Category: Exploring Second Life

It’s been just over a year since I last had an opportunity to visit an iteration of Hera’s (zee9) Blade Runner-esque region designs. On that occasion Blade Runner Future Noir was the attraction, with its tight focus specifically on Ridley Scott’s seminal visual interpretation of Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (see here for more); so the time was about right for a new iteration of the setting to emerge from Hera’s imagination, and sure enough – up has popped Blade Runner, Brutal City ,2060. Encompassing the familiar whilst offering some tidy little twists and turns for lovers of science fiction (and potentially obscure TV series of that genre), as well as other references, it is again a highly visual environment which spreads the Blade Runner elements more broadly, folding into it elements of Blade Runner 2049, whilst also drawing on 2012’s Dredd.

Once again leveraging a Full private region with the Land Capacity bonus, this build is perhaps the most explicit Hera has designed on the theme, in terms of overt sexual references and elements of nudity – so those of a sensitive disposition, be warned! It is also possible that, as with many of Hera’s builds the setting’s presence in Second Life might be short-lived – so if you are interested, then a visit sooner rather than later is recommended. Should you opt to drop in, be sure to use the local Shared Environment, and to enable local sounds. In addition, higher-end graphics quality is recommended for the full visual effect and, for those not running a PBR viewer, ALM must be enabled.

As is common with Hera’s builds, a visit starts at a landing point removed from the main build. Here it takes the form of a subway passage with vending machines, one of which will teleport you to Brutal City, the other of which will provide an informative introductory notecard. Taking the teleport to the main setting will deliver you inside a subway car that’s just arrived at a station -another familiar Hera touch, and one I like in her designs as it genuinely gives a sense of arrival somewhere. Ignoring the crime scene, stepping off the carriage offers various routes “up” to “ground level” – which you take is up to you.

The “ground level” itself initially appears to be the familiar grid-like mix of roads (both “street level” and “elevated”) interspersed with buildings climbing up into a murky sky through which a familiar advertising airship appears to creep, surrounded by a backdrop of other tall buildings to give added depth, with everything awash in neon and advertising.

Perhaps the most obvious references to the Blade Runner franchise take the form of some of the static vehicles sitting on the roads – police spinners and cars resembling Deckard’s decommissioned spinner. There’s also the edge-of-region bulk of the Tyrell Building  – (as was, given this is not 2060, its towering bulk carries the logo of the Wallace Corporation from Blade Runner 2049). The latter still have interior elements to be explored, albeit on a smaller scale, perhaps then pervious iterations.

However, none of this should be taken to mean there’s nothing new to see here; Brutal City offers an engaging mix of ideas together with a skilled re-use of elements from past designs that give it an sense of the familiar whilst also being new; that time has in effect continued to move forward within the setting, and it has naturally changed even whilst absent from the grid. Thus, we are not so much visiting somewhere new, but re-visiting a place once known but now revealing its new look and feel.

As to the more Dredd-leaning elements awaiting discovery, I’ll let Hera explain:

As in the Dredd movie the mega blocks are run by gangs. In Brutal City there are 3 Gangs: the Neo Punks, a sort of mixture of traditional cyberpunk with a love of Matrix black added in; the Metal Heads, kind of cyberpunk bikers and the Psycho Delics, Cyber hippies. This was really just an excuse for me to make the ground floors of the 3 Mega Blocks in Brutal City into gang block parties. The Blocks were given names of well know heavenly other worlds, probably as some in joke between the architects who knew they would become anything but heavenly over time.  Paradise was taken over by the Neo Punks, Valhalla by the Metal Heads and Nirvana by the Psycho Delics.

– from the introductory notecard on Blade runner Brutal City 2060

The exits from the subway will bring you to street level fairly close to the north entrance of the Paradise Club, with one of them also just across the road from where the Valhalla rears itself skywards (and I should probably mention here that don’t be in too much of a hurry to pass through the subway’s tunnels – you might miss the door to a really cosy little jazz club – and it is not the only door leading to what might otherwise be hidden from view). Nirvana sits a little further away, perhaps content to keep a little distance between itself and the looming presence of the Brutal City Police Department headquarters as it shoulders its way up into the sky. Widening at the top to offer a spinner landing pad patrolled by a drone looking like it might have escaped the Terminator franchise and bristling antennae, the BCPD building seems to glare down on both Paradise and Valhalla in a stern warning. Like the clubs, the BCPD building can be entered and explored.

All three clubs clearly share the same architectural heritage, as Hera notes; each with a party space overlooked by tiers of internal balconies rising upwards to provide access to residential apartments. While I cannot be 100% sure, I think they might also share a heritage with Hera’s last Blade Runner design, as their interiors appear to be a skilled re-working of the interior she used for the Bradbury Building. Either way, they also share similarities in club layout and features – which might perhaps give rise to further rivalry between them, members from one gang accusing those from the others of “copying” them.

Another location visitors to Hera’s past builds might recognise the Snake Pit. Once again, Zhora Salomeis not present (no surprise, given Deckard shot her), but her presence is perhaps marked elsewhere in one of the clubs. Here the Snake Pit sits within the Dram Palace, a glitzy upmarket retreat – although I could help but feel that howsoever well the barman has packed himself into his tux and dicky-bow, his is nevertheless the adult love-child of Jason Statham and Woody Harrelson 😀 .Which actually, far from being an insult to the man should actually encourage patrons to feel safe should members of any of the city’s three gangs drop in a decide to get a little rousty!

Throughout the entire build there are lots of touches and elements which help cast a broad net as to what might be discovered during a visit. The BCPD building, for example, once again hosts the Rekall-style armchairs seen in Total Recall 2070 (a series that lived far too short a life), whilst  screen at the front desk displays data on one Takeshi Kovacs (Altered Carbon and as played by Joel Kinnaman and the – again short-lived – Netflix series), while the metro cabs on the the street have a sense of the Johnny Cabs from 1990’s Total Recall.

Also along the streets one might find a noodle bar similar in nature to the one Deckard was seated at in Blade Runner, whilst a newsagent kiosk might be found selling the likes of Cinefantastique (the 1982 edition celebration both Blade Runner and Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan), Metal Hurlant, Starlog, what looks like Empire magazine, copies of the LA Times from 2019, all among many others (I liked the Deckard magazine series with Gaff’s famous quote as he leaves Deckard in the rain towards the end of the movie, “It’s too bad she won’t live. But then again, who does?”

These are far from the only nods (I’ve not mentioned the return of the Friends Electric store (a nod to Gary Numan?) and its stock of electric sheep, for example),  but then, discovering them is all part of the fun – and there are probably those I wouldn’t recognise, even if they stepped up and introduced themselves to me 🙂 . That said, one of the potentially more recognisable homages is not to any sci-fi franchise or setting, but to a physical world location – architect’s Moshe Safdie’s Habitat 67, here given a more downcast design; one which can be explored thanks to its network of connecting communal spaces, even if the apartments themselves are just façades.

All of which makes for yet another visually and aurally engaging visit – so, make the most of the time the setting is here and go pay a visit!

SLurl Details

• Blade Runner Brutal City 2060 (Themyscira, rated Adult)

I received an invitation to visit a further iteration of Endless: the Full private region featuring designs by Sombre Nyx and Jackson Cruyff – my thanks to Jackson for said invitation.

The last time I visited, Sombre had used a physical world location in New Zealand as an inspiration for her design (see: An Endless: Birdlings Flat in Second Life). This time around, she sticks with the idea of an antipodean location, but where it might be relative to you in the world is a matter of choice; the setting sits equally well in most northern / southern latitudes as thus could also be west or east as well, depending on your place in the world.

An island at the end of the world, where seething seas break against the rocks of the coast. Where craggy and low, rugged hills offer views to forever. Where rural life is quiet, but full, and nothing really matters but the moment.

– Endless: Antipodes About Land

As the About Land description indicates, this is a craggy, rugged location, one island among a small group. The flora on the island – mostly scrub and grasses, interrupted here and there by lonely trees – the one close-knit grouping of trees being mangroves sprouting up from the wetlands on the island’s eastern side. Such is the lie of the land and its blanket of flora, it gives no clue as to its possible latitude or longitude, although it is not unfair to say it is probably outside of tropical and most sub-tropical climes.

The arrival point lies toward the western side of the island, sitting on a shoulder of land separating two shallow bays with sandy beaches, one of which appears suitable for bathing, sheltered as it is from northern winds by a further high-shouldered promontory extending out into the sea. A footpath runs out along this headland, and also forms a track running eastward along the bluffs above the north coastline. As it does so, it crosses what appears to be the former course of a stream that once tumbled to the sea from higher ground, then descends towards the eastern coastal lowlands.

A wall has been build over the rocks of the coastline here, helping to ensure the sea and land remain separated and allowing the former to become a level setting for a homestead farm, complete with an orchard alongside it. The farmhouse has the look of  having been long since been converted into more of a cosy retreat than a place of work (although the apples from the orchard are very clearly being cultivated / harvested); the integral barn is now a bedroom and outdoor decks provide additional living space – their presence suggesting the island perhaps does not suffer from too much in the way of really inclement weather.

This house is one of three on the island, the spines of hills separating it from its neighbours one of which lies on island’s far side, the other more directly to the south. A small, rough beach sits to one side of the farm, and the path continues from close bay, this time following the east coast as curves around a bay cutting deeply into the island, home to the wetland and mangroves mentioned above, and its mouth guarded by a small isle. Whether the studio is used by whoever occupies the little farmhouse or not is open to question, as the path continues on to the house on the south side of the bay, putting it within easy reach of the studio isle, whilst its design and décor perhaps suggest the aesthetic of an artist has been at work inside.

The remaining house is very much a place of work – a barn with tractor and feed for livestock, etc., lying just up the hill from it and a chicken coop betwixt the two. Whoever lives here likely owns the sheep found scattered across the island. As well as the sheep, the island is something of a home for birds, including herons and kingfishers as they carefully keep an eye on all the comings and goings across the land.

Such is the design of the setting, it is easy to arrive and just wander; however, there is also a ground-level teleport system (starting at the arrival point) to help guide people around the major points of interest for those who prefer. Rezzing is open for photography props, with auto-return set to 30 minutes – but do please clean up yourself if you use the option.

Jackson’s location – as with his past joint designs with Sombre – occupies a sky platform overhead. It takes the form of another rugged setting – perhaps part of one of the island seen off the coast of Sombre’s setting. A short walk from the landing point the land is cut through by a deep gorge, clearly formed by the erosion of the water pouring into it from one end, before making its way seaward but not quite entering open waters. Instead, a natural rocky breakwater block overland progress – but given the water simply hasn’t risen to overcome the barrier, one might assume there are submerged routes passing under the rock that allow it to escape.

This gorge gives the setting its name: Jack’s Canyon, and forms the focal-point for explorations. Invisible from ground level, it is a little like Rivendell, only opening to view when practically on top of it. Unlike Rivendell, the gorge has a man-made path in the form of a wooden board walk and ladder descending into it, the top of this walk forming a deck close to the one building in the setting: a small wooden cabin.

This route down into the gorge is overlooked by a further deck extending out from the west cliffs, whilst the seaward end is watched over by two tall  rock formations, one of which also looks down on a small camp site sitting on a broad lip of rock and grass forming a step in the cliffs on the west side of the canyon (another little camp area occupies a further lip close to the bottom of the canyon as well). Wildlife in the form of bears, boars, wolves, foxes, cranes and eagles are to be found throughout the setting, all of which perhaps suggest this is a location more in the northern hemisphere – but wherever you choose to place it (if at all), there is no doubting its natural beauty. So much so, that even a time-traveller appears to have dropped in for a bit of a look around!

Like Antipodes, Jack’s Canyon includes a local teleport for hoping between the local arrival point and the canyon floor. However, this is not directly connected to Sombre’s Endless: Antipodes; both the ground level setting and the canyon are only linked via the common landing point in the region – hence why no SLurl earlier in this article – which must be pass through when moving between the two.

With both locations offering local sound scape and various opportunities to sit and relax and / or take photographs, they can be enjoyed individually or jointly – and my thanks again to Jackson for the invite!

SLurl Details

• Endless: Antipodes / Jack’s Canyon (Heraiki Bay, rated Adult)