The Inshan Group

12 Apr 2021 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Diary, Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , ,

This blogpost not a simploring post neither is it a diary entry – it’s something inbetween. It is about an obscure, criminal Mafia family and their homeplace.
A few weeks ago I met a mysterious woman at Heavy Bondage Club. She was standing at the edge of the rooftop looking down on the court. I went up there and we talked. I tried to tease her and hinted that I could push her over the edge. She stayed calm and cool and just told me that I should never even think about it, that she had powerful friends and my corpse would be dumped into the garbage. And when I laughed and continued teasing her, she became very cool and arrogant and just warned me again. I didn’t push her.
I saw her, Miss Laura K, a few days later again at Heavy Bondage Club. She was surrounded by two bodyguards and had her dog with her. That day, she really looked like a member of the Mafia and she told me that she’s kind of an Underboss. Once again she warned me and I began to take it more seriously. Yet my curiosity kept me looking out for her and trying to stay in contact. Why? She was outstanding and I wanted to know more about her and the family. Her tag identified her as a “family jewel”.

Miss Laura K with a bodyguard and her dog / in the streets of the home location of The Inshan Group

Long story short, Miss K gave me the address of her home and I began to explore it. One day Miss K appeared behind me all of a sudden. She had a gun and hence, quite a good and convincing argument. I ended up in a warehouse, locked into a small cage – never cross the Mafia or a member of the Mafia.

The following days I learned a little bit about the family – The Inshan Group – and I got more familiar with their headquarter.

In- and outside of the brothel / Miss K at the VIP entrance

The Inshan Group was started over 13 years ago as a small and private criminal underworld roleplay set in and around the 80’s/90’s. Owned by Mr Zeegan Inshan and run by those below him, its purpose was and is to give everybody within the roleplay a place within its hierarchy depending upon their needs, be that a thirst for domination, the need to switch between dominant and submissive or a desire to hand oneself over for pure submission, each position within The Inshan Group is designed to meet this need.

Impressions of several rooms at The Inshan Group (1)

Below the boss, the godfather is The Fixer, Natey Baxton. He’s the Mouth of the boss. All issues are run through him and relayed to the boss. Below of The Fixer are The Madame, Zainaby Blanco and The Councilor, Dayman Darwin.

The Madame is the left hand of the boss. She manages, maintains and organizes the female family members (the finger and thumb of the left hand) as well as the sex rackets. Miss Laura K is her ‘thumb’. Within the female group members is a strict hierarchy and Miss K is its highest ranked – hence the bodyguards around her.

The Councilor is the male equivalent to The Madame. He is the right hand to the boss and manages the male Enforcer and lower Muscle group members (finger on the right hand) as well as the protection and extortion rackets. And there’s also is a strict hierarchy.
Of course I can’t go into every detail, even though I know more now.

I have connections into the Mafia now and you better don’t cross me.

Impressions of several rooms at The Inshan Group (2)

The headquarter fits perfectly with The Inshan Group. You will notice that it is built thoughtfully and with love for the detail. It is an urban setting. The landing point is on a street, for sure not the best district of the town – and it is raining. The concept is technically quite interesting. The entrance doors of the buildings are teleporters which bring you inside. And the inside doors are also teleporters which bring you into separate rooms. Each room is in a separate skybox. This way you have quite some privacy in every room – and privacy is important for the Mafia business, isn’t it? There is a brothel with a main and a VIP entrance round the back, a warehouse to store victims, several offices, a so-called orgy room, a bar, a dungeon and some more private rooms.

The background story and the home location of The Inshan Group offer a good and solid base for roleplay. You can immerse yourself into a secret and obscure world as most of us could never do in RL. With a powerful family at your back everything is possible. If you seek to peek into this world (in whatever role) …. be smart enough to find it. I won’t simply supply a landmark.

Simploring 2021 (15) The Divide

05 Apr 2021 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , ,

Looking for a destination for my simploring tour on Monday, March 15th, I came across The Divide on scoop.it SL Destination. The entry led to an post of Rig Torok just containing some very nice pictures and the landmark description of The Divide:
“The Divide is a study of contrasts, an expression of duality inspired by the works of Hayao Miyazaki. A hidden valley bisected by a narrow river. One side an Asian village, it lies nestled at the foot of an unspoiled forest glen. Separate in harmony.”

Upon landing I noticed Inara Pey who also visited and who’s post about the The Divide – “Crossing the Divide in Scond Life” – was published right the next day. I read her report before writing my own.

The Divide – bird’s eye view and orientation map

The Divide is a full adult region, owned by Coriel (coriel7766). According to Inara Pey The Divide is the the work not only of Coriel (coriel7766) but also of Xen (Xenia Nordberg). And Xen told me after this post was published that Threshin Barnett is also co-owning it and played a large role in helping with the build.

The Divide‘s theme is contrasts. There’s a very urban Japanese setting next to a forest full of magic. There’s the busy town with its little corners of silence. There’re places to enjoy and meditate close to a huge underground night and dance club. And there’s a rock in the form of a mushroom with ruins on its top.

The Divide was inspired by Hayao Miyazaki. I never heard or read about him and I am not at all familiar with Japan or with the Japanese culture.
Hayao Miyazaki (born 5 January 1941) is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, a film and animation studio, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and as a maker of animated feature films, and is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished filmmakers in the history of animation (source: wikipedia).
If there are any inuendos about Miyazaki’s work hidden at The Divide, then I didn’t notice them as I am not familiar with his work.

Impressions of The Divide (1) – The Town

The landing is at a spot where you can either walk into the magic forest or into town. I started my visit with the town. Just after a few meters I saw the entrance to the subway. I expected to see some stores and a subway station – but no, it is the entrance to a huge night and dance club, which alone would be worth a visit. I like the huge gitarre and the all the other decorations. There’s pole dancing as well as enough room to sit and to dance. A very well made club.

Impressions of The Divide (2) – The Subway club

The town itself is a busy place and there’s a lot to dicover. The streets are illuminated not only by boards and raceways but also by decoration lights as if there’s a festival or special day to be celebrated. Some of the stores and houses are furnished and I recommend to have a closer look. For sure I did not discover all but I particularly liked a little Japanese garden with trick fountains – an oasis of silence in a backyard.

Impressions of The Divide (3) – The Town, a bit offside the main street

At the end of the town you find some more quiet places. There’s a container used as a living space which is worth to have a more detailled look at. Over the river begins another world, way more quiet. Close to the town, just across the river, is a large house with a garden.
And I have to mention the rock, that looks like a mushroom. At it’s top are some ruins and in the center is a board game, which is played with up to 10 players (counting the chairs). I have no idea what sort of game it is. And I don’t know if it is just decoration or really playable.
REMARK: Xen (Xenia Nordberg) told me later that the game board on top is actually used by Threshin Barnett when she hosts a weekly game of Dungeons & Dragons for some friends. So it gets plenty of use!

Impressions of The Divide (4) – The Town, the large house across the river, the mushroom rockm the stairs leading into the magic forest

If you walk from the landing point not into town but over the bridge, over the river you enter a complete different world. A long stairway leads into the forest, which I called magic forest because of all the lights and laterns. There are quite a lot places to sit and mediate, places to enjoy the nature and the magic, places to spend time with a loved one either under a tent or in an hallow stump. Again, I’m pretty sure that I missed many details.

Impressions of The Divide (5) – Magic forest

The Divide is a place with several faces. It seemed to me that at the time I visited, it was still a work in progress at some areas. I suffered a bit of lag and had low frame rates while I visited. You might need to wait a bit until all textures have loaded.
Thank you, Coriel (coriel7766), Xen (Xenia Nordberg) and Threshin Barnett for creating The Divide and for sharing it publicly. I enjoyed my visit a lot.

Landmark to The Divide
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Radiator%20Springs/59/115/1987
Inara Pey’s post “Crossing the Divide in Scond Life”
https://modemworld.me/2021/03/15/crossing-the-divide-in-second-life/

Simploring 2021 (14) Ueno

29 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , ,

I came across Ueno when I scrolled through scoop.it SL Destinations looking for a destination for my simploring tour on Sunday, March 14th. What caught my attention was the picture, a field full of sunflowers.

Ueno is a full moderate region, owned by unico Bailey. There’s no landmark description. Ueno is part of 6 connected sim, all built in Japanese style. Maddy Gynoid has written about Ueno back in 2018 and 2019 (see his blogposts in German here and here)

Ueno – overview and orientation map

The highlight of Ueno is clearly the field of sunflowers that covers roughly half of the sim. Sunflowers as far as you can look. That reminded me of other sim whith wheat or corn fields. And of course it is a great motif for photographers. Maddy has some really great pictures of the sunflowers in his two blogposts.

The sunflower field at Ueno

Besides of the sunflower flield Ueno is a Japanese town with a train station, some residential homes and some shops. The sunflowers actually reach out into the town and to the train station. Close the a bridge leading to the neighbourhood sim is also a field of carrots (yet not as impressive as the sunflower field). Right at the end of the sunflower field are large boards for selling huge robot avatars. And there are some more shops at Ueno.
Over the town and the train station levitates a space ship (for what reason ever).

Impressions of Ueno – a Japanese community (1)

The train station itself and the town offers nice backgrounds for making urban pictures. But the huge sunflower field is for sure the outstanding highlight of Ueno. It is always great to see what other create.

Impressions of Ueno – a Japanese community (2)

Thank you unico Bailey for sharing your place.

Landmark to Ueno
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ueno/193/55/23/
unico Baily’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/160145918@N03/
Maddy Gynoid’s post “Das Sonnenblumenfeld auf Ueno”
https://echtvirtuell.blogspot.com/2018/03/das-sonnenblumenfeld-auf-ueno.html
Maddy Gynoid’s post “Das Sonnenblumenfeld auf Ueno – Teil 2”
https://echtvirtuell.blogspot.com/2019/06/das-sonnenblumenfeld-auf-ueno-teil-2.html

Simploring 2021 (13) The House that Love Built

18 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , ,

I scrolled through scoop.it SL Destinations to pick a destination for my simploring tour on Sunday, February 28th. The entry “The House that Love Built” caught my attention immediately. It is a new installation of Lex Machine (Archetype11 Nova).

Lex Machine (Archetype11 Nova) was formerly known as Schmexysbuddy Resident and created the Hotel California sims, which I visited in 2019 (read here and here). I saw Lex Machine’s installation “Isolation’s Passengers” last year (read here) and his installation Bermuda Locket earlier this year (read here).

The entry on scoop.it SL Destinations led to a post from Inara Pey “The House that Love Built in Second Life“, which I read before visiting myself.

Impressions of Lex Macine’s “The House that Love Built” – overview and orientation map

“The House that Love Built” is built on Lex’ own moderate full region Solveig. The landmark description tells a story:
‘I want you to show me your love with a build.’ .. ~My Ana … Thank you Ana. This is because of….and for…you.

Ana, that is Anastasia Falcor (Anastasia Nova), Lex’s partner in SL – and he built “The House that Love Built” for her … and he built it with love!

Spontaneously it is hard to categorize “The House that Love Built“. I was even pondering to publish my post under “Art in Second Life”, yet I sticked with the simploring category. The sim is roughly devided into two parts. The first part, where you land, is the lovely, romantic part with a residential house that might be the house that love built. It is not yet furnished though. On this part you find also a wedding barn, fully prepared for Lex and Ana’s wedding party. It is a really lovely setting.

Impressions of Lex Machine’s “The House that Love Built” (1) – around the landing

On this romantic side of “The House that Love Built” you also find a steamboat, an old school house, waterfalls and a farm, some deers made of stone covered with moss and quite some nice places to sit and cuddle, to enjoy the scenery. You can take great pictures and you can even take a ride on a horse. The rezzer for the horses close to the farm.

Impressions of Lex Machine’s “The House that Love Built” (2) – the wedding barn

The second part of “The House that Love Built” is dedicated to the art. Just like in his installation Bermuda Locket Lex plays again with giant pieces of art, mostly created by Mistero Hifeng, the horses are from wassaabii – but I didn’t check all. The giant horses with the “exploding parts” of their heads and the giant statues can be seen well from the romanitc side and the mixture between a lovely created romanitc sim and the art provides a specific touch to this installation.

Impressions of Lex Machine’s “The House that Love Built” (3) – around the farm

The giant statues are arranged around an old theatre. The whole scene looks af if it is long abandonned, plants have reoccupied the place. Scattered around the sim you also find a lot of cars, some look ready for use, others are just wrecks. Cars are often part of Lex’s sims.

Impressions of Lex Machine’s “The House that Love Built” (4) – the theatre

“The House that Love Built” is not just a house, it is a whole sim dedicated to love, a place to dream and a place to enjoy art.

Impressions of Lex Machine’s “The House that Love Built” (5) – the school house, the waterfalls, view from the balcony, “Si scioglie nei tuoi occhi…la Luna” by Mistero Hifeng

Thank you Lex for another impressive installation and in particular for sharing it publicly.

Landmark to “The House that Love Built”
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solveig/151/123/23
Inara’s blogpost “The House that Love Built in Second Life”
https://modemworld.me/2021/02/27/the-house-that-love-built-in-second-life/

Simploring 2021 (12) Skrunda-2

14 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , ,

When I was checking scoop.it SL Destinations on Sunday, February 21st, I came across Skrunda-2. The entry led to a blogpost of Maddy Gynoid “Simtipp: Skrunda-2“, which I read before visiting myself.
The landmark description is precise and a short version of what to expect: “Skrunda-2 is loosely based on the town of the same name in Latvia. It was run by the Russians to host radar. They left in 1998 and what remains to this day is a complete, but empty ghost-town, a time capsule to Cold War paranoia and Soviet styling.”

Skrunda-2 in Second Life is built on a full region. It is owned by Titus Palmira and was designed by Megan Prumier and Sofie Janic. I remember that either Megan or Sofie had invited me over but busy me had forgot about it.

Skrunda-2 – bird’s eye view and overview map

I strongly recommend to read more about Skrunda-2 before visiting. You will get offered a notecard upon entering the sim, that contains the main information. But a look into wikipedia might also be very helpful.

Skrunda-2 in the physical world

When I started my tour I kept the preset windlight which is set to night. It gives the scenery an even more odd atmosphere. I went to the residential blocks in the center and visited the water tower. The lights are set nicely to illuminate the abandonned town. Nonetheless the pictures were a bit dark and won’t show the many details. Therefore I decided to change my environment setting to “Anan Adored Realistic”.

Skrunda-2 – at the landing, the water tower and the residential blocks.

There is really a lot to explore and discover at Skrunda-2. Unfortunately the sim was quite full and even without using shadows and with a low drawing distance the lag was quite heavy and made moving around difficult for me. I enjoyed my visit nonetheless.
I went to what I named “meeting hall” first. The hall seems to be used for events nowadays. But in general every building looks like it was just abandonned, there’s garbage, graffiti, stuff, furniture as if the town was just left yesterday. But what proves that is is already empty for many years is the returning vegetation that slowly takes over the place again (as in RL I assume).

Skrunda-2 – at the landing / the meeting hall

From another former residential part only ruins are left over, dogs stray through the roads and there’s still furniture outside and other relicts of former life. I’m sure there’s more to discover but lag prevented me from sneaking into every corner.

Skunda-2 – the residential ruins

Of course you also find the leftovers of the Russian army, cars, barracks, water and fuel tanks, antennas .. and you find spots to sit and to think about how it might have been here in those days.

Skrunda-2 – Impressions

Quite outstanding is a large building with many antennas on its roof. Inside you find several large rooms with art on the walls, vegetation inside of the building… and a funny statue on the roof. I have no idea if that building is part of Skunda-2 in the physcial world (it might be) and what its purpose was, yet the art inside is impressive.

Skrunda-2 – the Military complex

The residential blocks are a very good replica of those in the physcal world. Again you can go inside and see the leftovers of life. I did not explore this part in detail as navigating was too difficult for me, but Maddy had some pictures in his blogpost. I visited the old indoor pool, found a statue overlooking the sea and went into another building which purpose I couldn’t find out. I decided to name it “Logistics” as there were cardboard boxes inside, and large piles of bags of coal and some ropebelt conveyors.

Skrunda-2 – indoor pool, residential blocks, the statue overlooking the sea, logisitics building

Skrunda-2 is a paradise for photographers as there’s so much to discover, so many backgrounds you don’t easily get some place else. It is a place I’d never visit in real life, I didn’t even know about it. It reminded me immediately of Serene Footman, who also had many installations of odd places in real life. Hence for me this visit was also educational and made me doing some research.
There is much more to see than I saw during my visit of 1 1/2 hour.

And Randonee Noel made a short video of Skrunda-2. In the video you see the bunker. It is quite close to the landing, just turn right after you passed the entrance barrier.

Skrunda-2 – the bunker and the barracks close to the landing

I enjoyed my visit a lot and I learned a lot and I took many many pictures and I finally traveled to a foreign place again which made my day particularly during these times. Thank you Titus Palmira, Megan Prumier and Sofie Janic!

Landmark to Skrunda-2
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rockford/206/20/22
Wikipedia about Skrunda-2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skrunda-1
Maddy Gynoid’s “Simtipp: Skrunda-2”
https://echtvirtuell.blogspot.com/2021/02/simtipp-skrunda-2.html
Video Randoneenoel
https://www.flickr.com/photos/randoneenoel/50943905512/in/pool-14746851@N23/
Sofie Janic’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/154984823@N02/
Megan Prumier flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/meganprumier/

Simploring 2021 (11) The Redwoods

08 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

For my simploring tour on Monday, February 15th, I picked “The Redwoods” from scoop.it SL Destinations. I wanted to go out into the nature and this sim seemed to be perfect for it. In addition I have been to California’s Sequoia National Park back in 1992 (gosh, time flies by too fast!) – so it was about time to refresh memories. And in Second Life we can travel, easily and quickly without any test or restrictions.

The Redwoods – bird’s eye view and orientation map / at the landing point

The entry on scoop.it SL Destinations led to a plogpost from Inara Pey “Exploring the redwoods of Second Life“, which I read before visiting myself.

The Redwoods is built on a platform in 4.000m height above mainland. It is a place rate moderate. The Redwoods are owned and designed by Julia Dagger (JuliaTrouble). The landmark description fits to what you can do at The Redwoods: “And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul” (John Muir).

As seen in the bird’s eye view the platform is surrounded by high rocks. From inside it looks ver natural, the light coming just from above or through small gaps in the rocks. Right a the landing point is an orientation map “Cha Redwoods National Park” just as you would see it in any National park in the United States. I stayed on the trails – mostly. From the landing point just one path leads into the forest, the path slits into two paths after a few meters, one path leads to the park lodge, the other to the lake. I went to the park lodge first.

Impressions of The Redwoods (1) – starting my simploring tour

The Redwoods is well made. You have the feeling of being in a forest. Don’t forget to turn on your sound, you can hear the sound of the river, very calming.

Impressions of The Redwoods (2) – the park lodge

The park lodge itself is worth a visit. Inside is a counter with information flyers and postcards and a nice seating opportunity. I walked upstairs and found a bar there where I sat down to recover from the first walk. The best place tough is on the terrace of the park lodge. Relax by the fire and watch other people hiking, listen to the sound of the river and let your mind wander.

Close to the park lodge is another building, which is not as easily accessible as the park lodge. I named it “Romantic lodge” Outside it offers a seating like on the terrace of the park lodge, on its porch you can sit and have a glass of wine. And inside is a table layed for a dinner for two and a cosy bed. Together with the illumination this lodge looks like a place to stay.

Impressions of The Redwoods (3) – the romantic lodge

I went to the lake next. It is another nice location for taking pictures. I really enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere. Walking along the shore you get to a big campfire place where i had my next short break. And itf you walk further you get to anotehr smaller campfire place and to a hut for hikers, where you can just stay overnight.

Impressions of The Redwoods (4) – views along my way

Inara wrote in her post about a hidden place, another bar. And of course I wanted to see that too. I walked back to the park lodge and further on the trail. The trail ends at a huge sequonia tree. Right next to it is a sofa and a lounger. Another place to sit and enjoy. From here you can see a waterfall. You should walk close to the waterfall …. and might find what Inara wrote about (I found it *winks*)

Impressions of The Redwoods (5) – the waterfall and more opportunities for a rest

The Redwoods is a lovely place to wind down admist an impressive nature with many places to sit and enjoy. I had fun exploring. Thank you Julia Dagger (JuliaTrouble) for creating The Redwoods and for sharing it publicly.

Landmark to The Redwoods
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cha/197/16/4071
flickr page
https://www.flickr.com/groups/14763551@N21/
Inara Pey’s blogpost “Exploring the redwoods of Second Life”
https://modemworld.me/2021/02/13/exploring-the-redwoods-of-second-life/

Enjoying Bondage February 2021 – Diverse kinky fun

27 Feb 2021 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Enjoying bondage series, Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , ,

This months Enjoying Bondage picture reflects our little family life in Second Life end of January and early February. I mixed several pictures into one collage, using Mesmerize Dungeon as background.
I took the picture of Angelique on February 6th at Carnal Inentions. The picture of Faye nicely tied up and decorated with nipple clamps was taken on February 8th as well as the picture of our Flo in the white straitjacket. Mistress Jenny and I are on the right side. Mistress had bought a body with an armbinder and foot braces for me as her early rezzday present – and of course I had to wear both. I shot this picture of us on February 7th at club Domme a Domme. The center picture is also from February 7th, taken when I was licking Mistress Jenny to get her addictive taste and fluids. Below of it is slave Melissa, who had to tend to her RL in the first week of February. I cut her out from a picture taken on January 28th at Dark Butterfly. And that’s it: Enjoying Bondage February 2021 – Diverse

Enjoying Bondage February 2021 – Diverse kinky fun: Angelique, Faye (Boy Serenity), Flo, Diomita & Mistress Jenny, slave Melissa, Mistress Jenny, Diomita (left to right)

kinky fun

Simploring 2021 (10) Chateau de la Marliere

25 Feb 2021 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , ,

For my simploring tour on Saturday morning, February 6th, I picked Chateau de la Marliere from scoop.it SL Destinations. The entry led to a blogpost with just a few pictures that really looked nice. What tempted me in addition was, that there wasn’t any other post about Chateau de la Marliere so far.

Chateau de la Marliere is built on a half full, moderate region. It is owned by Antoine De La Marlière (stillgames). The place profile is short, yet inviting “French Chateau open to the public, relax, take a photo and simply enjoy the view“

Chateau de la Marliere – bird eye view and orientation map

After landing I zoomed out first to get an overview. The place is nicely seperated from the neighbor plots. I had difficulties to make a bird eye view picture as right above the chateau itself was a large platform filled with stuff and plants. For the picture I had to derender about 50 objects. But it worked.

Impressions of Chateau de la Marliere (1) – the chateau

I went exploring the chateau itself first in- and outside. It is fully furnished yet you can see that Antoine is still working, some items are not placed yet, a box with textures is rezzed on the ground, some stuff is still without texture. But I got an impression of how it will look when finished – luxurious with a lot of antique furniture and old pictures on the walls.
You can also see that the chateau shall be inhabited and is not just a museum. There’s a satellite saucer on the roof, a video surveillance cam at the entrance – the private home of a wealthy French family.

Impressions of Chateau de la Marliere (2) – around the chateau

Antoine loves gardening and again, he’s not finished yet with building the park, but the layout is made and the buildings have been placed: A glass dome, a gazebo, a stall with horses and a beach hut. There are trails and benches to sit and enjoy. You can literally smell history at Chateau de la Marliere.

Impressions of Chateau de la Marliere (3) – glass dome and gazebo

The terrace in front of the Chateau de la Marliere is also another living area during Summer. I liked in particular the man reading the newspaper at the coffee table. And of course, there are birds and other animals besides a lot of flowers.
For what reason ever I experienced a lot of lag during my visit and even reducing drawing distance below 100m didn’t really help. I assume that it was either a SL malfunction or that too may scripts were running.

Impressions of Chateau de la Marliere (4) – stall, beach hut and other

Chateau de la Marliere is a romantic place that offers nice backgrounds for pictures, at least once the building platform is gone. I appreciated that Antoine De La Marlière (stillgames) opened his place to the public although it seems to be a private place and wasn’t built to showcase anything. Thank you Antoine!

Landmark to Chateau de la Marliere
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Southport%20Shore/89/220/24
Antoine De La Marlière (stillgames)’s flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/186639847@N05/

Simploring 2021 (9) Cravone City

23 Feb 2021 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , ,

I scrolled through scoop.it SL Destinations and came across Cravone City. The published picture of a big city caught my attention immediately. The entry led to a post from Maddy Gynoid “Simtipp: Cravone City” (in German) which I read before visiting.

Cravone City is built on a full moderate region, that is owned by a group, the Cravone Land group. The group founder is november grant-craven (November Sorbet). Cravone City was designed by Paradox (Paradox Ivory), who also created “Tokyo Street and Umi” (read here) and just lately “The Apartments” (read here).
Cravone City features quite some shops: Bad Unicorn, Scotch, Chuck Size, Resilience, Rossi, Animosity, Radix, HEVO, Shybird.

Cravone City: Bird eye view and orientation map

Zooming out you can see the concept of Cravone City: Syscrapers surround the sim, inside are just a few blocks on two to three different levels that are connected by stairs and streets. No matter where you are, you always see skyscrapers. The landing is at a train station, a train is just passing by. I haven’t seen before an endless train coming from and leaving into a tunnel in Second Life. That’s a great idea to liven up the scenery.

Impressions of Cravone City (1): Landing at the train station / the skating park

The town has a lot to offer beside all the stores. I first explored the area around the train station. Right next to it is a skating park with a shop for skaters nearby. I walked around the corner of the skater shop and … came to the red light district of Cravone City. I thought to myself – Why do I get here first?? Maybe because I was too lazy to change and didn’t wear my simploring clothes? Anyway, Cravone City has its own red light district. Close by is also a tattoo shop.

Impressions of Cravone City (2): Red light district / Row houses

I left the district and entered the next block. On both sides of the quite steep street are nice row houses with small balconies and fire escape stairs. These small row houses look like being protected landmarks from another century. And there are even a few rooms furnished inside. Have a look!

I continued my simploring tour and saw a nice tram, several shops, an Irish style pub “The Golden”, the Regent Hotel and a pizzeria. Everything fits together, seems as if it growed naturally over decades, new and old houses, modern and classic architecture, the old tram, the Irish pub and a modern sports car.

Impressions of Cravone City (3): Irish pub “The Golden” / the tram / Regent Hotel / Bad Unicorn shp and pizzeria

In a seperate part of the city is another shopping center with two anchor stores “Animosity” and “Hevo”. You reach it walking up stairs through garden terraces. Paradox added quite some green to the city. At this shopping mall is a nice hidden café where I took a break. Then I continued my tour and had a look into the billard bar.

Impressions of Cravone City (4): Shopping mall and café / Billard bar

From the bird eye view I had noticed a roof terrace with a pool. This part was also highlighted in Maddy’s blogpost. I tried to get up the roof but I didn’t find any way up. Hence I had to take advantage of SL’s features and used far sitting to get up. The roof terrace is a nice oasis admist this busy urban city. It is for sure an extraordinairy event location and I spoiled myelf with another break there. At least I was dressed accordingly for this place *winks*

Impressions of Cravone City (5): The roof terrace

Cravone City offers a lot of great backgrounds for pictures and there’s so much to discover, many little details be it some NPC’s (static non-player characters), the big bill boards, art on the walls of the houses, advertisements, small food stores and several more cafés – or the bakery with Paris baguettes next to the hotel. For sure I missed some furnished places and I also haven’t yet strolled through the stores.

Impressions of Cravone City (6)

Thank you Paradox (Paradox Ivory) for building Cravone City, thank you november grant-craven (November Sorbet) and who ever else is involved in this project. I do hope that the stores have enough inworld traffic so that Cravone City will stay available. I enjoyed my visit.

Landmark to Cravone City
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cravone/41/85/29
flickr group for Cravone City
http://www.flickr.com/groups/14747982@N20
Maddy Gynoid’s blogpost “Simtipp: Cravone City”
https://echtvirtuell.blogspot.com/2021/01/simtipp-cravone-city.html

Simploring 2021 (8) Dya’s little Jordan

20 Feb 2021 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , ,

On Monday, February 1st, Dya (Dya OHare) contacted me and invited me to see her newest installation called Dya’s little Jordan. As the name already gives away, Dya takes the visitor to the Jordan this time. In 2020 I had seen Dya’s Abandoned Vacation Spot (read here), Dya’s scent of the Caribbean (read here) and Dya’s Southern Twilight (read here). No doubt, I wanted to visit. Dya told me that for visiting you need to be member of her group this time. She had experienced attacks from griefers and haters, hence she decided to restrict access. I can fully understand her motivation, in particular as the moderate homestead is also Dya’s home. You can join the group (the group name is Velvet Soul) by visiting Dya OHare’s profile, the fee is 300 L$. To mention it right here – it is worth the money! And in this day and age where we can’t travel, 300 L$ is a real bargain to get away from it all and to immerse into another world for a few hours!
With the group membership you can even set your home at Dya’s little Jordan, you can rezz your own vehicle to explore the sim or hang around. Max. 45 prims per person are allowed – please don’t rezz huge backgrounds or buildings.

I have never been to Arabia. What a great opportunity to travel there in Second Life at least!

Dya’s little Jordan – Bird eye view and orientation map

As usual I first zoomed out to get an overview over Dya’s little Jordan. The sim is surrounded by sandstone and granite rock as you can find it in southern Jordan. The landing in on the waterfront right next to a tourist office with some information:
“The Hashemite kindgom of Jardan is a peaceful, modern and progressive Arab state in the Middle East. Jordan’s landsacap is largely desert and contains countless ancient historical sites. Some ot them such as the iconic rock city of Petra and the desert Wadi Rum are Unesco World Heritage sites.
5 Hollywood blockbusters were filmed in Jardan: Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Indiana Jones and the Lost Crusade (1989), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), The Martian (2015) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2017).
Jordan, with its friendly people, is a very worthwhile destination. Unfortuantely, I can only show a small part of it. Enjoy!:)
Love&Peace Dya OHare“

Impressions of Dya’s little Jordan (1) around the landing point

I started my visit at the waterfront. There are some market stands and next to the tourist information is a stall with a camel – you can sit on it and explore the sim riding! I did try that later. Across the street is a store that sells everything: Water, hats, kitchen paper, shoes, baskets, vases, clothes…., just as you’d expect it on an Arab market, that is called Souk as I learned.

Walking along the promenade I came along a food stand, a coffee shop and a fish restaurant. Dya placed 2 women drinking a coffee on the promende to live up the scene. There are more NPC’s (static non-player characters) spread around the sim. I recommend to have a look into the coffee shop. At least, that’s how I fancy such a shop in Arab to be. Of course, there are also some stands of carpet dealers at the Souk. Exploring the Souk is fun as there are a lot of details to discover.

Impressions of Dya’s little Jordan (2) At the “Souk”

I went to the lighthouse, the motel and the beach next. At the beach you can sit in the sun or walk on the peer from which’s end you have a nice view on little Jordan. At the end of the peer is a bed with a tent above it, that provides some shadow. The beach houses are modern and offer some luxury. Here the tourists can relax and enjoy. Dya succeeded to give the beach a touch of Arabia.

Impressions of Dya’s little Jordan (3) The motel, the beach and the beach residences

It is no surprise that the largest building in Dya’s little Jordan is a mosque. Just take of your shoes when you go inside – I did. In front of the mosque is a Jordanian with 3 camels, for sure that’s a great motive for a picture!

Impressions of Dya’s little Jordan (4) The mosque

But there’s more …
Exploring the back country I came across an oil pump right next to a wind mill – old and new energy next to each other, or renewable engery for an oil pump? I saw a shepard with a flock of sheep blocking the road, a small group of tents (inviting for another break) and the Wadi-Rum, also known as the Valley of the Moon, a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan 60 km to the east of Aqaba. It is the largest wadi in Jordan – well, it is a bit smaller in Second Life and in Dya’s little (!) Jordan *winks*

Impressions of Dya’s little Jordan (5) Exploring the back country

Almost at the sim boarder you find the renown Petra, a historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan.
“The area around Petra has been inhabited from as early as 7000 BC, and the Nabataeans might have settled in what would become the capital city of their kingdom, as early as the 4th century BC. However, archaeological work has only discovered evidence of Nabataean presence dating back to the second century BC, by which time Petra had become their capital. The Nabataeans were nomadic Arabs who invested in Petra’s proximity to the trade routes by establishing it as a major regional trading hub.” (source wikipedia)

Impressions of Dya’s little Jordan (6) Exploring the back country / Petra

Finally I went to Arab village, quite distant from the tourist areas. In the center of the village Dya has placed 3 women in full burkas. Farm animals walk around, the laundry is drying outside, I sensed here I am amoung Jordanians. The houses are by far not as luxurious as the beach residences but offer some comfort inside.

Impressions of Dya’s little Jordan (7) The Arab village / a last view from the peer to the lighthouse and waterfront.

Dya’s little Jordan is another masterpiece. Just after my visit she sent me a message and told me: “I have tried to present Jordan realistically. For example in the city all signs are original signs from Aqaba: Falafel stand, motel, street signs, fish market and supermarket. In Aqaba is also a white mosque. In the desert Wadi Rum are camps where you can stay overnight and from where tours into the desert start. At certain seasons also crocuses grow in the desert. Saffron is obtained from these crocuses. What I didn’t see, when I was there, are the balloons of course, they are just decoration.“

I enjoyed my visit, my short vacation in a foreign country, a lot. I learned a tiny little bit about culture and read about Petra, Souk and Wadi Rum, something I wouldn’t have done without my visit to little Jordan. In addition little Jordan offers outstanding backgrounds for taking pictures and camal riding (!).
Thank you for inviting me over Dya!

Landmark to Dya’s little Jordan
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Phantos/42/144/28
Dya’s Worlds flickr
https://www.flickr.com/groups/14737487@N22/

Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries