Category: Exploring Second Life

In late 2017, Serene Footman, bringer of some of the more captivating and unusual locations from around the globe, opened Khodovarikha, a Homeland region  design inspired by a spit of land extending into the shallow waters of the Pechora Sea, now regarded as the south-eastern extent of what we call the Barents Sea off of Russia’s north coast, although it bore its name as far back as when the Barents was simply called the Murmanskoye Morye  (“Sea of Murmansk”).

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It’s a desolate, lonely place, marked by the wood-framed octagon of a lighthouse that once marked the Yugorsky Strait linking the Pechora and Kara Seas, once an important trade route and, during World War 2, the route taken by allied convoys bringing supplies and materiel to aid Stalin and his armies. Today, Khodovarikha is a largely forgotten place, most of its building falling into decline, a single, lonely weather station the only working centre. Its a place so remote, it isn’t even connected by road or rail to the rest of Russia.

I mention this because Serene’s interpretation of Khodovarikha is once again open in Second Life for a limited period, and brings with it a new blog post on the location and his inspiration for creating it. However, this is not a mere re-establishing of a past build; rather, Serene has taken the spirit of his original build, together with some of the notable elements – the lighthouse, the weather station, etc., – to offer a new interpretation of Khodovarikha and the life of its one permanent resident – Vyacheslav Korotki, or Slava as he is known.

As Serene notes in his 2017 blog post on the original build, it was Slava’s story that first drew him to wanting to represent Khodovarikha in Second Life. Now, in this iteration of the build, we see more of that life brought into focus: the distinctive lighthouse no longer functional (as it was in the original build), reflecting the fact its namesake ceased operations in 1996. Similarly, the damaged side panels apparent in the model and perhaps seen as storm or other damage with the original build, are now explained by Serene as being the result of Slava’s assaults on the wooden frame in order to provide him with the warmth of firewood during the harsh winters. A zipline also now extends down from the lighthouse, a tribute, Serene informs us, to the sports hall that once stood at the base of the structure.

Originally set within the cold harshness of winter, the region is this time offered in the summer months. This iteration brings new life to Khodovarikha: birds are very much in evidence, while with a few tweaks with the viewer’s windlight settings, it’s possible to render the setting under bluer skies as might be seen in the summer months, and which may well life Slava’s mood and thoughts. Certainly, a drop of sunshine adds warmth and light to Slava’s lonely, red-planked home.

The discovery of more photographs of the area have allows Serene to commission structures reflecting those to be seen in Khodovarikha – such as the brick-built but dilapidated bungalow sitting in the lee of the great lighthouse. This is reproduced within the region courtesy of Impossibleisnotfrench, who also produced the bothy in Serene’s last region design (see: Serene Footman’s Scottish vision in Second Life, December 2019).

As Serene notes, Khodovarikha does not have any natural beauty to it what would make it a subject for postcards, but in its deteriorating, lonely position, now all but bereft of human presence save for one man and the annual visits of the Mikhail Somov, it has a desolate, captivating beauty of its own. In bringing his vision of the location back to Second Life, Serene is allowing us to experience that isolated, decrepit beauty for ourselves, making a visit to the region – and a reading of both of Serene’s blog posts on it – an absolute must of Second Life travellers and explorers.

SLurl and Links

• Khodovarikha (Saint Denis, rated General)
• Khodovarikha blog post by Serene Footman, September 2017
• С возвращением, Слава, Serene Footman, February 2020
• Khodovarikha’s lonely beauty in Second Life – this blog, October 2017

Update, November 2022: Otter Lake has relocated.

Otter Lake is one of the most alluring homestead regions we have recently visited. The work of Sharon Hinterland, this is a truly remarkable region in terms of the amount of space the region exudes, the beauty of the design, and the richness of detail. So much so that it is actually hard to believe it is only an Homestead region and thus capped with a land capacity of 5K.

I wrote those words back in June 2019 following our first visit to Otter Lake. We recently made a return to the region after receiving an invitation to do so from Sharon, who noted she’d made a number of changes to her design, and hoped we’d be able to take a look.

Now, to be honest, given the region really did captivate and offer a stunningly realistic design, hearing that it may have changed did cause something of a surge of anxiety: would the charm be retained? Would there still be the same sense of of depth, the same natural beauty?  Might something have changed to cause the magic of the region to evaporate, even if only in part?

Well, the answer to all of these concerns proved to be an emphatic “no”: Otter Lake remains as captivating and enticing as ever, the additional elements offering further depth and opportunities for photography and for simply appreciating Sharon’s work as a landscape artist.

Retaining the lake and home that gave the region its name, fed from on high by waterfalls dropping from a hilltop pool, the region offers a pleasing mix of the familiar and the new that combine into a further natural setting ready for exploration.

Perhaps the most obvious new element in the region is the fishing wharf that now forms the landing point. It’s an interesting focal point on its own: while this retains the warehouses of old and has a salmon trawler tied up alongside, fishing no longer gives the wharf’s purpose. The tallest of the warehouses has been converted into a home, the smaller into a cosy café, while what might have once have been fishmonger’s stores are now boutique shops.

Across the region from the wharf, a lighthouse raises its light over the trees, perhaps causing those who have visited the region in the past to recall another lighthouse that once stood there, albeit one without a tower. Other touches of the former design also await discovery: the humpbacked bridge, the broken delivery truck and much more besides.

As a firm fan of Alex Bader’s landscaping kits, I admit to particularly like the use of his stream building kits and specifically Sharon’s clever integration of elements from the Studio Skye Zen Garden Building Set. The later are to be found throughout the region and offer subtle accents throughout the landscaping.

Also among the newer elements are further buildings snuggled among the trees and paths, as well as some of the paths and trails themselves. Between them, the latter of take visitors on a marvellous trek through the region, one that again gives the feeling of walking through a space much, much bigger that the usual 65,535 square metres supplied by a region, without ever giving the impression that the space is in any way limited or feeling of walking in circles.

Sharon confessed to me that she wishes she has the land capacity to use “better trees”. However, while they my be low LI, the rich mix of trees that are provided across Otter Lake make for a rich – and quite natural – mix that varies by altitude, adding further depth to the region.

Filled with colour and natural sounds that change throughout the day – a day, by the way, enriched with a custom windlight -, with numerous places to sit in the open under boughs of trees, along river banks and paths and with much to see that doesn’t unduly impact viewer performance, Otter Lake remains one of the most alluring an natural settings it has been our pleasure to visit.

SLurl Details

• Otter Lake (Lanzarote Cove, rated Adult)

Surrounded by tall green mountains and with fir trees in places lining its shore, Lake NumB sits hidden from the rest of the world, its waters a colour suggestive of great depth. It lies within with the hills uninterrupted save for a single, sinuous island that appears to be swimming through the blue waters from east to west, the narrow stripe of a stream running through it from end-to-end along its green back.

Designed by Num Bing, this homestead setting is stunning in its simplicity and beauty, and offered to visitors because – to use Num’s words:

I wanted to create a little spot… a stream banked with nature… with photo & relaxation spots… so here we are… wander & enjoy…

The landing point is on a wooden bridge spanning the stream towards its western end. To the south of this, a carpet of grass sits between water’s edge and stream to provide a access to two greenhouses. The first, and nearer of these, is a near-pristine structure tucked into a grove of fir trees and offering a quiet retreat – one of several throughout this meandering isle.

The second greenhouse sits further east, where the land rises very slightly between curtains of rock. It is older than the first, its frame now without glass but with net curtains hanging on one side. It offers a large tub of water as an escape for one our two people, the water warmed by copper coils absorbing the heat from a naked fire sitting alongside it. Nearby, grassy steps lead down to a deck sitting over the waters of the north shore, while to the south a second bridge offers way back to the path that runs between it and the landing point.

Beyond this, the island continues east, the land lined with trees, shrubs and flowers and grass paths encourage explorers forward to discover all the hidden delights to be found. And these delights are many: places to sit, decks over the water, little glades, and an out-thrust of land that offers a formal garden with checker board pebbles, trimmed hedgerows and topiary.

Extending out into the lake, the garden looks to have been artificially added to the island, and is home to another frame – for either a greenhouse or shed – that sits unfinished and provides home for an setting ready for afternoon tea complete. Entertainment is waiting to be provided by the most charming clavicytherium that came as a particular delight to me, as I had no idea one was available in SL (so kudos to Jake Vordun, its creator!).

Beautifully designed and presented, Lake NumB does precisely what Num Bing intended of it: presents a natural setting rich in places to relax and opportunities for photography (images can be submitted to the region’s Flickr group, if desired); it’s a place that works under multiple windlight options and encourages visitor to stay a while and that shouldn’t be missed.

Our thanks to Annie Brightstar for the tip.

SLurl Details

• Lake NumB (Santana, rated Adult)

New Eldelyn is a garden world located on the far edge of the Circinus Stream. It is the new homeworld of the Kalimshari, following their exile from their home galaxy to the harrowing horrors of the void.

– from the “WikiDex, the free galactic codex”

This is the informative greeting given (via a holographic sign board) to arrivals at the landing station at Aoshima, a homestead region designed by Rydia Lacombe that is both a private home and a public space in which visitors are welcome to spend time and explore.

It’s a nicely presented setting, carefully considered and with a flow that makes exploration pleasantly relaxing, starting with the feeling of having just landed after a voyage through space. This is achieved by playing the landing point at the foot of the boarding / cargo ramp of a vehicle modelled after the Star Trek Online Delta Class of shuttle (which in turn was derived from the Delta Flyer from Star Trek Voyager). Around the landing pad are all the signs that this is a busy centre of operations: cargo bins and equipment sit to one side of pad, a storage unit on the other, while small drones periodically arrive to collect or deposit more cargo boxes and carry out repairs.

Beyond the landing pad gateway sits a raised walkway offering access to piers extend over the water, ready to receive water craft  arriving from the seas  that lie beyond the surrounding atoll hills. Beyond the piers, a series of habitat units have been stacked, awaiting occupancy.

Like the rest of the station, the landing pay and the habitat modules sit on decks raised above the all-encompassing sea, suggesting that while the station sits within a bay formed by surrounding islands, the land is far too rugged to allow any form of homestead to be established on it. Instead, the rest of the facilities sit on five more such pontoons, three of which are directly connected one to another and linked to the landing pad by a low-slung light bridge – note that if this isn’t apparent, touch the blue pad on the lag of the white gate at the water’s edge and facing the central group of structures.

The middle island in this trio appears to be a domed recreational / refreshments centre for the station’s personnel. it is bracketed on one side by a garden area with further habitat modules waiting to be pressed into service, and which forms a home for solar arrays that help provide the station with power. Some of this may well go to the industrial facilities on the other side of the recreational pontoon. Within this workspace are more modules, a greenhouse and silos, all watched over by a  – somewhat ominous – tower block. Lit from within but with frosted as if to hide whatever is going on inside, this sits on its own pontoon adjoining the industrial area, blue laser-like beams menacingly guarding the arched gateway between the two.

The final pontoon sits beyond the recreational centre, another light bridge spanning the gap between the two. It presents a private dwelling surrounded by a garden of Earth-like plants combined with what appear to be local flora. Split over two floors, this accommodation is considerably larger than the modules found across the rest of the station, with plenty of space for those living within it.

Life is brought to the setting through the combined use of NPC characters that can be encountered while exploring – one of whom appears to subscribe to the idea that if it looks complicated, it probably needs a bigger hammer, – and by the numerous drones flying around the station, carrying boxes or welding equipment, together with the flyers that periodically pass overhead.

Also overhead sits the ICV Kyrona, which appears to be a sublight cargo hauler (at least going by the stasis pods housed within it) that has been converted into something of a space-going home. Reached via a teleport disc within the cargo bay of the ground-level shuttle, the Kyrona is also open to exploration, the teleport disc in the stern compartment returning visitors to the shuttle when they have done so.

Aoshima makes for an engaging visit, with – as noted – plenty to capture the eye and camera. Finished with a suitable sound scape, it does have a smattering of adult items scattered around, but for the most part these are placed so as to be nicely tucked out of the way so as not to be obtrusive, and so should nod interfere with a visit.

SLurl Details

• Aoshima (Elbe, rated Moderate)

The Muse is a new Homestead region design that has recently opened to the public to offer “a place to find your own muse”. It is a group build by the wonderfully named United Nerds of Building, led by FenrisJohnson, and offers a series of interlinked settings available for exploration, photography, romance, dancing and relaxation.

In all there are six core areas within the region to be explored, with the landing point – which is not enforced – routed to the region’s sky platform; the remaining five being at ground level within a contiguous landscape. These five locations are: the Library, the Elven Ballroom, Gypsy Lane, Nemo’s Rest and The Pond, and all of them are connected to one another and the sky platform via teleport boards – but exploration on foot is the best way to appreciate those on the ground.

The Library sits close to the centre of the region, adjoining a mesa that rises above the otherwise flat terrain. It is reached via a curving stairway that rises from a point just around the corner from the teleport board serving it, the path to it running between the sheer face of the mesa and a fast-flowing stream that runs outward from it and to the sea. The building is one suggestive of great age and with a fantasy lean. And while the Library may not have a plethora of books for avid readers, it does present a cosy retreat with views out over the landscape to the surrounding off-shore (off-sim) islets.

A walk along a narrow viaduct to one side of the Library and then between tall trees, will bring you to the Pond, a broad body of water occupying the top of the plateau that feeds four falls that drop into narrow streams to cut the landscape into four unequal quarters, each stream crossed by an identical humpbacked bridge, a mix of footpath and rutted track connecting them.

Two of these bridges are reached from the steps leading up to the The Library. Go north along the west side of the path, and crossing the bridge in that direction will deliver you to the arches and circle of the Elven Ballroom, the arches forming a pair of walks leading to and from the circular stone dance floor that is ghost an ethereal light by spheres hanging within the boughs of the surrounding trees.

Eastwards from the Library’s steps, the path passes over another bridge and to low grasslands bordering Nemo’s Rest, the home to the grounded wreck of a submarine, its hollowed-out shell of its hull forming a cosy hideaway.

Beyond both Nemo’s Rest and the Elven Ballroom sits Gypsy Lane, a row of three large Romany caravans sitting under the lee of the plateau and between it and a coastal woodland running along the north-east side of the island. Each of the caravans offers another cosy place to spend time, each one far enough from its neighbour(s) to invoke a sense of privacy.

The skyborne part of the region offers a large dance floor encircled by floating islands set against a backdrop of deep space. The dance floor has an animated wave-like finish to it and coral garden at its centre, while the islands surrounding it are connected one to the next by rope bridges and steps leading down to the first from the dance area. Each of the islands has its own small attraction – places to sit, Tai Chi, etc., – whilst floating a short distance away is a little space station that presents a further private space, while the local blue whale offers rides around the platform for those so inclined.

A setting that is ideal for easy exploration and offers much for avatar-related photography, The Muse is a nicely designed and serene in setting. Our thanks to Liss Beattie for pointing us to it!

SLurls

Peaceful Play, the home of The Muse is rated Adult.

• The Muse Consensual Kinks, rated Adult)

Garrigua is a relatively new Full private region leveraging the full region land capacity bonus to present both an environment open to exploration and to offer a limited number of private rentals.

The region is apparently intended to offer a slice of southern France, although many of the houses found within it have something of a Tuscan lean – but are not out-of-place in doing so. Designed by Terry Fotherington, famous for the Kekeland / Bar Deco settings, the region offers something of an echo of one of his Keleland iterations along its north and south waterfronts – which also is not to say it is any way a copy of that build; the similarity being gained through the bright colours of the south side buildings and the harbour areas they overlook, and the north side off-shore mooring with their sail boats.

The landing point is on a south-side road that cuts canyon through the aforementioned town houses and places of business, some of which separate the street from the beach and waterfront. Some of these building form a courtyard around a square garden, with the seaward side buildings of the courtyard sitting atop the region’s sea wall, and home to a bar and café that offer a view out to sea and the harbour to the west.

A place of business, the harbour offers fuelling and repairs for small boats and is home to a small marine research unit. It is overlooked to the west by a small headland camp site.

The north side of of the region appears to be where the rental properties are located – three on the waterfront to the east, separated from the sea by a ribbon of wave-eroded land that might form a beach at low tide, while the fourth sits offshore as a walled villa, complete with its own landing for boats. Between the waterfront houses and villa sits a wooden pier with shallow water moorings for sailing boats watched over by one of the region’s three lighthouses.

A dirt track runs east to west across these north side lowlands to connect with a paved road that links to the southern aspects of the setting and the inland uplands and north side of the island. Rising from behind the three rental houses, ir separates them from a privately-held farm on its other side. Another farm sits to the west, but appears to be open to the public, the meadow around the two farm houses rich in lavender.

As is always the case with Terry’s designs, there is a huge amount packed into this region: there are numerous places to sit and pass the time; cars and scooters and bike sit along the streets, giving a sense of the comings and goings of life; the way the roads all lead to a tunnel that emerges from the central uplands, suggesting the region is connected to somewhere else beyond the far end of the tunnel.

A stream also tumbles from these central uplands, running westwards to meet the sea, partially dissecting the region with rocky rapids. Other natural touches include the sheep wandering across the road, bringing local traffic to a temporary halt; donkeys stand in a field watching the comings and goings along the farm track whilst geese no doubt tease them with occasion honks as they wander by, unhampered by the fences that hold the Donkeys in place.

There is a subtle sense of age to the region as well: the local bus stop is little more than a corrugated tin shell, its paint slowly losing the battle with rust and held up by a wooden frame, while the carcasses of rusting vehicles can be found peppered across parts of the region, some turned into cuddle spaces, others left to turn to dust. Most striking of all is the old villa sitting towards the centre of the region.

Aged, plaster falling from the walls, the villa is dominated by a tree within its courtyard that has been left to its own devices for so long, it is starting to push against the walls. The rooms are similarly losing their battle with nature, with even a sapling taking root to push its way up through the floor ad seek the Sun by forcing its way through boards that once blocked a window before succumbing to death, leaving bare branches grasping outwards. All of which makes for a perfect location for photography.

Given the volume of mesh and textures in the region, movement around it can be subject to performance issues, particularly if there is a reasonable number of avatars present – so be prepared to make adjustments to your viewer settings if you find things a little heavy going.  However, the region makes for a picturesque, photogenic visit.

SLurl Details

• Garrigua (Nightcall, rated Adult)