Category: Exploring Second Life

We first visited visited Xana Newall’s Souls of Dreams in November 2019 (see: Souls of Dreams in Second Life). A captivating design built by Loly Hallison with added décor from Xana, at that time it occupied a Homestead region. Well, time has moved on since then, and so has Souls of Dreams, with Xana relocating to a Full region and bringing in Busta (BadboyHi) to provide the a new look.

Busta is responsible for a range of captivating region designs across Second Life, many of which I’ve covered in these pages since 2016. It’s something I’m always happy to do, as he really does produce designs that are worth seeing; and with the new Souls of Dreams (which at the time of our visits, he was busily completing), Busta has produced something truly exceptional.

A visit commences on the south side of the region on a wide terrace complete with waterside structures that have something of an ancient Greece feel to them. Steps slip gently down into the shallow waters on two sides, the water also being the home to an expanse of marsh plants floating on its surface.

These marshy waters continue on around to the west side of the island, beyond a growth of tall mangroves, to where wooden board walks span faster-moving waters fed via a variety of falls tumbling out of the region’s uplands.  Beyond these, flat shingle runs sit between the high cliffs and the water, moss-covered stone slabs suggesting a path or terrace may once have lain across them, wooden bridges offering crossings where water continues to flow outward from further falls.

Rounding the island to the north, the path offers wooden steps leading up to the higher ground, guarded at their top by an old warehouse now converted into a place of residence. This is furnished by Xana, who once again has offered plenty of touches of her own throughout the region to help bring it to life, and is open to the public to explore inside. For those who prefer, the path at the base of the cliffs continues onwards to the east, passing a beach and further opportunities to move inland via by rocky path or rough wooden steps, before it arrives at a headland house, also open for exploration.

And that’s just the start of things for the region – indeed, given it is reached by skirting the mangroves and following a path lying in the shadow of the cliffs that rise behind them, it is really the least obvious route of exploration for arriving visitors. This is because immediately to the east of the landing point (and visible from it) sits the bulk of what appears to be a small seafront town beckons, reached by way of a small flagstoned and gated terrace and two gently arching bridges which a distinctly Dutch flavour to them.

Within the archways leading into the town, the Dutch feeling is for me heightened both by the tall forms of the buildings used to define it, and the narrow, stone-sided waterways spanned by cobbled bridges, that have more of a feeling of canals rather than that of a simple mooring basin for boats. Though it may occupy less than a quarter of the region, the little town is very evocative of parts of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and has plenty to offer the camera lens both within and around it.

Cut off from the rest of the region by two narrow channels of water, the town is nevertheless very much a part of the whole, not just joined to it by the bridges that physically link it with the rest of the setting, but because Busta’s design offers a marvellous blending of locations and styles.

There’s the aforementioned landing point with its Mediterranean hints, the town with its Dutch twist, suggestions of terraces and paved areas of great age mixed with beaches and a curving bay backed by ancient walls that also sit behind a more recent  terraced bar, and the Tuscan villa lying in the lee of the island’s highest peak.  This is reached via a number of paths, be they stone steps, rocky trail or rutted track, and is again open to exploration. And off of these elements are richly and marvellously presented, drawn together into a single and quite natural whole both by the various paths and trails that link them, and by the green stitching of foliage provided by great oaks and smaller maples.

To catalogue everything here would be a waste, as Souls of Dreams needs to be not just seen, but savoured. Places abound where visitors can sit and relax, whilst joining the local group for L$250 gives photographers rezzing rights for props (do remember to pick them up afterwards!). But truly, there is so much to see and appreciate here that you’re going to want to set aside plenty of time for wandering and finding all the paths and touches; and even then,it’s likely the region will call you back because the region really is that attractive.

Definitely not a place to miss, although given the amount of detail, some adjustment to viewer settings might be required to ease moving around comfortably if you tend to have a lot of rendering options turned up).

With thanks to Loverdag by way of Annie Brightstar for the pointer. 

SLurl Details

• Souls of Dreams (Glanmire, rated Moderate)

Back in May, I wrote about Camila Runo’s homestead region design, A Taste of Africa (see A voyage to Africa in Second Life). Since that time, Camila has redressed the region so whilst it remains rooted in Africa, its foundation lay further to the north and perhaps east than that iteration, as the new title – *NOUR* – Light of the Desert – indicates.

As with the previous iteration of the region, this is a richly evocative setting, incorporating multiple aspects of what might be called – for those of us in the west, at least – “traditional desert settings”.

There’s a domed palace on a rocky plateau, complete with a small garden house with with the most valuable commodity to be found within desert dunes: free-flowing eater. Then there is a Bedouin camp site sitting at the edge of an oasis (or a wadi, depending on your preference). In between these sits a waterside village, crowned by a luxurious bath house, although the dhows sitting on the river suggest this is more of a working village than a resort.

From the landing point, located in the south-west corner, it is possible to visit all of these locations in turn, the region being neatly laid out in such a way so as to suggest a walk through a desert, one surrounded by high dunes (although these are admittedly off-region, so the intervening water does spoil the effect a little), passing from one oasis of life to the next. A path running down from the landing point points to the route to be taken, with the first stop that of the high palace. sitting on its plateau, commanding a view across the rest of the region.

Topped by yellow-painted domes and reached via a stone stairway that sits just within the walls of the village and that leads the way past the lower-lying garden house, the palace has thick walls to help keep the heat out, a tall fountain splashing water within its main hall. Lavish curtains and drapes separate the side rooms from the hall, and latticed windows allow whatever breeze might pass to enter the building,  while the upper level offers an ornate bath and chaise lounge on which to recline.

Down below, beyond the garden house with its fountains, water, grass and flowers, sits the village. Flat-topped houses and a souk built of mudstone surround an open market of tented stalls. It is bracketed by water to one side, where wharves for dhows sit, and a long ruler of a wall on the other, clearly designed to keep as much of the wind-blown sand out of the village as possible. Standing as a place of local commerce, the village is dominated, as noted earlier, by the squat bulk of a great bathhouse, within which sits a large square pool and plenty of opportunities to relax.

A single gateway sits within the long village wall, parallel lines of rounded stones marching out into the desert beyond. These wind around and between rippled dunes, showing the way to the oasis / wadi. Whether you follow them past the old desert fort or simply set out over the banked dunes to reach the greenery that lies beyond them is up to you, but once you’ve passed through the ring of palm trees you’ll find a spacious Bedouin camp set out around a body of water unusually – for a desert –  fed by a rocky peak from which water tumbles in multiple falls.

Throughout all of this are many details that add depth to the region. There are a lot of places both within the grander buildings and in the large tents to sit, with more outside around camp fires or shaded by the likes of blankets draped over simple wooden frames. Dromedary camels add to the felling of the north African / Arbian setting, whilst a rich (if a little intrusive in places) sound scape brings life to the village with the noise of people going about their daily business filling the air. Adding their own conversation to the mix are the camels, given as they are to the occasional grunt and snort as they wander.

Following on from A Taste of Africa, Camila’s latest build continues in the same vein of offering an immersive, engaging setting, one particularly rip for avatar photography, although the region offers more than this for those willing to dress the part and / or explore it from end to end. All-in-all, an excellent build and engaging visit.

SLurl Details

• *NOUR* Light of the Desert (Coral Cape, rated Moderate)

I’ve always enjoyed Luis Lockjaw’s region builds, particularly his Templemore designs from Hesperia through to Lutz City, going by way of Elysium City, so an opportunity to visit his latest Templemore design – Templemore Cove – carried with it a certain anticipation.

Past Templemore builds have had something of a fantastical feel to them, one rooted in reality, but with a twist of fantasy that has made them attractive to the eye whilst tickling the the imagination. For this iteration, things are a little more straightforward: the presentation of a shoreline town clearly in a tropical / sub-tropical location, rich in palm trees and surrounded by off-shore islands sitting is water that – going by the trawlers docked to one side of the region – rich in fish.

The town itself could be anywhere, but has a distinctively central / southern American feel to it, so much so that by turn, the setting suggests it might be somewhere in Florida, at others perhaps somewhere like Cuba or another large Caribbean island, or perhaps somewhere like Panama or San Salvador.

Florida is particularly evoked by the luxury yachts and powerboats to the east, the pools and neon Motel signs. Cuba and South American townships are suggested by the sun-faded gay colours of buildings, be they apartment houses or places of business, together with – in places at least – the age of some of the types of vehicle to be found.  Swimming pools are much in evidence, whilst the town is built along a grid pattern that is again suggestive of somewhere in the United States, as do the broad board walks. And whilst most of the buildings are shells, it doesn’t prevent visitors appreciating their attractiveness.

The Templemore builds have always had an association with music, and that is very much the case here, with stages to the south and east, whilst the north-side beach offers a chance to escape and relax.

It is clear that throughout, considerable care has been put into this design – as is always been the case with Luis’ region builds. However, it would be remiss of me if I didn’t point out that this detail comes at a cost: this is a full region with the private region land capacity bonus – and this has been used to the maximum in terms of the amount of mesh and texturing (and if not in terms of physical capacity), all of which can place a significant load on a view that is running with shadows enabled, a higher draw distance, etc.

As an example of this, whilst taking photos with shadows set and a draw distance of 190 metres, I found my fps bouncing fairly heavily between single-digits and mid-teens with under half-a-dozen avatars in the region, some times dropping as low as 4-4.2 fps, which made moving uncomfortable. Things were marginally better with shadows off, but it’s possible those on older systems may well find Templemore Cove heavy going.

Nevertheless, Templemore Cove has an attractiveness that is worth seeing, particularly if you do enjoy taking photos of Second Life locations.

SLurl Details

• Templemore Cove (rated: Moderate)

At the start of August 2020, we made the move to Second Norway (see Farewell, Isla Pey, hello, Isla Caitinara). Since then we’ve been settling in, and as I noted a few days ago, I’ve been playing with a scene rezzing system so that we can have a choice of homes on our island (see: House changing with a scene rezzer in Second Life – and we’re up to three designs now 🙂 ).

However, what surprised me about our move was the feedback (comments on this blog and via IM) from people under the misapprehension that the April / May change in ownership of the estate had somehow resulted it in being “broken up” and replaced by “cookie cutter islands”. In fact, while there have been changes to the estate, much of the original Second Norway remains – and as a frequent visitor-turned-resident, I can also say that none of its spirit has been lost.

In this, I hope this small selection of photos helps to illustrate that point.

Of course, the airport is still there – as can be seen in the banner image for this piece. So to – contrary to rumour – the road and rail system, as shown above.

The estate also has a good mix of residential and commercial spaces – Motor Loon’s famous MLCC brand is still present for example. On the south side of the estate, AustinLiam has taken this a stage further – an entire group of regions set out as a village, offering his houses and commercial units and other buildings in a contiguous setting with roads, waterfront areas, moorings, and more.

Of course, there are the outer islands – which in the future may well expand, depending on demand, but the Vanity Bonito’s team have also put in new infrastructure that offers opportunities that may not have been so readily available previously: such as the Eidet Event Centre sitting on is own wooded island.

Residents within the estate have also sought to offer places of interest as well – camp sites, vacation centres, air fields (although the latter seem to mostly lack rez zones) – all of which add to the estate’s appeal.

With a balanced approach to building codes and themes, as well as offering tenants terraforming rights on their islands, Second Norway is a good mix of the “old” – the central regions with their roadways, rail lines, airport and bridges – and the “new”, with the updated island designs, allowing it to both retain its character whilst offering newcomers a good mix of opportunities.

So if you’ve not paid Second Norway since the changes, now’s the time to hop in your boat or ‘plane, pull up the map and take a look!

 

Distant Edge is a Homestead region designed by Remuera Seetan as “a quiet and serene place where you can reconnect with nature”, and inspired by the rugged islands of northern latitudes – although which side of the Atlantic those islands might be is up to the visitor.

A rugged setting offering a sense of the magnificent desolation only nature can create, Distant Edge is also a place where music has helped to form it, be it through the pub / club nestling within the shoulders of the western hills, or through the presence on a lone piano overlooking a windswept southern shore.

The pub is by far the largest building on the island, although the high cliffs and peaks to the west keep this fact hidden from view from the rest of the island.

Instead, when first arriving on the deck of the landing point, sitting on the edge of the bay that cuts deeply into the island, at treated to views across the water to a cottage and windmill occupying the north-eastern headland, and of the lighthouse further along the southern headland.

Finding the pub is a matter of following a sandy path through the grass, or cheating and using the teleport board at the landing point – which means potentially missing a lot of what else the island has to offer. The latter includes the aforementioned piano within its netted pavilion, a cosy summer house, numerous places to relax on the beach or on the water or the shrine tucked away on the northern coast.

Some of the paths are marked by old railway sleepers set out across the ground while others, such as the path up to the highlands – also worth following – are far more natural in nature. The coastal areas offer a mix of beaches to walk, sloping hills and low-slung cliffs.

Reached by passing through a rocky arch, the pub offers a large deck for dancing, while the interior – a converted fish warehouse by the looks of things – offers alcohol, pool and a place to relax. Music is provided three nights a week, although I couldn’t find a schedule at the time of our visits.

Distant Edge is one of those places that doesn’t require a lot of description – it genuinely speaks for itself. Caught under a cloud-laden sky that in places is releasing rain, rounded out by a local sound scape, it offers a rewarding opportunity to explore and take photographs. Those who do take photos are welcome to submit them to the region’s Flickr group.

SLurl Details

• Distant Edge (Dreamworld Mermaid, rated Moderate)