Month: December 2024

Hera (zee9) opened a couple of new settings for people to enjoy in the run-up (and hopefully over) the holiday break (Hera’s builds do tend to vanish rapidly, so an early visit is always recommended!). Entitled respectively Decopunk Metropolis  and Neverever Land, they offer very different settings one to the other, with a hint of each of their natures given in their names. Both can be reached from the primary Landing Point, and given the introductory notecard to Decopunk Metropolis is offered at the Landing Point, I’m going to start with that setting.

Decopunk is one of the many offshoots of the original cyberpunk genre which have sprouted down the years. As the name might suggest it is centred around the art deco and Streamline Moderne art styles, folding into itself the likes of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) and 1991’s The Rocketeer. Technically a subset of dieselpunk (interwar period through to the 1950s), Decopunk remains firmly anchored in the period running through the 1920 to early 1930s.

All of this is presented in Decopunk Metropolis, which neatly echoes Hera’s Blade Runner / Drune style of design, in that we are placed within a city-style environment. However, it is one very different in styling and presentation; not Blade runner hints here; instead the references touch on Lang’s film whilst folding into itself physical-world Deco touches (perhaps most obviously New York City’s Chrysler Building).

Within it, and in difference to builds like Brutal City (which I wrote about here), there is no clearly defined “ground level”; the buildings rise from the mist, lit windows staring out like so many eyes, their upper reaches pillared and ornate, lit by streams of yellow falling along their flanks and spotlights thrown bright pools of light into the heavens, all watched over  by giant rooftop statues staring into the night.

Which is not to say the setting is without roads; they are most definitely present – they’re just as suspended as the buildings, ornate arches rising over them as if holding them aloft as they wind between (and through) the towers. Occupying two levels, they are linked via great vehicular elevators, with the lower level of roads offering three routes of exploration from the setting’s airport, the arrival zone for those coming from the main Landing Point.

Two of these roadway routes form a loop of which almost reaches completely around the setting. It is just cut short from doing so on the south-east corner of the city, where the road ends at one of the vehicular elevators mentioned above. The western around of the road, however, makes its way all the way around the city to a point directly opposite the airport. This is home to the Cortez Hotel, a place crowned by an ornate tower and also to be reached by taking the arrow-straight road also departing the airport to cut across the setting, north-to-south.

In making the crossing, the road bridge passes through the tallest building in the setting, which has a spire rising from it that looks almost as if it is expecting an airship to nuzzle up against it. This tower is also home to the Moka Efti lounge, with its very Chicago meets Cabaret vibe, and the local casino. These offer their own attractions and  – should you find them (it’s not hard) each offers a light-draped footbridge spanning the gulf between it and the east and west towers. Paralleling the road bridges, these each have a elevator station at their far ends waiting to take you to their particular points of interest, be it the apartment house high up on the eastern tower (and reach by way of taking the elevator up from the walkway to the road bridge, and then again up from their to the apartment), or to either / both of the Starlight Jazz Club and the Shanghai Dragon (again passing by way of the elevated road level).

Another way of getting around is via the local The Fifth Element style taxis; only rather than flying your from point-to-point a-la Corbin Dallas, these will whisk you around via teleporting. Just touch the taxi sign on a waiting cab and then pick a destination from the list. Those finding their way to the garage at the airport might also avail themselves of the motorbike that can be rezzed there, whilst also, and for the keen-eyed, there are various metal catwalks and stairways which may additionally lead to little places of interest, if followed and climbed.

Neverever Land, by contrast, offers a somewhat tropical setting, located at the region’s ground level. It is reached by way of the main landing point, and then an intermediary point, where more about the setting can be learned.

As might be guessed from the name, Neverever Land draws inspiration from Peter Pan – more J.M. Barrie than Disney – and the various additional works to which it has given rise. Comprising a series of interlinked islands set against a tropical back-drop, each of which contains setting based on both J.M. Barrie’s work whilst perhaps casting a wider net, the easiest way to describe this setting is that of a Neverland where the inhabitants are grown-up, but who have never quite lost touch with their spark of childhood sense of adventure and imagination.

This is actually setting which Hera last revealed in 2021, and which I wrote about in Hera’s Neverever Land in Second Life. however, as with all of Hera’s builds this in not just a rolling-out of something she’s had in-world before; there are differences. Perhaps the most noticeable of these – and one which extends to Decopunk Metropolis, is the use of AI NPCs.

These come in multiple forms throughout both settings – human, automaton, animal, bird – even, should you find it, a sandwich which has having an existential crisis concerning its purpose (being eaten) and its desire to continue (clue: look towards the left-hand end of the bar in Moka Efti). Hera started experimenting with AI scripted agents with the help and support of Kacey Stratton (in fact, one of the scripted agents from Brutal City pops-up in Decopunk Metropolis, but with a different persona.

I enjoyed my interactions with several of the character in the Brutal City build, but confess I didn’t gain the same level of enjoyment with the majority of the characters here; whereas the AIs at Brutal City were largely conversational in nature, I found the AIs at both Decopunk and Neverever Land too expositional in their multi-paragraph replies. In mentioning this to Hera, she indicated there had been an oversight in keeping the AI responses more constrained. Whilst unfortunate in the way it – for me – killed interaction, it most certainly does not spoil a visit.

Rounded out with a nicely curated audio mix on the audio stream that fits the Decopunk Metropolis setting perfectly, I thoroughly recommend the city as a place to visit, and Neverever Land as a nice addition.

SLurl Details

• Decopunk Metropolis / Neverever Land landing point (Themyscira, rated Adult)