Category: Exploring Second Life

Arranmore – click any image for full size

Now open in Second Life is Arranmore, the latest region designed by Lauren Bentham. Although its name from Arranmore (Árainn Mhór, essentially “large island”), the largest inhabited island off the west coast of County Donegal, Ireland, this is an entirely a fictional place of dark fantasy – and extremely atmospheric to boot.

Lauren has a long history of region design in Second Life, offering some of the most popular destinations for SL traveller on the grid. From the Baja group of region (Baja Norte, Baja Cove, Baja Bay and Baja Sands), through the likes of Storybrooke Gardens (a personal favourite – see here and here), Bentham Manor, Everwinter, to her most recent prior design, Netherwood (see my April 2016 review), Lauren’s work is deservedly known and appreciated. I’ve little doubt Arranmore will be the same.

Arranmore

Visitors arrive on the west side of the region, on a small platform alongside a single railway line which curls south-to-north along the west side of the island without actually going anywhere: the two extremes of the track end in buffers. Perhaps it once went further – the fallen mass of a lighthouse suggests a calamity befell the north-west end of the island, so perhaps the tracks were washed away in whatever storm may have been responsible for bringing down that tower.

Ringed by the high peaks of surrounding islands, Arranmore broods beneath a sombre, storm-laden blanket of heavy grey cloud. Thunder rolls around the rugged peaks of the other islands, a deep booming against the plaintive cry of gull and moan of wind. Lightning flickers and forks, reflected by the mist rolling in from the sea as it drifts inland between the island’s trees like a living thing, watched over by the ever-rotating eye of a surviving lighthouse.

Arranmore

On arrival, newcomers are invited to take a torch, offered alongside the region’s rules. If you’re keeping to the default windlight – which I suggest you do while initially exploring – the torch is a handy thing to have. Across the tracks from the little railway platform sit the entrance to the grounds of a once great manor house. This, we are told, was had been the home to Lord & Lady Inman and their family, all of whom mysteriously vanished whilst on holiday. Since their disappearance, the house has slowly fallen into ruin and the fortunes of the island had declined.

It is along the path leading towards the brooding form of the manor house that we come across the first signs that this is indeed a place where those still living on the island might be somewhat Lovecraftian in their ways – or perhaps it was the Inmans themselves? Just over the wall from the path sits a rotunda, its broken dome still offering some protection for a statue of an adult figure holding an tentacled infant child close to his or her chest. Even along the path to the house strangeness can be found: an empty hearse, a mildewed stuffed toy, its eyes apparently cut out, occupying the basket of a tricycle, and the gaunt figure of a local, funereal in his top hat and tails, holding aloft a lantern – whether in greeting or warning is yours to decide.

Arranmore

As with all of Lauren’s region designs, there is a lot to see here, be it in the manor house as it slowly moulders away, or in the surrounding grounds and other building on the island. All of it is beautifully composed to create an environment that is a curious mix of the dark, the beautiful, the mysterious, the unsettling, and utterly captivating. One which really needs to be experienced rather than simply written about.

Lauren notes that the region is primarily for enjoyment and photography – those wishing to rez props in support of their photo work can join the local group for L$175 and do so – but role-play is welcome. There is a warning in the rules that weapons are not allowed – although seeing a member of the admin team walking around carrying an assault rifle seemed  a little at odds with the spirit of the rules :). There’s also a Flickr group for those so minded to add their pictures.

Arranmore

Definitely a must for any SL traveller’s itinerary.

SLurl Details

• Arranmore (Rated: Moderate)

 

There are many spiritual centres throughout Second Life offering a range of environments and opportunities for rest, spiritual comfort, recovery, teaching and more.

One such region is Qoheleth (Hebrew:  gatherer / assembler; an assembly). I’ve been drawn there a couple of times over the course of the last year – although admittedly not out of any spiritual want or needs – because the region is largely given over an oriental theme, something of which I’m rather fond. In particular, it includes A Chinese Garden, designed by Camryn Darkstone with the assistance of region holder Grath (Grath Helgerud), as it is this garden which has tended to attract me.

Surrounded by tall walls, through which circular gateways provide access to the rest of the region, A Chinese Garden offers visitors a place to wander under sky and along open-sided passages, look out over quiet waters, and generally relax and enjoy themselves away from the demands of the rest of Second Life. It is, in a word, a peaceful setting.

What makes it particularly attractive is not only that it works well under a range of windlight settings, but the outside of three notable building and things like handrails, almost all the structures within the garden have been designed and built by Camryn, thus harking back to the days when so much in SL was very much DIY, rather than prefabricated.

In an age where so much creative expression in Second Life has perhaps shifted towards being more about landscaping and object placement (which can be as creative and rewarding as gluing prims together, make no mistake), it is good to visit places like the Chinese Garden and be reminded of just what can be done with the humble prim and a little time.

The Sino-Japanese theme continues beyond the immediate walls of the garden, as does the broadly spiritual theme of the region, operated by the Psychoanalytic Round Table discussion group – about which I know little beyond that provided in an information note card. However, just outside of the immediate Garden grounds is a Chinese theatre, again designed by Camryn, and woodland tracks leading over bridges and under trees to other locations of interest, such as the Nanyangong Citadel, and the Stone Circle, where one can learn about Ubuunto – “what it takes to be human”.  There’s even a companion house sitting among the trees beyond the garden walls for those seeking company – although I have no idea how active it might be.

For those seeking spiritual rest or renewal, Qoheleth sits amidst three over regions with community / faith / spiritual leanings. These I have not explored, but leave it to those who might to do so. As someone who does enjoy oriental themed locations in SL (and I have a couple more lined-up for upcoming posts!), A Chinese Garden makes for a charming and relaxing visit.

SLurl Details

• A Chinese Garden (Rated: Moderate)

Byrd Island, Oyster Bay – click any image for full size

The homestead region of Oyster Bay is a regular stopping-off point on my rounds of Second Life. This is because Sera Bellic, the region holder, uses it to demonstrate her region design skills, changing the layout several times a year, thus periodically offering all of us something to new visit. This is currently the case with the regions latest iteration as  Byrd Island, which Caitlyn and hopped over to explore as the start of our weekend.

Visitors arrive at the island’s ferry pier, located on the island’s north-west side, where birds circle overhead, the first indications of how – spelling allowing – the island may have come by its name. Herons patrol the sandy tongue of land on which it sits, the only low-lying point of the entire island, which otherwise stands as a 30-metre high tower of rock rising from the surrounding mist-laden sea.

Byrd Island, Oyster Bay

Two routes to this high plateau are offered: a wooden elevator occupying a steel girder tower, or a rope ladder. The former gives visitors the option to stop off at a rocky observation shelf on their way to the top of the island, whilst for the adventurous, the rope ladder presents a climb directly to the platform at the top of the cliffs serving both it and the elevator.

From the platform, an arched hedge sitting between tall firs presents itself as a gateway to a gently undulating, and in place rugged, plateau with rolling grass, rocky outcrops and a mix of tress and bushes offering scattered places to sit and paths to wander. It all makes for a pleasing landscape well-suited to soft sunlight settings.

Byrd Island, Oyster Bay

The paths, cut from the trunks of fallen trees, wind across the landscape, point the way towards the three buildings occupying the island: the tall lighthouse with attached lodgings; an expansive house to the south-east and a small stone-built lodge to the east. Across the landscape birds wheel and caw, sing and sit … and watch.

“The lighthouse keeper and his family abruptly left the island never to return.” Sera states in the land description. “Could it have been the birds, or something else?” Whatever might have caused the departure, the birds weren’t telling, but had one of the raven keeping an eye on things spoken up with, “Nevermore!” as Caitlyn and I passed, I really wouldn’t have been surprised; there is a faintly Hitchcockian edge to the island under its default windlight which naturally gives rise to thoughts of certain films, or of Poe on spotting the ravens.

Byrd Island, Oyster Bay

Which is not to say that just because the island has this slightly mysterious edge to it, it is deeply sinister. Take away the misty look with an alternative windlight – I found Annan Adored’s Morning Dream worked really well (among several others!) – and Byrd Island becomes the kind of place where get-away-from-it-all weekends should be spent. A place where late breakfasts in bed are the only way to start the day, followed by leisurely strolls across the island and afternoons lazing in the shade of trees, before seeing out the evening quietly, watching the sun set over the rippling ocean.

In all my visits to Oyster Bay, I’ve rarely been disappointed in the designs Sera has offered us; each one has been special, from the Adirondacks, back through the likes of Bellack House and The McFly Project and beyond. However, I admit to finding Byrd Island perhaps her best yet. It has an elegance and openness about it which makes exploration a pleasure, and is presented in a way not often seen in island design in-world, complete with a sprinkling of atmosphere and back story to add further flavour.

Byrd Island, Oyster Bay

SLurl Details

• Byrd Island (Rated:  Moderate)

Binemust – click any image for full size

On Monday, August 15th, 2016, Biné Rodenberger officially opened her new full region, Binemust, the spiritual successor to her popular Binemist, which – with its ever-evolving look – had long been a favourite destination among SL photographers and bloggers over the years (I actually first blogged about it in September 2014, with my last visit occurring in March of 2016, visiting a number of times in between these two dates, and even producing a video in December 2014 to capture its look at the time).

Biné was kind enough to invite Caitlyn and I to see Binemust ahead of the opening, and those who always enjoyed her old region are liable to love the new one. Binemust is a region which has entirely its own identity, yet also shares much in common which Binmists of the past, offering somewhere entirely new yet delightfully familiar to explore and enjoy.

Binemust

A visit begins under water amidst a small set of ruins, a familiar chequered sea floor under foot. A sandy track winds its way over this, a pat of flamingos – another motif from past designs – grouped a short distance along it. In the waters overhead, a shark and marlin swim menacingly – but don’t mean anyone any harm – while in the distance a sign beckons with the announcement And So the Adventure Begins.

Just past this sign and under the boughs of trees is a camp site with tents, caravans, bric-a-bric and places to sit, examine and  / or poke around in, making for an immediate destination for the curious. But this is not the only location under the waves to be explored; close to the landing point, and in the opposite direction to the camp site, is a railway line, and just beyond this, a gently curving stair leading up the side of an island towards the surface.

Binemust

Follow the railway track, and it will reveal that more lies the water, as it leads you seemingly to the edge of the region. Off to one side sits Biné’s art garden, still presided over by Buddha and Mr. Batty Eyeball, her elephants standing near by. In the other direction to this is a curate’s egg of things to explore: part of a ship’s hull, a sunken fair, the broken tower of a lighthouse.

Climbing the wooden steps either before or after your submerge perambulations will bring you to the shore of a craggy up thrust of rock topped by a church. Lowlands stretch southwards from this, offering a mix of woodland, meadows, house boats and a cottage atop slits, whilst across the water, and reached via a balloon-suspended bridge, rests an even craggier island, surrounded by a sandy beach. Here visitors can circumnavigate the sands, enjoy time in the shade of a beach house, lazing in the lee of tall cliffs or climb the spiral stairway to the lighthouse up on the grassy plateau above.

Binemust

Throughout the region Biné’s familiar touches can be found: here celebration of 3D artists such as Bryn Oh, Cica Ghost and Rose Borchovski, together with familiar Nordic elements, such as the wrecked Viking longship. Several of the set pieces in the region – the beach house, the spiral stairway, will have those familiar with Binemists past smiling on seeing them. When visiting, don’t forget that even when you’ve explored under water and across the islands, there are still the teleport portals at the landing point, one of which will carry you to a little place on a sky rock, the other to what Biné calls, an “interior decor experiment” – but I’ll let you find out which is which!

Binemust took Biné some three months to the day to design and bring together, and the result is once again an environment rich in motifs and Scandinavian leanings, whilst also offering surprises for all around every corner, making it a destination not to be missed.

SLurl Details

• Binemust (Rated: Adult)

West Of The Rain – click any image for full size

“West Of The Rain,” Oobleck Allagash says of the region, “was originally conceived to be a tribute to the San Juan islands, as a token of love to my partner, Nodnol Jameson, given her respect and admiration for the nature and beauty of the Pacific North-west.”

While I’ve never been to the San Juan Islands, I have spent time looking at photographs from the web, and I have to say that Oobleck and Nodnol have done a superb job in recreating much of the look and feel of the islands, including some notable landmarks.

West Of The Rain

Visitors begin their journey on the south side of the region, where a quay juts out into the sea, a ferry alongside. Shoreward of this, rising up a gentle slope, are two rows of little shops and boutiques facing one another across a road. The first of these are, respectively, a charming little café and an old bed and breakfast – both perfect for anyone thinking of staying a while. Close by, on a little headland and in an homage to Friday Harbour on the main island,  sits a lighthouse.

Follow the road up through the town, passing the parking lot, and it will lead you north and east around the region. Or, if you prefer, you can follow the footpath running past the lighthouse and along the west side of the island. Whichever route you choose, the is a lot to see, be it the beach to the north, or past the steps leading up to the local church to the boat yard, and then onwards from either.

West Of The Rain

In addition. a footpath winds its way across the middle of the region, taking hikers through woodland, over a bridge and around a small lake to reach the main road once more. It is in the design of the road and footpaths where at least some of the magic of the region lies: they have been laid out in such a way as to give a feeling you’re travelling through a place much bigger and more irregular in form than a 256 metre on a side square of land.

The rest of the magic lies in the natural flow of the land, from little town to rural roads and footpath, from woodland to rocky cliffs and sandy beaches, from boat yard to lake, there is a natural, organic flow to everything here. There’s also a lot of nice little touches, from the rooftop terrace of the café, though the roadside picnic areas to the little cuddle spots dotted around; the care and love put into building the region is clearly evident.

West Of The Rain

“The entire region is public,” Oobleck says, “and will over time evolve and include installations by friends who we also want to feel a part of the creative process. There will be no commercial activities on the sim, nor do we solicit or ask for contributions. Our goal has always been to make this as pure as possible in every way.”

That’s a noble goal, and having spent a fair amount of time exploring the region on foot – you can grab a bicycle near the arrival point, if that’s your preference – I’d say Nodnol and Oobleck have already succeed in their goal to a good degree, and I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how things develop.

West Of The Rain

Rounded off by a subtle sound scape and offering many opportunities for photography, exploration and relaxing, West Of The Rain makes for a most enjoyable visit.

SLurl Details

• West Of The Rain (Rated: Moderate)

 

I’m a space nut, both science-fiction and science fact; regulars to this blog will recognise this is the case simply via my Space Sunday column, and via the occasional sci-fi reference. So, when Kinn (Kinnaird) covers a planetarium in SL I’ve missed, it is somewhere I have to hop over to and see.

Space – a Planetarium, designed by Hazelee Haller, is located on Heterocera, not that far from the Unknown Theme Park in fact, which Caitlyn and I explored back at the start of July. It’s an interesting little place, offering what might be described as a more stylised approach to visualising the solar system. This is due in no small part to the planetarium occupying just 512 square metres of land – which is itself a remarkable achievement.

This stylised approach can be seen on the ground level, where mighty Jupiter sits within what can only be described as Saturn’s ring system (Jupiter’s own rings being far thinner and less well-defined). A teleport sphere located in one corner of the building will take you up to the planetarium proper.

Presided over by a huge Venus and Mars, the planetarium ins divided into two levels. On the lower are static displays of the major planets of the solar system together with their principal moons – although Phobos and Deimos are absent from Mars, possibly due to their tiny size. The planets and moons aren’t offered to scale relative to one another, but click on any one of them (other than the Earth), and you’ll be offered a link to their Wikipedia page.

The upper level, reached via a ramp between the two lines of gas giants and their moons, offers a little orrery-like model of the inner planets  – Mercury, Venus, Earth (and the Moon) and Mars all orbiting around the Sun. These all appear to be to scale relative to one another (although obviously, not to the Sun!). Beyond them hang further static models of Jupiter, Uranus and Saturn, which also appear to be to scale to the inner planets. In addition, the walkway on the lower level passes through the wall of the planetarium’s sphere to a platform offering a view of the sphere itself, which is textured on the outside with an image of the Earth.

Space – a Planetarium is a neat little pocket-size guide to much of the solar system, and certainly presents a way for those not well-versed in the planets around us and their major moons to become more familiar with them, without also getting overloaded with facts and information. Yes, it does lack some of the options which might be available on a larger parcel of land, but this doesn’t in any way lessen what is offered here; rather the reverse, in fact. It shows what can be achieved on even smaller parcels with limited land capacity.

SLurl Details

• Space – a Planetarium (Rated: Moderate)