Category: Reviews

Benny Voxtex, whom I last wrote about in covering his (now closed) club, [Refuge]  – see: A [Refuge], a Deep Box, and a splash of absinthe in Second Life – recently invited me to preview his latest creation, The Great Mother. And all I can say is, “Wow!”

Fans of the Avatar franchise may recognise the term, given it is one of two “common names” (so to speak) by which Ewya, the globally distributed consciousness of Pandora is known; the other being the All-Mother. As such, it should come as no surprise that this is something of a personal homage to the Avatar movies whilst also being entirely unique as a setting in its own right; a place of infinite beauty; one that is utterly immersive.

Dive into the deep primordial forest, an ongoing passion project for Benny Vortex. Discover a lush, bioluminescent dreamscape of sights and sounds nestled below breath-taking floating islands under the silent gaze of a gas giant. May the spirits guide you.

– The Great Mother’s Destination Guide description

Occupying a Full region called – appropriately enough – Eywa, the setting captivates from the start. But before getting into specifics, there are some recommendations for enjoying a visit:

• Preferably, visit using a PBR-enabled viewer.
• Make sure you enable the local music stream to enjoy a soundtrack fully in keeping with the setting.
• Use the shared region environment settings.

Also, make sure you have local sounds enabled – this is an absolute must, as Benny has created an immersive soundscape, covering everything from the deep, echoing sounds of Pandora’s forests and creatures through to the sound of your own footsteps rustling the moss and grass. That said, don’t expect to encounter any of Pandora’s beasts – or ioang – whilst you may hear them in the distance, this is a place of sanctuary and spiritual awakening. However, if you opt to visit in a Na’vi avatar, that would be both appropriate and welcome.

Finally, do be aware that The Great Mother is very much a work in progress: whilst now open at the ground level, Benny has plans for vertical expansion and more. In fact, the Landing Point itself is in the air and presents the first of the setting’s unique elements.

Forming a small island, the landing Point is marked by a number of rope slides. Each of these bares a symbol scratched into its wooden frame, indicating the area of the biome below in which you will arrive. Pick the one you fancy and ride it down to a smaller floating island, where a dive mat awaits.

Sit on the dive mat, select your preferred dive (and style, if offered), and take the leap! Whichever area of the biome you selected, you will land in water. As you do so, a dialogue box will be displayed with a couple of options – one being a return to the diving mat and going again, if you wish.

However, to explore, ignore the dialogue – but do not stand up. You are still running an animation tied to the dive mat, and you can use it to swim through the water and / or to shore, where upon the animation will release you and allow you to walk.

Whichever rope slide you take, it likely won’t be the last, within the forest and waterways below are ropes to climb and rope traverses pass through the higher boughs, and trails over land and across water to be explored, together with discoveries to be made.  Keep an eye out for seeds marking potential points of interest as you explore. Overhead, further off-region islands hang in the night sky whilst a massive Jupiter-like gas giant watches over the comings and goings of this living world.

Extensive use is made of Elicio Ember’s fabulous plants, their bioluminescent fronds and petals well suited to representing Pandora’s own rich mixture of plant life, and this further brings the setting to life. As with the ideals of Eywa as well, there is a balance of lands and water throughout the region, with water channels as much as dry land trails offering routes of exploration – indeed, as Benny noted to me, the entire region is navigable by canoe.

As to what drew him to create such an environment, ad his future plans for expansion, Benny had this to say:

I really love the concept of the film and as a biologist/mycologist RL I can’t get enough of bioluminescent organisms. The next mission will be above 1000m with floating islands and waterfalls, and as I’ve also put a deep channel running through the region, I will eventually make it mer-friendly, and such.

– Benny Vortex on developing The Great Mother

Merfolk per se might not be a formal part of the Pandora ecosystem – although the Na’vi clearly have a relationship with the seas of their world – providing such a merfolk environment within The Great Mother does, to me, fit, and further extends the inclusiveness of the setting as a whole.

While I could write far more on the region, the truth is, it doesn’t need explanation – it deserves exploration and time spent with in it. As such, I’m going to wrap this up with a thank you to Benny for the invitation and the chance to explore for myself, and to strongly urge all Second Life explorers to visit Eywa and The Great Mother.

Slurl Details

• The Great Mother (Eywa, rated Moderate)

I came across Isola Sirena whilst perusing the Destination Guide. Comprising a pair of Full private regions, each leveraging the Land Capacity bonus offered by Linden Lab for such regions, it is an expansive, multi-faceted, multi-level setting with a lot to see and do throughout.

The work of Angel Kavanagh-Taylor (AngelWaldencork) and SL partner Kina Finest-Taylor-Kavanagh (Kina Amour), the setting also possesses several secrets worth discovering. The main starting point for explorations is located in the more westward of the two region, Isola Sirena – Sunkissed Cove Beach.

A sun-drenched Mediterranean-inspired sim offering sweeping coastal views and dreamy escapes. Explore a hilltop restaurant, mini golf in the clouds, a charming winery and farmers market, and a stunning beach, with beautiful beachside and villa rentals.

– Isola Sirena About Land description.

It is here, perched on a high mesa, is a complex of Landing and Information point, offering teleport boards to reach the majority of the setting’s major locations, several of which are located within the complex itself: the Game Room, La Vetta d’Oro, Mixology Bar, and outside, via the terrace, the Summit Infinity Pool and the Plaza. However, the best way to explore and discover most of the locations is on foot (with one exception!).

On the south side of the mesa lies a small village reached by one of two routes from the Landing Point complex. This, like the mesa’s summit, offers clear views out to the off-region surrounds which give the impression both regions are part of a broader Mediterranean location. However, to fully appreciate the extent of this, Draw Distance will likely have to be raised.

Parts of the village appear to be for rent as businesses or homes. How extensive these rentals might be wasn’t clear to me: many were empty; and without rental boxes, others were furnished as homes and include rental boxes. The village and its footpaths step down toward the region’s beach, passing by way of La Tavola di Eleanora Café, which can also be reached via the main teleporter boards, as can the beach below.

The beach itself offers a mix of public spaces and rental beach cabins, together with the hackney carriage ride, a jet ski rezzer, a swim assist board and the beach bar. At the south-western end of the beach can be found the Meditation Point and Beach Club, both reached via the Teleporter boards, and the former also by the Beach boardwalk.

A covered bridge provides access to the setting’s mid-point island, home to the stables and farmer’s market, and which also provides bridge access to an eat-point tongue of land extending out from the base of the mesa to connect with the second region of the setting. The appears to be largely given over to villas available for rent. However, it is also home to one of the setting’s secrets: the bathing cavern.

This is quite exquisitely done, the entrance offering something of a backstory to the cavern’s discovery. Offering, as its name suggests, a place to bathe in warm waters offering places to sit and cuddle around the edges of the pool all set within a location suggestive of great age. The main pool surrounded by tall statues, some of whom hold shells from which water falls to replenish the pool below. It is a place suggestive of a relaxed, hedonistic beauty.

Set to one side of the main pool is a blank cave entrance, a sign indicating it is the way up to the sun-based caverns.

These are equally magical in their design, and also entirely otherworldly. The path through them is well signed, and there are places here to pass the time alone or in company. Exploring them is an absolute must, whether via the bathing cavern (recommended) or the main teleporter boards. Nor are these the only caves to be found within the setting – but all let you find the others, accessible as they are from the ground and (again) the Teleport boards.

Eastwards, past the villa the land flows into Isola Sirena – Winery and Countryside. This again appears to be given over to villas available for rent, together with the Vetta Oro Vinicola wine bar and the Winery itself. The latter has its own secret located on the shoulder of the hill to one side of it. Guarded by a stone carving of a young (weeping?) woman, lies a stairway leading down to the wine cellar.

And there is still more to be found – from bumper boats to picnic areas and seating – and of course, the pair of small islands held aloft by balloons and home to mini golf, as mentioned in the setting’s description and which gives it a little twist of the surreal.

I will confess to having some small niggles with Isola Sirena. The main caverns are at altitude, and so are ideal for their own dedicated EEP setting. Similarly, the cavern baths also look as if they could be placed in a parcel with its own EEP. This would avoid the need for sign posts asking people to change their setting locally, and make the experience of exploring more immersive with seamless transitions.

Another minor niggle is with the wine cellar – the stairs down / up could benefit with rotation. As it is, they are placed in such a position that the camera is placed of the wrong side f the walls surrounding it, which can make for difficult navigation when climbing. A final small point is that raising Draw Distance to view both regions can lead to texture discards – the first time I’ve encountered this since LL worked on refining texture provisioning and loading; but there is a lot going on in both regions , texture-wise.

These niggles don’t spoil the overall impact of the regions or the setting as a whole. And it has to be said, that taken individually or together in a single visit, the regions of Isola Sirena make for an engaging visit, one worth eschewing the Teleporter boards in favour of exploration on foot.

SLurl Details

• Isola Sirena – Sunkissed Cove Beach (Perfect Fantasy, rated Moderate)

Sable Hound Hollow presents a sanctuary for dreamers and a haven for lovers. Here the first whispers of Spring and the enchantment of the Hollow invite you to linger awhile and let your heart rest and your worries fade. Be it alone or with that special someone, allow the quiet beauty of this place remind you the magic of love is real.

– Sable Hound Hollow About Land

So reads a description for Sable Hound Hollow – Romantic Reverie, a setting designed by Honey Heart (H0neyHeart) as a public space for people to visit and enjoy, and forming a part of the wider Sable Hound Hollow region.

set as a pair of islands floating just over 500 metres in the sky, this is – as the description suggests – a romantic setting, one of considerable beauty and detail and offering much to appreciate and see. The Landing Point sits on the larger, western island, located on its highest level.

Here, within a large gazebo where visitors can join the local Group and – from now through until the end of February – join in a number of events centred on a celebration of Valentine’s Day. These include a hunt (group tag required), and the opportunity to obtain a daily gift when visiting from February 1st through 14th (again, Group membership required).

Placed within a circular garden area, this upper reach of the setting offer two paths for visitors to follow as they explore. One of leads to a ladder draped over the edge of the plateau to offer a way down to a shoulder of rock arcing around the garden plateau. This forms another garden space with its own gazebo nicely separated form the rest of the setting to give a greater sense of intimacy / privacy, with treats and hot drinks available under its roof, exotic plants scattered among its flowers together with statutes, while trees provide shade and birds watch over the comings and goings of visitors.

The second path goes by way of steps to a larger garden space. this offers seating in the form of a bench floating under a cloud and a balloon holding aloft a seat for singles and couples (beware of the drop when standing up!), together with another table of treats and a Greco-Roman style gazebo where the 14 gifts for Valentine’s can be found, displaying the dates and times they will become available to Group members.

Beyond this area, another ladder descends to the second half (so to speak) of the lower shoulder of rock, which again offers companionable seating in two locations (and an easily missed swing if you are not paying attention!), together with a bridge spanning the gap to the smaller of the two islands.

Here, the setting is again split into various levels. Just off to the left on crossing the bridge, the island offers a curve of grass richly coloured by wildflowers, as it arcs its way to where water forms a curtain and pool as it drops from a rocky archway. As it does so, the path passes a table set for a tea party, although no individuals in hats or mice or caterpillars are in evidence –  just a pair of friendly rabbits :). Just before the waterfall and pool, a hint of magic is provided in the form of a bird perched on an upright post. Magical because if you wait just a few minutes, the bird will change its form and song.

The waters of the fall drop from the rocks forming the upper tier of this island, reached easily enough by a set of stairs. Here visitors can take a pony ride and receive a gift of said pony at the end. A trail winds around the plateau, passing all the points of interest, including statues, a pair of swings to ride, together with the opportunity for a picnic under the boughs of twisted trees and in the company of white peacocks. This trail ends in steps running down to another path and gazebo set at one end of another sweeping curve of garden.

A third ladder has been cast down from the north-eastern side of this upper space to offer a way down to perhaps the most secluded part of the gardens. This is where water drops down from the pool mentioned above to join with the flow of additional waterfalls as they combine into a large pool before tumbling over the edge of the island to fall away into the clouds below. Marked again by a colourful array of flowers and trees,  this area offers seating within another gazebo and a further swing suitable for solo sits.

All of the above barely scratches the surface of all there is to be found here; Honey’s attention to detail means that everywhere are touches and details. These run from the mix of flower and plants – most conventional, some carrying a sci-fi or fantasy twist; the local wildlife, some of which might be easily missed (like the weasel peeping out of a hollow log); the floating lanterns, and more.

Both romantic and serene, the island of Sable Hound Hollow make for a relaxing and visually engaging visit.

SLurl Details

• Sable Hound Hollow – Romantic Reverie (Sable Hound Hollow, rated Moderate)