Following the recommendation of Carelyna, I hopped over to the Portal Area within the Full region of Color Alchemist, and the home of the brand of the same name operated by Delain Canucci, and the portal area provides access to her store, to Inspire Space park (where Delain is also one of the creators) and to a quite fabulous ground level build. Entitled DREAMS, it stands as a reflection of Delain’s love of creativity, fantasy and art – and it is a fabulous environment, rich in detail, with echoes of various fantasy classics together with a little humour to help things along.
This years journey through the enchanted Elven land of Dreams, venturing deeper into a mysterious region—a realm of ancient Magic Gardens, where vibrant, glowing nature pulses with the power of mages.
– DREAMS About Land description
To visit DREAMS from the portal area, click on the portal itself and accept the local Experience, and you’ll be teleported down to the starting point for explorations. To experience the setting at its best, you will require either a PBR enabled viewer or, if using a pre-PBR version of a viewer, have Advanced Lighting Model (ALM – Preferences → Graphics) enabled. Draw distance should be set reasonably high (notes displayed at the setting recommend 205 metres, but given the general layout, this is not 100% required; it can still be enjoyed at 128m Draw Distance, for example).
Shadows are also recommended if your viewer can handle them; but again, this should not be a showstopper if your viewer is not shadows-friendly. Do, however, enable local sounds and, if you fancy a musical accompaniment to your explorations, then the audio stream can be turned on as well to provide music from Cinemix.
A single path winds outward from the arrival point and the portal, presenting a single way forward. However, it quickly branches to offer multiple options for exploration, and which you take is entirely up to you. The most colourful runs through the centre of the setting, a garden of gorgeous and exotic blooms large and small; a place where giant butterflies spread their wings, fae folk flitter and sit and rabbits hop. But there are also ways rising bey slope and steps, branching and dipping into tunnels or slipping past the maws of great caverns.
Within the latter might be found creatures more fey than fair; giant spiders, strange monsters, grinning imps and more. Passage through a tunnel will once again bring you to a colourful garden, but not before passing an rocky chamber hiding its own secret. Pass another way from the arrival point, and the way will become darker and more twisted, the air heavy as if one had stepped into Mirkwood. Here spiders might also be found, but so might one come across deer and standing stones and a path to a high alter of sorts on which a glowing figures stand upon magical symbols.
Elsewhere, giant carved figures guard a garden within the gardens, a place mindful of Elven folk and where water plays. A short distance away an baker’s cottage sits on a nub of rock, its thatched roof aglow inviting visitors to cross the bridges leading to it and perhaps attempt to step inside – or at least rest on the rocking chairs on the cottage porch. It is one of the bridges lined to the bakery that will carry you to (or bring you from) the dark woodland realm, passing by way of Cerberus.
This Mirkwood-like realm is not only a place of spiders, hooded figures and signs of strange magic, it is also where strange forest creature roam, tall as Ents yet not Ents, eyes and hearts glowing. However, it you do want to see an Ent, then find your way to a cliffside path and you will fall under the gaze of one as it looms above the path as the latter will take you back towards the yellow-roofed baker’s cottage.
Find your way to the cemetery, and you will also likely find the way to the floating castle and the treasure awaiting within. But be careful – as the path might also lead your to the sea monsters lurking within the green mist at the edge of the land.
I didn’t spot too many places to sit within the setting; however, the point here perhaps is not to sit and watch, but to explore and find; as such the lack of such spots didn’t bother me. In fact, I found the setting so enchanting, I decided to put together a short video – hope you like it and the selected piece of music I’m used for it.
SLurl Details
- DREAMS, Color Alchemists (rated Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 