Camilla Runo has created a new build for us to explore once again. This one is a little different though, it’s SciFi inspired, more specifically the planet Tatooine from Star Wars. 80 Days is the name of the group Camilla uses for all her builds and to let people know about what she’s building, so doesn’t reflect the time the installation will be open. The landing point is in a comfy SciFi styled lounge area, with a conveniently located TP pad to get you to where you need to go.
Here we land in a small courtyard mostly occupied by a small craft and possibly it’s owner and droid, I climb up onto a raised for a better look.
No obvious sign of any Imperial forces yet,so I head on through the archway to see who or what may be seen on this dusty rock of a planet.
Maybe not that way yet..So into town it isUsual desert town so far..Are they just traders?What’s that place over there?Does a guard outside mean trouble?Seems safe enoughjust regular mix of interstellar flotsam
As darkness draws near it might be good to get off the street.
Maybe that place?Hmm..an empty bar is possibly more dangerous..yah..not staying here!Maybe in here?EntertainmentPolite bar staffBest leave that guy aloneRooms a bit messy..Creepy droid in the corner
Come sunrise it’s time to have an explore of the surrounding area outside the town.
Those guys are still there..The Empire has arrived.
Now just to wait for the Imperials to land and watch as the locals just ignore them.
Outfit Credits:
Shorts and Top: [JANGKA] GENESIS Outfit BROWN – Jangka Mainstore
Gloves: [JANGKA] ARWEN Gloves BROWN [Maitreya]- Jangka Mainstore
Backpack & Machete: Wastelands Backpack from Death Row Designs (The machete is usually attached to the backpack, but the item is moficiable, so I was able to detach it and use in my hand instead.)
Now that Halloween is past it’s time to continue exploring other places in SL and first on my list is the latest build by Camila Runo. This one is called Amon Duin and is described as an Elven Realm,which it certainly lives up to.
You arrive on a sea dock with a sunset lighting the sky (if you are using Shared Environment) which gives the place a beautifully mystical atmosphere.
As we’ve come to expect from Camila, the location is the right mix of areas to explore or hangout, without being too spread out, although this one does have quite a lot of stairs, the climb is worth it!
There is a little seating area on the way up that gives you a view of the landscape below.
When you reach the top of the stairs you come to a large area with a number of buildings to be explored with locations to relax, or perhaps even a little roleplay in the throne room or dining hall.
Elsewhere you might like the library with its staircase of books, can you climb it without falling?
Update: Shortly after publishing, Camilla informed me that the region will be available for at least the next four weeks. So you have plenty of time to explore this lovely location!
Outfit Credits:
Outfit inc headband: [JANGKA] ESMERALDA Outfit SHADOW – We 3> Role Play Event (only the Limited Edition Shadow outfit includes the headband)
The We Love RolePlay event usually opens on the 4th of each month, so you may not be able to get there until then. I say “may” because somehow I was able to access the region on Halloween and I’m not an official WLRP blogger. (Which also means items I featured I did actually pay for.)
This time around we’re in the Wild West at a place called Wind River and it looks great.
Travel back in time to the era of gunslingers and saloon girls, of massive migration and settlement. The Old West comes to life at Wind River, a photogenic backwater town at the end of the 19th century.
You arrive in a high-walled canyon that leads you through to the main street of the town.
As you walk through town you can see there are all the usual establishments you would expect to find in a frontier town, Sheriffs office, Saloon, Undertakers, General store among others. Also on the edge of town there is of course a Church with obligatory graveyard.
The Sheriff’s Office & Store
Across the street..
..we have the Saoloon
which has rooms since the Hotel is closed, although htey may be “by the hour”
The Doctors office, when you survive your gunslinging
The Undertaker for those that lose
Where you pray for luck or others say farewell
Coach and Mail office
The not so sociable folks maybe?
A lovely setting to come explore, maybe play at Cowgirl or Cowboy if you fancy but do read the notecard you receive when you arrive regarding private areas above ground level.
Vivendia is the latest build by Camilla Runo who built two incarnations of Varsargen and also Skullingtown for Halloween last year. Ars Vivendia has a slightly more serious air to it, more like a peice of clasical art than the other locations Camilla has created. As I explored it felt like I was walking around inside an old painting. It’s setting is of an old Italian town near the sea with fantastic views inside and out.
The landing point is the yard of a small house outside the main town, beautifully rustic.
On the way up towards the town you can see to one side a small island seperated by a narrow stretch of water.
Entering through the open gates is where you really feel like you’re stepping back in time. Inside the town is made up of narrow streets with bightly lit shops, cafes and hotels in an evening setting, so the place feels kind of maical.
Through to the other side of the town there are some other buildings stood apart from the rest.
At the top of the hill is an old church with beautiful stained glass windows and lovely sunset views.
Several of the buildings can be explored inside as well as admired from outside, so come explore for yourself.
The Dryad wakes slowly like a flowers petals opening. When her eyes open she suddenly becomes aware of the temperature. It’s too cold, it’s too dark, she shouldn’t be awake yet. Being bound to the cycle of nature and the Seasons, she shouldn’t awake until Spring when the first green shoots appear. Something is wrong, she must find out what’s going on. Sticking her head out of the entrance to her underground sanctuary, she looks around to see white everywhere.
She finds some boots to protect her feet, usually she’d be barefoot but dare not walk on the freezing snow, frost is as dangerous to her as it is to plants. As she walks through the Human settlement she sees green grass poking through the snow, this is what’s woken her but how?
There’s no sign of industry that she’d heard of further south that made the climate warmer, just the usual primitive wooden homes. She visits a few of the buildings to see if there was anything amiss but found nothing unusual.
They have ships in the harbour so perhaps they have brought something here, or learnt of something that’s causing the problem.
Then she glances up and sees the temple up on the mountain, perhaps that has the answers.
She wishes she’d brought a cloak as she begins the ascent, touching the trees on the way up for reassurance, they are still slumbering as she should be.
Inside the temple she finds evidence of rituals and sacrifice, but these are not the usual practices of worshiping nature and beings such as herself, as could be found at the stones further down the mountain.
The locals still worship her kin it seems
These were darker works, the fools had evidently heard of crops being raised artificially out of season to the South and thought this was how it was done.
Inside the temple
With her bow she knock everything off the Altar in anger at their foolishness. Picking up a collection of scrolls featuring illustrations similar to the altar goods she glances at them in surprise. These are old, so very old but she recognised them. The fae races had worked hard to destroy all copies of this arcane knowledge, in order to preserve the balance of nature. She knows what she must do.
Waiting at the doorway of the temple, to get some warmth from their fires, she is impatient until dawn. She was going to need all the help from nature she could get for what she had in mind. As the sun rises she takes a bud from the vines encirling her body and places it into a shallow hole she was able to make in the frozen earth with the end of her bow. Standing back she raises her arms and chants quietly calling on the dormant natural world around her.
Directing the energy into the barely buried bud she encourages it to grow and expand until the building is encased in leaves, the shoots running up between the stones of the building like roots through foundations of a house and pries them apart.
It takes time and a lot of effort but eventually the roots demolish the building entirely into rubble. The shoots recede and combine into a single living thing…a blossoming tree. They wanted out-of-season plants, this is what they shall get.
Exhausted and barely able to stand she returns to the forest to hibernate until Spring actually comes.
When I had been told by Camilla Runo the builder of Vargsangen that it had returned I was excited and just had to go explore! I thought I would wear something warm and furry like my previous post. But once I collect this New Year’s special skin from Fallen Gods that completely changed, a Dryad post was in order. I had earlier been out for a walk (in the odd world of Real Life) and I saw daffodils sprouting, which doesn’t usually happen for another couple of months and that gave me an idea, to which I added a fantasy twist.
The build is expected to close at the end of January 2022 so get over and check it out. Here’s a few extra snaps that didn’t fit into the story:
After blogging several spooky places last year, I thought it would be fun to do the same again this year. First up is 80Days-Skullingtown.
The arrival point is in front of a tall pair of gates that instinctively you might proceed through, but wait! I did as I always do and look behind me on arrival, you should do the same here. There is a graveyard and a massive pumpkin patch back there to see first.
What’s this behind me?
A Spooky graveyard
and a massive pumpkin patch!
As you explore you’ll hear an appropriately tinny version of a tune from the film The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is quite haunting and coming from the creepy merry go round near the entrance.
Heading through the main gates you’re in small town square with lots of appropriately spooky paraphernalia scattered about around and inside the houses and towers. Some of these are just scenery, but several of them you can enter and explore. I picked the house straight ahead first, stopping at the bottom of the steps to admire its creepiness for a moment.
Looking up at the looming house I realise how damn short this sexy skirt is, good job it comes with undies!
The way ahead
The way back
I then had a wander around the other buildings to see what surprises were in store!
Abandoned dinner
stuff on the doorstep is suggestive of spooky
What’s up here? I’ll let you find out..
But the view is great
back on the ground someones been cooking..
and someone else has been..making a call to a dead relative?
Taking a walk up onto the snowy hilltop and doing some training exercises was very relaxing for her, helped clear her head. The setting sun and moonrise gave such a beautiful light to move gracefully in, the brisk wind chill, but refreshing. Although little did she know her exercise would have a more brutal ending than usual.
As she descended the slope toward the village she heard snarling and animal cries of distress. She drew her knives again wishing perhaps she should have brought something more substantial, but hadn’t expected to need it.
She followed the sounds into the undergrowth to find a pair of wolves attacking a stag, one already down. She curses, the wolves shouldn’t be getting so close to the village.
A brief scuffle left one dead wolf and the other on the run. She turns to check on the stag and is relieved to finds it gone. There’s no blood trail on the ground, so thankfully it can’t have been badly injured.
She glances at the bodies on the ground, she’d need some help shifting the deer carcass, so for now she picks up the wolf and heads back to the village. They’d have to have to gather a hunting party to track down the pack before fresh snow buried the tracks.
A beautiful Viking/Scandinavian theme location that has a wonderfully cold wintery atmosphere to it. It looked great when I arrived and started taking my snapshots, then I remembered to turn on Shared Environment setting and wow, the place took on a whole new feel.
Midday setting
Shared Environment setting
I find it’s always good to look behind you when you arrive at places, you never know what you’ll find. This is why most of my posts have a rear-facing shot near the beginning.
Behind you on arrival
To the right
To the Left
Most of the time it’s a blank wall, this is one of those times that it’s not, there’s a set of steps leading up the hill from the beach.
There’s a few houses and meeting hall which all look great and fun to explore. You can see from up here all across the bay, the waters seem to go on forever, but there is also a far shore that needs exploring!
Back down the steps there is a log bridge that takes you into a dense woodland. But this is no walk in the park! There’s an assortment of animals in here, not all of them friendly.
A couple of bears are far enough to not be a worry, but the wolf pack (you’ll hear it before you see it) deserve a wide berth, so as not disturb their catch. This small scene is actually really effective with animated deer and wolf snarling sounds, makes it feel real.
Further along the path widens into a small clearing containing someone’s home. There are a number of these dotted around, their simplicity compared to the houses suggests outcasts or solitary individuals keeping away from the main local community.
This place is on the end of a land peninsular so has water in 3 sides, I went across to the beach to get a closer look at something I saw in the distance from the landing point. A rather large creature circling in the water, definitely a place for a paddle!
Retracing my steps through the woods there is a steep set of steps leading up the mountain (by SL proportions). It’s quite a walk up to the top, with some great views as you go up and from the top.
There are signs of some old structures half buried in the ground as you approach the summit. When you reach the top (giving the solitary howling wolf plenty of space) there appears to be an area of worship, with standing stones and a sacrificial altar. You can also see from here another little home, on the beach below a large statue. In the opposite direction is a barren clifftop view over the sea, which can be quite calming to enjoy with the sounds of whistling wind.
Up here I met with the regions creator and we had a nice chat. I said I kept expecting to find an NPC of Floki (a crazy little guy from the Amazon series Vikings) in one of the huts. I asked her about RP in the region and she told me there was none organised, but people were welcome to come and use it for that, she just wanted to create a beautiful place.
Which in my opinion she has achieved and surpassed. If you’re a fan of the series or anything like Viking culture, you will love this place.
To get the best experience I would suggest you enable Shared Environment setting, so it looks how the creator intended it.
If you’ve not got this turned on, in a Firestorm goto the World menu select Environment then “Shared Environment”.
