Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

It’s been a while since I’ve visited Kaelyn Elara’s Soul Deep. and by “a while”, I mean nigh-on four years, my first (and thus far only) visit being back in May 2021!

I’m not sure if the setting has been around in Second Life for the entire intervening period – back then it bore the same name as the region, where as now it appears to have relocated. However, given it popped out at me from the Destination Guide whilst browsing recently, I decided to hop over and take a look once more.

A peaceful spring landscape designed for relaxation and connection. Explore cosy little islands, stroll along flower-lined paths, and unwind by the shimmering lake … Whether you’re looking for a quiet escape or the perfect photo backdrop, Soul Deep invites you to breathe deep and stay awhile.

– Kaelyn Elara on Soul Deep

For this iteration of the setting, Kaelyn has joined forces with region designer Jacky Macpherson, and together they present a gorgeous, easy to appreciate and enjoy location entirely rural in nature.  In this, roughly half the region is used, the rest – particularly to the south and around the the west – being given over to open water.

The Landing Point sits close to the northern coastline of the main island, alongside to a large barn now converted to a café space – although its ranch / farm heritage is memorialised by a bucking bull for those wishing to try a ride. For the less adventurous there are a couple of calmer table-top games inside as well. Outside, at the hitching rail is a horse rezzer so visitors fancy touring on horseback can do so (and, obviously, if you have a wearable horse, you can wear and ride your own).

The trail alongside the hitching rail points the way to a bridge providing access to one of the smaller islands, which is in turn connected to a slightly larger island with a bridge back to the main land. Both of these islands are unencumbered by permanent structures, although the smaller one is home to a camper trailer and little campsite.

Finding your way around the setting is simply a matter of following the main trail circling the central lake. While this does split just to the east of the barn to encircle a copse of fir trees,  it does provide a complete route for exploration, starting with the ruins in the copse and the campsite tucked into the corner close to where the two arms of the trail reunite.

Following the trail south and away from the campsite just mentioned and taking the bridge over the neck of water linking lake to open water, will bring you to the setting’s one real hill. This hides an easy-to-find secret “under” it (do be sure to click on the arrow!) while hiding another of the setting’s three permanent structures in the form of another design by Cory Edo behind its bulk.

The third structure is located on the remain small island off to the south-east of the region, and takes the form of a cosy cabin watched over by a pair of elk. The latter are joined by red deer, reindeer, rabbits and birds scattered across the setting to give it further depth and life, with some of the latter imaginatively and naturally set – so its worth paying attention when exploring as you might easily miss them!

All of the buildings are open to public use and offer places to sit and converse and / or cuddle together with the camp sites scattered around. In addition there are trailside benches, blankets and a couple of romantic spots in which to pass the time (as well as the hidden one!). It’s even possible to enjoy an outdoor candlelit meal with friends if you’re so minded! Swan boats offer places to sit on the lake, while rowing boats out on the open waters do the same there as well.

Rich in detail, highly photogenic and a delight to visit, Soul Deep offers the perfect spring setting.

SLurl Details

• Soul Deep (PixelDust, rated Moderate)

In a follow-up to her Memories of Dreams, a Homestead region I wrote about back in April 2024 (see: Memories of Dreams in Second Life), Yxes (Yxes Evergreen) recently opened a new Homestead region design she is calling Memories of Spring – and it is as eye-catching as Memories of Dreams as it is different.

Spring, a time to wake up and explore all our worlds. Follow picturesque paths along a rocky coast. A special thank you to some of the artists of SL, who make our world more beautiful. Look for their work here and throughout SL!

–  Yxes, writing about Memories of Spring

Backed by a partial off-region surround and against which it abuts, Memories of Spring gives the suggestion of being a rugged headline extending outwards from a mountainous coastal region. However, whether this coastline is part of an island or a much larger land mass is up to your imagination. The mountains sit to the east side of the region, their faces masked in shadow and haze, their domed heads frosted with snow as they appear to stand guard over the setting.

The Landing Point sits close the where the mountains touch the region, and specifically on the terrace of a large Tuscan-style villa, a curtain of rock to its rear separating it from the off-region surround as both house and terrace look westward along the island’s length. The house is open to the public and is tastefully furnished, with the covered entranceway set out ready for a shared meal. Inside, one of the room contains the first hint of the art and artists of SL referenced in Yxes’ description, in the form of a series of figures by Alpha Auer.

Stone steps descend from the terrace and its modern fountain to a paved depression amidst the rock. A further fountain sits here, moss-aged but with clear waters. As well as occupying the sides of the fountain, the moss has spread out over the paving, suggesting the stone was laid a long time ago, while stone blocks to one side stand together in the suggestion that they, the paving and the fountain are the remnants of a structure that once occupied this hollow. But again, perhaps that is the illusion they are meant to present, their having been placed there to give the villa a sense of having a sunken garden space before it. 

Further steps rise from the fountain to where another Tuscan-style building sits on a shelf of rock. It stands above a sandy bay and offers a cosy summer house feel within its walls – and it must be passed through in order to continue onwards – unless you want to scramble and slide over rocks to reach the beach; for it is on the far side of the summer house that the path and steps continue, descending via piers of stone to reach the sand.

It is here that the setting marvellously opens out. On the beach, sandpipers search for food as rivulets of water flow over the sand to reach an incoming tide which has, over the years, carved the sand so as to form a small, natural lagoon-like hallow within it. A further house sits on the headland here, its piers offering room for boats to come alongside, the terrace above them welcoming painters despite the downpour going on on the other side of its bulk. This rain, falling steady and quite locally, is slowly drowning the large courtyard backing onto the house and reached via a path running through a grove of silver birch also caught under the rain’s cloak.

It is in the courtyard that the first real hints of much older structures than the villa and its summer house might be found. Partially-demolished – presumably by some passage of violent weather – walls and a stairways appear to be undergoing repair. More ruins lie beyond the gates at the back of the courtyard, the hollowed rooms, empty window sockets and open maws of doorways forming a most attractive means to display 3D art by Mistero Hifeng and Bryn Oh, whilst coffee might be enjoyed within the walls of one of the aged towers.

Looking out over the southern aspect of the island, these ruins in turn provide a glimpse of still more remnants of habitation. Reached via a further path, they sit as a magical place built on the water’s edge where chandeliers both hang from the ceiling and sit suspended in air where crystalline shapes float like strange and exotic creatures – or the petals of plants. Within this space visitors can appreciate further 3D art from the vantage point of comfortable armchairs or a bronze hoop also suspended in the air in defiance of gravity or a glass of wine might be enjoyed at the makeshift bar.

Nor do things end here, for the path continues onwards to yet more ruins, these perhaps the source of the stonework used within the hollow become the main villa.

As much a part of the landscape as built upon it, these ruins are, to me, sublimely photogenic and beautifully natural in placement and look. It is as if whoever built them did so in order to maximise the shelter provided by the rocky spines and rises of the land behind them, although whether they were all originally part of the same group of buildings or represent different generations of construction is up to you to decide. What I will say is, they offer one of the most eye-catching uses of The looking Glass Chapel Ruins by Marcus Inkpen that I’ve seen in a while.

Watched over by a batter and weather beaten lighthouse at its north-western extent, rich in both art, décor and detail throughout, Memories of Spring is an engaging visit.

SLurl Details

Memories of Spring (Ghilanna, rated Moderate)