Category: Exploring Second Life

I received an invitation from Clifton Howlett to attend the opening of his latest Homestead region build, and while I was unable to make the event on Saturday, March 18th, I did manage to hop over a couple of times over the weekend and take a look around. Working with Coralile Resident, Clifton is a region designer who puts together imaginative settings which offer places in which to retreat, relax, explore and have fun, each one a little different to the last.

With Forgotten Hope, Clifton and Coralile have come up with a most unusual setting. Hidden from much of the light of day yet still rich with natural growth, it takes a new turn in presenting both a place of mystery for those who like to create stories about the location they visit in-world, and a place where personal time and a little fun can be has for those just seeking to unwind.

A veil of darkness cloaks its mysterious depths, enticing explorers and spelunkers from far and wide to uncover the dark secrets it harbours. Amidst abandoned huts and a submerged ‘plane [you can] embark on an adventure like no other and immerse yourself in the eerie atmosphere of this enchanting location.

– From the Forgotten Hope description and opening invitation card

A journey through this underground location – quite where it might be is up to you to decide, but for reasons I’ll come to, I thought of it as perhaps a little twist on the Lost style of mystery – commences within a fairly nondescript cavern. Here, smoke from a slightly out-of-control wood fire pit is slowly – and doubtless suffocatingly – filling the space, encouraging people to seek escape through the arch of a tunnel to one side of the dome-like cavern.

Lit by a smaller fire held in check by a rock of stones, the tunnel floor is wreathed in creeping mist as it descends down roughly hewn steps and doglegs its way into a second chamber. This appears to have been long-used; chests of hand written scrolls sit against the round walls, together with barrels of who-knows what – dried food? water? both? – and stacks of candles and other signs of human occupancy. It is a place suggestive of age and darkness – if anything is to be gleaned from the scrolls at least.

An arch leads to a further small cavern where more oddments can be found – including, somewhat incongruously, an upright piano complete with stool and sheet music which all look in remarkably good condition. Both form a strange combination – the chests of scrolls contrasting with the piano and the heap of mouldering mattresses; however, the mystery of these caves is liable to fade into the background after passing through the wood door tucked to one side of this little dome of rock.

Beyond the door is a split in the rock, a narrow defile, a cave taller and somewhat brighter in natural light than those on the other side of the door, perhaps suggesting that daylight is not that far away – a feeling added to by the presence of vines on the walls. Someone has gone to great lengths to lay a path of carefully cut and placed logs to ease passage over the floor of this defile, complete with a hand-made ladder to help people over a rocky lip to reach the cave mouth beyond. This sits high up on a cliff face, the ground and surface of a body of water fed by water plummeting from further around the high cliffs and visible above the tops of trees. However, its is not open land, but rather a vast and high cavern.

Mist rises from the waters below the cave mouth to fold itself around the trees, and thin strands of cloud float around the cavern’s high roof, the sunlight which dapples the water falling through a jagged hole in the cavern’s dome, the stray clouds around the hole acting as a prism to break the light into finger-like beams of illumination pointing down into this netherworld of a place. In doing so they fall upon the element which gives this place a Lost-like feel: a partial carcass of an airliner broken and semi-submerged in the water and, perhaps the cause of the rend in the cavern’s roof.

Here is where more mystery grows: was it the people who survived the ‘plane crash who built the path lading back to the entry caverns – and the platforms with their ladders providing the way up to (or down from!) the high cave? Or were they merely the latest inhabitants of this strange world? The evidence of long-term habitation is intriguing: at “ground” level, there is a ramshackle cabin built into the remnants of a once massive tree; there are remnants of cut-stone walls suggesting ancient buildings; board walks and decks pass out over the shallow waters to connect with the the rest of this huge cavern space. Trees grow throughout, whilst a range of wildlife sitting beneath their boughs and amidst the wild grass.

If the cabin and other structures located here were built before the nose of the airliner arrived – then who built them? Who was responsible from shipping the large boiler system sitting within the corrugated sides of a ramshackle shed in the second large cavern? Is this a retreat from the world, or a place where people can end up apparently stranded by misfortune – or some form of strange experiment in the human condition? Maybe the weird hooded figure lurking within the setting has some of the answers; or perhaps you don’t find them important.

If you don’t, there’s more than enough to keep you occupied here – the large deck sitting over the water of the first of the big caverns is home to DJ events and dancing, whilst scattered throughout the caverns (and up in their rocky walls) are places to sit and cuddle or read a book, with sofa and wine available by the bottle whilst the local wolves, snakes and alligator are content to let people freely come and go without being in anyway bothersome.

A strange but engaging world, Forgotten Hope makes for an engaging visit and serves as a spark for the willing imagination.

SLurl Details

• Forgotten Hope (Mundo Virtual, rated Moderate)

Dragonfly is a Full private region designed by the Mad Ninjaz, offering a fascinating setting built along vertical lines and which – on first arrival – can appear deceptive to the eye.

The landing point sits within what at first appears to be a rocky landscape, close to a Japanese style of house built over an artificial pool of water. It looks for all the world like an ordinary setting – until one starts to look around, and the floating islands with water falling free to reach nearby pools come into view. A further indication of the strangeness to the land comes in the form of the large hole in the ground behind the landing point (be careful if stepping back too far on landing!) which reveals another world; one which I’ll come to.

A Torii gate marks the entrance to the house, and more march away to the east, following the water flowing away from the pool over which the house has been built. Crossing a small bridge over the water, the gates turn south, marking the way where large basalt blocks sit as oversized stepping stones across mist-covered waters to large to stone steps curving up a hill.

The hill top is marked by more basalt rock forms and patterns of pools fed by waterfalls dropping from more floating islands. Torii gates continue to mark a path over around and between all of these to lead visitors to  where a path winds its way up a naked table of rock to where more pools of water – these made by humans – can be found, forming hot baths for relaxing, with little hideaways sitting with them.

Down below, sheltered under the table of rock supporting the gardens is a waterlogged town, a place of many focal points. How you get down is something I’ll leave to your to discover – although jumping down through the hole in the land is perhaps the quickest!

Here, along flooded streets can be found a curious mix of shops, event spaces, industrial units, giant pipes, elevated tramways, all mixed together in a strange mix that is both vibrant and filled with neon, but also edged with a sense of dystopia and the alien in the form of the basalt/crystal rock formations.

The tram keeps itself busy trundling back and forth along the short length of elevated track, stairs from the shallow waters leading up to two little platforms where people can board it for the short ride if they wish. A further Torii gate sits close to one of the tram stations, marking the maw of what might be a cave, neon-lit steps rising into the darkness. Step through them into the cave’s mouth and visitors arrive in a huge cavern and a strange mix of shopping mall and suggestions of clubs and hidden spots.

There is more to be found at or near water level awaiting cameras and explorers, perhaps the more obvious of which is the glowing tree of a large pagoda again lit and limned in neon. Called the Jewel Box, it is a strange mix of old, modern and futuristic, water again forming a central feature – together with a Chinese dragon. Stairs climb between the various floors, allowing the building to be thoroughly explored.

A second pagoda sits across the region from the Jewel Box, but while it is watched over by a guardian of its own – one perhaps a little more frightening in visage than the dragon at the Jewel Box, it is a shell without interior, offered as a potential focal point for photographs.  Some of the other buildings rising from the water are also shells in form, but equally, other have interiors, some of which are again diverse in form – such as a winter garden sitting between apartments. As such, time should be taken with wanderings and looking.

Very much a place of two halves, Dragonfly is richly diverse and wee-presented with a lot of small details waiting to be found. The local sounds can be a little intrusive in places, but overall a very different style of place to explore in Second Life.

 SLurl Details

• Dragonfly (rated Adult)

I’m going to start this piece with a reference that is only going to resonate with people from the UK of a certain age group, for which I apologise to everyone else. However, whenever I hear the name “Plumpton” a little voice from my childhood years starts up in the back of my head, “Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb,” followed by mental images of a stop-motion fire engine and its crew trundling along little streets – and it’s a reaction I had when visiting Plumpton on Sea.

The most obvious explanation is the alterative nature of Plumpton and Trumpton, a children’s TV series made in the 1960s and repeated right through the 1970s and into the 1980s as a staple of BBC children’s television. However, it’s also likely to be because of the legend (urban or otherwise) that the actual Plumpton – a village in East Sussex, England was the inspiration name for Trumpton and that both nearby Plumpton Green and Chailey being the inspirational names for Trumpton’s sister shows, Camberwick Green and Chigley.

Within the physical world, and regardless of any connections with television shows of my childhood, the real Plumpton, East Sussex is perhaps best known for its horse racing course, and (again for me personally) for being close to a number of Bronze Age sites which have been the targets of visits for me when visiting friends based down on the south coast.

And it is as a coastal location – something not shared by the original – which forms the focus for Plumpton on Sea in Second Life, thus helping to establish it as a place of the imagination, rather than necessarily rooted in the physical. That said, as a place created by Dave Piss (Cherish Demonge), who hails from the UK, there may be a little physical world resonance in the choice of names for this setting – I’ll leave you to cogitate on that.

Dave was one of the people responsible for Puddlechurch, a Second Life location I wrote about back in March 2019, and so the fact that Plumpton on Sea is his build was a reason for the region catching my attention. Caught in a summer shower – or “liquid sunshine” as my father used to call it – this is a setting primarily built with photography in mind, the region offering multiple backdrops suitable for creating small scenes. The core of the build is a little town square, rich in detail – if a little run-down, and at first glance seemingly without an exit – although looks can be deceiving.

The landing point sits on one side of the square, the rain falling gently from clouds which touch the rooftop. A short walk away is a small bus stop, one wall of which is festooned with posters, all of them celebrating (if I might use that term) some of England’s most popular seaside locations – and for those familiar with them, the tag-lines are bound to raise a smile (although I was surprised with the inclusion of Leeds…).

Built around an overgrown garden, the square sits caught in a summer rain, some of its townhouses undergoing renovations – possibly conversion into individual apartments, and the cobble road itself is also under repair. Hidden among the buildings are a couple of ways out of the square – one for vehicles in the form of a false tunnel, the other a very real underpass passing below and behind one side of the square to reach a corner beach sitting below high cliffs.

Within the square many of the buildings are façades or shells, but some do have modest interiors which offer additional opportunities for photography, one of which is a small arcade of games, whilst a sense of life is provided by the construction / repairs going on and the presence of some NPCs (which, again for those familiar with the shows, perhaps have a slight Trumptonshire ring to them 🙂 ).

The little corner café offers perhaps the most obvious place for avatar photography, with the beach offering additional opportunities; however, the square and beach both having a run-down charm which is attractive in its own right. Those who might want something more interactive can additionally find a trio of table-top games set out on the beach.

Completed by a matching sound scape, Plumpton on Sea can be a little hard on the viewer if you have all the bells and whistles enabled, so do use good judgement when visiting and tweak your viewer settings accordingly if you encounter issues with running shadows, etc.

SLurl Details

• Plumpton on Sea (Boom Boom Pow, rated Adult)

Hera (zee9) is back with a further take on Scott’s Blade Runner, and the director’s transplanted dystopian ideas from Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. It’s not the first time Hera has tackled the theme in a build – as I’ve covered several times in these pages – either indirectly through her Drune builds or more directly through her February 2022 Blade Runner build, which I wrote about here.

With Blade Runner Future Noir, Hera has taken the opportunity presented by a Full private region leveraging the Land Capacity bonus to greatly expand on her February 2022 vision, offering offering something which is partially familiar to visitors of that build and something which is new an unique. Combined, these elements serve to deliver one of the most immersive and integrated representations of Scott’s filmic vision to be presented in Second Life.

I say “integrated” here, because Blade Runner Future Noir brings together Hera’s stunning visuals, an superb ambient sound scape and a curated music stream which perfectly reflects the the setting, offering as it does pieces from the soundtracks of both films, plus pieces from other suitable sources. As such, this is very much a setting which should be visited with both local sounds on and the audio stream enabled.

This is something very special for me. It is without doubt the best Cyberpunk sim I have created. It has all the elements that the others did not have or could not have due to space and prim limits. Blade Runner, for those who know and love it, needs no introduction.

– Hera (Zee9)

From the landing point – do be sure to tat the information note card that’s available there – visitors are delivered to a subway train car, the platform beyond it offering the way up to street level and the hustle and dampness of downtown and old town Los Angeles. The street scenes here are perhaps the most familiar aspects of the design for those who have visited the February 2022 build. Familiar, but not necessarily the same; there is a wealth of details waiting to be found that was not present on that build which could not be previously included.

That detail come s both large and small: from the vehicles through to the Animesh NPCs to the posters which there familiar touches of humour – some of which are the work of AmandaBennet1967 – and signage found among the streets and buildings. The NPCs are a first for Hera’s builds, again thanks for the increased Land Capacity presented by the region. They offer a sense of life which goes beyond static NPC figures – although admittedly, seeing an LAPD officer in full amour and casually swinging what appears to be a large, automatic projectile weapon while bouncing and hopping on the balls of his feet did after me crossing the street to avoid the risk of an accidental *bang* and ricochet 🙂 .

There is a great deal of familiar stuff here, but it has all been re arranged and expanded upon. There is also a great deal of new stuff, all of which you will have to find, it’s been such a long time since I put some of it in that I have forgotten where things are myself … The devil is in the detail and I have at last had a chance, and the prims , to just go way over the top. There are so many small things scattered about here now, and I could have continued had I not begun to get dangerously close, in a 30000 prim sim, of running out. 

– Hera (Zee9)

As with the February 2022 build, it is possible to visit The Snake Pit – although Zhora is not present, and the club is a little more up-market compared to the establishment at which she performed. Similarly, the Tyrell Tower looms over the setting, bearing the name of its founder / owner. Within it can be found Tyrell’s office and conference area where visitors might appreciate an owl and just down the hallway can be found Tyrell’s bedchamber. Also awaiting visitors is the office level where Holden met his violent end after confusing / upsetting Leon whilst administering the Voight-Kampff test. Further within the tower is more to be found – but I’ll little your discover what that might be.

New to this build is the means by which one might choose the reach the tower. Whilst the route at street level remains, those finding their way to the roof of the LAPD headquarters can use the rezzer on one of the landing pads there to call-up a police spinner and treat themselves to a Deckard-style flight to Tyrell Tower as it faces the police building across the width of the region.

Dow at ground level are some familiar and not-so-familiar locations to be visited. The Snake Pit still awaits patrons, for example – although it is again perhaps a little more up-market in looks and tone to the club which employed Joanna Cassidy’s Zhora. For those who prefer, street level offers access to the local club (just be wary of the soda beverage available in the foyer – at least, if it’s name is to be taken literally! is numerous smaller locations I don’t recall from previous builds.

As well as Blade Runner, the setting apparently draws on influences from the game Cyberpunk 2077, including the apartment belonging to the game’s protagonist, V. I confess it’s not a game I’m familiar with at all, so I have no idea if the apartment I found was inspired by V’s; but I will say that for some odd reason put me in mind of the Hume’s apartment from the (sadly) short-lived series Total Recall 2070 (which, despite its title owed as much to Scott’s vision of Los Angeles as it did to Dick’s novella We Can Remember It for You Wholesale), even if the similarities are at best superficial.

Another apartment available to visitors is at of J. F. Sebastian, tucked away within the Bradbury building. Fortunately, Pris does not appear to be present, so it’s unlikely you’ll be attacked; however, it’s also worth taking a look at the floor above for another reminder of the film. I’m honestly not sure if either of these were present in prior builds, but I enjoyed discovering them both.

When visiting, do be sure to view the region under the region’s EEP settings – the add immeasurably to the experience and help give the region a greater sense of depth than the 256 metres on the side otherwise presents.  You can still also partake of a bowl of noodles at The White Dragon, which has also bee expanded upon with the inclusion of Animesh NPCs.

Should you enjoy a visit and appreciate Hera’s work, do please consider making a donation via the landing point’s bear; all L$ received go directly back into the region’s upkeep and tier – and at Hera points out, the greater the assistance, the longer Blade Runner Future Noir will remain available for everyone to enjoy.

Absolutely not one to be missed.

SLurl Details

• Blade Runner Future Noir (Themyscira, rated Adult)

Held by Bee Dumpling, Emerald is a Full region setting with multiple faces, all of which make for an engaging visit – particularly for those who enjoy Medieval / fantasy and combat.

The Landing Point sits on the ground level, located between The White Armory Apparel, wholly owned by Bee, and Silvan Moon Designs, a brand co-owned by Bee. The two stores sit within an open, semi-woodland setting, surrounded by mountains. A curtain wall of cliffs runs north-to-south across the region. It is cut through by an archway, separates the stores from a garden area designed by Gidgy Adagio (Gidgette Adagio).

As with all of Adagy’s designs, the garden is simply delightful, well-designed and very easy on the eye. Screened from the sea to the east by trees and shrubs, the garden is cut through north-to-south by a large pond and stream running southwards. A single bridge spans the water, a path of stepping stones laid out over the grass to link the bridge and the archway leading back to the stores.

Beyond the bridge, the steam opens into a small bay in which sits a stone gazebo, one of several places where visitors can sit and relax. Another might be found on the small dock extending over the water; a dock which might otherwise serve the little elven-style boat floating amidst the flowers on the water of the northern pond. Carvings and statues give the gardens an air of mystery, as do the tall mushrooms from which strings of lights are draped.

Colour is added to the setting by slanting rays of sunlight filtering through trees, the light playing off the waters, bursts of flowers and the surrounding mountains. These all combine to give the garden a further air of mystery and enchantment, both encouraging visitors to explore – and to sit and pass the time.

Located on a sky platform accessible via a teleport disk can be found several more locations, all of them – as with the ground-level stores – put together by Bee. They include a period village (the buildings of which are unfurnished), a Renaissance-style hall (which is set as a ballroom and sitting before formal gardens; a Tai Chi garden, a fortified hall and a walled castle – each with formal gardens, and various tournament / combat areas –  jousting, archery, training. Overlooking everything on a table of rock is an elven hall, reached via a natural path angling up the rock face, while  as with the ground level, mountains surround the setting, giving it a greater depth.

Region-wide the platform is well put together, the paved paths acting as boundaries to separate them one from the next, whilst still leaving room for water features streams, wild woods and  a memorial walk. These settings appear suitable for role-play – although to be honest, I didn’t pry too much in order to find out; the region is linked to The Last White Knights of SL, a private group with the description:

Charged with defending the principles of truth, honour, and kindness. To defend those who cannot defend themselves from those who would seek to cause pain.

But beyond that, I just appreciated the settings in their own right.

With a subtle soundscape available on both the ground levels and on up on the sky platform, and with plenty to catch the eye and the camera, Emerald makes for an interesting and photogenic visit.

SLurl Details

• The White Armory-Silvan Moon Designs (Emerald, rated General)

Sci-Fi fans are liable to appreciate the latest 80 Days build by Camila Runo) supported by ZamiTio Resident, paying homage to a popular franchise – as is evident from its About Land description:

IN A GALAXY is a dangerous place where good meets evil, dark meets light. Travelers, pilots, space knights and droids can be found here as well as pirates, smugglers and assassins.

from In A Galaxy … About Land

From this, it is pretty easy to determine the setting is related to Star Wars – although I admire the way Camila overtly avoids using that term or others associated with the franchise. However, for those who don’t get the hint, the landing point – sitting within a skybox – further makes it clear, particularly via the sign above the teleport disk.

The latter takes visitors down to ground level and a certain desert planet usually overseen by two suns. However, rather than taking its main cue from the franchise’s big screen outings, this setting draws on the more recent outings for the franchise through Disney+, with a fair focus on elements seen within The Mandolorian and The Book of Boba Fett – although other touches are present as well; such as the freighter of a certain rogue of a smuggler (complete his his shaggy-haired partner) and touches from the animated series and also – in a way – the upcoming Ahsoka live-action series.

The teleport drops visitors in an walled landing / repair bay bearing a resemblance to Peli Motto’s place from The Mandolorian. There is even one of the armoured comanndoes-come-bounty hunters present – although who it is is up to you to decide; the vessel in the bay is not  Din Djarin’s Razor Crest nor his Naboo N-1 fighter. Beyond the entrance to the bay is a short expanse of desert where the aforementioned freighter has landed, together with what might be a walled section of Mos Espa, Tatooine.

The latter can be accessed via a gate set diagonally across from the entrance to the repair bay, the sand leading to it well scuffed and unsettled by the passage of many feet. The streets of the town, are host to a number of indoor and outdoor spaces awaiting visitors. One of these is the local cantina, and while it might not be the one found in another Totooine space port, when you step inside you might find the music familiar; you might also get an answer as to whether or not the armoured character at the landing / repair bay is or isn’t Din Djarin

Further down the main street is another hint of Mos Espa. This comes in the form of a cantina / club reminiscent of Garsa Fwip’s Sanctuary. And while I didn’t come across either Boba Fett or Fennic Shand in walking the streets, I did come across  Ahsoka Tano and Ezra Bridger engaging with Darth Maul in a lightsabre duel.

While Fett and Shand might not be directly present, hints to of their presence – or at least to characters from the franchise on the big screen – can be found in one corner of the city setting, providing you go indoors, notably in the form of a couple of cabonite-frozen figures hung as war décor in what may have once been the city-side residence of a member of the Hutt criminal enterprise race.

There are more characters who may be familiar with the Star Wars franchise waiting to be found scattered around, including a couple who may well raise a smile given who has the drop on who – or possibly a thought that “Han shot first!” in reference to one of them. However, I let you find them and the others for yourself.

No formalised role-play is active within the setting, but the creators welcome casual RP visitors might wish to set in motion – and there are opportunities both within the settings and in the surroundings (just watch out for the characters up on the cliff paths; they might have ideas about who’s for lunch…). Also when visiting, make sure you have local sounds enabled or you will miss a lot of the ambience, including the aforementioned music.

A delightful and engaging build, rich in character and fun sci-fi fans will likely appreciate, and one which neatly brings together touches of the old and the new within the Star Wars franchise.

SLurl Details

• In A Galaxy… (Infinite Sprit, rated Moderate)