Tag: Exploring Second Life 2024

My most recent travels to me to the setting of Ai-mura, largely created by ラパ (Rapa Tone) and Indra Herouin. Occupying a sky platform covering a little under a quarter of a Full private region which offers the private island Land Capacity bonus, Ai-Mura is held under Rapa’s melodic.one Group and is described as being a part of the Love Project, in reference to the region as a whole and the multiple settings available within it – some of which I’ll be covering in these pages in due course.

Ai-mura is an engaging Japanese themed setting, with very good use made of the available space, which has been split into roughly three primary areas.

As you step off the train at Ai-mura station, you sense there is something magical about this small village by the sea. Refresh your body and mind at the local onsen, explore the bustling neko village, wander the paths to find your perfect picture spot, and come listen to amazing DJs while dancing your cares away in a beautiful, open-air venue.

– Ai-Mura Destination Guide entry

The train – more a tram, really – referenced in the setting’s Destination Guide entry sits in the south-east corner of the setting, stopped at the terminus of whatever line it has followed to reach this point, having to to it via passage through a nearby tunnel. The station located just below the elevated tracks has something of an industrial feel about its insides, resembling more of a pumping station than a ticket office or anything. Alongside of it is the entrance / exit to a subway system, suggesting another means of reaching the setting.

A bamboo path offers two routes down from the station, it and the tram track being the highest accessible points in the setting. The first is to the north, where a gatehouse and stone steps allow visitors to descend from the station’s rocky table-top and reach the neko village also referenced in the Destination Guide entry.

The second arm of the path turns west to pass under a Torii gate and again descend via stone steps to provide access to the west side of the setting. In offering the way to their respective destinations, both arms of the path pass over a fast-flowing stream that tumbles from above vias falls and then further falls and rapids before eventually passing into a tunnel of its own, effectively isolating the station’s rocky highland from the rest of the landscape.

The neko village is, as the name suggests, a village of kitties – u10 nitta’s (shiro0822) ever-engaging {-Maru Kado-} kitties to be precise. Unsurprisingly, given the local inhabitants 🙂 the majority of the businesses in the village square are given over to eateries with all sorts of foods on offer – including fish. The latter are being offered via a warehouse linking the village with a fishing wharf where a couple of boats are tied-up, most likely having recently delivered their catches.

Packed with little details waiting to be found, the village is a simply charming setting ripe with photo opportunities. One of my favourite elements – aside from the kitties – is a sign board sitting above the the village providing information on where Rapa –  an SL DJ – might be, giving both her DJ appearances and the times she’s asleep  with “zzzz”.

Steps on the west side of the village provides access to an open meadow which in turn connects to the west side of the region, the majority of which is given over to a field for music events, with the field set to host a Progressive Music event on Tuesday, July 30th from 16;00-22:00 SLT, hosted by Coley Magic, who will join Rapa and five other DJs presenting sets during the event.

South of the music venue is a raised courtyard which connects to the second part of the path running down from the tram station. The courtyard seems to function as both an overspill area for the music events field and as an open space before the setting’s osen.

The latter is entirely open-air and without either accompanying bath house or changing area. Instead, the main pool sits within a oval of large stones and appears to be heated from a natural source below, the water’s surface misted with steam. Whatever the source of the heat, it must be powerful: the pool appears to be fed by cold fresh water tumbling from more of the falls at the setting’s southern highlands; water which drops over stepped falls and then rushes through more little rapids to flow into the larger body of which the onsen pool is part.

For those who would like a more private spa, a second hot spring and pool can be found on a shoulder of rock overlooking the main falls and stream. It is reached by turning off the path down to the onsen from the tram station before it crosses the stream via a red bridge.

There are one or two roughly little elements where the landscaping could perhaps be tidied in little more, but these don’t really intrude into the setting to the extent them we show up in photos. The sound scape – birdsong and trickling water – could perhaps do with a little more, but again, its entirely possible most visitors will be dropping in for the music, and so won’t notice. Certainly, the overall photogenic nature of the setting cannot be denied, and the look and appeal of Ai-Mura does much to commend the rest of the public spaces within the region as being destinations to add to an itinerary.

SLurl Details

• Ai-Mura (a love Project, rated Moderate)

Summer has brought with it time for me to make a visit to Luane’s World, the estate held and operated by LuaneMeo and her publicly-accessible Full region – Le Monde Perdu (The Lost World). It’s been a while since my last visit, and the region has been beautifully redressed for the summer, offering a mix of a beachy cove, woodlands, a lake, and open lands cut through by a mix of streams and footpaths.

The landing point sits on a ridge which runs from east to west across the landscape, rising from each coast to form high cliffs overlooking the beach with is deep-cut cove to the south, whilst falling more gently away to the north west to meet the lowlands. The upper reach of this ridge is home to the region’s landing point. This provides information on the estate’s rentals, a teleport board (including the the sky region destination and the store space Luane shares with Méli-Mélo). A further board provides information on the region’s photo contest running through to August 12th, 2024, of which more below.

There are two main ways down from the ridge, again to the east and west. The former descends via a trail and steps cut into the hill slopes before crossing one of the region’s streams to provide access to the east side of the cove and the beach. Along the way it is possible to turn north and access the lowlands, where multiple places to sit and pass the time might be found along the hill slopes.

To the west, the slope proceeds gently down in a gentle curve to the south, eventually meeting with the beach, the foot of the sandy hill sculpted by successive tides. Again there are multiple places to sit along the way – including a cosy summer house – whilst steps cut into the north slope again provide access to the northern lowlands.

Facing off-region islands, the beach and cove are naturally formed, the beach offering a gentle sandy walk under the lee of the cliffs before shelving away sharply under the surf to form a deep water bay that’s home to orca, fish, an ancient wreck and a great white minding its own business. The fact that it is seemingly content to keep to itself will likely be good news to those who wish to take a dip or make use of the lidos, floating seats and rings in the water. For those of a less daring disposition, a RHIB sits in the bay, one of several boats around the region, and offering a place from where the local rays can be watched.

With all these sights and locations the beach and cove are attractive and photogenic and certainly not not be missed. However, given I’m personally not a great beach person, the north side of the region with its lush grassland, trees and flower, is the real attraction. The lake takes up a good portion of the north-west side of the setting, and while it may not have the richness of undersea life within it, it is still the home for swans, geese and turtles, as well as offering the opportunity to take a swan boat out on the water from the dock alongside of the lakeside cottage.

The latter is a cosily-furnished mix of home and studio, a wooden boardwalk winding from its and front door to pass around the edge of the lake, paths here and there offering ways up the slopes behind. Making its way past another deck, the boardwalk eventually climbs steps up to another platform at the eastern extent of the lake, where gates set into a high, ivy-draped wall close by provide access to the lands beyond the lake. Although before passing through them, there is also the opportunity to take a walk around the north shore of the lake, which is again photogenic and relaxing.

For those who don’t fancy walking all around the region, horse rezzers available, although walking perhaps offers the best opportunity to catch sight of all the animals and birds also occupying the setting. for those would would like to the the region as a bird might, then the hot air balloon floating to the north-east might be attractive. As already noted, the region is rich in places to sit throughout, on the beach, around the lake, on the hill slopes, and so on, although I particularly enjoyed the Café de Paris, tucked into a corner of the region and guarding the path leading to / from the familiar bridge connecting le Monde Perdu with the rest of the region.

Photo Contest

Running through until Monday, August 12th, 2024, the Luane’s World / Le Monde Perdu photo contest offers a prize pool of L$ 8,000 plus a  choice of pose packs from Méli-Mélo and Luanes Poses. Full details and rules can be obtained from the contest board at the region’s landing point, but in short:

• Up to three entries per person may be submitted.
• Entered photographs must:
  • Be taken within Luane’s World ground-level setting (not Luane’s Magical World, the sky-bound setting) and be clearly recognisable as having been taken within the region.
  • Have a primary focus on the landscape (although avatars can be show in images, they should not be the focus).
  • Not include porn, obscenity, racism, child play, or violence. doing so will result in automatic disqualification.

• Entries:
  • Are made via the Luanes World – Le Monde Perdu Flickr group.
  • Mist be set to Public viewing.
  • Must be labelled LUANES WORLD – LE MONDE PERDU PHOTO CONTEST Summer 2024, followed by any title you wish to give the image and then 1, 2 or 3 if you submit multiple entries. the SLurl to the region must also be given within the image description.

Good luck to all who enter.

All of Luane’s designs, developed with Gorba McMahon, are eye-catching, highly photogenic and created with keen eyes for detail. Summer 2024 is no exception to this, and I highly recommend a visit.

SLurl Details

• Luane’s World (le Monde Perdu, rated Adult)

In January 2023, I visited Cloud Edge, a stunning mountain setting beautifully presented to give the impression of being so high up in a mountain range the very clouds lay beneath you (see: Walking a Cloud Edge in Second Life). Designed by Funky Banana, a region designer with a talent for producing attention-holding region designs and settings I’ve delighted in writing about in these pages, Cloud Edge was somewhat unique in presentation – as I noted back in 2023. So, when I learned he had opened a new iteration of the setting, I was off to pay it a visit.

Still occupying a Homestead region, albeit in a new location, Cloud Edge II continues the theme established in Cloud Edge,  offering a suggestion that this is a place within the same mountain range as the original, once again largely above the tree-line but where hardy growths of shrubs and krummholz cling to the otherwise barren rocks.

While there is a sense of continuation from the original Cloud Edge within this setting for those who visited the original, together with one or two familiar elements (notably the eagle – this time perched on a rock rather than riding the updraughts rising up from the valleys below – and the presence of a rope bridge), this is very much a place with an identity all its own. The clouds here are denser, forming a white sea which in places rises higher than the visible ridges as if to suggest there are other nearby domes and spines of rock lurking just beneath their blanket, and which might yet be revealed should the clouds deign to part.

That said, there is one dome visible to the south of the main ridge. It sits tantalisingly close yet forever out of reach of hikers (you can obviously fly over to it, but that’s cheating!), even if the clouds might encourage thoughts that just perhaps, beneath their fog-like embrace, a curtain of rock wide enough to traverse to reach the dome and its lonely tree might yet be found.

However, there is a visible hiking route to follow, one pointing north from the landing point at the south-eastern end of the ridge. It runs up to the foot of the blunt-nosed outcrop rising from the mid-point of the ridge to form a lone peak which seems to by supporting the trail as it sags away to lower ground to the south and north. Passing around the peak on its south side, the trail then drops back down and turns almost due north to rise via an narrow neck to a bulbous headland which extended a stubby nub of rock as if pointing to the (off-region) mountains.

This stubby finger of rock offers a dramatic look-out point with nothing but the blanket of thick cloud below, giving one the impression of standing on air with the enticing the mysteries of what lay beneath the veil on clouds calling up to you. But there is something else about this outcrop; it doesn’t take much of a rotation of the camera around it to realise that, with its bulbous mass sitting behind the stubby nub, it bears a suggestion of a terrapin sitting over white water, the nub of rock forming its head, the bulbous headland behind being its body. It an illusion heightened  by the right play of light across it, which can give the illusion of the nub bearing a beak and an eye staring out over the cloud tops.

This northern end of the main ridge is not the last place to explore; over to west side of the descent from the main peak is another shoulder of cliff dropping away into the clouds before a thumb of rock pokes itself back above the mist. Such is its proximity, there is a suggestion that it is perhaps joined to the main ridgeline somewhere below, just hidden from sight.

However, there is no need to risk a scramble down into the clouds in an attempt to find out. Instead, a rope bridge has been strung across the gap between the two formations. Whilst missing some boards roughly two-thirds of the way across, the bridge nevertheless spans the narrow gap to offer a want onto the plateau on its far side and the presence of the eagle, which appear to be ready (and without Norma Desmond’s madness) for its close-up shot by budding DeMilles paying it a visit 🙂 .

Once again, an outstanding and unique location (albeit one with an unusual soundscape, sounding is as does like waves breaking against the shore), which continues and extends the beauty of the original. It is also a setting which naturally lends itself to a range of potential environment settings as well as the Shared environment when it comes to photography (as I’ve admittedly done in some of the images above).

SLurl Details

• Cloud Edge (Echo Mountain – rated Moderate)

The subjects of BDSM and D/s are not to everyone’s taste, and given this broad cross-section of readership I’m fortunate enough to have with this blog, they are areas I only occasionally cover when it comes to places in Second Life to visit (for example, Athenaeum, which I’ve covered a few times in these pages). However, there is one I’ve been meaning to cover for a while is that of Angel of Pain, a Full region held by fellow Second Life explorer and blogger, Susann DeCuir, and I find it both engaging and unique in looks.

As one might expect from a seasoned traveller with an eye for region designs and an accomplished Second Life photographer as Susann undoubtedly is, as well as being focused on Adult activities, Angel of Pain is also exceptionally photogenic and extremely well laid out, offering a good mix of ground level public spaces, all nicely interconnected through the landscaping and design, with more private areas – vignettes, you might say – occupying platforms in the sky, where the regions landing point and its associated locations and the Angel of Pain club might be found.

Angel of Pain is built on a complete region. Here you can find many different ways to enjoy yourself. From soft to hard, everything is included for our guests. At the main landing point you will find a teleport board on one of the walls. There you can also find a dating service, teleports to other friendly sims, a group gift.

– Susann’s introduction to the region

The landing point offers general information on the region and its supporting in-world Group, teleport / landmark givers to various other regions in Second Life, links to the Angel of Pain Flickr group (membership required), Facebook page and to Susann’s blog, and the group joiner. Also to be found here is the region’s main teleport board and corridors leading the art gallery – which was at the time of my visit featured images by Ludi Taurus (due to run through until July 25th), and the Angel of Pain Dating Bar. The latter is a large space with central bar, a stage, seating areas and spaces for adult / BDSM play.

The teleport board provides access to all of the locations to be found within the Region. Several of these are located in the sky – as noted – with the rest on the ground. As the latter can all be reached by following the well laid-out paths around the region, I recommend you select the option to jump down to Angel of Pain Ground, and follow the paths and trails from there and use the teleport boards found throughout to reach the locations in the sky.  Prior to taking the teleport, however, I would further strongly recommend you have your viewer set to Use Shared Environment as this does change to suit places as you explore; you should also enable local sounds.

The arrival area on the ground is close to a large mansion with a casual pool and seating area to the rear. The mansion, with a foyer containing a pool of its own flanked by two other rooms, carries on with a theme started in the main landing point sky platform and found throughout the region, and which I found particularly attractive, artful and effective: Susann’s use of greenery: vines, plants, shrubs and grass / flowers inside building as much as outdoors.

The mansion sits with its back to a broad channel cutting into the landscape from the north, running first south and then west, where it slims before exiting the region to the south as a narrow neck of water. With a second channel branching to the east, the water divides the landscape into two large land masses and a smaller island, bridges linking them together.

To the front of the mansion as it faces south, there is a terrace overlooking the southern lowlands and coast, with two paths reaching out and down to these lowlands. One of these paths runs down to a north-west headland sitting between the mouth of the channel and a small bay on the west side of the land. the headland is planted with laurels above which lanterns float, whilst the path passes under a torii gate and runs to a cluster of three Japanese-themed structures forming the Shibari House.

Meanwhile, and to the east, the path runs down to the narrow neck of the channel splitting the land, passing a gazebo along the way and then hopping over the water via a little hump-back bridge. From here it continues on through a wild garden and climbs steps up to the Church of Pain, thence onwards to the Tower with its multiple levels of play areas and open-sided wooden decks, and finally crosses another bridge to the small island and the ruins and decks located there offering further bondage play areas.

If one misses the path down to the little hump-backed bridge, the path will carry them to Pleasure in the Rain, a barn sitting in its own rainstorm and converted into a cosy little hideaway with a parasoled hot tub outside. These are not the only locations at ground level, but I’ll leave you to discover the rest should you choose to visit.

Using the teleport boards will provide access to the more personal spaces: the Bathhouse and Garden, the Library, the Interrogation room, the two Dungeons, the Loft, Sex Adventure, Secret Room, Red Room, D/s Heaven, and Lounge. Some of these have uses that are obviously described in their names; with others, the potential use is perhaps less clear – but some have the sense of been connected to one another, even though there are located in different parts of the region. The Loft and the Library, for example, are not directly connected, but the have a feeling of being part of the same building.

Also to be found in the sky is the Angel of Pain Club. This continues the theme of using trees and shrubs as well and the hints of a religious motif (as with “angel”) by being built in a church-like building and having winged demons and statues of robed figures. Caught in a red environment setting (again, be sure to have Use Shared Environment option in the viewer) and with red the predominant décor colour, and decorated with themed images, the club has an atmosphere quite apart from the rest of the region and its various locations, one with is both inviting whilst the pentagram on the floor and the demon figurines give it a darker twist.

Tasteful, with plenty of indications of its D/s BDSM theme scattered throughout the ground level settings without overly intruding into any photographs one might take of the setting unless wanted, Angel of Pain is very much an Adult playground – but one that is also richly landscaped and photogenic. The smaller, more themed areas in the sky, meanwhile, offer opportunities for more private and personal times whilst also providing potentially ideal environments for more erotic photography.

SLurl Details

• Angel of Pain (rated:Adult)