, designed by Tomisnotaboy and Moonsoul, is a Homestead region that has been garnering attention since it opened to the public in the past week – and rightly so. It is a visually stunning region, one that appears to have been brought together in a remarkably short period of time: the About Land floater suggests it arrived on the Grid on Tuesday, October 1st, 2019, yet it was open to all before the weekend had started!

The above should not be taken to mean the region has been in any way rushed – far from it; what is presented (although in part still a work in progress during our visits) is well put together, and offers a visually engaging setting that is rich in charm and flows naturally throughout.

Unconditional love — in its most simplest form — means appreciating someone else for who they truly are. It means loving them when they are unlovable, and in spite of their imperfections and mistakes.

– from the region’s About Land description

Split into a number of islands, most of them low-lying, Unconditional presents the kind of place I think many of us would like to escape to and set up home, were we able to do so. Two houses are to be found on the region, both towards its eastern extreme, and to the south and north respectively. These have been placed by Chavonne McAuley, whom I believe is the region holder. Unfurnished at the time of out visits, both houses appeared to be open to the public, although the one to the north-east, and sitting on the highest point within the region, is placed within its own parcel and so may eventually be intended for private use.

The island this house sits upon is the largest is the group, sitting above the rest as a pair of table-like hills that are home to both the house and a windmill that sits as if guarding the steps leading up to the house. The pairing of house and and windmill suggest this may once of been a working environment – perhaps a small farm (there are still geese and goats to be found here), but which has now been re-purposed.

Paths of various sorts run across the land here, perhaps the most fetching of them being an avenue of bent trees, reached from the house and windmill by a trail of cut log sections, that points the way to the western end of the island, a rocky bluff on which sits a little table of rock complete with brazier and seating – just one of many places to rest scattered throughout the region. A wooden board walk that also starts close to the windmill to present an alternative route west, stepping out and around the island’s northern cliffs, where waters tumble in a series of falls from a humped hill (which is also cut into by the sealed mouth of an old tunnel or shaft).

To the west, the land falls away sharply, a little stone bridge connecting it to a sandy isle. Such is the narrow channel between isle and island, the two might have one time been a single mass, the gap between them created by a partnership of time and tide. Now this western lowland encircles a pond of  – presumably – fresh water, whilst itself is bounded by wetlands. The latter extend to the south and east in a haze of sun-bleached reeds and grasses through which winds a further board walk, this one offering the way to a stilted cabin standing above the reeds and water, a cosy deck – and at its end, a little sandy bar that almost forms the region’s centre.

The second house on the region looks, from a distance, to be a rather grand affair. It sits on its own island that has sea wall to one side and rocky shoulders on the other, allowing most of the island to offer a flat expanse of grass, rock and sand that forms a garden / yard space where, given the chairs and tables set out and the presence of a coffee / hot chocolate bar, visitors are more than welcome. Reached via a bridge connecting it to the larger island and its house, this is a place experiencing its own little pocket of weather: while the region as a whole sits in sunshine, here the rain falls lightly but persistently.

The landing point for Unconditional sits on the long finger of a sand bar to the west of the region. Currently experiencing a low tide, the edge of this island has clearly been shaped by the action of tides rising and departing, as they have cut a low, but clear lip around much of the land in their back-and-forth passage. Linked to the rest of the region by yet another board walk (and rather novel tree trunk “tunnel”), this sand bar offers something of a different look and feel to the rest of the landscape, one that offers its own enticements and photographic appeal.

Rich in detail without ever feeling overcrowded, Unconditional really is a striking location for exploring, photographing and simply enjoying. Rezzing is open, but if you need props, etc., please remember to clean them up behind you.

SLurl Details

• Unconditional (Passionata, rated Adult)

With thanks for all the pointers: Shawn, Morgana, Wurfi, Miro!