Category: Exploring Second Life

Cocoon – click any image for full size

Note: Cocoon has relocated and updated. The SLurls in this post have therefore been updated to reflect the new region. Please also refer to for a review of the new Cocoon.

Cocoon is the name of a cyberpunk role-play region designed by Ellie (Mii1a), and it offers an atmospheric environment with a rich back-story.

It is the year 2487. The Earth surface has become virtually uninhabitable as consequence of wars and environmental neglect. Most of humanity has fled the surface in the hopes of building a new future.

Cities slowly float around three thousand meters high above the surface, to escape the corroding effects of the pollution and radiation on the city’s hull over time.

The cities are connected by dense air-traffic and there is a booming economy for all types of goods. The cities are controlled by many different rival mega-concerns in the science and weapon industry, yet most parts of the population don’t care about the large-scale politics and established connections on many levels between the cities. There exists a thriving black market for weapons, drugs, software, food, cybernetics and other technology which remains nearly uncontrollable by the big businesses.

Cocoon

The name Cocoon is that of a “an unimportant artificial asteroid” first developed by the Cocoon Corporation some 40 years prior to the current period. Over the years it has grown to a centre of commerce sitting between floating cities of Earth and the colonies on the Moon and Mars – and a convenient place where those wishing to avoid being noticed could also find a place to hide – providing they don’t do anything to bring themselves to the attention of the security services.

The city is divided into four sectors – an automatic industrial area with docking facilities for shuttles operating between Earth, the Moon and Mars; a residential sector located along a narrow street with a mall and a black market location; the entertainment sector (also the oldest area of the facility) and sector four – the secretive area run by Cocooncorp itself and which “very few people have been able to enter that building or tell what is inside.” Finding your way around can be a tad confusing, as it’s not entirely clear whether the sectors are all on the same level or defined by height – so keep an eye on the signage.

Cocoon

The confusion induced by the design actually adds to the build, rather than detracting from it; after all, who immediately knows their way around a city on a first visit? As it is, the design encourages exploration and increases the chances of bumping into / jumping in-progress role-play. The latter appears to be entirely free-form, and includes combat via the Sosumi combat System, which can be obtained by group members via kiosks located throughout the build.

The overall design carries a look that is – as with most cyberpunk / sci-fi dystopian build – a hint of Blade Runner about it. This is not to say it is in any way derivative; rather it offers setting which may be comfortably familiar enough to encourage role-players to get involved. There are a number of ways to get around as well: on foot, via the numerous elevators and – for those who join the RP group – bikes can also be obtained for use on the multi-level roads. RP locations can be found outdoors and in. Role-play can additionally be enhanced by the media boards scattered through the city. Operated by ONN – Orbital New Network – these offer “news updates” on events which could act as springboards for further role-play.

Cocoon

Unlike many RP environments in Second Life, Cocoon appears to be a vibrant community; during our visit there were over half-a-dozen players actively participating in role-play. A comprehensive website provides those wishing to get involved all they need to know in order to join in: back story, allowed factions, rules and guidelines and an application form – group membership is via application / invitation. What is particularly interesting with the website, is the fact that is active among members: character biographies have been written, the forums look to be active, as does the photo gallery. Members are even encouraged – and do – write their own blogs.

For those looking for cyberpunk / dystopian role-play (complete with the ruins of Earth at ground level), Cocoon could be just the ticket. Those looking for futuristic setting for photography may also find the region an interesting visit (just be aware it is a role-play environment and try to dress appropriately).

Cocoon

With thanks to Shakespeare and Max for the tip.

SLurl Details

• Cocoon (Japan Rose, rated: Moderate)

Yasminia – click any image for full size

It’s been almost a year since Caitlyn and I first visited Yasminia, the homestead region designed by Busta (BadboyHi). At the time, he’d opened the region to the public for a limited time and was planning to close it once more. However, such has been the response from visitors, he decided to leave it available to public access and continue to offer people a chance to visit – and I’m happy to report it remains open to all.

Beack then Yasminia was a very pastoral setting with open fields and horses grazing, offering visitors a photogenic delight. Today’s Yasminia is very different look – albeit one no less photogenic. The largely pastoral setting has given way to one that is more mixed – still rural, but with the corner of a small town poking into it, suggesting a place where the countryside meets a more urban setting.

Yasminia

Where you begin a visit is entirely up to you, as no landing point is set. Opting for the default central arrival point on the region will deliver you to the edge of the little town. Rather than use that, however, the SLurl I’m using here will drop you off towards the north-west corner of the region, on a track running southwards above a ribbon of beach.  This can be reached via a set of stone steps descending the slope between track and sand, while across the track sit houses and outbuildings arranged around a courtyard and fronted by a paved garden with fountain and water feature. The courtyard, with its outdoor table set out with soup pots, wine and bread, makes for the ideal place to return to following a walk through the rest of the region.

The track winds its way down through the timberline towards the little town, running south and then west, offering a relaxing walk down to where the paved road running through this corner of civilisation starts. Those wishing a shorter route can walk through the gardens fronting the houses,  then take another set of stairs down to the north-eastern edge of the town, where just a few steps will bring you to the road and its companion footpath.

Yasminia

Careworn buildings line either side of the road – this is perhaps not the most prosperous place nestled within the surrounding peaks. A small chapel sits alongside the road, the tall tower of what might be a granary rising beyond it and standing sentinel between two small bays which cut their way into the land. One of these, overlooked by a broad, paved terrace set as an outdoor café, offers mooring for boats and a scenic look out over the broader bay separating Yasminia from the surrounding mountains.

The buildings backing onto the cafe terrace may all once have been thriving businesses; now however, they are run-down, deserted and empty, their windows shuttered or with blinds drawn, life having apparently moved on. Only the gas station / auto shop appears to still be doing business, perhaps the last hanger-on, even as the dirt of the tracks either end of the street encroach on its paved surface.

Yasminia

If the apparent desertion of the town is a little too much, follow the road and track north and then east as it curls around the base of the uplands on which the houses sit. It will lead you back to the beach. Here can be found signs of life aplenty: surfboards upended in the sand, chairs and seating ranged under canvas awnings, a beach side disco with dancing on the sand, fire pits, and sun loungers pairing their way down the longer ribbon of west-facing beach, presenting couples with plenty of room to relax under the sun.

Today, as noted, Yasminia presents a very different face to the world than a year ago – but one which has its own unique beauty, with places to relax and that three-sided courtyard ready to greet visitors with wine and food and the chance for friendly conversation.

Yasminia

SLurl Details

• Yasminia (Yasminia, rated: general)

Whimberly – click any image for full size

Caitlyn and I first visited Whimberly, the Homestead region designed by Staubi (Engelsstaub) in January of 2017. Back then, both of us were struck by the elegance and serenity of the region. So seeing it back in the Destination Guide with an updated image suggesting a make-over, had us hopping back at the start of August for another look; and it was well worth it.

The landing point to the north-east of the region places visitors outside a flat-roofed summer-house surrounded on three sides by an ornate wall while the fourth sports a wooden deck build out over the water. Cosily and elegantly furnished, the house suggests a summer getaway or a lover’s tryst.

Whimberly

An old fountain sits alongside this summer-house, birds chirping happily (or perhaps in a demand for food!) while hopping along the retaining wall, while beyond the fountain, a stone arch provides access to one of several seating areas suitable for individual visitors or couples, all of which are scattered far enough apart from one another to offer a sense of seclusion.

A stream, crossed by three bridges, dissects the land into two halves of unequal size. The northern part with the landing point, offers a walk east and south, passing both the seating spot mentioned above and then another, further to the east, before the smallest of the three bridges provide a means to rejoin the larger part of the land. Westwards, past a wooden jetty were one can rez a little motor boat to putter along the stream, the land turns hilly.

Whimberly

A grassy path climbs the gentle slopes of the hill, revealing an old barn looking to the north-west and overlooking a tiny islet where a picnic awaits on the far side of the little rope bridge. The grassy trail then continues southwards between the shoulder of the hill and the water to where another bridge – this one crafted from the interlocked trunks of two trees –  crosses the stream and offers access to a grand house.

With a paved courtyard, terrace to the rear, the house presents an idyllic place to live, the full height conservatory to the rear offering a magnificent view. Board walks point the way to where a deck extends out over the waters of a bay which cuts deeply into the land. A humpbacked finger of land points back to the north-eat from the house, and visitors can follow the grassy walk along the flank of its slope above the stream, or walk along its ridged back to where another cosy snuggle point sits within the ruins of an old tower, and stone step present a route up to the highest point on the island.

Whimberly

A stylish barn conversion sit at the top of the hill, offering a view to the south and west, back towards the big house. Shaded by fir trees and with the peak of the hill just behind it, it sits as a cosy café where a break from exploring can be enjoyed. For the adventurous, a zip line offers a rapid descent to the little farmstead in the south-eastern corner of the land,  located not far from where another summer-style house is built out over the waters surrounding the island.

Set within the confines of surrounding hills, Whimberly sits as an island on a lake somewhere – I’d say at least – deep in Europe. A place to while away the summer days and unwind from the demands of everyday life; where nothing really matters other than the presence of nature around you.

Whimberly

SLurl Details

• Whimberly (Whimberly, rated: Adult)

Banana Bay – click any image for full size

Banana Bay is a Homestead region described as “still under construction” (but open to the public) designed by the delightfully named Bananas (FunkyBananas). Caitlyn and I were led to it (once again) by Shakespeare (SkinnyNilla), who really does have the knack for finding places.

This is a  distinctly Mediterranean setting with a hint of the tropical; the kind of place it’s easy to imagine  as the destination for an exotic holiday well out-of-the-way of the maddening crowds and bustle of everyday life. A slightly curled, sandy island with an east-facing bay caught within its curve, Banana Bay appears to take its name from the little plantation of banana trees located almost mid-way along its sweep, overlooked by one of several Tuscan / Mediterranean style buildings scattered along the island.

Banana Bay

Visits start on the west side of one of these buildings, which is itself located at the northern end of the island. A sandy path runs southwards from here, following the line of rock which rise from the foam of a lazy sea to reach another house sitting below the hilly backbone of the island. It’s upon this partially rocky backbone that the plantation sits, the land on the west side offering an easy walk to the southern end of the island and the ribbon of beach curling eastwards.

Following the sandy walk in the other direction from the landing point will take visitors around the villa to where a large wooden pier points out to sea. A loose-laid wooden board walk then offers a path south, running between the soft sands of a wide beach and the slopes of the island’s one hill, before petering out on the sands to the south. Palm trees offer some shade from the early morning sun, and provide convenient points from which hammocks have been slung for those wanting a little rest and they explore. More places to sit, some ready for cuddling, can be found scattered across the island, including an old kayak drawn up high above the tide line on the beach, and an inflatable raft out on the surf.

Banana Bay

None of the buildings are currently furnished, although the villa near the landing point offers outdoor seating. There’s also no sound scape for the region as yet – but again, remember that it is under construction, so there well be more to come.

Under construction (at the time of writing) it may well be, but Banana Bay is  already and photogenic and restful setting; the fact that it is still being developed means that it’ll be remaining on our list of places to re-visit sooner rather than later in order to see how things are progressing. In the meantime, if you want to have a break from things and drift away from all the noise about Sansar or whatever, why not take a walk along to beaches of Banana Bay?

Banana Bay

SLurl Details

• Banana Bay (Charmed One, rated: Adult)

Follow Your Bliss – click any image for full size

June 2017 marked just over a year since Caitlyn and I last visited Follow Your Bliss, the homestead region designed by ElizabethNantes. Given this, we felt it was high time we made a return. Back then, the region had the distinct feel of a tropical archipelago, and we were keen to see what changes had been wrought in the intervening months.

For the current build, Elizabeth has adopted the Display Name Sushi – and on arrival it is immediately obvious why this should be: the region is now distinctly Japanese in looks. However, while many region designers opt to focus on a period build when turning to Japan – notably settling on the Edo period – Elizabeth offers something different: a mix of the old and the contemporary, gathered around a watery setting.

Follow Your Bliss

Set beneath an early evening sky, Follow Your Bliss presents a mainly low-lying series of islets surrounding a shallow body of water on which sampans float and waves are rippled by a gentle breeze. To the east, the land rises into a more substantial mass, formed by rocky shoulders and gently rolling slopes. Along this ribbon of land sits a row of little shops, some with traditional slope tile roofs, others box-like structures of concrete and wood, flat-topped and decorated with neon signage and adverts for popular brands.

A cobble footpath separates these shops from the waters of the shallows, running from a point just a short walk from the landing point to where an ancient  – and clearly venerated  – olive tree grows. At the southern end of this path, the route back to the landing point, located in a small summer-house also overlooking the shallow waters, is marked by a series of candle lanterns. Some of these manage to remain lit despite being caught in a gentle fall of rain, sitting close to a marching line of Torii gates which climb a hill, pointing the way to a pagoda and to where Buddha sits on a grassy curve of hill-top.

Follow Your Bliss

Looking towards the west, Buddha stares out over the waters of the region and the loose-knit chain of little islands which run northwards from the landing point towards a dense grove of bamboo. Connected by wooden bridges, these little islets  offer places to sit and relax and perhaps join Buddha in quiet meditation as he looks down on you.

At the bamboo grove, which screens the main part of the region from was might be private residence, the path passes a temple bell and arcs more eastwards in its direction, passing a strong pavilion built out over the water. Beyond this, another little house straddles the water separating the western aspect of the region from the ancient olive tree and the little township beyond it.

Follow Your Bliss

With the ground a particular course grain of cinder earth, the chain-like beads of land surrounding the inland water as they run from the southern edge of the rockier ground and out to the west before turning back inwards to come back to the northern end of the land’s long finger, the entire impression is that this the site of an ancient crater – perhaps even the small caldera of a long extinct and flooded volcano, the land all that remains of the crater rim.

Finished with a gentle ambient sound scape of falling rain and birdsong, the splashing of water and the burring of dragonfly wings, Follow Your Bliss offers a relaxing setting, easy to explore and enjoy  – and even the chance to sail a sampan. An altogether delightful little visit.

Follow Your Bliss

SLurl Details

• Follow Your Bliss (Rated: Moderate)

Welcome to Somewhere – click any image for full size

Update: July 28th: Zoe Connolly produced a video of Welcome to Somewhere, which say says was inspired by this blog post. It’s a delight to watch, and I’m embedding it at the end of the post with thanks to her. I’ll hopefully be back to making my own videos at some point in the not too distant future!

It’s a catchy name for a place: Welcome to Somewhere, the Full region designed by DarkDesire (Stefan Salmson) and Petra Teatime (Petra Hienke) – and it is certainly appropriate. This is an enigmatic location; on the one hand strange and new, on the other, containing just enough familiarity about it to suggest is it somewhere you may have been to or seen before. Caught in an eternal twilight which adds to the general atmosphere when exploring (although I admittedly opted for daytime pictures in the hope of showing a slightly different face to the region), Welcome to Somewhere is a place of charm and mystery, where hints of dark secrets lay without ever their true nature being overtly revealed.

If you follow the given SLurl, your visit will start on the north side of the land, marked by houses, cottages, a house boat and a warehouse place of work. Everything is a little run-down, suggesting this is a place that’s seen better days – there’s even the sad hulk of a sunken trawler partially blocking access to the quayside for other vessels.

Welcome to Somewhere

Find your way ashore, and a dirt track points west from the back of the wooden warehouse-come-store / place of work, directing you along the coastline before turning south and delivering you to what remains of a fun fair. Overgrown, the rides broken and decaying, the fair has the edge real edge to it: the clown’s fang-filled smile at the gate not entirely a promise of jollity within. A Ferris wheel, long broken and rusted, stands sentinel over two foot bridges. One faces east, towards some old stone ruins where sits a little tram-car converted for use as a tea shop, its innocence standing in contrast to the darker hints of the fun fair. Deeper within the ruins is forgotten outdoor stage, resuming the air of foreboding about this place.

The second, smaller foot bridge leads to two imposing houses facing one another across paved and ordered gardens, complete with an orangery housing a harpsichord, a little outside café alongside it. Sitting between low shoulders of rock, these distinguished houses and their gardens give a sense of money and order, their status perhaps once the dominant feature in this landscape.

Welcome to Somewhere

Another track winds its way east from here, skirting the edge of the large lake occupying a far portion of the land before passing a slightly dilapidated  farmhouse and over another foot bridge to where tall Scotts pines grow, the path gently undulating between them. At the end of this path sit more buildings, exuding an air of menace  – something greatly increased by the puppet theatre parked at the water’s edge. There is something disturbing about this; it appears neither friendly nor welcoming – one could almost imagine the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang waiting to usher unsuspecting souls inside, before dropping the bars across the entrance and trapping them.

It is this air of menace – or at least the feeling this place has a darker side to it – which adds greatly to the overall feel to the region when exploring it under the low light of dusk. It sharply contrasts with the beautifully picturesque nature of the landscape (best appreciated in daylight). The latter presents calm waters, shaded walks, gentle hill climbs to follies and a little hilltop function room (perhaps once the scene of happy Sunday afternoon dances), but as one travels, so the delight the the landscape become tinged with that frisson of discomfort, the urge to look over your shoulder when walking the path to the odd little puppet theatre.

Welcome to Somewhere

Just where is everyone? Some of the region feels as find it has been run-down a left to decay for a long time – notably the fun fair. Other parts feel as if they’ve recently fallen on hard times. But so too is there a feeling that the locals have only fled, leaving only the wildlife – and the dolls. These are to be found scattered around, indoors and out. do they mean anything? That’s for you to decide. And what of the strangeness of the little hamlet where explorations of the region begin? Why is it that it has a roadside auto shop where no road has seemingly ever run?

Whether you seek to answer these questions, and any other which might occur to you as you explore Welcome to Somewhere is entirely down to you. One thing is undeniable about this place, however. It is an enigmatic delight to visit, offering numerous opportunities for photography and lots of room for meandering discovery of all it has to offer.

Welcome to Somewhere

SLurl Details

• Welcome to Somewhere (Salmson Isle, rated Moderate)