Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

In June 2024, I visited Blade Runner, Brutal City 2060, another of the outstanding region builds by Hera (Zee9), and somewhat based on her Blade Runner-esque region designs. In that particular instance, which I covered in Hera’s Blade Runner Brutal City in Second Life,), I noted that the setting encompassed:

The familiar, whilst offering some tidy little twists and turns for lovers of science fiction (and potentially obscure TV series of that genre), as well as other references, it is again a highly visual environment which spreads the Blade Runner elements more broadly, folding into it elements of Blade Runner 2049, whilst also drawing on 2012’s Dredd.

Well, as of early November 2024, Brutal City is back for a time, offering a further take on the original themes of Hera’s Blade Runner builds and Brutal City, complete with further dips of the toes into various other sci-fi series – and something more besides, as Here notes in her introductory notecard:

I was re-building Brutal City trying to add more OTT sex stuff etc 🙂 and Kacey said, I have been trying out some things and I think I can link up an AI model to SL. Day later it was there :). She has done a fantastic job. We have had a load of fun sorting it out, me on the dumb user side and her at the sharp tech end, learning a lot about AI as we went.

I guess the big deal is this. Online games have NPC’s that are programmed to say what the game company wants them to, multiple choice questions with hard wired answers. These Bots in Brutal City are doing their own thing, Try them, they get stuff wrong like we do, but ALL you hear is them RP-ing their characters.

This is not the first time that AI has been hooked up to NPCs within Second Life; various people have been working on similar for a while – but I admit to finding the work that Hera and Kacey Stratton (KaceyStratton) particularly attractive, as the environment in which they’ve employed the AI encompasses sci-fi references that have a personal appeal – notably in this case, Blade Runner films (obviously) and the Altered Carbon TV series.

As an update to the original Brutal City, which in turn carried forward elements from previous Blade Runner-esque designs by Hera, there is much within the setting that will be familiar to those who visited the June 2024 iteration of the build. Also as is typical for Hera’s builds, the Landing Point is separate from the setting, and offers an onward teleport together with the opportunity to obtain the above-mentioned notecard. The teleport here will again deliver arrivals to a subway station, which in turn offers a choice of routes up to street level.

Here again, the layout follows a design familiar to anyone who has spent time in Hera’s city build; one that is both forced upon her by the limitations of region space and size, and one which instantly give the sense of coming back to a neighbourhood that is both familiar and new. Many of the hints towards various film franchises and TV series are to be found still – the BCPD / LAPD police HQ with its echoes of total Recall 2070, the spinner-like police cars and decommissioned spinners as road cars; the sea of neon advertising – even the noodle bar reminiscent of Deckard’s initial encounter with Gaff – although it’s now under the ownership of Tony.

Which is not to say this is a simple re-run of Blade Runner: Brutal City; there is much that has changed that awaits discovery. Gone, for the example are the overt references to Judge Dredd, whilst in come more noticeable references to Altered Carbon. Whilst the re-sleeved Takeshi Kovacs (in the form of actor Joel Kinnaman) remains displayed on a screen within the BCPD building, a broader reference to the show can be found in the presence of The Raven Hotel and its proprietor, one Poe, an AI modelled after Edgar Alan Poe.

The Raven replaces one of the three gang-related clubs of the previous Brutal City build, and Poe became the first AI NPC within the setting with whom I interacted – and I was instantly impressed. Care has been taken to imbue the AIs with parameters which match their nature / character. With Poe, for example, I was able to converse on his nature compared to that of the Poe AI from Altered Carbon and on Takeshi Kovacs himself (also, whilst visiting the hotel, check-out the Poe Suite). Similarly, at the noodle bar, Tony was aware of Deckard’s preferred dish and was able to offer it to me a we discussed the day and “played” a round of cards.

Yes, as the introductory notecard states, the AI can occasionally glitch (Tony got rather hung-up on offering to prepare a specific dish for me, for example, despite the fact I had “Deckard’s favourite” in front of me!), but the level of natural exchange in conversations meant that when it comes to free-form role-play, there’s much in the way of potential to be found throughout the setting. In this, the notecard available from the Landing Point is invaluable in helping to understand the framework set for the various types of AI NPC you’re likely to encounter, and the setting as whole and what might go on.

Elsewhere in the setting, the other clubs have been altered to offer new venues (although the Snake Pit remains tucked inside the Dream Palace), whilst the Tyrell Corporation building (which became the Wallace Building in Blade Runner 2949) is now owned by the Warlock Corporation, which also happens to run this sector – Sector Six, the most dangerous sector of Brutal City. The corporation’s CEO, Max Wallace can be found inside, and it would appear that – going by the portrait dominating one wall of his office, he’s quite enamoured of Tyrell’s legacy.

Visitors might also find a fairly strong Aliens franchise reference whilst wandering; something hardly out of place, given Ridley Scott saw both Alien and Blade Runner as existing in the same universe. Within it might be found a further AI in the form of Mr. Giger, who will confirm he is something of a personification of Hans Ruedi Giger, albeit one (perhaps fittingly) offered as a hologram-like form, rather than a three-dimensional figure.

There is much more to be said for Brutal City AI; through might be found Hera’s attention to detail – itself deserving of careful observation of the small as well as the large, and which can be found in unexpected places. There are other nods towards the likes of Altered Carbon awaiting discovery, but rather than ramble on, I will stop here. Instead, I’ll simply suggest you pay a visit for yourself – and as a final point, do remember that Hera’s builds are as dreams: vividly alive and present for perhaps only a short time before vanishing into memory; so if you do intend to visit, then “soon rather than later” should perhaps be your watchwords.

SLurl Details

• Brutal City AI (Themyscira, rated Adult)