Category: Reviews

Realm Of Light – click any image for full size

Annie Brightstar led us to take a visit to Realm Of Light, a Full region designed by Varielle and Tai (Taionia). Described as a “medieval/fantasy sim”, I’d definitely place it as the latter more than the former; it has a delightfully elven / fae feel to it with more than enough fantasy touches to mark it in that direction rather than medieval.

The landing point immediately evokes the fantasy feel, offering a faery circle, trees with windowed trunks lit from within and clearly the homes of the little folk dancing around the landing point on gossamer wings. Four paths offer routes of departure from the ring – three meandering through the tall trees, the third a bridge over one of the region’s rivers. Which you take is entirely up to you – and guaranteed, if I might paraphrase Tolkien, to bring you a place to which you may not have been going, but where your presence is welcomed.

Realm Of Light

Travel east along one of the paths, and you’ll quickly come to another stream, bridged by interlocking tree trunks, the greensward beyond offering a place to sit and relax – or float- among exotic and colourful plants and fungi. South of this, and sitting on a tiny island separated from the rest of the region by narrow channels, is a great tree supporting a wooden platform on which is built the most marvellous windmill-come-house. At ground level and in the shade of the tree, is a smaller cottage – but be warned! The dragon guarding both is not there purely for show; this little island is a private residence, so please be respectful and avoid trespassing.

Take the path to the north, and it will take you – by way of another bridge – to a garden and elven pavilion. The garden a place of fountains, cuddle spots, a teleport to a floating meditation island. It is dominated by a great mallorn-like tree, a passage cut through its trunk, great lanterns hanging from its boughs and a platformed house held within its crown.

Realm Of Light

Go south from the landing point, and the path will branch and fork, bringing you to a number of places – what might be an alchemist’s retreat, an ancient walled garden, a mystical tree cave and another greensward ending at a fae waystone circle.

A stone bridge near to the waystone circle offers a way across a narrow river gorge to where elven tree houses sit within the woods, stone paths and steps running between them, the grasses in their shade home to deer and rabbits. The tree houses are connected by bridges spanning the gaps between their ornate platforms, allowing easy passage from one to the next and back without the need to descend to ground level. North-west of the tree houses sits another island, reached by two bridges; again be aware that the properties here are available for rent and may be occupied – so please resist the temptation to enter them.

Realm Of Light

All of this is just scratching the surface of this region. Along the rivers – and overhead – one might find more dragons; to the north-east lies ship wrecks and a mermaid cove with places underwater to explore. Unicorns are to be found among the trees, while translucent butterflies flutter over plants and toadstools. Keep an eye out for the tiny houses and towers scattered around, and the fae folk who flutter about or are engaged in different activities.

Realm Of Light could perhaps benefit from a more appealing windlight, but as most photographers tend to use their own, this isn’t a drawback – but I do encourage experimenting with options when visiting; this is a place which really comes into its own under many sunlight settings. As it is, Realm Of Light makes for an engaging visit and offers plenty of opportunities for photography and exploration.

Realm Of Light

SLurl Details

• Realm Of Light (Realm of Light, rated: Moderate)

Kamigami, Pandora Resort

Note: this vision of Pandora Box of Dreams closed on August 1st, 2018, so the SLurl have been removed.

Lokhe Angel Verlack (Jackson Verlack) is a master in creating immersive environments, and I’ve covered a number of his region designs over the last few years – the most recent being Namaste, under their Pandora Resort/Pandora Box of Dreams banner (read here for more). Recently, he had his partner, Miza-Cupcake-Verlack (Mizaki) opened a new destination at Pandora Resort – Kamigami, a Japanese themed, down-town style environment with some nice little touches.

As with Namaste, a visit to Kamigami commences on the upper deck of an airliner zapping through the sky. Arrows on the floor direct passengers down to the lower deck and to teleport boards sit nestled in the cabin door lobby. One of these takes visitors to Namaste, the other to Kamigami, where they are delivered to the lower entrance to a metro station – the steps to street level offering the only way forward.

Kamigami, Pandora Resort

Climbing the steps reveals this is not the better part of town; the red-bricked buildings are grimy with age, the streets – although apparently pristine tarmac, possibly washed clean by the falling rain – are lined with piles of rubbish, old oil cans and signs that some attempts are being made at renovation.The metro sign on the wall of the steps suggests we’re in Kyoto, in which case, this might be an older, more outlying part of that city.

More signs, neon and painted boards, hang from walls, extend from posts carrying overhead power lines and are mounted on overhead gantries. Some of these are typically Japanese while others offer a more Chinese lean, and some have a distinctly western look and feel; all of which gives the setting an eclectic look and feel.

Kamigami, Pandora Resort

Most of the builds are admittedly shells, but part of the interest in a visit is finding your way around the streets separating them into blocks, taking in all the little details. I say “most”, because wander far enough and you will find places that are open to avatars to explore, such as the magic shop along one street and, most particularly, in the south-east of the build where a series of covered alleys offer little market stalls, eateries and curio shops.

The largest buildings in the setting are of distinctly European / western design. They sit within formal gardens positioned on the rugged table of rock that raises them above the surrounding town, an aloof position befitting their imposing looks. A narrow cutting in the rock,, marked by stone steps, presents the route up to these two manor-like buildings, both of which appear to be places of learning … or of dark acts.

Kamigami, Pandora Resort

Keep an eye out, as well, for the town’s canal; not because of the water or for boats, but because of its unique display of fish that are literally flying along its course, rather and swimming. These can be seen from the road running alongside part of the canal, or from the old stone bridge spanning it.

As with all of  Lokhe ‘s builds – and as one might expect from my description of him at the top of this piece – Kamigami is eye-catching in its level of detail and touches.  Visually, it is as engaging as Namaste, down on the ground level below it – but in a very different way. There are opportunities for photography among the streets. As such, a visit is once again recommended.

Kamigami, Pandora Resort

Kisaragi Town – click on any image for full size

We were first made aware of Kisaragi Town early in January 2018, when Shakespeare (SkinnyNilla) dropped a landmark over to me. Various things prevented a visit at the time, so it wasn’t until the start of February that we finally got to go and see it – and I’m glad we did.

Covering a half region, the build has been designed by xLinzerTortex, who from his profile appears to be a relative newcomer to Second Life. While profile age is no guarantee of overall time in SL, if he has only been in-world a year and a half then additional kudos to him for presenting such a carefully designed, richly detailed location for people to enjoy.

Kisaragi Town

A visit begins on a main road running west-to-east through the town, with tunnels at either end linking Kisaragi Town with the two neighbouring parcels / region (the town sits within a series of Japanese themed private regions). Along this road are assorted businesses: a post office, movie theatre, garage, coffee shop, metro store, eatery and so on. Cars are scattered along the streets or sit parked in assigned bays; traffic lights blink, and advertising hoardings hang from buildings, with posters wrapped around lamp posts and sign poles.

From the style of the buildings, this would appear to be an older part of town; many of the structures are flat, cement-sided blocks, colour provided in splashes by small tiled areas of walls or by the advertising boards or the simple contrast of wood against cement. The exceptions to this are the movie theatre, located towards the eastern end of the street with its painted façade and tiling, and the metro store and gacha standing either side of a small shopping arcade – or alley, if you prefer – running southwards from the eastern end of the street.

Kisaragi Town

This little precinct, protected from the elements by a discoloured glass roof, again suggesting it has some age to it, has little boutique stores on either side and offers a route to a back street where the snow is falling a little harder. A small temple is huddled into a corner, banners offering greeting, the shrine subject to occasional rattling as cantilevered train cars rumble by on the elevated track behind it. A house and flat-roofed apartment buildings also occupy this southern side of the town, again subject to the passage of trains on the elevated track. A little row of market stalls sits beneath the wall supporting the rails, perhaps serving the locals living in the apartments.

Small it might be, but the design of Kisaragi Town is such that when walking the streets, it is easy to get a feel you are exploring a corner of a much larger setting. To the north, forming a natural border along one edge of the parcel, rise as series of more modern apartment blocks. These serve to both contain the town and suggest that if we were to travel beyond them, we’d find yet more of this town to explore. Similarly, to the east and west are raised lines of trees which again provide a natural border for the town and break-up the rooftops of the regions beyond, further adding to the sense that Kisaragi Town is part of something bigger, even though it is not in any way thematically connected to its surroundings.

Kisaragi Town

What we liked most about this build is the sheer attention to detail that bring it to life. There’s the vending machines and bicycles racked up under the lee of a building at one end of the street; the parking ticket machines and sign board outlining the use of the car park at the other; the waste bags at the side of a street awaiting collection; the just-delivered bundles of the morning’s papers outside a store; the care taken in selecting the cars on the streets; the overhead power distribution system… it all adds up.  Climb a set of steps up from one end of the main road and you’ll find a little rooftop area where people can practice their baseball batting – so typical of the use of space seen in places like Japan, where land can come at a premium price.

I also liked the way that the western end of the parcel has a small undeveloped “buffer zone” beyond the road tunnel. This not only offers a break between Kisaragi Town and its immediate neighbours (currently undeveloped at ground level), but also potentially offers room for expansion.

Kisaragi Town

Kisaragi Town is a treat to visit. Small, finely detailed, and offering a compact opportunity for exploring and discovering. Should you visit and enjoy the setting, please consider a donation towards its upkeep at the temple in the south-east corner.

SLurl Details

• Kisaragi Town (Ueno, rated: Moderate)