Category: Second Life

Shawn Shakespeare (SkinnyNilla) and Lien Lowe invited me to get a sneak peek of their new design for their homestead region of Nelipot ahead of the region’s “official” re-opening in its new location – an invitation I was delighted to accept and jump upon.

The first time I visited the region, it offered a ruggedly handsome island surrounded by gently undulating off-region hills that together suggested a temperate archipelago, perhaps caught in early spring. Within the region itself lay a richness and depth of detail that delighted the eye and camera, as I noted at the time in Nelipot’s beauty in Second Life. This remains the case with this latest iteration, which includes a number of touches that harken back to that previous design that give an underlying sense of continuity between the two settings whilst also allowing this iteration to be unique in and of itself.

While the region still sits within a surround, the low island hills have given way to a range of high mountains through which water from the sea beyond winds, giving the impression that the land here is a small nest of islands cupped within a sheltered bay, the tall peaks protecting and hiding them from the world beyond.

There are four islands making up the group. two small islets, one of which comes close to being an outlier such is its position and difference to the others in the group, and two main islands that sit as a cupped pair. Lying towards the south-west, the landing point is on one of the smaller islands, a grass-topped table of rock which the landing point shares with a small chapel. It is separated from the two large islands by a channel of tidal water that can be crossed in one of three ways: wading through it, flying over it, or by grabbing a swan pedal boat from the rezzer at the little dock just down from the chapel.

Taking the pedal boat is perhaps the best option for those who wish to really appreciate the region naturally, as it presents the opportunity to skirt around the beach of the more western of the two large islands to reach the shallow open waters to the north. Here, it is possible to pedal around and have a little fun – providing boaters keep an eye out for the region boundary. More particularly, it presents the two large islands as they lie, one cupped in the curving arms of the other, the beach of the nearest of the pair continuing along its north side, facing the second of the two small isles.

This second islet looks almost like a an upwelling of coral that, for whatever reason, a departing sea level has exposed over time to allow nature’s other mechanisms – wind, rain, erosion – gradually turn into a group of connected knolls that offer a little retreat covered in scrub grass and where seeds of flowers have been blown to take root together with a quartet of scruffy, wind-blown pines.

A further boat rezzer sits on a deck built out from this little isle, providing the means for visitors to come ashore and enjoy the islet’s offering before continuing their journey aboard another pedal boat. East of the isle the water is broken by humps of rock that stretch towards the headland at one end of the largest island in the group. Sitting like stepping stones a giant might use to cross the water, these rocks sit as a hazard to navigation by boat – but is is possible to plot a route through them and so reach the calmer channel of water that separates the two large islands.

Crescent-shaped, the larger of the pair holds its sandy-edged cousin cupped in its arms. Such is their position relative to one another, it appears as if these may have once been a single landmass, the slender tongue of land that almost connecting them adding to this – although the dilapidated state of the bridge that spans the narrow gap between tongue and island also suggests it’s been around a long time, so if the two islands were ever connected, then it might have been very long ago…

All of the above is just a thumbnail sketch of the setting – the real meat is in the detail that Lien and Shawn have built into it, something they have done without a major impact on viewer performance. It is within some of this detail that those little echoes of the previous build can be found. Take, for example the sheep that graze on the crescent island, and the way some of them are doing so close to a parked vehicle. This directly reflects Nelipot’s previous iteration, whilst the change in vehicle and presence of the nearby headland and its lighthouse makes it clear its is not just a copy of the past design.

The best way to discover this details – the warehouse converted into a cosy house, the summer house on the beach island, the open-sided pottery shed with its pot-bellied kiln and pots and vases that await glazing and firing, and so on – is by exploring directly. This brings into focus the care with which Shawn and Lein have again created a setting that is welcoming to visitors and offers multiple places, indoors and out, where people can sit and pass the time and enjoy cuddles and quiet times if they so wish.

Exploring also reveals all the little touches that help bring the setting to life – the wrap-around sound scape, the St. Bernard waiting to greet wanderers and the many cats who are content to sleep or ignore those who wander by in that way only cats can – aside from one, who is very clearly keeping his eyes on all that is going on from his vantage point! -, and so much more.

Rich in natural beauty, complete with a perfect soundscape folded into it, Nelipot remains a must-see destination. Many thanks to Lien and Shawn for the invite to drop in!

SLurl Details

• Nelipot (Safe Haven, rated Moderate)

This is a slightly different Exploring Second Life article, as it is, when all is said and done, about a store as much as it is about the regions it references.

AustinLiam is well-known in Second Life for the building he produces. These cover a range of functions from houses through to industrial and dockside, units and assorted rural-style buildings. All are very well made and supplied Copy / Mod, making them ideal for tweaking and kitbashing – as I can state with certainty, having purchased his Captain Retreat combined house / boathouse and converted it into a very comfortable alternative house for Isla Caitinara (see  A Captain’s Retreat in Second Life).

But given many building creators provide their work Copy / Mod, there is nothing especially unique in this, nor is there in the fact that Austin has placed his buildings in a landscaped environment – again numerous store owners and building creators landscape the regions around their store / products.

What does set Austin’s store apart from others, however, is the degree to which he has created an entire environment  / setting that combines his buildings with roads, moorings, footpaths, vehicles, boats and even static NPCs to create a genuine sense of place  – one that neatly integrates smoothly into the general environment of Second Norway in which the three regions the store spans sit.

I first visited the regions – Havna, Svalbard and Erle – as Second Norway was undergoing re-development under the management of Vanity Bonetto and her Luxory Estates Brand. At that time, Austin was also re-working his regions and extending his presence through the addition of Erle. All of that work has long since finished, and the result is a waterfront town that climbs into the rocky highlands behind it, giving it a stepped feel of a place built along the narrow lowlands that hug a rocky coast.

The core of this little township is called Havna, after the first of the regions in which it sits, and it is a busy place – there are moorings for sail boats and motorboats, workshops, a boat builder’s yard, working wharves – and even signs that the town acts as a shipping base for logging operations further up in the hills. Buildings follow the waterfront or sit out on the islands that help to give the town a natural harbour, the way they’ve been naturally been placed and mixed making the entire setting highly photogenic, whilst the roads (a mix of kits by other creators and Austin’s own work) offer multiple routes through the town and its surroundings that encourage exploration.

Further realism is added by Austin’s willingness to utilise buildings by other creators alongside his own. This not only adds depth to his town, it also means that visitors can not only discover his creations and see how they might fit their needs, they might also find other items they might be interested in purchasing, be those things houses, cars, boats or landscaping items. Photographers will also find rezzing is open – making it possible to rez props – but if you do so, please remember to clear up after yourself!

Whether looking for building for your waterfront setting (or to go inland – many of Austin’s structures are suited to either / both) or a more unique look to a house or simply enjoy exploring and want to visit and photograph a place well off the usual “tourist” trails in Second Life, then Havna might be worth dropping in to see.

SLurl Details

• Havna Town (Havna, rated Moderate)