Tag: Exploring Second Life 2016

Sorrow (click any image for full size)

I last visited Sorrow, the atmospheric designed by Voshie Paine and the Lollipop Kids on the homestead region of Paper Dinosaurs, in October 2015. At that time, the region was in the grip of a substantial downpour, which framed a tragic back story concerning a once happy family estate, built on money and handed down through the generations until tragedy came upon the last of the family line.

Those days – and the sad estate – have now long past, the region since having been made over for winter by Voshie and Dizzy Sparrow. The two islands and their houses have passed into the mists of time, as have the rains. In their stead – for the time being, at least – sits a single, snow-covered island, which rises from a sea frozen mirror-smooth under a darkening sky.

Sorrow

This is a place of ethereal beauty, the island rising tall and craggy, lines softened by its snowy mantle, and upon which a single stone sits, reached by stone steps winding up a narrow cleft. Greyhounds stand outside of the tower, whether on guard, or keeping vigil, or for some other reason, is for the visitor to decide.

The dogs suggest the tower is a home for someone, and the blazing fire warming the ground floor further testifies to this, as does the bedroom above. However, where they may have wandered to, is for your imagination to decide.

Sorrow (click any image for full size)

Vegetation is spare here; the only greenery resides inside the tower, while outside, trees raise their hoar frosted branches towards the sky as they rise from the frozen waters, as – here and there – do tall lotus blossoms, also seemingly frozen in time. Also out on the water sits aki69’s Stairs for moonlight, a gacha item which has been appearing in regions across the grid of late, making as it does an eye-catching piece. Here, it adds a further touch to the ethereal look and feel to the region.

In October, Sorrow presented a place reflective of its name: a setting filled with melancholy. With this design, the region offers something very different: a place suggestive of enchantment  frozen in time; a place of quiet beauty and solitude. Yet there does also seem to be a faint echo, within its beauty,  of the region’s name; almost as if whoever liver within that single tower has come here to leave their sorrows behind.

Sorrow

SLurl Details

• Sorrow (Rated:  Moderate)

With thanks to Caledonia Skytower for the poke about going back to see Sorrow. 

The Village & BarDeco

Pearl Grey drew me towards The Village & BarDeco after she blogged about it in January.  A quarter region in size, it is described as, “a small village on the water where you can stroll beside the sea in a Zen atmosphere and relaxed – a drink and listen to the music of the best DJs in SL at BarDeco.”

The club sits at the far end of the The Village relative to the SLurl I’ve given above; those available through Search may well drop visitors a lot closer, but I’ve opted for this approach so that you can wander the length of The Village and take in the full atmosphere, which right now is one of a mist-shrouded evening or morning, mindful of late autumn / early winter.

The Village & BarDeco

The road leading into The Village is a foretaste of things to come. Unpaved, it is rutted and perhaps not in the bast of condition. It also splits at the SLurl I’ve given above, to provide two parallel routes into the hamlet, which run wither side of a large rocky outcrop.

Follow one arm of the road and you’ll travel past an old farm, while taking the other will take you alongside an old railway spur line which presumably once served The Village. Those days are now long gone; the tracks are overgrown, and nature is slowly laying claim to the carcases of two old boxcars which appear to have been derailed in some past accident. A mist is drifting in from the sea the other side of the old railway tracks, making this second route into The Village somewhat more atmospheric (and, if you’re on a lower-end system, perhaps a little challenging as well).

The Village & BarDeco

Like the roads leading to it, The Village looks to be past its prime; all of the building look tired, paint fading in the salty air, tin roofs rusting, wood panels in need of repair. Even the vehicles here have seen better days, although the single trawler moored and the little docks looks to be in better condition than the nearby road vehicles, suggesting it is cared for and still plying the seas.

BarDeco sits within what might have once been a warehouse, a place as careworn and suffering from the passing of the years as the rest of The Village. Sans roof, canvas awnings strung from the rafters provide a measure of protection for those on the dance floor when inclement weather comes visiting. Nevertheless, going on the numbers there when Caitlyn and I visited, BarDeco clearly offers a worm welcome together with good music.

The Village & BarDeco

Nor is the music restricted to the club; there is a live performance stage facing the church, and one of the largest stores is a record shop. Other artists have settled here as well, as peek through the brightly lit windows of an old factory outbuilding will reveal.

All told, this is an atmospheric place (make sure you have local sounds on to catch the ambient sound scape as well), one which again demonstrates you don’t have to have an entire region just to build something special to share with others. For the SL traveller, it offers an interesting destination to explore, with plenty of photographic opportunities. Add to that BarDeco and the music, and The Village makes for an interesting visit. It even has what could be thought of as an indirect hat-tip to a certain other Village of television history sitting in the town square!

SLurl Details

• The Village & BarDeco (Rated: Adult)

Experience the Adirondacks (click any image for full size)

The new year has brought with it a new region design for Sera Bellic’s demonstration region for her Lick Sim Designs. The rural fields and rolling hills of Belleck House, redolent as they were of the Scottish lowlands or the countryside of Ireland, have now passed, and their place taken by another outdoor scene; one this time inspired by the North American continent.

Experience the Adirondacks offers visitors a taste of the Adirondack massif in the north-east of upstate New York in North America. This is a roughly circular dome of mountains whose formation owes much to ancient glaciation, and which shelters a range of wetlands as well as being home to the Adirondack Park.

Experience the Adirondacks

In Second Life, Sera offers a similar environment to  visitors: the region is surrounded by high mountains, some of them showing rounded tops and deep v-shaped flanks, suggestive of glaciers having helped carve them into being. Within their shelter, the region offers a gently sloping landscape with rocky outcrops to one end and wooded slopes leading down to a curving bay to the east. This, in turn, is protected north and south by long fingers of wooded headlands, the northern one providing access to the region’s single cabin, built out over the water.

This is a scene from the great outdoors, where physical activity can be the order of the day, and this latter point is immediately evidenced to visitors upon their arrival. The landing point sits on a large wooden platform sitting over the flooded floor of a sheer shaded crater-like hole, a waterfall plunging into it over the precipice to one side. Unless one resorts to cheating and the use of flight, the only way off the platform is by either a walk under the water or a swim across it with the aid of a “floatie”, rezzed by touching the blue sphere floating over the water.

Experience the Adirondacks

There are further watery activities to be found as you explore: swimming is available in the curving bay to the east, canoes can be obtained from various points and used to paddle around the region’s shoreline, while for the adventurous, a climb up to the plateau at the southern end of the region will reveal an opportunity for cliff diving – just be warned the water at the foot of the cliffs is a little shallow!

For those seeking something quieter, there are a number of seating and cuddle spots scattered about the region, including a very well-appointed tent for those who take their glamping comforts seriously 🙂 .

Experience the Adirondacks

So if you’re looking for a brief break from the normal grind and fancy a little fresh, mountain air mixed with a little swimming or canoeing, why not Experience the Adirondacks for a while?

SLurl Details

• Experience the Adirondacks (Rated: Moderate)

High Water (Flickr) – click any image for full size

High Water is a languid setting; a place where the water drifts by at ankle depth, its surface broken in places by scatterings of trees, wild flowers and slender stalks of grass. Overhead, clouds pass a little more hurriedly, their scudding passage the fastest movement to be seen. Beyond them, the sky is turning deep blue as the Sun lowers itself slowly towards a distant horizon.

Designed by Morton Funk, High Water is a tranquil place where even the sounds are few; while birds circle in places, they make no noise, and although the passage of the breeze may stir the leaves and branches of the trees, it does not cause them to offer the expected sigh to mark its passing.

High Water (Flickr)

Also scattered across this watery vista are places to sit, each placed so that those using them can look out over the water, as a fine mist clings to it here and there, and simply contemplate whatever chooses to slip gently into their thoughts.

Within this tranquillity, a touch of whimsy and signs of an open heart can be found. As you explore, you may come across a pair of Cica Ghost’s cats, apparently enjoying the water, or a strange fish happily “swimming” in the air above the water. Elsewhere, beneath the surface of the water, a heartfelt message reads, if you should leave me. I have no place to go.

High Water (Flickr)

For those who enjoy a little activity, horses roam the waters, awaiting riders. Should you do so, the sound of hooves beneath you might be the only thing to break the stillness of the region. Or if you prefer, and again located just beneath the surface of the water, a dance machine will allow you to enjoy the music stream which, at the time of our visit, featured  the music of the late David Bowie.

High Water has the feel of being organic in form; as we wandered, I couldn’t help but feel that things had arrived here not so much by intentional design, but as thoughts and ideas occurred to Morton, the environment thus growing quite naturally over time. This, and the tranquil setting, makes it a place to which we’re almost certain to return, to see what else may have arrived.

High Water (Flickr)

SLurl Details

• High Water (Rated: Moderate)

Cerridwen’s Cauldron (Flickr) – click any image for full size

I adore Elicio Ember’s work. As a craftsman of works of fantasy, he is one of Second life’s finest, as anyone who has had the delight and pleasure of seeing his work at Fantasy Faire over the years will know.

His in-world store of Cerridwen’s Cauldron is a stunning delight as well, and it is easy to spend a fair amount of time there, simply wandering, climbing the Dream Tower, riding a dragon around the towers, spires and outcrops of rocks and over the gardens, or walking its halls and chambers.

It’s been a while since I’ve actually written about Elicio’s home region, so when he recently informed me he was starting work and redeveloping the ground level (on which I blogged about far, far back in the mists of 2012), I was keen to see what he had done, although time played a little against me. So when he IM’d me to say he was making some additional changes and sent me an invite and Landmark to see things for myself, I knew I’d had to make up for lost time and hop over with Caitlyn to see.

Ground level – Cerridwen’s Cauldron (Flickr)

The Landmark Elicio sent me when extending his invitation for us to visit, delivered us directly to the Emerald Lounge. This lies within a huge cavern, seemingly hewn from the living rock, and through which water gently glides while crystal lamps hang from high ceilings.

Here, in a place I personally feel is best seen under night-time lighting, is a bar serving wines and ale and slices of delicious fruit, a space paved by great hexagonal blocks open to dancers before it. Nearby, on the dusty sand close to the entrance to the cavern, or just across the shallow waters, can be found places to sit, softly lit by the glow of crystals and some of Elicio’s beautiful plants.

Ground level – Cerridwen’s Cauldron (Flickr)

Steps lead the way upwards from the waters inside the cavern, allowing the visitor to go by glass-topped walkways and platforms up to the plateau overhead, revealing the incredible beauty of this island. The plateau sits like a table on stout rocky legs carved by the sea and sheltering the cavern within their midst, while beaches, exotic plants and an ornate water temple  gathered around their feet, while water tumbles from above.

Atop the plateau lies a beautiful realm of water, light, plants and open-sided structures with a distinctly elven feel to them.  Walk through the fluorescent plants at your feet, and slivers of phosphor drift into the air around you; walk under the great natural arch of a gigantic tree of life and witness the huge decorated skull of a long-dead dragon; climb the stairs to a broad hexagonal platform and find seating and refreshments awaiting you. Everywhere you turn, there is something waiting to be discovered.

Ground level – Cerridwen’s Cauldron (Flickr)

This is a place to be explored with local sounds enabled and your speakers / headset active. Like many regions throughout Second Life, Cerridwen’s Cauldron has an ambient sound scape, one beautifully crafted to add considerable depth to any exploration over the plateau and through the spaces beneath. It is one which really should be experienced in it fullest when walking through the fluorescent grasses or wading the shallow waters or standing beneath the slowly turning fae orb.

For those who prefer, a teleport system is available to scoot you around various locations – and up to and around Elicio’s store; but to use it exclusively in favour of exploring on foot would, both Caitlyn and I agreed, be a mistake.

Ground level – Cerridwen’s Cauldron (Flickr)

Cerridwen’s Cauldron has always been a magical, mystical place of harmony and beauty, and this latest design at ground level further reflects this fact. Indeed, looking at it from a distance sitting above the sea, it offers a harmonious echo of the store itself as the latter floats  in the sky atop its own islands, and extends beneath them with its stairways and stone halls, just as the garden sit atop their rock plateau and the cavern of the Emerald lounge sits beneath them.

SLurl Details – Moderate

• Cerridwen’s Cauldron store
• Emerald Lounge