Seaclaid’s fantasy setting in Second Life

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)