Tag: Exploring Second Life 2020

Exactly a year ago, we first visited Nostalgia Falls, a Homestead region designed by Noisette Haller. At the time I noted the region was both photogenic and also the kind of place those who prefer Halloween themes that have a lighter touch might also enjoy.

Given it is the first anniversary of that visit (and given the region has a new home), I decided to hop back and have a look around, and was both surprised and please to see that the region offers both a familiar look coupled with more than enough changes to give me a comfortable sense of recognition  whilst also presenting a lot that is new and ready to be discovered.

The sense of familiarity is born from a number of aspects: the region retains a similar L-shape to the one it sported in our first visit, with the north-south arm the home to a railway line hosting the Polar Express steam train by DRD as it sits at a station, a single railcar in tow. However, the landing point is now in the station building rather than on the train.

Across the tracks is a waterfront area complete with a trawler moored on one side – although the growth of reeds around it suggests it may not have seen open waters in some time, given rotating propeller blades would likely cut them down to size – and a carousel sitting on a broad terrace, a wall separating it from the buildings beyond.

One of these houses sits ablaze. Quite why is unclear, but perhaps it is the result of a gas explosion, as appeared to be the case at our last visit. However, this time around, the blaze is given a new twist: the wreck of a 1930’s ear car and the threat of an unexploded bomb amongst the fallen brickwork suggest the house has fallen through time from the period of the Blitz.

Beyond the burning house lies a relatively open space – albeit marked by trees to one side. It is the home of an aged and broken plaza topped by a broken rotunda.Home to a winged angel, the rotunda is being circled by a murder of crows that, together with the aged dead tree next to it, set a darker tone than the angel’s presence would otherwise offer.

An avenue of trees to one side of the rotunda shelters a horse-drawn hearse heading towards the tall, slim form of a 3-storey mortuary that has some strangeness to be found within it, a ghostly figure awaiting the hearse outside. Opposite the tree avenue, steps climb up a short slope to the imposing form of a grand house complete with cemetery behind, suggesting it is a family home of some age – although it and its grounds have clearly seen better days, with the interior of the house in particular a statement in mouldering age  – and more than a little taste of creepiness.

Beyond this ageing house, and also reached via the carousel-bearing waterfront, the land opens out into a brighter, happier setting rich in the colours of autumn. Horses graze here, having doubtless been brought down from the barn that sits up on the flat head of a promontory that – again, like the time we last visited – extends southwards out into the waters surrounding the island.

A sandy track winds out from the barn to drop down to the western finger of the land, where sit three little houses, all cosily furnished and set out with lamps, jack-o’ lanterns, pumpkins and more in readiness for Halloween. Even the crows sitting along the telegraph lines overhead have entered into the spirit of things – although eyes might inevitably be drawn to the the fact that a witch has apparently come to a sudden telegraphic halt whilst testing her broom.

With mist hovering out on the waters between the island and the region surround, and the lightning flickering around the old house accompanied by the rumble of thunder, this iteration of Nostalgia Falls carries a rich sense of atmosphere. However, the open spaces, with their horses, deer and places to dance, together with fine dining on the train (albeit serenaded by a sax playing skeleton!) together with places to sit, Give this iteration of Nostalgia Falls a further touch of romance. And of course, it remains a richly detailed, photogenic region in which to spend time.

SLurl Details

• Nostalgia Falls (Lost Darkness, rated Adult)

It’s been 18 months since I last wrote about Whimberly, the homestead region held by Staubi Reilig (Engelsstaub) (see: Whimberly’s summer fields in Second Life), which is an interesting break, given it was some fifteen months between that visit and the one before; so maybe I’m getting into a cycle for visits – although given the picturesque nature of Staubi’s designs, more frequent visits should be the order of things.

Anyway, the last time we were there, the region was in the middle of summer. Now autumn has arrived, and with it a delightful new design with plenty of places for people to enjoy the setting.

A visit begins on the south side of the region at a Zen garden that looks north over a broad bay. This may have once been an enclosed lake, but which is now open to the waters beyond the region, which are themselves enclosed by mountains.

From the landing point, which overlooks an over-the water terrace complete with comfortable seats and the opportunity to try raw pumpkin, two arms of land stretch northwards to the west and east, reaching out to encircle the bay, linked at their northern extent by a low wooden bridge.

The westward arm rises along the gentle slope of low cliffs, a meandering path wandering up it, the route marked by a low fence. A  forest cabin sits at the highest walkable point of the hills, backed by a narrow ridge of rock that might help keep it in the lee of any westerly winds sweeping down from the high peaks beyond the land and its ring of water.

This cabin, cosily furnished, offers a grand view out over the central bay to the eastern side of the island. Tall Douglas firs mark the path up to the cabin and sit around it as if protecting it, before marching onwards with the path as it winds its way back down to the lowlands and the bridge connecting the west and east sides of the island. A spur to the path points west to where a little fishing hut sits at the water’s edge.

Eastwards from the landing point, a second path curls its way through a copse of great oak trees to a couple more destinations.

The first of these, sitting behind gabled gates and a large terrace and pond (complete with fountain and swan!) is a small but comfortably furnished hall where a Full English breakfast awaits the hungry  – or for those who prefer, afternoon tea can be had on the front terrace, warmed by one of the two outdoor fireplaces, the other being to the rear of the hall, overlooking the open waters of the region from a brick paved terrace.

Outside of the hall’s gates, the path meanders onwards through the trees to become a paved route that passes by another seating are and climbs a low hill to where a farmhouse overlooks a broad field of nanohana awaiting harvesting. With geese outside and more comfortable furnishing within, the farmhouse is of a traditional American design, its red wooden walls a perfect match for the region, a deck again sitting over the waters to the rear for those seeking a place to to relax within the setting.

Hooking its way past the the farmhouse, the path rolls down through the the field to pass an old pier where visitors can rez a rowing boat and head out into the bay, before it comes to the northern bridge to offer a complete loop around the island.

Presented in a mix of summer and autumnal colours and rounded out by a rich sound scape, Whimberly remains an attractive, highly photogenic and inviting region that welcomes visitors to come an spend their time.

SLurl Details

• Whimberly (rated: Adult)

I’ll start this piece by saying I might be getting to this a little late in the day, and I’m not sure how long the region has been in its current iteration. However, if you’ve not already seen Jim Garand’s Grauland recently, I’d recommend a visit sooner rather than later, just in case it is going to change the the turn of the month (as pretty much happened the last time I wrote about it – see Grauland’s rugged summer looks in Second Life).

Over the time it has been offered to the public, Grauland has been the location for some enticing region builds that oft mix setting with art, always with one or two features that carry each iteration forward whilst connecting it to past designs – such as the use of Cube Republic’s excellent Causeway Builder’s Kit that can give you your own version of Giant’s Causeway.

However, with this iteration, we’re presented with  – as the Monty Python crew were fond of saying – something completely different. So different, in fact, I’m not entirely sure show to classify it. Gone is the causeway – and any sign of water, another past constant with Jim’s designs. Nor is there any sign of vegetation.

Instead, visitors arrive to find themselves in a desert surrounded by hills that have slopes against which dunes wash. What might have inspired it – the Gobi, Death Valley, the Sahara, the Atacama, the Namib – is but a passing question; the fact of the matter is that we’re in a desert, one that offers a series of enigmatic offerings that challenge how we might think of it.

On arrival, the eyes are naturally drawn to the to the ruins that sit on the east dunes and fall towards the middle of the region. Who might they have been built by? Are they part of the the same period? The grander set comprise hewn blocks of stone, large in size and put together without the benefit of mortar, the pressure of their own weight binding them against the ravages of wind and time – although clearly, both the latter have had aeons to eventually have their way – presumably after the hands that built the ruins and lived within them had passed on.

The second group of ruins sit on a lower slope of sand and are built from smaller blocks bound together with mortar. Thus they appear to have been built some time after those they sit below, begging the question who were responsible for them, and whether the fact they literally sit in the shadow of the older ruins suggests some form of  homage to those who came before?

The ruins are just one of the region’s many enigmatic vignettes. Again, whether or not they are intended to be linked together or seen as individual stories, separate and apart from the rest, is entirely open to question. To the north-east is a small encampment, suggesting an archaeology base camp, one that perhaps, when coupled with the nearby ruins, brings to mind Lara Croft on a hunt for some rare artefact.

To the south, and on the same side of the region, sits what could be something out of the pages of a sci-fi or military story: prefabricated units set-up for a long-term stay, complete with recreational facility and a helipad occupied by a black Hawk helo. Westward to the south, the dunes have overwhelmed an American locomotive, giving us a hint of some kind of post apocalyptic setting – something furthered by the graveyard of cars sitting between train and landing point, and also by the carcasses of ships wallowing in the sands; although on seeing these, I half expected a brace of white 4x4s leap over a dune, United Nations flags fluttering with more helicopters overhead as they race to the wrecks, a-la Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

And what are we to make of the giant skulls, again half-buried within the sand? What might they tell us? I’ll leave that to you to decide.

Grauland presents us with a range of enigmatic offerings that individually or collectively offer a richness of place and opportunities for photography – as is always the way with the Grauland builds. Scattered throughout the various settings are places to sit, allowing those who wish to further appreciate the setting. In all, perhaps the most intriguing of designs yet seen within the region – – be sure to catch it before things change!

SLurl Details

• Grauland (Liberia Isle, rated Adult)

Amaya Mavinelli dropped me a line recently suggesting a visit to The Legend of Wooley Swamp. It came alongside an invitation from Mathias Laurent, one of the region’s designers, to also pay a visit – so off I hopped!

Occupying a Full region with the additional private region bonus, Wooley Swamp is the work of Matt and his SL partner, Aleriah Laurent (Aleriah Huntsman), and it takes as its inspiration The Legend of Wooley Swamp, the 1980 recording by The Charlie Daniels Band that forms the second track on their album Full Moon. It’s a story about a man – the song’s narrator – who hears a fable about a ghostly place called Wooley Swamp, and ignoring the advice of others, determines he has to confirm the truth of the story for himself.

If you ever go back into Wooley Swamp son you better not go at night
There’s things out there in the middle of them woods
That’d make a strong man die from fright
There’s things that crawl and things that fly
And things that creep around on the ground
And they say the ghost of Lucias Clay gets up and it walks around.

– Charlie Daniels, The Legend of Wooley Swamp

Through the song, we learn of the fate of Lucias Clay, a miserly old man who cared more for money than people, at the hands of of the Cable brothers, and the turnaround fate meted out to them after they’d murdered him for his jars of money. What the narrator discovers is left open, but it leads him to state, there’s some things in this world you just can’t explain.

The old man lived in the Wooley Swamp way back in the gurgling woods
And he never did do a lot of harm in the world
But he never did do no good
People didn’t think too much of him
They all thought he acted funny

– Charlie Daniels, The Legend of Wooley Swamp

It was a popular song of the day, following on from the success of The Devil Went Down to Georgia, and remained popular at the Band’s concerts. What might be less known to those not so familiar with Charlie Daniels, is that Wooley Swamp is a place where he used to hunt at night as a youngster. Thus, The Legend of Wooley Swamp – the region – could be said to be not only inspired by the song, but also a little bit of a homage to the singer / songwriter, who passed away earlier this year.

In keeping with all this, the region presents a swampy environment, dank, dark, and with sluggish water through which alligators can be sighted. Rotting houses and cabins and an old houseboat are scattered about, the paths and trails misted, whilst a partially-flooded graveyard adds to the spooky mix. Which one might be old man Clay’s cabin is up to you to decide; none look particularly homely, although there are occupants and hints of occupancy to be found – together with one or two nods to the season. There are also signs of mysterious goings-on as well: strange noises, orange and red eyes glaring menacingly out of the darkness at passers-by, human skulls  gathered together in a fire bowl…

Those visiting are asked to accept the local experience on arrival (you need only do so once, lest you later opted to remove it through the viewer). This adds a level of interaction to a visit.  As you explore the region, you may come across Mason Jars (normally for preserving food, but in the song, old man Clay filled them with money and buried them in the grounds around his cabin). Touch them, and you get an extract of the song and a gold coin. Beware, however, you can also get yourself killed – but as Aleriah noted to me, this can only happen just once a day!

Coupled with a rich sound scape, lending itself to a range of windlight settings as well as its own default, and with plenty of little touches – some with a horror edge to them, some not – The Legend of Wooley Swamp makes for an interesting, photogenic and slightly different visit for Halloween.

Slurl Details

• The Legend of Wooley Swamp (Fairytale, rated Adult)

Surrounded by mountains and sitting within a deep rocky bowl, Hidden Lake is the latest region design by Num Bing-Howlett (Num Bing) and her SL partner Clifton Howlett. A Full region that is fairly packed to the gills with detail and touches large and small, it is a wilderness setting that cries out for exploration – although some viewer adjustments might be required in order to fully enjoy it.

The titular lake occupies the middle of the region, an uneven oval of blue water that looks both inviting and cold. It is almost entirely surrounded by rugged uplands that form an inner ring to the off-region mountainous sim surround that lies beyond them. “Almost”, because the rocky circle is broken to  south-west, where grasslands roll gently out to the watery edge of the region, offering a low-lying area to explore.

The landing point sits to the west side of the lake, where a large deck extends out over the water  to offer both a welcome and a place for visitors to sit and appreciate the view – the first of many such locations waiting to be found here. Set a little back from this on the lowlands between water and cliffs, sits a rutted track that emerges from a tunnel just to the north-west and points the way towards the south-west lowlands where it vanishes into another tunnel, presenting the impression that this is a place awaiting discovery along a trail perhaps only driven by a few.

Just across this through route from the landing point, there rises a set of wooden steps that climb up a lightly wooded shoulder of rock by way of several wooden platforms and desks to reach a lodge. Comfortably furnished, this peeks out from between fir trees to look down on the lake, while the decks outside also offer a view up to the higher peaks on this side of the region, and the promise of more to explore among them as they sit above the tunnel entrance.

A path winds eastwards around the toes of these peaks, in part using a wooden board walk, but I’d personally recommend avoiding that route to start with, as it can all too quickly lead you to the region’s major features that should be left until last. Instead, follow the rutted track towards the south-west and the lowlands I mentioned earlier. Doing so will lead you on a journey around the region that allows you to encounter all that should be seen in the lowlands, before you scale the heights to find what awaits above.

This route will bring you first to where the woodlands drop down to the grasslands, and a little setting ideal for glampers is nestled among the trees. Beyond this, sitting with is back on the lake to look out at the surrounding mountains, lies an old warehouse now converted into a cosy (public) home, a sea of grass washing around it and a little brook splashing its way from lake to open waters now too far away. A wide wooden bridge allows the road to pass over this brook so that it might reach the second tunnel, but those on foot can scurry across a pair of logs set over the water if they prefer.

Past the tunnel, the route is over grassy ground sitting above the rocky shore of the lake. This follows a line that leads east and then north, offering visitors the chance to completely circumnavigate the lake’s shoreline. Along this route are several attractions, but I’ll mention just one here: the shallow cavern within its ornately carved arch. Hidden within it is a TARDIS police box that offers the means (by accepting the local experience) to visit Num and Clifton’s other region, The Empire of Dreaming Books, a place that pays homage Walter Moers‘  Zamonia comic series and which we visited in May 2020 (see: An empire of books in Second Life). With a similar TARDIS located within the catacombs of that region (where visitors from hidden Lake arrive), those travelling through either region are offered a neat way to visit the other.

But it is the northern side of the lake that will eventually draw visitors. Here the path loops its way back to the rutted track, but as it does so it passes by the open-air station of a cable car system as it sits over the waters of the lake. There are two cars operating on the system, which will take visitors up to the higher peaks of the region, and they can be ridden as they reach the platform by touching the red button at the boarding point as one reaches it. This will stop the car to allow your to take a seat, then pressing the green button on the same panel to set it moving. The ride offers a grand view of the lake, and will carry you up to a second platform station (same method to get off)  that is linked to a large events stage, which also offers a grand view down and over the lake.

The upper station also sits at the edge of a small mountain pond from which waters roll and tumble down the cliffs in a series of steps to eventually flow into the lake. These falls pass directly under the path of the cable cars, and are also crossed by three bridges. The first, and lowermost, forms part of the path circumnavigating the lake. The upper two offer the means to explore the lower slopes of the mountains and also to find your way up to the high decks by way of rugged paths and metal stairs that cling to the more vertical faces of rock. The start of these paths breaks sits between the lower cable car station and the waterfalls.

When exploring, there’s a lot of small details to keep an eye out for – all the places to sit, the birds overhead, a squirrel frolicking  in the grass, goats grazing, and more, both outdoors and in the various buildings, all of which have been carefully decorated to give a greater sense of presence to them. However, as noted at the top of this article, some may find a little patience is needed with Hidden Lake, as their is a lot within it to keep the viewer very busy with mesh and textures. For those on middle or lower spec machines, dropping draw distance and / or disabling Shadows when moving around might be the order of the day. Nevertheless, making such adjustments is worthwhile, as this is an extraordinarily picturesque region.

With thanks to Shawn Shakespeare for the pointer.

SLurl Details

• Hidden Lake (Nova Island, rated Adult)