Category: Exploring Second Life

Located within the lake district of Heterocera, and folded into the Lake District Association, Sonder is a community-focused location mixing public spaces and private residences within a beautifully natural environment designed by Emm Vintner (Emm Evergarden of The Nature Collective fame) and Teagan Lefevre (of Le’eaf & Co fame), who have together with Teagan’s SL partner Cayleigh, taken over the management of the Lake District Association (LDA).

The LDA is a widespread community, encompassing multiple locations across Heterocera, with Sonder being the latest addition / development, as an information card available from a kiosk located close to the landing point explains:

The Lake District Association was originally founded by Lorenzo (wizardoznerol) and Kathena Mavendorf. Its members are owners and patrons of the lakes and waterways of Southwest Heterocera (or Atoll Continent). We are interested in the natural beauty and preservation of this unique area in Second Life. The Lake District area spans from Tethea and Or to the northwest, through Sesia, Andraca, Pruni, Enyo, Laothoe, Hector and Notata in the East and Gunda – which is our newest location.

– from the introduction to Lake District Association

Set back from the Atoll Road, Sonder’s Landing point delivers visitors within the paved square of a small town or village, a place split between elevations and presenting a mixture of shops, homes and buildings of mixed styles and materials which speak to a good degree of age and growth. At the lowest extent sits a large body of water marked by a fish market (I hate to use the term “seafood”, despite the sign, given the fact the water is landlocked, so fresh goods are liable to be well, freshwater in nature unless trucked in 🙂 ), a boat repair boat and the opportunity for fishing.

Above the lake, the main square offers the aforementioned kiosk for information on the LDA together with an experience-based teleport system providing access to points of interest and a bicycle rezzer for those who fancy a wheeled ride around the setting. Chief among the teleport destinations is the local micro brewery, located on the upper level of the village, a rentals board located just outside its sign-lit entrance.

The Lake District is home to communities, cafes, retreat centres, parks, trailer parks, swimming and boating areas, a launch into Linden ocean, dance club, soon to have church, and a bowling alley. So much is happening and constantly being added. The Lake District is a bustling place with a real heartbeat for SL living and play

– from the introduction to Lake District Association

One of the rental properties is also located on the upper terrace of the village, taking the form of an apartment block, so be sure to note the Private Residence sign to avoid trespass – similar signs mark the rental cottages in the open land beyond the village as well. This can be reached via dirt track passing an arch, stone steps running down to a path and trail running alongside the stream that passes through the landscape from the townside lake.

The track runs past a barn when a horse can be obtained by those wishing to ride around the setting – and beyond, if they so wish – stay mounted and us the map and it is possible to reach over nearby LDA locations.

Running westward, the trail runs past the local windmill-tuned-pub – with its cafés, pub and brewery, Sonder offers a richness of choice for those seeking a beverage or two! –  leading the way past the rental cottages to a communal barbecue terrace and game area. When following it, do keep an eye out for the beehives.

We are a relatively new group, founded at the beginning of April 2023. We want to see this area become a destination and a wonderful place to live, work and play. We appreciate and celebrate the unique beauty of the landscape of our area and are working to preserve and better the regions we live in.

– from the introduction to Lake District Association

Needless to say, given the partnership of Teagan and Emm, Sonder is a highly photogenic destination, one offer numerous things to do or see, and with room enough for those who wish to simply pass the time.

SLurl Details

• Sonder (Gunda, rated Moderate)

Occupying a Full private region leveraging the additional Land Capacity bonus, Kuroshima is a group-build led by Yuki Ayashi, and offering multiple areas to visit and / or explore. This includes a ground-level environment mixing public and private spaces, multiple sky locations  – including two stores – and more. Set out with a strong Sino-Japanese look and feel in terms of presentation and architecture, the region also has some unexpected touches, such as the presence of African Elephants on one of the island.

The Landing Point, sitting towards the west side of the region, can be found in the lee of a Shogun-style pavilion repurposed as a restaurant. It is here within the arms of three Torii gates that some of the secrets of the region are revealed.

The first of these is a sign offering free housing for those wishing to be an active part of the Kuroshima estate. Touching the sign will furnish interested parties with folder with multi-language note cards which cover what is on offer, what is expected and how to apply for a unit. Participation in this case means things like blogging the estate, promoting it through social media / Flickr, offering DJ services, and more.

These homes are offered to you free of charge. They are privately parcelled. You can pay with your choice of donation or work. If we do well, we can expand. If we door poorly, well you still have a private place to rest your head.

We are looking for designers, creators, artists, bloggers, photographers, scripters, DJ’s and other awesome people with talent that have great potential, but lack opportunity … You must produce something or contribute in some way to the region and show proof of it. Your progress will be monitored bi-monthly or monthly as our time allows.

Let’s work together. Let’s be creative. Let’s have fun!

– Extracts from the Kuroshima rentals cards

Flanking this information board are two smaller Torii gates, each home to a teleport system. One of these provides a route up to the main teleport hub which connects to the locations in the sky. The second uses an Experience to (literally) cannonball visitors around the ground-level locations within the region. However, when it comes to exploring the ground level it is best to do so on foot in order to fully appreciate it.

A walk around or through the restaurant will bring visitors to a bridge spanning a cleft opened by waterfalls dropping from the rocks – although it has been converted into something of an open bath-house, the waters no doubt startlingly fresh and cold as that are caught from the falls, a (presumably) subterranean exit allowing the unused water to reach the surrounding bay.

On the far side of the bridge, a path winds through a garden before descending to reach a shale-like beach to provide access to the bath-house. As it does so, it runs between cliffs shadowed by trees and a small public house sitting just above the open waters on a low table of rock. From here, it is possible to start a partial circumnavigation of this island – one of a number making up the setting -, passing around the south to where a narrow channel can be waded across to reach a shingle sandbar of the next. This is home to a open-sided house sitting as a quite retreat and the beach stretches away from it as a tongue of land separated from two further islands by narrow channels.

From here it is possible to reach the large central island, home to an impressive Japanese house of traditional design, beautifully furnished and offering multiple places in which to pass the time. This in turn offers a further shallow wade to the north-east to where a beach reaches back to the uplands where the landing point and restaurant sits. It is from this beach that the rentals might be reached; or for those who prefer, the eastern end of the low-lying island presents a bridge spanning the water to its much taller neighbour and the last of the islands in the group.

Rising cone-like from the sands which almost completely around it, this island has two routes up its steep, hardened lava-like slopes. One of these passes up the southern slopes alongside a set of human-made and natural-looking pools fed by waterfalls sourced from springs at the top of island. However, this route does go all the way to the top. For that, climbers must travel to the northern end of the island, where winding stone stairs pass by way of giant banyan and a vertiginous drop to end at the bridge spanning the island’s waterfalls and access a hilltop lookout point / hideaway.

All of which sounds straightforward, but actually (and intentionally) skates over a lot. As noted, there are multiple points of interest to be found throughout the islands. While the major points of interest can be reached via the experience-led teleport, the keen-eyed should spot them whilst exploring on foot. For example, those descending from the landing point to pass along the beach to the bath-house mentioned earlier can hardly fail to miss the stone doors set within the cliffs under the shade of cliff-side trees. Touch these doors and they will part to reveal a hidden pool guarded by exotic plants and giant flame sconces held aloft by two mer statues.

It looks a simple, hidden space, a cosy cavern – if one devoid of places to sit, leading to the temptation to turn and walk out again. But the wiser traveller will wade into the pool and allow themselves to be swallowed by the waters. In doing so, they will enter one of the region’s hidden worlds; a place sitting beneath the waves, reach via a descending tunnel and chambers off-shots to reach a place of ruins and a drowned dome ideal for dancing (if perhaps lacking a a dance machine) and, beyond it, an garden perhaps inspired by a song.

Those taking the teleport arrow up to the sky hub will find yet more to explore – the region’s futuristic club venue, a room devoted to magic, Persian baths, a way back to the undersea world, a games world, the local stores and a suite of rooms which would not look out of place on the set of Blade Runner, and more. But rather than prattle on about all of these, I’ll instead just say each is worth a visit and / or offers more opportunities for photos – and this obviously, Kuroshima makes for a more than engaging visit.

My thanks to Morganacarter and Shawn Shakespeare for the pointers.

SLurl Details

• Kuroshima (rated Moderate)

Transport yourself to this abandoned island, among horses, seagulls, waves, snow-capped peaks; here nature has taken over, the beauty of a solitary place where paths and trails help us to appreciate all that nature offers us.

– About Land, Cloud Island

So reads the description for the public Homestead region of Cloud Island, another location in Second Life Shawn Shakespeare pointed me towards at the start of July 2023 and which I finally managed to drop into during the latter half of that month.

What appears to be a group build under the Country by V&L partnership, led by LunetteLuna and Vincy7, this is a setting which does pretty much what it says on the tin: offers a natural, almost untamed island location where nature is in command, and the touch of human hand is light. It’s a place ripe for exploration on foot or on horseback, and where lovers of all things equine will feel very at home.

These latter points are immediately apparent at the coastal landing point on the east side of the island, where a small cup of a beach, swept by spray and rain, is cupped within the protection of low-lying and outstretched arms of rock as they reach towards deeper waters.

Here, far enough from the spray, rain and flotsam the tide has brought to the sand to avoid getting wet, a horse is hitched to a rail, ready to rez a rideable version for visitors to use in their explorations. Roughly-made steps sit just behind this rezzer, pointing the way for explorations to begin.

Of course, you don’t have to necessarily take to one of the horses available in the rezzer; if you have a wearable horse, you can opt to use that, or you can opt for good old shank’s pony. Whichever you take, the island offers multiple routes of exploration, some forming trails which follow the natural lie of the land and might have – at least in part – be the result of the local wildlife using them down the years; others carry hints that humans are responsible for them, and sit as a reminder that whilst deserted now, the island wasn’t always so.

One of these trails circumnavigates the island, skirting between water and hillsides, passing around the coast and under rocky arches, revealing places to sit and evidence of past habitation and tragedy, with an attempt at preventing further such tragedies standing just off the coast to the north before the trail returns once more to the landing point and the stream tumbling down through the island’s single, deep valley.

Depending on the direction taken when setting out to follow the path, visitors might quickly come across a track running up the valley and the pool of water within it, or around the outside of the ridge forming one side of the valley as the trails climbs north around the island, a further path leading up to the head of the valley to overlook the falls feeding the broad pool below.

Another path almost reaches into the valley, this time from the landward side of the island. The path switchbacks its way up through the hills from the landing point, dividing as it goes, one arm reaching up and then down into the valley, another passing over the ridge separating the east and west sides  of the island, plunging down on the far side to re-join the coastal trail, whilst a third travels south along that same ridge to where it forms a headland and a bench under the spreading branches of an aged tree.

For those wishing to climb the snowy heights , a further path continues upwards into the snows and the clouds before once again switchbacking back down to the remnants of what might have once been a small homestead farm on the island – and if so, possibly account for the horses and goats now present across the landscape.

Rugged in its beauty, open to a wide range of EEP settings and ripe for photography and exploration, Cloud Island makes for an ideal destination for exploration and the camera-happy.

SLurl Details

• Cloud Island (Androviel, rated Moderate)

Lewis Carroll’s creation, Alice, and her adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, are a popular inspiration for Second Life creators and region designers. I’ve covered numerous Alice-inspired builds within these pages; some of which focus on the stories as a whole, others of which take specific elements of the stories to offer something of interest / fun for Second Life residents to explore.

With The Enchanted Library, Kaneha (Kaneha Atheria) uses Alice’s trip down the the rabbit hole  – a trip which first appeared within the manuscript Alice’s Adventures Under Ground before being expanded into the published Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – as the leaping off point for the exploration of the magic of books and stories, with a focus on not a single tale, but 16 books hidden within her 4096 sq metre setting.

The adventure begins by following the White Rabbit literally down his hole to arrive a very particular wonderland. Further references to Carroll’s stories can be foot at the hole and along the path leading to a twilight garden. Here, scattered among the trees, flowers and ruins are numerous places to sit – and one to dance – all gathered under a skydome of stars.

Meandering between the various locations is a path of stepping stones. This switchbacks its way to where a large draughts board forms a waiting dancefloor, overlooked by the remnants of the chapel. Along the way are clues to the 16 stories and books –  I’m not going to list them all here; the fun is in discovering them, and some might be a little more obvious than others, depending on your point of view.

That said, there are hints that a girl will go to the ball, that a Modern Prometheus may not be quite a monster or that whilst also being undead can suck or that winter might well be coming. There’s also at least one direct reference to a specific young wizard sitting within the broader pointers towards the world of magical tales, whilst a table apparently set for an afternoon cup of tea reminds us that poison was a favourite form of murder for a certain writer of mysteries – although this might also be a reference to wider forms of writing, such as plays.

This latter point might be further indicated by the presence of an advice booth which brings to mind the one oft visited by a little boy who doesn’t have the greatest amount of luck when it comes to baseball (or with footballs – although that’s largely down to the little girl sitting behind the booth). Also awaiting discovery are interactive elements; not just the dance machine or places to lie or sit, but givers allowing visitors to enjoy a touch of poetry,  adding another twist of interest for visitors.

Small but making good use of the available space, The Enchanted Library offers visitors an warm and engaging visit.

SLurl Details

• The Enchanted Library (Yia Yuto, rated Moderate)

In Hinduism, the Puruṣārtha are the four goals of life: moral values / righteousness (Dharma); love, psychological values (Kama);  economic values / prosperity (Artha) and spiritual values / liberation (Moksha), and it is the last of these concepts Effy Nova has used for the name of her public Homestead region.

It’s a place I was first alerted to Effy’s Moksha by Shawn Shakespeare (SkinnyNilla) back in May, but have only recently had the opportunity to give it due attention to write about. It takes the broadest meaning of the Hindu term, emancipation, enlightenment and liberation, free from its more religious connotations, to define her region as a place of blissful escape: a place where we can be freed from the worries and demands of daily life and simply relax and enjoy.

Set as a tropical island, Moksha blends within itself an interesting mix of ideas and themes. The region’s name, the presence of little elephants dressed as might be seen within the Indian sub-continent and a stone carved bust of Shiva, suggest this might be a small island retreat somewhere off the coast of India (or perhaps Sri Lanka); however, the presence of tuka huts in the shallows gives the setting a hint of the Philippines.

Not that there is necessarily a contradiction here; whilst in the minority, the Philippines does have a small Hindu population, while the market boats floating alongside the over-the-water boardwalks suggest both India and the Philippines, thus making the composition of the region an engaging mix of influences which sit well together.

In terms of its design, the setting might be seen as the remnants of a long-dead and flooded volcanic cone, the crater now given over to a semi-sheltered seawater lagoon, open to the broader ocean on one side, the southern an eastern flanks of the cone withstanding the erosion of sea and windswept salt air to remain as two fairly substantial islands. To the west and south, the crater perhaps hasn’t faired so well, the rock having been largely worn down to sand bars and sea-flattened rocks helping to protect the entrance to the lagoon – all with the exception of one stubborn thumb of rock pointing skywards.

It is on one of the sandbars that the region’s landing point is located. It sits in front of one of the boardwalks extending out over the waters of the lagoon, a footpath offering a route to the five tuka huts as they sit on their stilts over the calm waters as they sit towards the eastern end of the lagoon and the smaller of the two main islands.

The lagoonside foot of this island offers a further sandy beach; the volcanic rock rising behind it protecting it from the weather, the fertile soil of the steep slopes offering a richness in which monkeypod and palm trees can find growth. The ribbon of beach is home to a little gathering of beach-side business shacks offering food and refreshments, an over-the-water deck offering plenty of room to sit and eat / drink. In a further touch of Hindu influences, Ganesh is available within one of the shacks, which has been turned into an air-conditioned shrine.

The sandbar on which the landing point sits runs back to the largest of the islands as it forms a tall, steep-sided spine of rock. Once again the soil here is rich and deep enough to allow a good growth of palm, monkeypod and honey trees. A single gravel path runs up the slope from the beach to where a house sits among the trees  to overlook the bay. Built largely of bamboo, it is a place which looks as if it would feel as much at home in Bali as here.

Lying below this on the south side of the island is a smaller outcrop of rock sitting just off-shore and a small headland of sand reached via a gravel path running down from the bamboo house. With little boats moored in the channel between the large and small island, the southern headland is home to a quiet retreat where singles and couples can pass the time.

Life is given to the setting through the use of static NPCs. From a couple catching the sun on a diving raft through a mother putting a protective towel around her daughter after a swim,to people perusing the shrine and beach shacks, these characters help give a sense that this is a holiday retreat, some of them perhaps having been brought to the islands by the catamaran moored just off the western beach.

Engaging and photogenic – those requiring props can join the local group for rezzing rights – Moksha is an easy-on-the-eyes visit.

SLurl Details

• Moksha (Simply Heaven, rated Moderate)