Tag: Exploring SL Archives

“It’s small but I wanted to be able to add details,” Tolla Crisp told me after inviting me to visit her winter setting, an offshoot of her Frogmore (and Mousehole) regions (although quite separate from them). I have no problem with small settings, even when a complete Homestead region is concerned, because small can often be better.

In the case of Crisp Kringle – Frogmore Christmas Region, small brings us a  little and engaging touch of Tolla’s homeland, as she notes in the About Land description:

A tiny Swedish Village of childhood memories, snow covered landscape, warm Fika Shoppes, and the light sound of Reindeer paws.

For those unfamiliar with fika is at the heart of Swedish coffee culture, a social institution involving the practice of taking a break with a beverage and snack that is widely accepted as central to Swedish life. Traditionally, it involves a cup of coffee enjoyed with a pastry, although the coffee can be replaced by alternate hot beverages such as tea and hot chocolate, and juices and squashes for children. In addition, the term can also be used to mean an informal meeting, generally within a business and between management and business.

Crisp Kringle offers plenty of opportunities for both. Along the little village street  can be found a little fika café where a hoot drink and pastry can be enjoyed indoors, while a couple of outdoor spots offer either hot chocolate or mulled wine for those needing a warming of the hands an tummy without necessarily wanting to stop and sit a while. And while the idea of a fika and a meeting might be couched in business, here it also relates to the way people can visit, meet, explore and enjoy entirely informally.

From the icy landing point, the street rises by a series of steps to pass between various small businesses (including one with a sense of being Santa’s workshop) before descending down to another frozen body of water. This is large enough to support some ice skating (skates available via a sign on the ice), with the ice certain think enough to support a lot of weight, despite someone having hack a hole through it  for some ice fishing, as evidence by the reindeer (large and small) stress testing it from time to time with heavy jumps.

Also to be found are cabins where further warmth can be found, together with opportunities for cuddles, or the for daring, an outdoor, coal-fired hot tub awaits.  While for those who fancy a quite skate away from the main pond and the town, a small pond sits over the hills.

Small, but with a lot of detail to be discovered and photographed, Crisp Kringle – Frogmore Christmas Region offers a nice winter setting with just a hint of Christmas to be found within it without a hint of the usual schmaltz to spoil it.

SLurl Details

• Crisp Kringle – Frogmore Christmas Region (Malfurion, rated Moderate)

I’ve already said I’m a Hera (zee9) fangirl. So when an IM from her drops into my chat window, it immediately grabbed my attention:

Hi there, you may remember me saying in a notecard a couple of build back that I most likely would never do Neverland, well just to prove myself wrong I just did, thought you might like to visit.

– Hera (Zee9) in telling me about her latest build

And with that, I was reorganising my list of places to visit and then on my way to visit another chapter in Hera’s evolving story of Neverworld settings, places born of the imaginations of children; places of escape and fantasy that, as we grow up, become increasingly hard to find as the paths become overgrown and eventually lost to the demands of work and life.

Neverever Land is a place that holds within it touches of J.M. Barrie’s tale of Peter Pan, Wendy, the Lost Boys and Captain Hook whilst offering a setting that is undeniably born of Hera’s creativity. It also starts with a story – a further chapter concerning Jane (Wendy’s daughter from the epilogue F.M. Barrie added to his original story of Peter and Wendy four years after its publication) – and introductory  notes. Both should be read in full before proceeding further.

With the story and notes read, it’s time to enter the house and – as with some of the recent builds that have carried us into Herea’s Neverworld – is to find the story book the will carry you to Neverever Land, and I’ll use her worlds to introduce it:

The Neverever land exists at the edge of dreams just before the wall of sleep.
It is not like the real world,
even though it may at times seem very familiar.
Yet Neither is it the land of sleep and dreams,
Because the people there are all awake.
It is created from what is left in memory of the real once the mundane has faded.
A place of wake dreams or daydreams.
What happens there is not real,
But might change forever that which is.
It is the neither neither land.
The funambulatory path between the worlds.

Hera (Zee9) describing Neverever Land

And so we find ourselves in an] circular archipelago of islands rising from a glass-like sea that captures their reflections through a mist of surf. Only it’s not a sea nor surf; we are in fact among the clouds, the islands floating in a world of their own, surrounded by more distant peaks. The central island has a peak of its own that rises from a sandy beach landing point, a path spiralling upwards to where the first of several stone bridges connect most of the islands one to the next, while two rope bridges complete the possible connections from landing point to islands, so providing multiples roots by which to explore.

In taking a leaf from J.M. Barrie’s book, the setting is rich in motifs. There’s the Lost Boy’s camp, a garden suitable for Tinkerbell, a cavern that perhaps forms Peter Pan’s hideaway, a further camp that might be seen as the home of some of Tiger Lily’s tribe, and out on the water, a pirate ship that might be that of Captain Hook. Perhaps the clearest motif of all, however, is the crocodile; even if he does seem a little… tied up … in things in one location!

This is a place very much where visitors have space to find places to sit and relax without being overcrowded in any way. There are also – as always – plenty of opportunities for photography.

After the intensity of recent builds such as Whitechapel (see here for more) and Whitby (see here), Neverever Land presents a distinct and relaxing change of pace within Hera’s recent designs; as such it makes for a very different – but nevertheless equally imaginative – visit.

Slurl Details

• Neverever Land (Island of Jahesa, rated Adult)

For a brief time in August / September 2021, Hera (Zee9) brought back her fabulous role-play environment of Shadezar to her home region. An iteration of her Kingdom of Sand build, it may well have have originally been inspired by Shadizar The Wicked City, from the Conan sword and sorcery stories by Robert E. Howard; stories set in the pseudo-historical “Hyborian Age”, a time “after the destruction of Atlantis but before the rise of any known ancient civilisation”.

I wrote about the build alongside of Hera’s equally captivating Venesha in Sharing in Hera’s Dreams and Visions in Second Life, shortly after which Shadezar relocated to a new home in the sky above Majilis al Jinn, another role-play environment that might be considered from a similar swords-and-sorcery setting within it own uniqueness.

Both setting are located within a Full region utilising the Land Capacity bonus available to private Full regions and held by Atossa (herminetic). Atossa actually invited me to reacquaint myself with Majilis al Jinn back at the time I visited Shadezar back in August, so my apologies to her for having taken a while to get to actually write about her setting, which has been designed by Atossa and Calein Flux.

The two locations are linked by a central landing point, where visitors and role-players can gather all the information they may need prior to visiting either location.

Shadezar is very much as it appeared with Venesha on Hera’s own region, offering those who missed it earlier in the year to enjoy exploring and finding the many opportunities for photography and imagining Howard’s world  – even if his Shadizar was described as a centre of thievery and debauchery. Given I have previously covered it, I’ve focused primarily on Majilis al Jinn within the photos here.

An island of worn ancient cliffs sheltering a garden of wonders; Lost for countless ages in the midst of a vast ocean, home to Jinn, Elves and gentle spirits.

– Majilis al Jinn description

Teleporting from the landing point will deliver arrivals deep underground, with one of several routes of exploration – out to the sands of a beach, through tunnels to hidden caverns, or up winding stairs and straight stairways leading off of rooms and chambers of their own, to reach the main build with its gardens and grand palace.

With its open rooms, curtains, water features, and high central dome, the palace has a sense of comfortable coolness whilst offering plenty to see whilst winding stairs lead up to rooftop pavilions and seating. It is also within the palace visitors can find an art gallery containing reproductions of classical painting that are offered for viewing pleasure. This gallery also includes a teleport disk, one of several to be found throughout the setting to help people find their way around. the ground level points of interest.

Nor is this all. For those one enjoy something a little different, the teleport disks also offer access to two further sky builds: a space station for the sci-fi oriented, and a Warbugs airfield for those who fancy a little aerial combat.

Rich in detail, a pleasure to explore and with opportunities for resting and photography, Majilis al Jinn, together with Shadezar and the other destinations in the region make for an engaging visit.

SLurl Details

• Majilis al Jinn / Shadezar (Sands of Time, rated Adult)

Winter Solstice is another region that offers a mix of public spaces and private residential parcels that I recently had occasion to visit. As a Full region, it offers to the north and south – the later separated from the rest of the region by a body of water that cuts deep into the landscape, leaving the centre of the region open as a public spaces built at the foot of a tall mountain.

Held and designed by JasmineSnow (jasminesnow333), it is the home for her estate’s main rental office, but offers a lot of opportunities for photography throughout the public spaces whilst also containing a subtle nod towards Christmas through the presence of a Santa or two, whilst a number of static mannequins give further level of life to the setting.

Most of this can be found along the region’s “main street” that runs south-to-south along the foot of the central mountain, with shops, places to grab a hot drink and even a small stables where horses can be found. Behind the street, the mountain rises, from which a single track railway track emerges to mark the edge of the water that cuts into the region to the south, before running up to the north and then back to around to re-enter the mountain, marking an informal boundary between the public spaces and the rental properties along north side of the region.

There are also opportunities for activities such as ice skating an horse riding to be found within the region – again, allowing for the private residences. As well as the main street, the eastern end of the region provides plenty of open space for wandering, sitting, whilst to the west there is a music and event space.

Beyond this, there is not a lot more to say – simply because the region, simply because it genuinely speaks for itself. It is photogenic, both thing the built-up area and in the open spaces. And with this in mind, rather than prattle on, I’ll leave you with further images and encourage you take a visit.

SLurl Details

• Winter Solstice (Real, rated Moderate)

For me, one of the somewhat difficult aspects in writing about regions in Second Life is how to deal with those locations that offer a mix of public spaces and private residences.

I say this because while many of these regions try to strike a balance between public / private, there is always a risk that I’m encouraging a degree of possible trespass / invasion of people’s personal space by suggesting people go and visit. As someone who appreciates her own home spaces and the retreat they offer, I’m possibly being overly sensitive in this, but it is something I can’t shake. There’s also the fact that there are regions that have a bias towards rentals that makes writing about their public spaces difficult, simply because of the volume of homes and the limitations they place on exploration and discovery.

Such is not the case with Echo Ridge, a Homestead region that forms a part of Elvira Kytori’s White Dunes Estate, some of which I have covered in the past in these travelogue pieces.

What drew me to Echo Ridge is its layout and current wintery setting. Comprising a single large northern landmass, surrounded by high peaks that in turn encompass a scattering of smaller islands, it has only four rental properties within it. These are placed far enough apart within the setting that, with the intervening waters being frozen, allows for exploration without huge risk of trespass. Add the overall winter dressing the region has, and this layout also allows for numerous opportunities for photography and also for some winter pursuits such as sledding and skating.

The landing point for the setting is tucked into a southern island that offers plenty of room for wandering, places to sit and views across the rest of the region. From here it is easy to see the surrounding rental properties, and perform a quick check on parcel boundaries (right-click on the ground each house stands on) to spot the extent of private areas.

Beyond this, it is a simple matter of setting out to explore as you will; there are no set path other than the ice-coated waters, and they will lead you where you wish. The northern landmass additionally offers a snowy path that arcs around it, skirting one of the rental properties as it does so, to offer more views and opportunities for photography.

The magic here, however, is in the combination of small details, considered landscaping and the region’s EEP setting which is simply perfect. With the Sun hanging lower in the sky, it gives the region a very wintery feel that makes you want to done clothing that’s going to keep you warm as you wander across the snow or slide / skate over the ice.

These details come in many forms, but for me the most notable is the wildlife to be found right across the region – herons and egrets keeping a regal eye on all that is going on, Arctic foxes playing on the ice, deer wandering the snow, doves trying to work out what the slidey stuff they are skating on might be and sandpipers ignoring the snow as they prance the water’s edge looking for food under the cold white blanket while song birds await visitors to the region’s gazebo, so they might serenade them.

Really, there is not too much more to be said about Echo Ridge, simply because the region design speaks entirely for itself. It’s clear that a considerable amount of thought has gone into making this an attractive winter setting without going overboard on things. This makes the region beautifully understated when first seen, and increasingly attractive the longer one spends within it.

My thanks, as always, to Shawn Shakespeare for the point and landmark.

SLurl Details

• Echo Ridge (Amaria, rated Moderate)