Month: October 2020

Seaclaid is a place that appeared in the Destination Guide under both the Recently Added and Editor’s picks category. Described as a fantasy role-play region, there was something about it that caught my eye and had me hopping over to take a look – only to find an intriguing mix of settings, ideas and design that is brought together in the most aesthetically pleasing and attention-holding manner.

Designed by KitKat (KatieLuna), the region welcomes all creatures of fantasy – fae folk, dragons, lycans, vampires (but *no* Bloodlines HUDs) – and even us mortal, ordinary (but nonetheless pesky!) humans too – offering all such folk a warm welcome via the accompanying website:

The fae have returned home. The long abandon isle springs back to life. Light, laughter and magic abound in the air, the water, the very ground beneath your feet. Come find a new home among friends in our role play community.

– Seaclaid website

Surrounded by mountains and sitting under a night sky lit by a mix of the blinking eyes of stars and the flash of coastal lightning, the island is veiled from the world by both. The landing point lies a little off-centre, sitting on a cobbled street tucked under the shadow of the castle that dominates the landscape. Aligned along a north-south line, the great hall of the castle looks out over the enclosed harbour of the town beneath it.

The street itself runs south towards the castle on its raised table of rock, the maw of a tunnel appearing as if it might provide access to whatever lies beneath the castle proper – but as you approach it, baleful red eyes glare outwards from the tunnel’s depths, suggesting that venturing into it might not by a good idea.

Whilst at the landing point, people have the opportunity to follow links to join the local group, find the region’s Discord server and website  and – for those just visiting rather than engaging in role-play – obtain a visitor’s tag.

The town, with European and colonial style buildings and cottages and paved piazzas, offers a curious mix of time frames that is engaging. Arranged around the small harbour with its cosy little beach, both of which are protected by the span of a broad bridge, there is a sense of enormous age within the town that mixes well with the modern cosmopolitan air it wraps about itself in the form of the bicycles racked next to the magazine stand, the little bistro café, the pub on the corner of the piazza and so on.

The town’s businesses also offer a curious mix of the ordinary and extraordinary: again, the café and the pub, together with an art gallery  sitting in the former, while the waterfront apothecary’s coach and the strange blue light spilling from an upstairs window of one of the waterfront houses hint at the potential for magic and mystery to be had here.

From the harbour, cobbled roads flanked by footpaths meander outwards to point the ways that might be taken through the rest of the region. Eastwards, one of these curls between a narrow second bay that cuts into the rocky uplands and the mist-shrouded churchyard with its neighbouring manse. Twisting again, the road runs along the side of a manor house shrouded by trees before turning south and then west, rising to pass by the imposing entrance to the castle to reach the western side of the region and that high, broad bridge where lighting flickers and thunder rumbles.

To the north-west of the town sits a little village of quaint cottages. It can be reached by following the road noted above or by heading due west along the landing point street, passing through another tunnel in the process. Take this road north from where it leaves the tunnel, rather than following it into the village, and it will take you to the wilder parts of the land.

Following the rugged coast, this road uses a humped bridge to leap a gorge that feeds water from the surrounding lake through to where the east side bay cuts into the land. Beyond the gorge, the road runs to an end and an enchanted woodland begins. Within this lie turf-roofs cottages overlooked by a flatted-roofed structure with an otherworldly feel (reached by climbing the green slopes to it or by finding the stone stairs that rise to it from the back of the town). In turn, the cottages and woodland looks down on a the misty stone of a henge hiding from the rest of the region on the north-east corner of the land.

Many of the cottages and houses around the region are available for rent at a modest fee for those who wish to make Seaclaid their role-play home (so please keep this in mind when visiting the region to avoid intruding on people’s privacy), while the role-play itself marked by minimal rules and has a focus on creative, community storytelling.

Rich in detail, sounds and ideally suited to its environment settings, Seaclaid lives up to the idea of being an immersive, atmospheric fantasy role-play setting, and those interested in joining in with activities should contact KitKat in-world.

SLurl Details

• Seaclaid (Fantasy Forest, rated Moderate)

Bisou Dexler recently announced an addition to his extraordinary region design, The Outer Garden, a place we’ve visited a number of times over the years (see Return to the Outer Garden in Second Life (2017) and Timeless peace in The Outer Garden (2015). The new addition to this Full region (which includes the private region land capacity bonus) is called The Farthest Light.

The new build is reached via the teleport mirror located at the main landing point at The Outer Garden. For those who have not rich in the fantastical and whimsical, and if you’ve not previously visited it, I recommend taking a look around before progressing onwards, as it will set the tone for an onward visit. However, while talking teleporters, I would that at the time of my visit to see the latest additions, a couple of the mirrors in the network didn’t appear to have been set to public use.

The Farthest Light comprises two parts; the first and larger offers a night setting (although the surrounding shell can be de-rendered for alternative looks to the setting   should you wish), and is visually stunning in its presentation.

The arrival point sits within a lighthouse sitting atop a slender pillar that rises from what appears to be cresting waves a far distance below. It stands alone from the rest of the setting, which is dominated by a floating castle hanging in the night sky like an ice palace.

The “land” before this castle is, to say the least, chaotic. Resembling a draught board, it undulated as breaks, mixed with water-like clouds that pulse and swirl like waves caught amidst the rocks of a coastline. A bridge spans one of the undulation in the landscape, but is canted wildly, while telegraph poles march along one of the waves of the tiled land, whilst beneath it, what appears to be the façade of a collapsed building lies, forming a new face to the setting. Fish circle and swirl in the air above and below this strange landscape while the most whimsical of flowers rise up from the cloud waters.

All of this only scratches the surface of what its a most unusual world. As well the columns supporting the lighthouse and the castle are other, shorter pillars rising to decagon tops. Many of these are empty; some are home to further objects of interest: stage curtains here, a broken trampoline there – you can even take a turn as Schroeder and try your hand at playing a miniature piano – or play the full-size own outside of the lighthouse).

These pillars and columns stand within a setting of its own, presided over by a Moon rising over the cresting waters from which the pillars rise, whilst more moons hang in the black sky.

But how does one reach these various points? There are no obvious paths or stairways, visible or transparent, to be found. The answer is given in a sign just outside the lighthouse where visitors arrive: take to the wing and fly. Whether this means physically wearing any wings you have (which would be fully in keeping with the setting), or just taking to the air is up to you. Whilst flying, be sure as well to check the floating rock with the large lit window fronting it. I also understand there is a tour system that will fly you around the setting, although I confess I failed to find it.

The castle, when reached is mostly empty; but find your way to the great hall and you will find more worth seeing and photographing, together with another of the teleport mirrors. This will carry you down to the second part of The Furthest Light, a watery scene complete with a sinking vessel.

A  third build element, one I hadn’t visited previously, can be reached through at least some of the teleport mirrors is the Travelling Carnival, less complex setting where a gondola is making its way through a sea of plants and moons towards a walled gate with the promise of blue skies beyond.  

Admittedly, how you get back to the other platforms from here is a little difficult to work out – at the time of my visit there was no teleporter – however, walk far enough, and you will find your way down to the ground level of the gardens. Although again, this was one of the locations where the teleport mirror that was available had apparently yet to be set to public use at the time of my visit.

SLurl Details

• The Outer Garden (main landing point, rated: Moderate)