Ava slowly turns on the pole as her dancing shift comes to an end she flips her legs up and looks down to count the tips scattered on the podium below. Her eyes sparkle behind her visor as she sees several high value notes lying there. She scoops those up quickly and tucks them away before the greedy owner sees, it’s been a good night indeed! Flipping back down she collects the rest of the money.
With a wave to the other staff she wanders out the club as she is, not bothering with a coat since the artificial atmosphere keeps the whole place comfortably warm. She just taps a button on her top making it no longer transparent, not wanting to give the public a free show. She walks across the plexiglass floor to the cafe opposite and orders her usual drink, needing some caffeine before she showers and changes for her day job.
As Ava cracks the last digit of the security code on the door of the facility, she hears footsteps and a voice behind her. “Stop! Raise your hands and turn around!” says the secuity guard. Ava complies slowly with a startled look on her face, convinced that the guards shouldn’t have been passing here for another few minutes.
I decided to follow up on my post about The Varuna Project and explore the parts I missed out, I really didnt do some parts justice on my ast visit.
The main hub area has 4 exits and I only explored two, or at least thought I had, but seems I missed lots out.
Starting at the hub, 2 sets of escalators up from the landing point,the next exit along was according to a sign, “Inspiration Park” so I headed there.
Looked and shrugged basically. (Sorry S..)
It’s an alcove with some seating and a couple of tree-like metal arches. Not particularly inspiring, I’d say it might be a nice quiet place to reflect or think. Reflection Park would suit better.
The 4th alcove round the curved wall wasn’t even signposted, but doesn’t really need it. It’s a transport point.
By the look of it the idea is a small shuttle/submersible that would carry you through tubes to different parts of the complex. In practical inworld terms, it’s a teleport system.
I tried each of the different destinations to see where I ended up.
The Hollows
The hollows North (where the fun booth with vintage diving stuff is)
Entertainnment District
The last place I tried was the Entertainment option, thinking I’d covered it already. How wrong I was!
I arrived and was presented with rubbish bags, literally piled up outside,so this is different..
I stepped out into a tight corridor that appeared to dead end not far away. (The owner later commented to me “There no dead-ends at Varuna”.)
There was a lift door however, so I decended
Which took me down to the very lowest level, that I fell to previously and now know is called The Hollows. Since I’d already explored down there, I came straight back up.
When the door opened again I found an opening opposite, dark and featuring pink neon.
Clearly the corridor with rubbish bags wasn’t a dead end, it was a junction. I had a bit of an investigate, though pink neon is usually a bit of a clue, adult entertainment.
Coming out the continuing corridor that seemed much brighter and very promising.
This corridor opens out into a rather large shopping-mall style area.
Across the main floor from me was a coffee shop called “The Joint”, with a large green neon sign saying “WEED”. I’d suspect their cookies are rather moorish.
Inside was a small dancefloor and the coffee serving counter, nothing too exciting.
Across from The Joint, is a trip club called Voltaic.
Following on into the next room through a circular doorway;
there’s some other vendor booths,but what draws my attention is a train.
Yes of all things, a train car made into a dining area. Maybe there was a nasty accident on the surface and it fell off a bridge or something and got salvaged, who knows.
I took a seat for a moment but the food didn’t look very appetising.
The food didn’t look too appetizing
Outside there is another tunnel, I had a brief look and could see it seemed to go on for quite some distance with various junctions coming off it. Maybe to be explored another day. (I found out later that the private rental accommodation is down the far end, so best I didin’t disturb anyone.)
I took the first door I came to, which was a lift that took me up to a rather classier style of establishment It was as I walked through these rooms I realised my previous mistake. I was directly *above* the club I’d previously visited and had completely missed it!
There’s a fancy piano bar and an observatory bar where the rich could look out at the beautiful oceanscape view while sipping their overpriced drinks.
How I missed the lift outside the club..I don’t know..lured by the neon I guess to see what lay within.
The room I passed on the right on my first visit..
then a cafe
..turns out it isn’t a dead end, there’s a lift at the back of there too.
I began my first post on the Varuna Project with references to Hangars Liquides and Drune, but I didn’t really draw an actual conclusion at the end. I briefly dropped by Hangars Liquides before finishing this post to refresh my memory, glad I did. It reminded me that it’s not quite so shiny (as in darker with more graffiti) as I remembered, especially with EEP implemented now.
The lower levels at Varuna are definitely like Drune in parts, but like Hangars Liquides in others. Having now seen the more luxurious area of the Entertainment District at Varnus Project, the bar put me in mind of the Voodoo club in Drune, but larger and plusher. Whatever your taste or favoured genre of entertainment, you can probably find a setting for it here.
If you didnt take the time to explore The Varuna Project yet, it’s definitely one to be seen. If you did see it already, it’s worth a seconf look.
Region Rating: Adult. Although most video games classed 15 are more graphic than this place. As with Last Chance City, it’s the potential RP and peoples actions that might require the rating.
Outfit:
Suit: Space Cadet Bodysuit by {REC} from Fantasy Faire 2020
Wrist gadget: Cainva Modulators by :[Petrichor]: (I got mine from Cyberpunk 2020 event, but you can buy them on MP at the link above.)
This place is an amazing deep sea sc-fi roleplay location. That description doesn’t do it justice at all.
The premise is the surface becoming uninhabitable due to a deadly virus. So a deep sea leisure resort for the wealthiest of the wealthy (which hides a dodgy research facility below) is the last refuge of humanity.
There are a few places/builds in SL that you can judge Sci-Fi builds against, in my opinion there are two main ones: Drune and the other is Hangars Liquides ( I really need to do an updated post on that place). The Varuna project includes elements similar to both.
The upper levels are clean, clinical appearance of sci-fi film settings, similar to Hangars Liquides.
The lower levels are very much like Drune, deteriorated, scruffy and graffitied under neon lights. The difference though is also the size of this area, with lots of winding tunnnels it feels bigger than Drune,despite the actual footprint being only slightly larger.
The landing point is a large circular area with various info boards and signage. It felt simiar to my visit to New Frontiers, except much slicker and streamined. The place isn’t cluttered or overloading you with stuff to read or click on.
There are in fact just 3 boards to look at:
An avatar script count board (relevant because they’re regulated)
Information about registration
Some staff character profiles
You’ll see in the first image there are large screens at the escalators saying “RP Begins January 10th. Enjoy 🙂 ”
My visit was on 8th January, so no doubt these will have gone by the time of posting, there may also be other changes.
You leave the area via a couple of escalators
At the top of the first one I found a Sushi bar, but what’s more interesting is actually the windows on this level.
A glimpse out these windows gives you a glimpse of the scale of the place.
You might be forgiven for thinkng maybe there were just scenes on the windows
It’s not just pictures on the windows
The second window
looking up..
looking down.. it’s massive
I took the escalator again up to the next level, which is ringed with corridors leading off it.
I thought I’d check them out one at a time, the first one was signposted “Entertainment District”.
The “Entertainment District”
there’s a lobby at the corridrs end
on one side we have ..art? Not sure.
then a cafe
and there’s the club..
the furniture indicates the club genre I’d say..
Somewhat limited drinks choice, but it *is* an apocolyse
A door at the back draws my attention
through to a corridor
opening into what appears to be..
Staff accommodation.
Somewhere to rest their Head.
Back to the main hub and down the next corridor, this on signposted “NANTEC: Solarium,Pharmasuticals Cybernetics”.
NANTEC
First an elevator (of many)
down we go
to the Solarium
which is very beaufiful
including birds too
a cafe type seating area
and an inocent looking lift
we’re on floor 3.
On 2 we have
rather prestigious office
one of the scientists maybe
with a dining table fo 4 though.
The next level down in the lift however is when things start to go from Strar Trek to Resident Evil, because it’s a lab.
A cheery attempt at art, or DNA diagrans of something nasty?
Reguar desks
a sealed testing room
with microscopes and the usual
more regular desks
then something that looks a bit darker
At the back is another innocuous door that you wouldn’t look twice at, but to where it leads
The exit from the lab
Cameras are kinda bad sign.
in an innocent looking reception area
doors on each side with a camera each
the right one is locked so I go left
Whereupon we find security scanners you have to pass through and cages..no more Mr Nice Scientist!
You step through the doors to a security checkpoint
can see the exit at the back
Worrying thought are these for decontamination?
security gates to pass through
Yes that is a cage, thankfully empty!
onward into the corridor
Through the corridor you navigate a couple of glass elevators until you find yourself here…where the place starts to feel much like Drune.
First thing you come to however is what looks to be a booth selling antique diving gear?
What’s this little place..
Antique diving gear?
Then the place opens up to a series of walkways which I followed around to a surprise discovery.
Looking down on the jumble of industry
one of the locals..who wasn’t talking
so went around them
What’s that in the distance?
A Basketball court? This far underwater? Guess they’ve gotta exercise somewhere.
I was rather surpised to see this down here, that when I turned around I fell off the walkway.
Then got a little lost, exploring all the suboceanic environment of corridors and tunnels. You might ask why didn’t I just fly up or something? When I’m exploring a place I try to keep it real, as you would expected to do in a roleplay scenario.
Basketball court is waay up there somewhere..
so I’ll explore here instead
Not too ominous then
a mini Chinatown?
Some kind of mining..might explain the “what we wake” graffitti
a Control room
the results of the lab? A caged..mutant porkupine? Hedgehog? Not sure!
Presumably this is what keeps everything running
There is lots to see here and I only explored 2 of the corridors off the main hub. Wandering around the place seemed to go on forever, elevators,tunnels and stairways leading into different areas of the seabed structures. This is intended as an organised roleplay region with related rules/codes of conduct. There are factions and clases of characters you can choose to play as. So if you want to RP here, definitely read the website.
Website: https://www.thevarunaproject.com/
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/dBtMHnEeSt
Landing point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Unda%20Presha/116/188/63
Region Rating: Adult.
Although most video games classed 15 are more graphic than this place. As with Last Chance City, it’s the potential RP and peoples actions that might require the rating.
Outfit:
Suit: Space Cadet Bodysuit by {REC} from Fantasy Faire 2020
Wrist gadget: Cainva Modulators by :[Petrichor]: (I got mine from Cyberpunk 2020 event, but you can buy them on MP at the link above.)
In a similar style but not ground layout as the previous build (Drune Crossroads), Drune Babalon is full of lights in a dark setting.
Like Crossroads you arrive by tube (Subway), although this time the arrival point is in a carriage rather than on the platform.
You’re not in the wrong place, walk forward!
Unfortunately the TP routing drops you too close to the back of the carriage when using the default camera position. Just take a step forward.
Walk along the carriage til you come to the doors
and step out onto the platform
Exit up the stair into a much smaller lobby leading out onto the street:
A glance Left
A glance Right
I went left and across the street to the purple steps and what looked interestingly like some kind of portal
Which took me into a small club calle “Peaches”. The neon lights change very regularly to different colours, giving the club a different feel from minute to minute, but thankfully not at a fast flickering speed.
Coming back out I saw a weapons shop across the street, a reminder of the dark kind of RP that could be found here.
Maybe it’s close to the station for a reason, but I came prepared with my own.
Along the street I find a club East of Eden, but didn’t go inside
The building across the street was more intruiging..”Jesus Saves..with Drune Central Bank”. I wondered whether I find pews or bank teller cubicles inside.
Turned out it was neither, the church had been converted into a nightclub,the pulpit the DJ Booth.
Out on the street again I see a neon sign for another potentially interesting place to investigate, a Fight Club.
This place wasn’t too surprising on the inside, exactly as it proclaimed.
While I explored it became evident that while the layout of the streets near the station were similar to Crossroads, there was more levels to Babalon. The Crossroads had another level but it was high up above street level, here the levels are more evident, due to a waterway running through the region. This meant there was a lower waterside level.
So obviously I had to explore the lower level and see what trouble may be found.
However before I descended I spotted a tiny detail on the bridge, just some puddles, but is another example of the attention to detail in Drune builds.
Only in SL might puddles deserve a photo, but the detail caught my eye.
As I descended to the lower level I could see some brightly lit places that might warrant later investigation.
Down on the lower level however I found a fun looking Rock Club
But Drune being a Roleplay simulation, it’s unlikely it’ll see any dancing.
Back outside I found there was a walkway that ran underthe bridges, but no way to cross the river without getting wet.
I retraced my steps and crossed over to look at the other places I’d seen. The most brightly lit turned out to be a chinese restaraunt. As you would expect from a Drune build,while not particularly exciting, this wasn’t just an empty facade.
Nearby however I found a small starirway and followed it up.
On the upper level I found a small cafe and access onto a walkway similar to that of Crossroads, but not quite as extensive.
When I reached the end of the walkway and a brief rest, I took the quickest way down to the ground, off the edge again. The fal being much shorterthan the one in Crossroads!
Back on the ground I found another instance of the Vooddoo club
At the end of my post about Crossroads, I commented that it could probably have got away with a Moderate rating,due to the establishment signage being merely suggestive and absence of adult furniture. So I thought I’d have a look and see if the same was true here.
When I arrived I’d tried a few doors and they seemed to have combination locks keeping the public out, seems I’d just been clicking the wrong part of the lock.
So first stop was a massage parlor, which turned to have functioning massage couches.
Then the more flagrant establishment across from the station..which was pretty much as you’d expect,but more peepshow type than couples animations.
So this district of Drune definitely requires it’s Adult rating. But as you can see, this is just fairly small aspect of the highly detailed cyberpunk build. Which along with bars and clubs, even includes your regular mundane service vendors..
Garage
Pizzeria
and Laundry
As always we never know how long these builds will stay around, so go check it out before its gone.
Note on lighting: This Drune build uses an EEP shared lighting model, you’ll get a notecard about it when you arrive. If you don’t have EEP viewer thinks might look different.
(Also besides EEP implementation the photos got a whole lot better since the Crosroads post because I got a sweet new laptop with much better graphics!)
Outfit Credits:
Suit: Space Cadet Bodysuit by {REC} from Fantasy Faire 2020
Wrist gadget: Cainva Modulators by :[Petrichor]: (I got mine from Cyberpunk 2020 event, but you can buy them on MP at the link above.)
I missed the last incarnation of this place, since it doesn’t seem to stay for long, so I’m pleased I got to visit this time around. Hopefully it’ll still be there for you to visit when you read this.
To set the scene this is the land description:
Drune Crossroads
A drift down memory lane, with an eldritch tone. Cyberpunk Streets, Cyber Punk City, Sci Fi, Bladerunner, Lovecraft
So you can expect lots of bright neon lights, dark alleyways and (non-drivable)flying cars.
The arrival point is an Underground (Subway) station.
exit through the ticket barriers up the escalator as you would a real station.
This takes you up into a waiting room
Now we get to the interesting part, exiting this area takes you out into a main street where you are bombarded with the expected neon and shopfronts.
You then come to what must be the proclaimed “crossroads”.
You may have noticed in the last picture in the previous gallery I passed a blue Christmas tree, this becomes relevant when you reach the crosroads.
There’s different coloured trees in different directions, this helps you keep your bearings, when at street level at least. I picked red and went that way.
Drune has lots of little nooks and crannies full of detail, as I walked I saw a sliding door open slightly and had a peek.
This one was a car repair place,not super interesting from my point of view, but illustrates the detail put into the place.
When I got to the end of the road there was a junction
To the Left
To the Right
I headed right towards the pink neon lighting a stairwell and wasn’t surprised what I found..a bar with a some rather evocative statues at the entrance and some fun solo dance furniture.
Heading through to the back I had a look down at the street below
Next I retraced my steps down to ground level and took the opposite alley that took me to a ground level bar with a somewhat classier feel.
I then took a nearby fire-escape style staircase which seemed to go on for ever, when I reached the top I look over the edge…it’s a long way down!
However up at the top is a whole nother way of seeing the city, via a maze of walkways.
When I reached the apparent end there seemed to fortunately be a lift back down
But when I took it down and followed the subsequent corridor..It led to a locked door!
I had no choice but to go back up and walk around the gangways. But as I said, it’s a bit of a maze and couldn’t find the stairs! I decided to abandon my pedestrian approach that I try to stick to when exploring and took the express route back to the ground, that you could only get away with in SL, jump over the railing. The fall seemed even further than it looked.
Back on the ground I’d landed in what at first glance was a sex venue of some kind, til I read the second line “Cosmetic Surgery”, not what you normally might associate red or pnk neon with, also not a roleplay avenue I’d want to pursue!
On the whole another great incarnation of the cityscape, worth visiting for sure, lots to be found with lots of attention to detail.
Arrival point: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Real%20Angel%20Estate/33/128/37 Region Rating: Adult
(although it could probaby get away with being rated Moderate, if it weren’t for a few revealing photos on an upper level,since the signage everywhere appears to be merely suggestive and I didn’t find any furniture with adult animations.)
I was scrolling through the SL Destination Guide and I was finding lots of seasonal places, quaint Christmas themed locations and the like. Then I saw New Frontiers which looked much more my kind of place.
The arrival point takes you to a raised platform with a number of Staff and Management online status boards as well as consoles which provided links to online resources.
It also has the regions HUD vendor, but unless you knew what you were looking for, you might miss it.
The HUD vendor is grey, surrounded by other grey stuff and lost in Hovetext everywhere.
It wasn’t til I read the Starter Guide which has an image of the vendor located in a past incarnation of their landing point that I spotted it.
Anyway I carried on exploring without the HUD on my first visit. Down the steps at the opposite side of the platform, thier lore is quite detailed and there are a number of Factions your character can join.
There are TP doors to either side of the staircase, I took the one to the left at random.
TP Door
Arrival craft
Arrival area
I head into town to have a look around, the usual things are to be found, a bar and some other buildings as well as paths out of town.
Path out of town on left
Bar to the right
Since the bar was deserted at that hour I headed out of town, which took me onto a forest trail.
I followed the path that followed a river
Some weird mushrooms by the path
A settlement on the opposite bank
A faction HQ?
After a short walk I came across a building that was clearly the headquarters of one of the Factions mentioned at the arrival point. So proceeding with caution I went to explore.
The Faction complex entrance
To the side is another building I thought I’d check out first, this seems to be some kind of meeting room, so on into the main building I went.
Clicking the red square in the middle of the main door takes you inside to a cave-like tunnel, which leads to a 3-floor lift.
The tunnel entrance
Lift platform
Lift controls
I hit the button for the 2nd level to begin my descent. Finding nothing of interest there I hit the button for level 1, which was more promising.
Down we go..
Nothing on 2..
Down to Level 1..
What do we have here..
A locked door on Level 1
A combination lock preventing entry
On level 1 there’s a locked door that obviously lets you into the Factions HQ proper. I’ve seen these locks in SL before, presuming this one is the same,the combination pad is functional and you need the combination to proceed. So that brings this particular exploration to an abrupt end for now.
If you like Sci-Fi roleplay this looks like a very promising place to try, or just to explore and photograph. I only tried one of the TP doors from the arrival room, so there’s plenty more to explore that I haven’t covered.
I have an update to share about the Hellas Platina Crater Roleplay set on Mars.
So what’s new? After the expansion I wrote about (and was featured on Secondlife Community Blog) at the beginning of August,a new RP area has been added. This consists of an office, a watchtower and a security bunker. Penny, who I first met IC (In-Character) during The Unexpected Delivery RP, showed me the new additions.
Penny and I at the new RP area
The largest of these additions is the bunker.
The Bunker entrance
Entrance corridor
Having a dedicated security headquarters,will give my character more of a functional base to work from rather than a container crate home. It was decided my character with her history of dealing with weapons (see The AMZ Delivery Lady) should take on the role of handling crater security and the bunker is where that will be run from.
With these additions, there have also been removals. The cargo container accommodations previously mentioned have been removed.
The storage container homes have been removed
These container homes are all very well as being a known story element location to refer to, but since most people don’t usually RP in them much, they don’t actually need to exist.
Penny reworked the area with some greenhouses once they were removed.
I’m looking forward trying out theses new areas in an RP, maybe we’ll need a troublemaker that needs dealing with. Come along and join in!
Cocoon is a Cyberpunk Roleplay location, but with a slight difference, as you will see.
Arrival point
The story lore incorporates various races/beings
Don’t forget to collect a visitor tag before you leave the arrival point
Once you arrive in the RP area find the taxi, clicking it will give you a grid displaying various locations to visit.
The various locations are what you would normally expect to find in a place of this genre.
However if you choose the “Main Starport” option on the taxi board, this is where things get a little different. Because here you will find a couple of vehicles that transport you to slightly different themed places.
A Cyberpunk Limo?
A not-so-glamourous transport
The Limo-style one takes you to a location referred to as “Luna” and is very clean and utopian in style:
The other transport takes you a considerably more run down location, apparently located on Mars:
There’s certainly a lot to explore here and plenty of scope for RP storylines with the various race and faction options to choose from. Drop by and have a look if Sci-Fi or Cyberpunk are your thing.
A note if you’re going along just to take pictures. The default windlight is quite dark as you can see, so choose a lighter outfit if you’re going to use it. You can see in the first pic my suit was black and found I had to change that as soon as I left landing area because I was pretty much invisible (good for roleplay maybe, not for pictures).
As promised I approached the greenhouse area intending to visit Penny, as I said I would at our last meeting.
On arrival I see Seffy perched on top of the chicken coop and a couple strangers in the vicinity. There’s a man next to Penny outside the greenhouse and a woman by chicken coop.
The woman is talking about how roast chicken was appealing. Seffy pointed out that unfortunately despite wanting fried chicken, she’d been told they were more useful as a supply of eggs. I agreed with that after offering greetings to all.
Penny doesn’t make any introductions of the strangers to me,which seemed odd. However listening to their conversation I gathered she was still trying to find out the man’s name and he was being evasive.
I notice someone come up behind me and move towards the greenhouses so they’re not directly behind me. Not taking in their appearance at that point, just they were very large in stature.
Moving on into and through the greenhouse building, I had a look around while listening to the conversation between the first man I’d seen and Penny. By the time I’d emerged at the other end of the building it was revealed he wished to be addressed as “Sharke”.
Sharke
The unknown woman blurted out a barely understandable sentence before leaving the area hastily. Evidently not comfortable with the growing number of strangers around.
The unknown woman before she took flight
As I emerge from the greenhouse I’m now facing the stranger that had come from behind me, he’d come closer. I could see another reason the woman may have bolted. He.. presumed from stature, was not human. Humanoid in shape but his head was elongated and his skin appeared leathery.
Humanoid, but not Human..what *is* this thing I wonder.
So I ran a scan with my optical implant. Originally intended for detecting dangerous goods in packages, I’d had a few upgrades made to it. The result showed that the outlines of internal organs seemed to be in the right places for a human, so maybe he was once? I’d noticed his pistol with my regular eye already, the scan revealed just some spare ammo in his long jacket and random stuff in his bag.
Out of curiosity I did the same scan on the other guy, Sharke, talking to Penny. That brought some interesting results. I hadn’t noticed his hands weren’t completely flesh, he’d had quite a few augmented upgrades too. He noticed what I did and didn’t seem to comfortable about it, but made no verbal comment. The conversation revealed that both of them were in need of shelter and that Sharke was in need of a medic and a technician for his hands.
I told him we have a bot-shop so fixing his hands wouldn’t be an issue and we had private accommodation in old shipping containers. Penny chimed in with more information on a shelter and medical facilities. At this point the non-human announced that he was a medical doctor. It crossed my mind that may explain is current appearance, an experiment gone wrong perhaps…or right?
Penny took them over to the large building opposite, that she referred to as the “Church”. I’d just thought of it as a hall or barn, since it contained mostly medical and droid repair equipment.
The building Penny describes as the “Church”
I followed them over at a distance. Sharke made the gentlemanly gesture of indicating I enter ahead of him, but by the time I caught up he’d gone ahead. I slipped in quietly and leaned against the door frame briefly before taking a seat on an old folding chair, since I had not much to contribute to the discussion at the time.
Keeping to myself out the way
Penny was trying to get the Doctor to fill in some paperwork, which seemed a little ludicrous given the circumstances. But I figured this was Ellie’s domain and being an android it made sense she’d want everything orderly.
Penny then made her departure to go tend to the greenhouse and feed the chickens, I followed her out, leaving the Doctor and Sharke talking I bade them farewell.
