The subjects of BDSM and D/s are not to everyone’s taste, and given this broad cross-section of readership I’m fortunate enough to have with this blog, they are areas I only occasionally cover when it comes to places in Second Life to visit (for example, Athenaeum, which I’ve covered a few times in these pages). However, there is one I’ve been meaning to cover for a while is that of Angel of Pain, a Full region held by fellow Second Life explorer and blogger, Susann DeCuir, and I find it both engaging and unique in looks.
As one might expect from a seasoned traveller with an eye for region designs and an accomplished Second Life photographer as Susann undoubtedly is, as well as being focused on Adult activities, Angel of Pain is also exceptionally photogenic and extremely well laid out, offering a good mix of ground level public spaces, all nicely interconnected through the landscaping and design, with more private areas – vignettes, you might say – occupying platforms in the sky, where the regions landing point and its associated locations and the Angel of Pain club might be found.
Angel of Pain is built on a complete region. Here you can find many different ways to enjoy yourself. From soft to hard, everything is included for our guests. At the main landing point you will find a teleport board on one of the walls. There you can also find a dating service, teleports to other friendly sims, a group gift.
– Susann’s introduction to the region
The landing point offers general information on the region and its supporting in-world Group, teleport / landmark givers to various other regions in Second Life, links to the Angel of Pain Flickr group (membership required), Facebook page and to Susann’s blog, and the group joiner. Also to be found here is the region’s main teleport board and corridors leading the art gallery – which was at the time of my visit featured images by Ludi Taurus (due to run through until July 25th), and the Angel of Pain Dating Bar. The latter is a large space with central bar, a stage, seating areas and spaces for adult / BDSM play.
The teleport board provides access to all of the locations to be found within the Region. Several of these are located in the sky – as noted – with the rest on the ground. As the latter can all be reached by following the well laid-out paths around the region, I recommend you select the option to jump down to Angel of Pain Ground, and follow the paths and trails from there and use the teleport boards found throughout to reach the locations in the sky. Prior to taking the teleport, however, I would further strongly recommend you have your viewer set to Use Shared Environment as this does change to suit places as you explore; you should also enable local sounds.
The arrival area on the ground is close to a large mansion with a casual pool and seating area to the rear. The mansion, with a foyer containing a pool of its own flanked by two other rooms, carries on with a theme started in the main landing point sky platform and found throughout the region, and which I found particularly attractive, artful and effective: Susann’s use of greenery: vines, plants, shrubs and grass / flowers inside building as much as outdoors.
The mansion sits with its back to a broad channel cutting into the landscape from the north, running first south and then west, where it slims before exiting the region to the south as a narrow neck of water. With a second channel branching to the east, the water divides the landscape into two large land masses and a smaller island, bridges linking them together.
To the front of the mansion as it faces south, there is a terrace overlooking the southern lowlands and coast, with two paths reaching out and down to these lowlands. One of these paths runs down to a north-west headland sitting between the mouth of the channel and a small bay on the west side of the land. the headland is planted with laurels above which lanterns float, whilst the path passes under a torii gate and runs to a cluster of three Japanese-themed structures forming the Shibari House.
Meanwhile, and to the east, the path runs down to the narrow neck of the channel splitting the land, passing a gazebo along the way and then hopping over the water via a little hump-back bridge. From here it continues on through a wild garden and climbs steps up to the Church of Pain, thence onwards to the Tower with its multiple levels of play areas and open-sided wooden decks, and finally crosses another bridge to the small island and the ruins and decks located there offering further bondage play areas.
If one misses the path down to the little hump-backed bridge, the path will carry them to Pleasure in the Rain, a barn sitting in its own rainstorm and converted into a cosy little hideaway with a parasoled hot tub outside. These are not the only locations at ground level, but I’ll leave you to discover the rest should you choose to visit.
Using the teleport boards will provide access to the more personal spaces: the Bathhouse and Garden, the Library, the Interrogation room, the two Dungeons, the Loft, Sex Adventure, Secret Room, Red Room, D/s Heaven, and Lounge. Some of these have uses that are obviously described in their names; with others, the potential use is perhaps less clear – but some have the sense of been connected to one another, even though there are located in different parts of the region. The Loft and the Library, for example, are not directly connected, but the have a feeling of being part of the same building.
Also to be found in the sky is the Angel of Pain Club. This continues the theme of using trees and shrubs as well and the hints of a religious motif (as with “angel”) by being built in a church-like building and having winged demons and statues of robed figures. Caught in a red environment setting (again, be sure to have Use Shared Environment option in the viewer) and with red the predominant décor colour, and decorated with themed images, the club has an atmosphere quite apart from the rest of the region and its various locations, one with is both inviting whilst the pentagram on the floor and the demon figurines give it a darker twist.
Tasteful, with plenty of indications of its D/s BDSM theme scattered throughout the ground level settings without overly intruding into any photographs one might take of the setting unless wanted, Angel of Pain is very much an Adult playground – but one that is also richly landscaped and photogenic. The smaller, more themed areas in the sky, meanwhile, offer opportunities for more private and personal times whilst also providing potentially ideal environments for more erotic photography.
SLurl Details
- Angel of Pain (rated:Adult)
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