Category: Reviews

The Realm of Rosehaven  (operated by SelenaAnansi and Serra Anansi) is one of the oldest fantasy / medieval themed residential and role-play communities in Second Life. Totalling 15 regions, it offers a rich mix of private and public spaces, it is a place with much to see and discover; a place that can be called home by those with a focus on fantasy.

We offer you a place to hang your hat, rest your feet, and let the stress of the outside world fade away in a fantasy British Isles styled setting.  Architecture and themes are inspired by fairy tales, lore, myths, and possibly your dreams.  Medieval and fantasy clothing is welcomed and encouraged; however, there is no set dress code.

Rosehaven is a land of magic and dreams – the living embodiment of imagination and creativity, where humans, elves, fae, shapeshifters, and other creatures can peacefully coexist among the mist-covered lands.

– From the Realm of Rosehaven website

I was drawn to the estate after learning about the extensive network of caves, caverns, tunnels and places of mystery and magic which offer the Second Life explorer much to see and – well, explore.

This is a network with many points of entry (and exit!), which exists underground, under the sea and in the air, the various elements linked by an experience which allows for relatively seamless teleport movement between locales. Given the multiple points of entry, how and where a traveller may come by the system is a part of the fun of discovery; it might be a case of noticing a shadowed archway between houses and then walking through it, or finding a ladder leading down into the bowels of the earth from the basement of a public building, or even the ornate doors at the foot of a cliff which open at the touch of a hand rather than the utterance of “Mellon!”

For the purposes of my explorations, I opted to go the easy way – via the entrance below the Temple of the Oracle at Clair View Ruins (designed by designed by Snow Kelley). Step through the stained glass of the portal, and your voyage begins at the Cavern of Inner Wisdom; pay attention to local chat for a clue on how to proceed – but before you do move onwards, take the time to explore the halls built within the cavern. And when you are ready to travel onwards, don’t be fooled when confronted by an apparent blank face of rock after following the Cavern’s whispered instructions.

Beyond this first cavern lies an underground fortification, a place of hewn and shaped stone walls, where broad stairways of wood and stone connect different levels and long halls and shadowed arches hint at further destinations. Designed and built by Talus Ravenheart, it sits as a kind of hub with multiple opportunities of onwards exploration. But again, before stepping through any of the archways, take a moment to explore the passages also offered, because again there are places here to be discovered: catacombs with the memory of one passed, a broken wall leading to natural caves beyond which in turn lead to further secrets and spaces awaiting discovery.

Such is the nature of this “hub” (for want of a better term), that describing what might come next is impossible, thanks to the multiplicity of options for onward travel available. And even if there were a proscribed route, providing a blow-by blow description of what might be found would spoil the experience of exploring the cave and caverns for yourself. Suffice it to say that as you select arches and routes and shaded tunnels, so might you find yourself in the abode of a practitioner of magic or the hideaway of pirates or tunnels adorned with crystals, leading the way to elven halls – or more besides; each one designed by one or more of the residents of Rosehaven, and thus given an individual flavour.

Along the way it is possible to come across interactive elements in various places and rooms as well – so should you find yourself in, say, a cellar where grapes are pressed into wine (to name but one) – be sure to mouse-over anything that looks like it might not actually fit with the rest of the room / cavern. Also, given that any route might lead you to an alley or dungeon or gateway or stairs leading to the world beyond the caves, the tunnels offer a unique means for discovering and exploring public spaces within the broader Realm; just remember that teleports into the network may not always be a portal or hidden in shadow; some might lie behind an innocent-looking door…

Whether used for exploration or for role-lay, the caves of Rosehaven add a further dimension to this engaging community, and are more than worth a visit.

SLurl Details and Links

• Clair View Ruins (The Realm of Rosehaven estate is rated Moderate)
• Realm of Rosehaven website
• Realm of Rosehaven events calendar

On the advice of the Destination Guide – and also to give Firestorm 6.6.3 with the Lab’s Performance Improvements something of an exercise, I hopped over to Sainte Rose sur Mer. This is the 21,000+ square metre parcel designed and held by Dandy Warhlol (terry Fotherington) occupying most of the eastern aspect of a Full private region that has the additional Land Capacity bonus available for use by those renting there, and which I last visited in December 2021.

At the time of that visit I noted that Sainte Rose sur Mer presented “a refreshing break from the current round of winter-themed regions by presenting visitors with a little corner of Mediterranean France with a beach to the southern aspect … and a coastal, almost rustic corner of a town … that offers little walks and corners to explore”.

This is still very much the case with the updated design for the setting, which sits now dressed for the autumnal season. within it, there is much that echoes the look and feel of the former design in terms of architecture and layout, something that gives an overall sense that this is a further, and previously unseen, part of that little town Dandy first revealed to us in late 2021.

The landing point is located towards the south-east corner of the build, at a point where a small cobbled square opens to one side to overlook what might have once been a natural cove, but which has been built up over the years such that it now sits as a home to little wharves and a tiny, trapped shingle beach. Facing this overlook from the opposite side of the cobbles is one of the entrances to the BarDeco club.

Always a staple of Dandy’s personal builds, BarDeco here retains its open-air look and feel, sitting within a large courtyard area now bounded on all sides by buildings and high walls. It has an attractive, ramshackle look to it which is always instantly engaging – a hallmark of the BarDeco designs over the years -, the broken floors of the upper level suggesting that at least part of the area occupied by the club might have once been roofed over, although what it may have housed if so is entirely a matter for the imagination.

Bracketing the club to either side are two south-north thoroughfares which between them offer routes of exploration. The first of these, which includes the cobbled landing point, connects the southern beach and the tall form of houses, hotels and beachfront places of business overlooking it, with a small “residential” area (not rentals, just a grouping of publicly-accessible houses) at the northern end of the setting. In doing so, it passes through a cosy street of little businesses and tall townhouses, arched gateways and tunnels denoting the limits of their influence.

Along this street are reminders of the prior iteration of Sainte Rose sur Mer I visited in December 2021 – the steps gently connecting the different levels of the town, the gateways, the little stone bridge (now rubbing shoulders with building either side of it) which now takes the street down to the narrow little Rue du Petit Pont. This narrow street runs behind the local hotel and parallel to the beach before opening out into an fountained square which in turn links to the raised waterfront and the beach beyond.

Steps on the far side of this square rise up to another terrace, also with its own fountain.  Backed by local residences, it has clearly been laid claim to by cats, birds and children. Steps on the same side as those leading up to it, but without any gated access, drop back down to provide access to the second of the north-south thoroughfares.

This second route is more informal in nature, being marked not by cobbles but by gravel pools and paths which both sit alongside two further entrances to BarDeco and  also meander northwards past gazebos and trees and over bubbling streams to reach a stone and steel framed greenhouse. Imposing is size and form, this greenhouse carries an air of having once been a proud garden feature, complete with its own clock marking the passage of time; now sits in the midst of a wildling garden, apparently now the house of occasional piano recitals.

Both garden and pond – which has a large deck extending over its southern side from the bank just below the greenhouse – offer a picturesque view over to the gardens of the houses at the northern end of the setting. The latter can actually be reached by means of a little bridge and rock path which skirt around the west side of the water to pass by way of an old gatehouse tower. At the houses, an overgrown alley running between two of them leads visitors back to the cobbled “main” street, thus allowing them to literally circumnavigate the entire setting from landing point back to landing point.

As is the way with Dandy’s build, there is a richness of details to be found here throughout, and there are a lot of nooks and crannies and little side passages and alleys to be exploring I haven’t touched upon in this piece.

Normally, the high level of attention to detail can lead to hits on viewer FPS. While this is still the case in places with this build, thanks to LL’s performance improvements, I found I needed to jiggle with settings a lot less than has often been the case when dropping into Dandy’s builds (although I did have to derender a lot of the mesh rain sheets, as these have always been a bane to my PC).

Picturesque, rich in the use of local sounds and with much to see appreciate and photograph, Sainte Rose sur Mer remains an engaging destination.

SLurl Details

• Sainte Rose sur Mer & BarDeco (Sereno Bay, Moderate)

I think I’ve sort-of hinted at the fact that I’m something of a Tolkien fan once or twice (at least!) in this blog, and with Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power now showing on Amazon Prime as a charting of the Second Age of Middle Earth, I thought I’d bounce my way over to Fellowship Falls, a Full region utilising the private region land capacity bonus to present a setting that offers an engaging mix of elements from Tolkien’s novels with some hidden extras.

Designed by Celerdir (Chappers101), the region is described thus within its About Land description:

An Elven & Tolkien-inspired sim where all free folk are welcome. Rez a horse to ride through the forest and over hills and make your way to Rivendell. Also explore The Labyrinth of Light…an underground maze of lights that leads to the Fantasy Forest.

The landing point sits tucked right into the south-west corner of the region, where information on the design can be found – and it is worth a read. Not only is Celerdir still relatively new to Second Life, having been active for less than 18 months at the time of writing, Fellowship Falls is also his first region build; and it is more than a creditable design, being very well put together for both Second Life explorers and photographers, regardless of any specific knowledge or interest in matters Tolkien.

From the landing point, the region is set out in a manner to encourage exploration either on foot or horseback. Trails run from the landing point into the setting at large, while those pressed for time might make use of the stone teleport discs to hop to the major locations – although I’d recommend against this, as it risks missing  a lot of the region’s beauty.

The north side of the region is given over to Rivendell (aka Imladris aka the Last Homely House, the seat of Elrond half-elven during the Third Age). Whilst surrounded by off-region mountains, it sits atop a rocky table of land separated from the rest of the region by a deep valley.

This might give some Tolkien purists cause to frown, given Tolkien states Rivendell sits within a hidden valley – but this is a region inspired by Tolkien, not representative necessarily of his world as encountered in book and film. As it is Rivendell has a suitably elven feel to it, with a richness of character strongly suggestive of an elven enclave.

The trail climbing up through the hills to reach Rivendell passes over a couple of bridges, one of which sits below a hilltop marked by ruins which look to have been built by the hands of men rather than elves. A broad stone causeway, this bridge is guarded at one end by the presence of the Argonath, the Pillars of the Kings. Again, for Tolkien purists, this might seem anachronistic, but here the scaled-down figures of Isildur and Anárion (I’m sticking with the books here, rather than the films) work.

The reason for Rivendell being set so high is provided in the region’s description – the Labyrinth of Night. I’ll leave to you to find the entrance, but will suggest you should take time exploring the tunnels of the labyrinth, as there is more than the forest awaiting discovery, including a further Tolkien echo, this one from The Hobbit, this one a reminder of what lay deep in the halls of Erebor and gave rise to Thorin Oakenshield’s Quest.

This is where my one small quibble with the setting lay – not in what is presented, but in the fact that the tunnels of the labyrinth are best experienced with the viewer set to Midnight – but given the layout of this part of the region, it could have been parcelled and set so that the tunnels have their own low-level EEP, making them a little more immersive. But this is a very, very minor quibble.

It is clear that throughout the region considerable love and consideration have been poured into is creation, with many small touches awaiting discovery; there are also many places offering visitors a chance to sit and pass the time. Finished with a local sound scape (one that can be a little interrupted by the surprise in the labyrinth!) and sitting beneath a rich sky (not seen in the images here), Fellowship Falls offers a richness of exploration and photography waiting to be appreciated – so be sure to visit soon!

SLurl Details

• Fellowship Falls (Aspire, rated Moderate)