It is said that on All Hallows Eve the barrier between the realms of the living and the dead is at its thinnest. Who’s to say that other such barriers become thin, perhaps between the realms of Angels and Demons?
Maybe the Angels go and play in Hell, or the Demons in Heaven? Do younger Angels dare each other to go take a selfie in Hell without getting caught? They’d need to dress the part so they don’t stand out. They also have to dim their natural aura so they don’t light the whole place up, which was a skill difficult to master for some.
The Demons really don’t like this game the Angels play, but there’s not much they can do about it. The touch or any physical contact of an Angel will turn most demons to dust like a vampire in the midday sun, even just their aura is painful. All a demon can hope to do is chase them away, or have human slaves attempt to capture and drag them to a crossing point. They did try an assortment of projectile weapons against the Angels, but generally this turned out to be pretty futile.
So while the Angels play their games, the Demons just go torment the Living instead.
Having recently paid a visit to the Winter Hop n Shop I had a very nice and warm outfit that just called for a wintery location to explore. I saw Dreamz Express on the Destination Guide and it looked perfect.
I arrived on a very busy train platform with lots of passengers apparently awaiting the next train.
Direction of travel
Back the other way
Our transport waiting?
You can get a hot drink while waiting
The information available said the RP journey takes 2 hours and mentioned ticket prices of L$5oo and L$300 for children. Unfortunately there was no indication of who to pay and when the next train was departing, so I set off on foot. At the end of the platform there is a ski-lift that will take you down to the ground level.
I followed the nearest path through a beautifully festively lit arch way, which just brought me back to the station. So I walked the tracks instead as far as I could before meeting a blocked tunnel. Given not much choice I did what any SL resident would do (right?) and jumped over the rail..
Which turned out to be a very good idea (unlike if you were to do it in RL), there’s lots to see and explore down here so I’d recommend exploring on foot.
While exploring down here I came across a tunnel with some wintery inhabitants.
What lies within?
Penguins..
Polar Bears..
What is this ahead? A Flowery-Shirted-Noob!
Rather than disturbing the Noob in the wild I took a side tunnel where I saw a snowborder outside.
Is that..?
A snowborder
There’s a slalom slope outside
A lovely view from the top
Aside from not actually being able to ride a train (at the time of visiting) Dreamz Express is a beautiful and photogenic wintery location to explore alone or with friends. Definitely dress up warm though, the snow is rather blustery!
S&P have a Trinkets machine at the Shop n Hop which is like a gatcha, but you know what you’re buying before you pay, the numbers relate to parts of the outfit.
Every year there are masses of events and activities in SecondLife for the Christmas period that run throughout December. One of the regular highlights is the Winter Wonderland that gets built each year by the Linden Moles. Here you’ll find everything you’d expect from such a name, covering 5 regions.
When you first arrive you’re near the snowball fight arena, which is pretty impressive and is the venue for the annual Residents Vs Lindens snowball fight event:
But I wanted to see what else the place had to offer, so I went the other way up some steps through a snow corridor to where the landscape opens out again.
Main attractions are an ice skating rink, ferris wheel to ride, festive village to explore and a large snow race track.
I followed the signs to the Ice Skate area to check that out, if you don’t have your own skates you can get some at the kiosk. Even if you do have skates, the ones here do have a cool optional FX attachment that causes your skates to carve into the ice here.
I came across Angel Manor by way of a Spotlight article on the SecondLife Community blog and what a treasure it is.
I used the Visit Us page on the website to find my way to a number of different places, starting with the Rose Lounge. The whole place has a wow factor, it feels classy yet relaxed with great attention to detail everywhere.
I explored the other “Rose” related locations on the region, which includes a Theatre and Gallery among other locations such as an Opera House. All looks simply spectacular.
The Angel Manor Region is the centre of a small continent consisting of no less than 12 Regions for you to explore. I paid a visit to both the boating lake and the gardens, which were beautifully relaxing to spend time in.
I would definitely recommend taking the time to visit Angel Manor and the surrounding grounds either on your own or with a friend because the ballrooms and other areas are just enchanting to dance in.
Dress & gloves: S&P Jessica Glittery Advent gift 20 -12 – 24 (was available to purhcase instore later but has since gone, maybe it’ll be back.) – Salt & Pepper StoreÂ
UPDATE ON THE DRESS! [09:07:29] Salt Peppermint: I’ll put it back after the sale (Fatpack only, group members only)
Halloween is a special time of year, for different reasons for different people. For some it is a deeply religious time when rituals are performed formally or informally to honour the dead and rememer lost loved ones. You can find legimate Wiccan/Pagan organisations in SecondLife that perform these ceremonies. The opposite extreme is the very Westernised version of the holiday that is a retail exercise featuring lots of black,orange and kids dresing up to get sweets.
Wherever you feel you fit on that range doesn’t really matter in SL. You can go to the rituals, the parties, the shopping, it doesn’t really matter so log as you’re enjoying yourself.
The common theme through it all is the costumes! Whether you go for playful cute witch, some kind of monster or in my case dark creepy vampire, it’s all such fun!
There’s not much in terms of skin coverage in this outfit, but that’s kind of the idea for a vampire on the hunt. Too much clothing would just get in the way and soak up any spillage that could be drunk! The cloak is definitely a requirement though, it lets me wrap up and disappear into the shadows quickly away from witnesses!
Daggers and pose: Red Angel of Revenge + Daggers from *FN* (Although the cloak does have an “arm fix” that keeps your arms inside it, which changed the pose a bit.)
Next is The Haunted History of Hummingbird Isle which is by the same designer as Once Upon a Spell, but it feels a little smaller. I totally love the environment settings here, a thunderous sky with appropriate sound and rain.
The pirate ship isn’t boardable, but it definitely makes for great scenery on the beach before you proceed up the steep steps to the gardens and house.
From up here you get a great view of that cool sky again before you walk through the rain to the house.
I opened the doors and stepped through, immediately recognising the building was the same as one I saw at Dead Mans Island last year, however while the layout is the same the interior and contenst of the rooms is different so still worth exploring!
Inspired by an excerpt from The Blade Between by Sam J. Miller.
Transcribed from the reading by Draxtor, prior to the Second Life Book Club on 14th April 2021.
“In 20 years the railroad will arrive from New York City, heading north for Albany for Canada. Its path perfectly plotted to cut off Hudson’s North Bay crippling the city’s shipping trade, start it’s slow decline to irrelevance. 40 years after that, Hudson will have become the East Coast largest centre for prostitution. Diamond Street whorehouses so notorious they will have to change the name of the streets of Columbia after the governor personally census form of state troopers to bust up the brothels that local authorities have coddled and patronized and exploited for information for decades.”
So I thought it would be fun to put together a cliche prostitute look for that episode of the Book Club.
Turns out the quote was one of the readings as well, you can hear it at timestamp: 33.38
Of course some location shots were a must, but wouldn’t be complete with an arresting officer too! Which is why it’s taken so long to get around to publishing this, I needed to find one that would let me go afterwards!
It was hard work sorting through the layers of mythogy and history layered on the site of the ruined Chapel. So many peoples had held this spot sacred and look at it now, crumbling stones. This being the latest addition to the place, attempts by modern religion to stamp out worship of the Old Gods.
I was here though for something that was far older,long forgotten and should not have been. No doubt below the earth there would be remnants of other buildings or worship structures, likely circular.Â
The significance of of circles had become distorted over time, commonly accepted as reference to the planet or the cycle of life, death and re-birth, it formed the basis for many variants of nature based religions. They were of course wrong. Old tales and legends talk of circles, but it’s a mistranslation. The correct term is Sphere. They did not refer to theoretical concepts, they were physical objects and I’d found one.
Looking at it now I can understand why there were misunderstandings. Demons had called it the “Zygot”, meaning egg. Which makes much more sense when it’s seen closed.
This particular relic and its accompanying symbol of the Gods was entrusted to my race, Demons. Legends told that each race had been entrusted with one, I’m sure somewhere they might be a Dryad or other fae sat in a comfy chair in the warm, unlike me in a draughty ruin. Regretfully my people had neglected their duty of protecting it. Or had they?
As I sat on the bed in the ramshackle shelter I’d built inside the ruins to provide some shelter, I thought how better? People can’t destroy or steal something if they don’t even know it exists, let alone where it might be found.
So some rather smart soul in the last couple of centuries had buried it, but not just anywhere. The legends also told that these relics needed to be near leylines to serve their purpose and this site was at a junction where two lines crossed. They must have had some human help obviously, the ground would have been freshly consecrated back then and no Demon could have got near the place, let alone bury something in the crypt.
Perhaps maybe that’s exactly where it belongs, or thereabouts. The Human Relations Department may have to try and officialy obtain the land, since the place is long abandoned, but that’s fortunately not my job.
There’s a whole collection of eggs available at Fallen Gods, in 100% RFL Donation Vendors.
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Credits:
Skin: HEL female + Fallen Gods Inc. FF2021 Ragnarok/Jail n Bail Exclusive
Sphere: ~Libertine~ Collectable Egg 59 “The Secret” – Fallen Gods
Dress: SF:: Uitzuger – Scarlet Fey
Eyes: [n.a.p] Hoard Eyes – Fatpack – Not a peep
Boots: //R3D// Boots Runar – maitreya – R3D Studio
Hair: Raven Bell -Luxe Hair Front [F1-1] Long -Raven Bell
Wooden Chest: Icealand – Chest – Iceland
Ruins: TLG – Chapel Ruins – The Looking Glass
Shelter: TLG – Dead Mans Island Castaway Camp – The Looking Glass
