Month: August 2021

Hellas Planitia Rebuild – a Sneaky visit

I’ve been meaning to do this piece for quite a while, but the folks kept adding,expanding or moving things, now apparently it’s complete.

Because I like to write about places from perspective of a newcomer and I’m a member of the community here I decided to go in disguise,using an Alt avatar. I’m sure they’ll forgive my little deception eventually, but it did help get a fresh perspective on the place.

The arrival point is on a landing pad next to a rather battered old spaceship and provides a good view of the surrounding area, which is mainly shipping crates I thought at first, til at the back I saw a vehicle, I thought it would be best if I didn’t try to drive it off. You’ll also find a teleporter here that takes you to the Deep Space Hub located at Moonbase 3.

Heading on towards the entrance I was greeted warmly by Jadzia, who told me a whole bunch of useful stuff and answered my questions. Quite a lot of it I didn’t actually know, because the place has changed a lot and there are lots of new storyline elements I wasn’t aware of. (So it wasn’t a waste of your time and breath, Jadzia.)

I continued left into town and followed the main street to do a circuit of the place. There’s lots of places to see and explore here, providing lots of opportunities and locations for roleplay.

There’s a few other places that you reach by Teleport doors, but I’ll let you find those for yourself, wouldn’t want to spoil everything.

What’s different I find about Hellas is the community effort and storyline that’s genuine. They did live in a city called Helix which had to be evacuated (the region closed) and they did find themselves homeless, so they settled in a dusty crater and built lives for themselves.

Some of the regulars

This story and the environment it creates, very much gives you the feeling of an old Western frontier town or mining colony. Like the old West, it has attracted some not very nice characters(story wise), doing things that would make them criminals on Earth. As a result the authorities on Earth are taking an interest and trying to assert themselves on the populous. Alongside this you have a not-so-reputable mining company that are trying to do the same, as they restart mining operations in the crater. Hence some newer less derelict-looking buildings about the place.

There are lots of post-apocalyptic, dystopian and shiny space station locations in SecondLife which I’ve seen lots lately. Hellas is different in that Earth is still happily ticking over, life going on as normal. The citizens ignorant of or uncaring for those that have chosen this remote life.

Landing point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kind/243/223/3012

Outfit Credits:

  • Skin:[Stargazer] Variety Skin Set BOM – Apex Teal -Mainframe July 21
  • Bodysuit: G509 Tempest from Graves
  • Boots: G613 Alliance Ankle Boots from Graves
  • Sword: [.fn] Plasma Arsenal – Blade -MainFrame July 21
  • Hair: Azren Hair [Fatpack] by Raven Bell
  • Body: Maitreya 5.1
  • Head: Genus Project– Strong Face

Lexecutioner

One of the things I love about SecondLife is the variety of creations available to dress our avatars in weird and wonderful ways. I enjoy making themed outfits inspired by books featured the SecondLife Book Club, but I’ve recently been reading a book not featured at the club: Armada by Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One (&Two).

A character we meet early on is Alexis Larkin a gamer girl (call sign: Lexecutioner) I thought it would be fun to make an avatar outfit in her described image. As I read the (usefully detailed) description of her, I was sure it wouldn’t take me too long…except for the tattoos!

" ..Alabaster skin contrasted sharply with her dark clothing—black combat boots, black jeans, and a black tank top (which didn’t fully conceal the black bra she was wearing underneath). She had a spiky wave of black hair that was buzzed down one side and chin-length on the other. But the real kicker was her tattoos, on each arm: on the left was a beautiful seminude rendering of the comic book heroine Tank Girl, adorned in postapocalyptic rock lingerie and smooching an M16. On her right bicep, in stylized capital letters, were the words EL RIESGO SIEMPRE VIVE."

Cline, Ernest. Armada (pp. 114-115). Random House. Kindle Edition.

I was able to make the tattoo that reads “EL RIESGO SIEMPRE VIVE” on her right arm fairly easily, then found a picture of TankGirl that looked close enough to the description (after a bit of tweaking) for left arm.

Of course any Sci-Fi outfit wouldn’t be complete without their respective gadget. In this book it’s called a “QComm” and can do pretty much anything communication wise from anywhere, including controlling drones.

Outfit Credits :

 

MoonBase 3

MoonBase 3 (MB3) is another member of the Cyber Alliance, it celebrated it’s first anniversary in March 2021. This makes it fairly mature in terms of SecondLife Roleplay locations that can come and go overnight. A glance at their website before my visit showed they have done quite a bit of exploration, but as I like to go into places as a new visitor, I stopped reading after the first couple of posts relating to those topics.

The landing point is large and has stuff everywhere, it was at this point looking at the boards that I realised this place isn’t just a single destination. It’s kind of a hub with info and connections to lots of other RP places.

However where I’m going today is in the other direction, a ramp leading up a couple of rather cool teleporters.

It’s a little detail but a fun one. Usually you have to sit on a teleporter if the region isn’t using an Experience script, these ones you click the little control panel and just walk into the light that appears. I chose first to visit the Security checkpoint area.

As you can see there’s plenty to explore here. I did have to cheat a little by teleporting through the security barrier into the Restricted Area, because my Visitor ID bracelt wouldn’t let me through. There are a few more spots here, including a Recreation area, consisting of a Court that seems to be for a mix of volleyball and basketball and a running track.

Next was the Research area, which I only had a brief look around, but it looks like it could be good fun. For some reason my visitor ID wouldn’t open the Public Labs, but I felt I’d cheated enough already, so didn’t try teleporting through.

There’s plenty more to be explored that I haven’t shown here, so do go check it out.

Outfit Credits:

 

Landing Point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Malyshkin/194/171/3566

Website: https://moonbase3.net/

 

Vortex of Lust – Part 2

In Part 1 of this post I covered the Central Market and brief snaps of The Surface and the Aurora ship. Now I’m going to expand on those, first the Aurora. When you arrive on the scaffold it feels very dark, but I didn’t realise why straightaway. I headed down the steps towards the lights of a tent. The place is surrounded by hydroponics capsules for growing food and wind turbines for generating power. Inside the tent loks like field equipent, like they just arrived.

If you look upwards you can see why the place is so dark, the massive looming form of The Aurora above you. You can see here the sheer scale of it is pretty impressive! Taking the lift at ground level takes you up into the ship and the entrance to a massive complex maze of corridors.

I’m not going to do a step-by-step tour here, the place is just too big. Here’s a few of the highights.

Now to head back down to the Market and from there, the Surface. The lift drops you above a wooden palisade wall which made me think of a Gorean panther girl camp, but don’t worry it’s not. Just old RP memories on my part, the metal staircase dispels that thought rightaway. Down the wooden ramp and out the gate is a path through partly cleared forest. Not so unusual until we take a look around whats on either side.

Heading first to the steam vents I can see the extend quite some way, but it’s what’s causing the steam that’s more worrying.

Next I enterthe woods and investigate the stone ruins, the tower proves quite interesting..

Having seen that beautiful building in the distance I just had to have a closer peek, which involves going through a swamp though.

I’ll leave you to explore the inside. While I was exploring, one of the community asked if I’d found the ice cave yet. I hadn’t so they showed me. It’s down underwater so you’d have to know it was there to find it I suspect. There’s an NPC down there too.

I had to find my respirator for down here

As you can see this place is huge with lots of locations to roleplay. One thing though had me and possibly you wondering..where’s the Lust? There’s quite a few kinky toys about the place, but not really Lusty as such. However it doesn’t take too much imagination to think that maybe the portal pictured below (that can be found near the ship Aurora) is perhaps said Vortex of Lust.. Even less imagination required from the other side, which has a beautiful fantasy landscape you should defiitely come and explore.

The Vortex the place is named after perhaps?
A Fantastical landscape awaits on hte other side, so go check thi out too!

Landing point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Vortex%20of%20Lust/59/124/3017

Website: https://www.vortex-of-lust.com/

Discord: https://discord.gg/6n7VmeRKtB

Outfit Credits: