What does a name mean? In short, more than I thought.
I last posted about moving my blog to a new domain name to match my new SL username. So that kinda did happen and kinda didn’t.
I won’t bore you with the details, but after plenty of hair pulling I ended up with a duplicate site on the new address. I started to change other little things, my Displayed name on Twitter and Flickr for example. Then it came to my SL Display Name, and I couldn’t do it.
I don’t mean a technical issue, it just didn’t feel right. I’ve used the Ava Delaney name in SL for 8 years come the end of this month, it’s part of who I am now.
It was dropped from my Username last year because I thought “AvaDelaney Bloodrose” would have sounded a bit odd. I really wanted rid of the “Resident” last name though, so thank you Linden Lab for making that possible.
While I was inspired by a book character, my version of Ava has grown far beyond that now. I’ve made the name my own and it feels part of my avatar persona. A rather stress-inducing but fortunately not excessively costly exercise to discover this revelation, but I think worth it.
So I’m sticking with the Delaney name and this blog is staying right where it is.
How much value do you put in your Avatars name? I’d be interested to hear.
Last year I went to the Cyberpunk shopping event for the first time and bought a few nice things, that I’m still wearing and some featured in a recent post.
Cyber Fair 2021 is opening tomorrow (4th March) and I’m really looking forward to it!
I thought I’d do a post featuring as many of the items from last year as possible, before I go on another shopping spree!
At the end of my last post about Golgothica I mentioned returning to check out the chapel and the windmill. Well..I’ve done that and wow there was so much I missed out!
First I had a glance inside the suspected tavern, lovely little place, more on that later..first the chapel.
You have to head down the side of the tavern that lets you reach a bridge across to the rather spooky-looking place.
Crooked headstones are all around as you enter, a brief glance at a few before finding the entrance to the building at the near end.
Entering the Chapel the roof as fallen in which lets in beautiful shafts of light, making it feel quite serene.
Heading back the way I came between the houses I come across what would appear to be the front entrance to the tavern and take a better look. It’s small but ideally cozy for a small community to socialize in the warm together.
I come to the front of the tavern
Very cozy, just what you need with all the horrors outside.
Carrying on through the town I come across some wagons, it appears there are gypsies are in town, or is it maybe a permanent arrangement?
In the distance I’m expecting to see the windmill that I’d seen from walls of the castle on my last visit, but no. What I see instead is the entrance pillars of a stone circle!
I hasten along and something else catches my eye beyond the stones on the coast side, which is the appropriate place for a Wickerman.
The reason I’m so excited? One of my favourite films is The Wickerman (1973 original obviously,not that crap remake that doesn’t even deserve the name from 2006.)
I re-enter the stone circle to try out the ritual animations the altar there has to offer, before heading out the far side in search of the windmill.
Nice ritual pose
Lots of detailed props
A Sense of forboding
When I found it though it was a little bit of a shock inside. It’s suitably atmospheric, with some great props, enough to give me an uneasy feeling to get out.
Atmospheric props
The fact you can’t avoid stepping inside a circle might bother some people.
I’m no stranger to folks putting pentagrams upside down and stuff, they think it’s cool and scary (this is no criticism of the place,but of a stereotype portrayed in films), it’s fitting for a build like this and plays to the horror movie stereotype well. I stepped into the windmill and realised I’d inadvertently stepped right into the middle of a chalked circle on the floor. Something never to be taken lightly, so I made a prompt exit.
As I emerge I see a large statue of a werewolf attacking its victim. This feels a little out of place for some reason, not seeing any other references to such so far. Passing the statue I step into the light of a fire, in the middle of the gypsy camp from the opposite side.
Statue of a werewolf with it’s prey
I enter the camp and it feels very cozy
While I look around I again realise I’m in the middle of something, this time a massive pentagram. Not so worrying as a circle, provided its oriented correctly and I didn’t get any bad vibes off this one.
There’s also some fun things in the tents, including a gypsy dance one..
After my trekking around I felt in need of a brief rest so I headed to the windswept beach and walked for a short distance before I found a cozy campfire and a lovely view of the sea.
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.
Golgothica is the creation of Hera, mastermind behind the Drune series of Distopian Cyberpunk cityscapes and unbeknown to me til recently, Goatswood that I wrote about briefly before.
The landing point for both Drune: Babalon and Golgothica is now in a skybox, where you choose a TP pad to either.
I usually take my pictures in a single visit but that didn’t work out this time. On my return visit however I saw a well-known figure.
Ground arrival is on a ship
When you get to the ground you arrive on a ship, but wait, who is this? The infamous Inara Pey!
I find the infamous Inara Pey at the prow
She was occupied so I went about my way, down onto the dock.
Left a tavern maybe, and windmill in the distance
and right, intruiging lights
I went right and up the steps, heading down the street opposite, which seems to a strange green light at the far end.
As I proceed through the dark streets mor becomes visible, there’s a small stream at the end of the road and the light seems to be coming from the far side.
Unfortunately no bridge,so looks like I’ll be getting wet feet.
Not deep water, but enough to be unpleasant I’m sure.
Across the stream I come onto a a path that leads to either side but not towards the lights. What kind of explorer sticks to paths anyway? I push on into the woods looking for the source of the mysterious light.
Who needs paths?
Here I find a number of beutiful little scenes, first a pool watched over by a statue of what may well be the forest deity, Pan.
A forest pool, watched over by Pan
Then another light leads me on into the undergrowth and I come across a natural stone altar covered with candes and flowers.
A rustic altar in a small clearing
From here I can also see some tall columns among the trees and investigate, where I find a much more formal and ornate altar and worship space.
A more formal, but overgrown sacred space.
Beyond the pillars a stone building and torch light can be seen, so I push on out of the woods and up onto the path.
Entrance to the castle, complete with hanging cages outside
Through the gates I go, to find an abandoned cart and only one place to go, up the ramp to the right.
The path leads up and to another gate at the top before opening into a larger open space with lots of possible choices of where to explore.
Another gate of which you will see many, leads you inside.Plenty of choice where to explore
This is somewhere you can easily get lost, so I won’t deprive you of that joy! Instead I’ll let you find your own way and show some of the places you may find.
Windmills in the distance
surrounding towers from the top of the wall
there’s something flying around out there
a small dragon aparently!
There’s a banquet hall
with nice selection
a library
quite a sizeable one
small bedrooms
with creepy paintings on the walls
a surpris coastal exit from the tower
a beutiful view
then I finally found my way out
to see something hanging
wonder what this guy did wrong
There’s a LOT to see here at Golgothica and I have just explored a part of it. You can see in the centre of the picture below the ship where arrived and the woods I came through. Maybe I’ll come back and visit the windmill and the chapel-like building on the opposite corner.
Aerial view of Golgothica from near the NW corner of the region.
I woke up the other morning and really wanted a hug, in these current times such things are no longer to be taken for granted.
So we do “virtual hugs”..in the Real world (*rolls eyes*). This is not what I’m referring to here though. Not the extending our arms and waving them about in an impersonation of a hug at someone stood 2 metres away. Some people may get some comfort from this gesture but for me, it just looks ridiculous and doesn’t really trigger the emotional response we need, so I don’t do it.
I’m also not talking about emoji and gifs (although the latter are usually more heartfelt) expressing the same sentiments.
What I’m referring to is something like this:
Pic by Strawberry Linden.
This photo was taken in Secondlife because that’s my playground. You could achieve the same thing in other virtual environments. (But SL’s the best!)
The key though is emotional attachment, if you form an emotional attachment to your avatar, what happens to your avatar triggers an emotional response for you. In this case the sensation of closeness to another human being, even if what your eyes are seeing is pixel people. In your head it’s a virtual “you”, the other person wants to share this moment with you and that is the point. This doesn’t work for some people I know that, they just see pixels on a screen and it triggers nothing, to me they’re missing out.
So come Valentines Day, (or any day you feel you need one) if you can’t be near someone for a Physical hug, come into SL and get a proper Virtual Hug.
I didn’t capture the hug I got that day, but it inspired me to write this, the picture above was taken at Second Life Book Club.
In my last post about Persia – The Immortals I only briefly mentioned the harbour, featuring just a view from above. This wasn’t because there’s nothing down there, more that it didn’t seem to fit into the flow of the post. This is because there doesn’t seem to be a way to get down there on foot. I did however explore and snap it, so in the spirit of completeness, I’m sharing those now.
Obviously since this is SL and no path, I did the Lemming thing and just jumped off the wall.
I landed among some wooden barricades, so was grateful I wasn’t wearing their combat hud or that might have hurt!
There’s various marine props about the place, as well as more barricades. This put me in mind of a “Raid Dock” found in SL Gor,but that’s where the similarity ends thankfully.
At the seaward end of the dock is a gangplank leading across to galleon.
The view toward the sea is a beautiful purple sunsetThe looming galleon is stricken on the rocks
I crossed the plank to have a brief look inside. Not a lot to see, a bed and some other homely furniture.
Don’t get any ideas about this being a nice quiet spot for a cuddle though, the bed is linked to the hull of the ship, so you can’t sit your avatar on it.
This place is beautiful shadow-draped historically styled region based on ancient Persia of 550B.C.
Arriving through some undergrowth to the bottom of a set of steps drenched in shadows of statues cast by purple moonlight, it has got to to be one of my favourite region arrivals for quite a while.
As you proceed its pleasantly free of clutter, just a few boards, but not intrusive, before you come to your ride.
Left we have staff boards
Right we have group joiner and combat system vendor
Ride a horse benefits: Fuel Efficient, Environmentally Friendly,Can drive you home when drunk!
Just click the horse and choose a name from the menu to get your own horse to ride. I picked “magic” because that’s how the place feels. You proceed by walking through a multi-layered veil into a dark but open space.
When you go through it’s such a view, dark and mysterious. To the left is the top arches of an arena, some steps ahead and to the right a small plain leading to a river.
At the top of the steps is a sign reading:
Raid Field
Arena
Shops
Rezz Zone.
Seeing the word “Raid” I decided I’d check that later and headed to the right towards the the intruiging palm trees and buildings.
The word “Raid” suggests caution is in order.
Heading towards the distant lights there are buildings and palm trees.
Down a gentle bank is a paved collanade following the path of a dry stream bed. Across the here are a few small homes, some of which are for rent.
Having seen all there was in this area I backtracked towards the steps and the arena.
Aerial view of the Arena
I headed down the steep steps and onto the cobbled path below, passing the entrance to the Arena. The next thing tou see is an imposing temple, which I’ll investigate later, there’s a more impressive view ahead.
The steps are Steep be cautious!
The cobbled path makes your direction clear
Passing the Arena
An imposing temple to investigate
What caught my attention ahead were two rather large bridges arching over an impressive harbour scene.
I took the nearest bridge and crossed to the other side where there is a row of various shops. These sell an assortment of appropriately themed weapons and RP props. I headed left towards the harbour mouth until I came to a guard (npc) blocking your way. Mainly because there’s nowhere else to go except back the way you came, or steps onto the roofs of the shops.
Row of buildings across the bridges
Large ornate archways lead onto the bridge
Back at the other end of the row there is a narrow but passable slope that used to get back down to the plains.
The bottom of this slope leads me towards the temples, so time to have a look inside. It’s rather imposing from the outside, with steps on either side of the entrance leading up to it. Inside its suitably gloomy in kind with the surroundings, lit by torches near the altar. It does have the feeling of reverence you often experience at religious sites, although I can’t really explain how that works in a virtua space.
Strangely however it’s for rent..but I couldn’t find any kind of residential accommodation thereabouts.
I stopped to meditate for a little while before leaving, because back outside there’s only one structure I’d not explored yet, the Arena and I’m not the fighting type.
A few moments editation before leaving the temple
Fortunately at this time of day there were no combatants about so it was a peaceful visit to this place of violent sport.
A torchlit archway leads into the Arena
At this time of day it is quiet as a grave fortunately for me!
This is an amazingly beautiful region to see and wander around. If you want to join in their Roleplay there is a group joiner at the landing point as well as a vendor for their free combat system called “URA Kombat”.
Update 12th Feb: Wondering about the harbour? Check out the follow-up post: Persepolis Docks
“All ex-Gor roleplayers need a form of cult deprogramming.”
– Sheree Honeyflower
I actually agree with this, the early posts of this blog were exactly that for me. Which is how the quote came about, in jest and I burst out laughing.
Having been caught and negotiating her release on her last attempt to investigate the restricted areas of the research facility, Ava decides to try a different approach.
If she can’t get through the indoor tunnels, why not try the outside? Sure it was dark and cold outside, but there were certainly no guards out there, so long as you didn’t count the sharks.
So Ava suits up in her scavenger gear, a bodysuit that will keep her warm and dry during her little expedition, along with a helmet that had seen better days. Hopefully her trip will pay off and she can trade for a newer one.
She crouches on the outside of the hatch for a moment making sure it was secure and to check her bearings before heading down into the depths.
