Category: Exploring Second Life

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)

I last visited The Shambles when it occupied a Homestead region and presented a steampunk-come-sci-fi theme (see: In The Shambles in Second Life). But that was a year ago (or, when put in purely Second Life terms – a decade ago!). A lot has happened in that time. For one thing, Tolia Crisp has relocated The Shambles to a Full private region; for another she has once again teamed with Dandy Warhlol (Terry Fotherington) to offer another engaging and photogenic region under the Frogmore banner.

At the time of my visit, The Shambles was open to members of the Frogmore group, who are also invited to participate in a landscape photo competition with a L$8,500 prize pool, including L$5,000 to the outright winner (+a 4-week free stay at Frogmore Cottage). Details on this competition are available through the Frogmore group, and it will remain available for entry by group members until August 4th, 2023. However, The Shambles itself will open to full public access on Saturday, July 15th, 2023, and will remain so through until Tolia closes it for a Halloween redressing – so this might be considered a little advanced promotion for the region.

Those who have visited the core Frogmore regions will find much that is familiar within this iteration of The Shambles. It offers something of a continuation of the rugged coastal environment that mixes touches of England’s Cornwall and Devon with a stirring of European coastal areas, bound together with a touch of summer days perhaps made more bearable by the cooling influence of an light breeze drifting in from over the sea.

This is not to say that The Shambles doesn’t have its own personality or independent looks – it most certainly does. In fact, the overall styling contains more of a lean towards parts of Europe’s multi-faceted coastlines than it does the UK’s, and there is, as ever, plenty to see and discover whilst exploring.

To the west, the land is low-lying and formed by a deep inlet / bay complete with a broad sandy beach to one side, facing an headland which rises as a broad shoulder of rock protecting the inlet from the wilder elements, capped by a small fishing wharf suitable for trawlers at the head of the bay. This sits as one of two guardians watching over the entrance to the bay, the other being the (inevitable? – We SLers do so love them…) lighthouse.

A broad cobbled street parallels the beach, offering multiple points of interest whilst aged steps climb the eastern uplands as they rise to a roughly flat top before falling away sharply to the seas below again.

This highland area is home of a variety of locations, each one with its own charm and beauty. There’s the dirt track running past stables, the horses from which graze both in the field alongside it and the meadow above from which rises the head of a tumbling stream which steps its way down along the east side of the setting before using a waterfall to jump down to the sea on the north side.

Or – and keeping to the north side of the region – there’s the campsite with its mix of caravans and tents. It’s a cramped but clearly popular location, although how the caravans got up there is a nice little enigma. Certainly, the same track as runs past the stables was used for the final leg of their journey, but its southern end ends in a rocky drop descended only by more aged stone steps and by more water tumbling from a small pair of pools.

Watched over by a tall bell tower, the southern end of the island seems to exude a sense of age, a careworn spit of land splitting the waters between open sea and narrow channel. Another fishing wharf sits on the narrow spit, itself crossed at several points by a variety of bridges, whilst its eastern end is guarded by two lighthouses, one of considerable age, the other perhaps one of the more recent structures on the island.

All of which is just the start of a description for what is a genuinely captivating setting, rich in content, with many places to sit and pass the time or enjoy a drink or two. There’s also a bungee jump for the more adventurous, although this may be absent whilst the photo competition is running. As one would expect from the pairing or Tolia and Terry, there is a deep since of natural beauty throughout; a feeling that – as is the case in the physical world – the land was present long before people arrived, the wind, fresh water, sea and rain forming it into folds and turns, high points and lowlands, slopes and drops, humans have in turn used to their advanced in establishing a lasting presence here.

Needless to say, the entire setting is highly photogenic and those of the Frogmore group wishing to enter the competition should find lots here by which to create an entry, whilst those wishing to take avatar-centric photos which are not for the competition but purely for pleasure, can also join the Frogmore group for rezzing rights with props.

Again, the region will be open to the general public from Saturday, July 15th, 2023, but those wishing earlier access can – again – join the Frogmore group. Enjoy.

SLurl Details

• The Shambles (Pismo Beach, rated Moderate)

Cube Republic (of landscaping fame) poked me recently concerning Viper Heaven, a skyborne installation built by Markarius Viper high over one of the regions of Viper Estate, which Markarius runs along with JimSqu Sunbelter. An artist, builder and regions designer, Markarius’s name is not new to me, although I had to go all the way back to 2016 to find the last design I’d blogged about in which he played a role in designing (Osprey Ridge, which he designed with Flo (SweetFloXO), a place now gone from SL and the region repurposed as a marina). Given this and – most importantly – Cube’s recommendation – I stepped on the pad, figuratively speaking and ordered “energise.”

And am I ever glad I did; Viper Heaven is one of the most visually engaging, photogenic, imaginative, potentially romantic and mysterious designs it has been my pleasure to visit. Built high over a Full region utilising the Land Capacity bonus, Viper Heaven seamlessly brings together elements of fantasy, mythology, ancient civilisations, art, lighting, and a light smattering of religious iconography in a genuinely captivating setting which is an utterly Must See destination.

However, before getting into specifics – no easy task in itself, given the visual richness of the setting – there are a number of points worth keeping in mind ahead of any visit. The first is that everything within the setting has been carefully orchestrated – including the environment settings. It’s therefore vital it ensure your viewer is set to Use Shared Environment (World → Environment menu) prior to visiting. Alongside of this is the fact that Viper Heaven uses a localised Experience to handle seamless transitioning between the different environment settings as visitors move between locations and levels. This Experience also allows for automated teleports when the setting’s various portals are encountered, therefore, it is essential you join the Experience when the pop-up dialogue is displayed by your viewer.

Finally, and while Shadows do not need to be enabled during a visit (in fact, because of the surrounding shell of the “sky”, I would suggest leaving shadows off, even if you do normally explore with them enabled), due to the use of projectors, it is vital you make sure Advanced Lighting Model is enabled in your viewer (Preferences → Graphics → check Advanced Lighting Model if not already checked – and am I ever glad the occasions when I’ll have to give that reminder will start to draw to a close in the future!).

To describe Viper Heaven is something of an exercise in futility; the simple truth is that this is a genuinely rich and immersive setting folding so much into it, and to appreciate it properly, it has to be seen first-hand. That said, and just to whet appetites, visitors will, within the three primary levels of of installation, find touches of ancient Egyptian and Grecian religion and mythology. For example Isis, Anubis, Bastet and Sobek occupy a setting that might easily suggest a location on the banks of the Nile at Thebes or perhaps Memphis; elsewhere, there is a ruined temple of an Oracle – still visited, it would seem, given the fresh fruits laid out before her statue in the hope of receiving divination by those leaving the gifts. Then, perhaps most noticeable of all – there are the three mighty Titans holding aloft the upper level, as if in honour of Atlas as he held aloft the celestial spheres, whilst  Ganesha / Ganesh sits on a stone plaza, offering another touch of religious mythology.

And that’s just to start; also awaiting discovery are touches of Elven and Fae fantasy – particularly in the form of plants and structure by the Master Elf himself, Elicio Ember, whilst one corner of the setting carries a strong hint of Fritz Lang, another carries a Lovecraftian air, and still another a suggestion that dwarfish tools have been at work in hidden caverns. As all this is just for openers. From the landing point on the uppermost level paths wind around the main island as it is held aloft by the Titans, bridges reaching out to islands floating close to hand, stairs rising to different levels and exotic plants floating among the trees to cast a further air of alien fantasy into the mix.

As mentioned, portals link the various levels, and these take various forms. Some are animated and rather indicative of their purpose. Others many appear as doors partially opened or tight shut. Still others might appear to be just a blank face of rock or wood into which the path seems to collide. No clue is given as to where they might lie or where they might lead – so if you want to discover all of Viper Heaven’s myriad secrets and appreciate its beauty and design to the fullest – walk is the order of the day!

Nor is Viper Heaven alone within the estate; also awaiting discovery is Viper Hell, as well are several other public locations. These are separate to Viper Heaven – giving me an excuse for return visits in the future! – but Markarius has developed a HUD to help people get around, which will hopefully soon be generally available at landing points, etc. But in the meantime, if you do pay a visit and catch Markarius on radar or in person, he’ll be happy to provide you with a copy of the HUD on request.

And all that said, I’ll leave you with my impressions of the setting on video – the first I’ve been able to produce of any reasonable length in a good few years thanks to ne hardware. I’m not sure how many videos I’ll produce going forward (I have some outstanding obligations to fulfil now I have everything sorted once more!), but frankly, Viper Heaven was simply too beautiful not to attempt to film it.

My thanks to Cube for the pointer, and to Markarius for taking the time to chat with me.

SLurl Details

• Viper Heaven (Viper Isles, rated Adult)