Alpha Moon

After reading Strawberry Singh’s blog post featuring Alpha Moon I just had to go and explore the sim. When I arrived there was a greeter waiting who gave me a brief tour around the island. I took a few snaps as I went around, it really is quite beautiful. My regular graphics settings don’t do it justice here, so best come check it out for yourself. I also managed to find the same boat Berry did, very relaxing!

 

NeoVictoria Meet and Greet at Fantasy Faire

Today I met with Leander [MadMechaMessiah], Asil Ares and Jhaesoph Foxdale from The NeoVictoria Project, as well as quite a few interested residents at their Meet & Greet at Fantasy Faire.

It was very interesting to hear about their unique lore and storyworld. I spent some time talking to Leander about a character I might be able to create there. Their lore and mythology is detailed and thorough so I will have to read up on that to fit the character I want to create into it. It seems very promising and exciting, maybe it’s the next step in Ava’s Second Life journey.

Joining the Bubo Owls at Fantasy Faire 2019

I love Fantasy Faire in SL but rarely get to attend or take part in things. This year I decided to try and follow the rp instead of just visiting the empty scenes afterwards. This year one of the RP stories is the Bubo Owls, I kept up on what was going on through the updates page, so I had an idea what was going on when I eventually made it inworld on time.

It was great fun watching the story unfold as the kids explored, questioned and solved their way through the evolving story. There will be a few more twists and turns in the story I am sure!

I took a collection of photos in their base below the flying market and at various places we went to as I followed them around to different plot locations.

Rise and Fall

A friend read through my Gor Story in one sitting, quite a feat I thought given it’s length. When they finished their response was:

“Nicely done. But what are you doing now?”

Well to answer that I’ll have to talk about what happened in-between,since (at the time of writing, April 2019) it has been roughly 9 months since my final rp in SL Gor.

After leaving Gor I went back to Ava’s roots in SL, Bloodlines. Please those that roll your eyes and groan about bloodlines, do read on there’s a moral to this story.
I had been in a Bloodlines family called The Rainbow Princesses (name changed to protect the innocent and guilty alike) for a few years,but not particularly active in it. My SL time had mostly been taken up with my Gor rp. I decided it was time to take a more active role. So I started hanging out at the family sim regions a bit and being more active in the group chat. I’d been away for quite a while so there were lots of new people I didn’t know that I gradually got to know.

I had often not attended the weekly clan parties because of a schedule clash, but that had also changed so I started attending regularly. However these events had begun to become less frequent due to staff shortage and lack of attendance. I felt I wanted to help, so I enquired about hosing at one of the parties, for which I was accepted.
That was a great night,though I was a little nervous, I was alongside a great DJ (who is still a dear friend today) and it was a lot of fun. I only actually ever got to host one other set the whole time I was there. Any offers to host or organise extra events, bring in another DJ were met with a prompt “no”, as if the club manager actually wanted the place to fail.
At some point I heard of a promotion of a member of the group to the rank of Knight,which surprised me.
I knew this person was a new arrival to the clan,actually recalling their arrival. I thought “aren’t these higher ranks for long-standing family members”? It seemed not. So I decided that was what I wanted to achieve. I figured if they could do it,so could I. However I’d have to do it on real merits rather than friends,since I’d already managed to offend a well-liked member of the royalty more than once.
So I set myself the goal to become Knight by Christmas,New Year at the latest.
As well as hosting at the club I began to run regular help with certain Bloodlines Achievements. These are tasks you do using the game’s hud and vary considerably in difficulty. These were well attended to begin with, though I ended up having to space them out to suit people better. I also jointly did an Achievement challenge with one of the other family members. This is where things started to get trickier.

Shortly after that event the other person got promoted, I did not. I was not amused. This may sound childish to some, but not to others including my Leige at the time. They said my reaction was understandable,considering how hard I’d been working in the family. I was told the Council had actually voted to promote me at the same time as well.
When I eventually had my interview for the promotion to Knight which came after a considerably longer time than any apart the King & Queen felt reasonable, I mentioned this. They did take the view of it being childish,also claiming that they didn’t like to promote many people at the same time. In this case that would have been Two. While rummaging for notes to help me write this account I found a Group Notice announcement of Three people at once and reference to preferring to promote in groups,contrary to what I was told. So clearly despite words to the contrary, it’s definitely a popularity contest.

I’m not good at popular. I speak my mind too much for many people’s liking.
So on 13th November 2018 after my interview I was made Knight Prospect. Knight privileges but on a trial basis This could be a month or more, dependent on the whim of the King as I understood it. Mine did run into the “more” timeframe. However since then I’ve had people say that they’d never heard of interviews being held, or extended trial periods within that family.

Apparently things had been stacked against me from the start. The saying about grass being greener on the other side,definitely applies here.

The role of Knight is indeed a priveledge, the trust of all security related permissions covering multiple SL regions is not something to be taken lightly.

However the role can be dressed up and made to sound more prestigious, but you are basically a glorified greeter/security guard for the family land.
I had always felt proud to be in this particular family, but things often look better from a distance. Getting glimpses of the inner workings of things aren’t always a pretty sight.
I spent some months as Knight Prospect gradually becoming more disillusioned as time passed.

In the end it was a simple unnecessary comment that was the last straw and prompted my departure. I’d just had enough of the little comments and attitude from single person.
It hurt me greatly,but it was time to move on. So in February 2019 I used the bloodlines hud to create my own little “family” for a while and then briefly spent some time at a former leige’s clan before I joined the family of another ex-member of the Rainbow Princesses. Where I’m pleased to say I’m happy again.
So to answer the original question of what I’m doing now:
Now I am much happier member of the Twist of Fate family. Who are considerably more active in many ways.
Moral of the story for me: don’t pursue a goal for a goals sake.

For those readers that reacted “ugh,bloodlines”, maybe you can see that families/clans are just like any other social group in SL or elsewhere. They’re a mixture of fun, friendship and also unfortunately drama. We just have to find somewhere with the right balance for each of us.

Updated March 2021:

Twist of Fate was a lot of fun. I helped a lot of people there gain some tricky Achievements (Bloodlines merit badges) which I enjoyed for a while, because I like to help people. Then sadly (in my opinion) in March 2020 we merged with a much larger family. There were good (RL & SL) reasons for the merger, which I understand and accept. But to me it felt more like being swallowed up than merged.

Update December 2021

Twist of Fate is back on its own, out of the large family and back as a small group once again, which is great.

So some fresh faces to get to know since some others emigrated with us. Which means I’m back to doing my bit by running achievements again when people need my help.

Ava’s Gor Story – Part 7 – Au Revoir

Continued from Part 6 read from beginning here.

Will this placate Hazine enough to allow me to trade with the Veck En? We shall see..

In short..no.

So I wandered around the sims of sl gor for a time, trying to find some sustainable and fun rp. I didn’t have much luck. Either time differences or different interests(I.e. they just wanted to have pew-pew combat). That isn’t to say it’s not out there. In the process of writing this story I’ve encountered people that are working to increase rp in their community. An example of this was when I contacted the En of the (now-former) Veck ‘En, which became the Veck Jerag under the new leadership of Lico(Janine Braham).    She is creating things for them to do, to generate rp,which sounded very promising.

However at the time of my story, everything just seemed to have died. It began to feel like a chore visiting the sims searching for people or trying to resurrect old storylines. So I decided to adopt the philosophy of online casino advert warnings that had started appearing on tv: When the Fun stops. STOP.

I definitely wasn’t hooked on Gor. So I did.

Approximately the last week of June 2018 I decided enough was enough. I deleted all the Gor people on my friends list,apart from a select few and left all but a few of my Gor-related groups. Although I did file away all the “Calling cards” of those removed into a folder in my inventory,just in case, which did prove useful for writing this.

I did go back in a little while after, in July, to do a short rp with the girl,Lips. It had upset her that I had decided to leave, but it would have been worse (and unfair of me) to leave her ownerless. So I entrusted her care to a huntress of the Forest Moon tribe, by the name of Angel. It might surprise some that I chose someone in Forest Moon,but Angel had formerly been of Shekinah Arani before the merger.

RP Log Start

[13:28:27]  Ava: Tal all

[13:28:29]  ձռցεl : Tal Ava..very nice to see you…* smiles softly

[13:29:28]  Ava: greetings sav

[13:29:54]  Shameena(aka Lips) “Greetings my Mistress” I said as I saw Lady Ava entering the Tavern

[13:29:57]  Sav: tal ava

[13:30:01]  Ava: I’m glad you are here with the girl, Angel

 

[13:30:29]  ձռցεl : Thanks you yes…..nice you here now…

[13:31:25]  Ava: it is just a brief visit, I wanted to discuss the girl

[13:31:50]  Shameena sits there quietly listening to them

[13:32:21]  Ava: she has been mine for quite some time, however my trade and business are taking me further and further away

to the extent that I’m almost at risk of abandonment

[13:33:00]  ձռցεl : yes please..I gave her  a name …as she know now as Shameena …and yes ..therefore like to ask you to official  to open her collar for me

[13:33:01]  Ava: so I need someone to take her

[13:33:51]  Ragnar : taloha Ava

[13:33:52]  Ava nods and rummages in her pouch for a key

[13:34:02]  Ava: tal ragnar

[13:34:39]  ձռցεl : Thank you Ava ..and I am honored to accept her collar ..and her key of the collar

[13:34:45]  Sav: tal rags

[13:35:10]  Ragnar: seems, that half of ikarei have a bubble party

[13:35:22]  Ava bends over and unlocks the collar, straightens and holds out the key to angel

[13:35:24]  OpenCollar: Shameena’s collar has been unlocked.

[13:35:51]  Shameena gasps as my Collar been removed

[13:36:04]  ձռցεl : smiles as I take the key from Ava* thank you really my pleasure to take care of her ..*

[13:36:59]  Ava: I know I can trust you with her

[13:37:50]  ձռցεl : Nods for sure will not disappoint you…* takes off her collar and  slowly slide my collar around her neck

[13:41:22]  Ava brushes the girls hair away from her face and looked down at her “you’re now angel’s, I’m sure you’ll serve her as well as you have me”

[13:42:26]  ձռցεl : smiles..as I see her collar removed and place my own collar round Shameena her neck..locks with a small key * Thank you Ava

[13:42:37]  Shameena “Yes huntress, I will” I managed to say as it was an emotional moment for me”

[13:43:02]  Shameena “I am now Lady Angel property”

[13:43:16]  Ava: good girl

[13:43:26]  ձռցεl : Nods you are Shameen ..and again Thank you Ava..was a pleasure

[13:44:37]  Shameena said to Lady Ava “It was a pleasure serving you Huntress”

[13:45:24]  Ava: You know well that I am no huntress, just Lady

[13:45:54]  Ava looks around the tavern “interesting new replacment building, seems a little darker”

[13:46:47]  ձռցεl : mods..well we not finished yet but we slowly progress

(I have edited out shouting and combat meter msgs here to make the rp readable)

[13:46:49]  Ava hearing the shouting and noises of combat she speaks to angel “Now, that, I have not missed”

[13:48:20]  ձռցεl : well makes more customers as seems they need a drink after the fight and finally all ends good

[13:49:20]  Ava: I see you’ve not changed the prices, I never did get around to writing them up on the wall

[13:49:42]  Ava: I found it was convenient to let them overpay and only comment if they underpaid

[13:49:59]  ձռցεl : we working on a new price list..but this one will do for now

[13:53:13]  Ava: I should be going I have shipment to check on. Take care all

[13:53:15] Sav: be safe ava

[13:53:26]  Shameena “Well wishes”

RP Log End

And that was my last in-character conversation in SL Gor.

Lots of things have happened since my departure from sl gor, sadly not for the better. I heard of several others deciding they’d had enough of gor, as if I’d started some kind of Exodus, but that is heresy and I have nothing to back it up.

Things that definitely did happen and related to people and places I have mentioned,included:

  • The departure of Mariko from Forest Moon, that she writes about in her Gazzette Editorial in October 2018. This caused a mix of emotions for me. Part of me thought “told you so” after the events nearly a year previous when she invited Forest Moon in, I saw and felt the lack of sisterhood she mentions right away. However a more rational part of me was sad for her, it was obviously a very hard choice to make. But is no surprise that such a strong leader and Gor player, that I have the greatest respect for, was able to move on to another tribe fairly quickly.
  • The disbanding of Forest Moon (1st February 2019) Was sad but inevitable I thought.
  • The closure of Elation and Three Moon Valley regions. (1st March 2019) Elation was where my tavern was located and where a lot of my story rp took place. This was a very sad day and a great loss to sl gor. As it says in the linked post: “a very big thank-you is owed to Anjel Goodnight” for keeping the sims going for so long. 
Stood with Bliss where you could once have viewed my tavern from above. (Image taken by Sweet Bliss)

And in the words of Forest Gump, “that’s all I have to say about that”. I hope you enjoyed reading my story despite it’s length. I may post other snippets of rp if I come across them.

Please feel free to leave a comment on this or any of the other parts.

Ava

Shekinah Arani huntress,Elation Tavern Keeper,Forest Moon Friend,Last of the Shekinah, Ikeri Tribe Friend, Dani’s Band Friend and Free Merchant.