Heterocera Travelogue #20: Bedstraw

In the previous instalment of my travelogue, I was in Amella, close to the east coast of Heterocera. From the distance, the neighbouring Bedstraw didn’t look very promising, but as it was the next stop along this route, I paid it a visit.

Bedstraw’s location is quiet interesting. It is to the east of Amella and is the first of the sims I’ve visited that has also access to Route 5 (on its easternmost part) and to the ocean. Almost half of the sim is owned by Governor Linden, with nothing rezzed on it. The parcels bordering that land are all owned by Southern Kingdom of Bedstraw, and all contain nuclear reactors, emitting fluorescent green smoke. Perhaps I should have worn a gas mask or something…

In stark contrast, not far from the reactors, along the shore, is Southern Kingdom’s nicer part, with trees, chairs, and a hammock, with the view of the Route 5 bridge.

The parcel right along the coast contains cannons on it. They emit a lot of blue balls that end up hitting Route 5, so be careful if you drive there! They are not actually dangerous in any way, although their effects makes everything look like a mild griefing situation.

The rest of Bedstraw is a large sandbox, with 1 week expiration, which explains why the area looks the way it does…

Walking deeper into the land I came across the very heart of Southern Kingdom of Bedstraw – the castle surrounded by trees and a small lake. There are no banlines or security orbs and it is possible to walk inside and explore.

The bedroom door was locked, but I managed to peek inside and take a snapshot of the interior. It seems the castle really is ancient.

In the halls, there are interesting old manuscripts that you can leaf through, and that is probably the most interesting thing about all of Bedstraw.

The top floor of the castle looks rather psychedelic, with a giant kaleidoscope and a “meditation ball”.

The very tall tower on the side of the castle is actually hollow and impossible to climb, but camming inside showed me this…

It is possible to sit on one of the swings at the very top, though, which gave me a not very nice view of this strange sim and the surrounding area. There were sim restarts in progress, otherwise everything would have looked even messier.

In brief, if you want to inhale radioactive fumes, sunbathe in the immediate vicinity of nuclear reactors, or enjoy the unique architecture and furniture design of the early SL, Bedstraw is the place to go!

Heterocera Travelogue #19: Amella

As I continue my explorations along the eastern parts of Heterocera, I leave Poecila and enter the neighbouring Amella.

Large parts of this sim are empty and abandoned, especially along the public road. But there are still a few things to see, such as the unusual futuristic structure found deep in the southeastern corner of the sim. 

Life Size Transformers build is a bit difficult to enter, but double-click TP works, or flying down on one of the landing pads on the sides. It turns out to be a store with different models of aircraft, transforming avatars, and a few freebies. Vendors were down at the time of my visit.

Not far from Life Size Transformers is a small trailer found on Jose’s Amella SLRR Land parcel. It looked inviting, so I went inside to take a little break from the journey.

Another feature of Jose’s land is this model of an old train – a VRC freebie found on the tracks connected to SLRR.

While there is nothing else to see in Amella itself, the view on neighbouring parcels is a representation of typical mainland – lots of prim trash, leftovers from who knows when, protective screens, and such. 

And if you look up, it’s just more of the same, such as this fortress on a floating island. With waterfalls.

Still, the trashy Bedstraw to the east of Amella seems to be my next destination, as it’s the next place along this route…

Heterocera Travelogue #18: Poecila

After a visit to Catalpa back in December, I travel further south to Poecila. Already from the distance I could see what is the only feature of this area – Dazai Voom’s celebrated D-LAB store. The entire region is owned by Voom, so D-LAB is pretty much the only game in town.

Poecila train station next to SLRR tracks

Easy to spot, D-LAB dominates the area

D-LAB is well known for it recognizable artistic designs and a large number of really interesting gadgets, pets, pieces of decor etc. I’m sure it doesn’t need advertising, so I’ll just share a few snapshots from the store. It is located up in the sky, which I don’t usually cover in my travelogues, but I will make an exception this time. You can pick up the landmark on the ground.

The Sky Garden covers a wide area and you can spend a lot of time looking at all the details.

D-LAB Sky Garden landing point area

View over the main store shopping area

If you’re on a tight budget, D-LAB regularly features at Fifty Linden Fridays event and is one of the stores that doesn’t remove the Friday item immediately after the 24-hour period.

Apart from the store, the Sky Garden is also the location of a really interesting village. With its narrow streets and many small venues, it reminded me of the small towns of the Mediterranean.

Even if you don’t care about shopping, you should definitely visit this place. One can spend a lot of time there, and to see what I mean, here’s the aerial shot of the Sky Garden. Again, a lot of it (perhaps greater part) is not really a store, so it’s not all about shopping there.

When I wrote that D-LAB is the only thing to see in Poecila, that wasn’t entirely true… Back on the ground, I spotted waterfalls and a river flowing into the ocean in the neighbouring Gibbosa. At first, I thought this was part of D-LAB too. Partly, it is – Dazai Voom made the upper waterfalls, which then nicely connect to the ones created by Ryan Linden of Linden Department of Public Works on the other side of the bridge. So, there’s a little piece of nature, thanks to the Lindens…

The waterfall is another example of how Voom used the existing features to blend into the wider area. I thought this was a very nice touch, since typically most mainland parcel owners show very little regard for the surrounding area.

On the other side of the railway tracks is already Amella, which I will visit next time…

Heterocera Travelogue #17: Catalpa

Continuing my series of Heterocera travelogues, this morning I took off from Malacosoma rezz zone and drove towards south, to Catalpa.

I wasn’t quite sure what I would find there, as the surrounding area looked totally deserted from the distance. I inserted my mix tape with Creedence hits, stepped on the gas pedal and off I went…

The first inhabited place that I found was right next to the road and the SLRR tracks – Elzhea’s Coffee Stop and Garden. It’s a small, 512sqm, parcel – currently on sale – with a garage and a few chairs in the back. It also serves as a rezz zone, as indicated by the sign on the ground.

As I sat there for a bit, I had a zen moment observing the egg lamp…

One can already see the ocean and more parcels from the Coffee Stop, but they belong to the neighbouring Myron and Gibbosa.

The single only other parcel in Catalpa that hasn’t been abandoned is to the west of the sim: Killer’s Shop. I remember visiting this place several time before in search of different builds. I just hadn’t realized it was here on Heterocera. It’s surrounded by tall rocks and is not directly accessible, but you can double click to TP inside.

Killer’s sells builds, mesh decor and furniture, some with adult animations. There’s a lot to see in the store.

That’s all there is to Catalpa. Not the most exciting place in Heterocera, although the egg lamp alone made it worth the trip. 😀

There is at least one awesome place to visit in the neighbouring Poecilla, which is where I will travel for the next instalment.

Heterocera Travelogue #16: Malacosoma

It’s been a very long time since my last Heterocera travelogue. In January 2016 I posted a special feature about my former home, Triphosa, but the last regular instalment was in December 2015, when I visited Philudoria. And that’s where I am today, on the border crossing with Malacosoma.

There are two ways to reach the area (not counting teleporting to it directly): by train, and by car. Here I am standing next to the SLRR tracks, with the Malacosoma train station directly behind me, and one of the mainland public roads under the bridge.

The station is operated by the VRC (Virtual Railway Consortium), and here you can find more information about them and their work.

Interestingly, there seems to be a railway hunt going on, where you need to find a wrench within the Tuliptree sim to claim limited edition gifts. It ends tomorrow, 19th November, so you better hurry!

Now, the rest of Malacosoma looks rather empty. This is the view to the east of the station and the local rezz zone:

It’s mostly abandoned land, apart from a small parcel named “The Ancient Heavenly Connection“. There’s a small zen garden with a Buddha statue, a meditation cushion, wind chimes, and a camp fire… One can come sit here and relax after a long journey on the train.

The only other parcel in Malacosoma with something rezzed on it is “W + W Ranch“. Here you can get some cotton candy and ride the carousel, among other things.

Zantor, the fortune teller told me: “Remember to share good fortune as well as bad with your friends.” Good thought!

The owner of the place, Winter Phoenix, was in the area, but as he was busy getting frozen in a cryogenic pod up in his skybox over 2.500 metres above, I didn’t want to bother him.

Behind the game park is Winter’s home, the ranch itself, which is by far the nicest thing to see in Malacosoma and the wider area. It was lovely to see all the farm animals in the middle of an otherwise empty mainland region.

Closing thoughts: Malacosoma is well connected and practically unavoidable if your travel in the area, but it’s also underdeveloped and largely abandoned. It’s only thanks to VRC and Winter Phoenix that there are signs of life here.

Typical Malacosma with the view of Catalpa

I’ll be moving towards south from here, so for the next instalment of the Heterocera Travelogue (which I hope will come out soon), I’ll see you in Catalpa!

Good bye Heterocera, hello Nautilus!

Last night my last remaining parcel on Heterocera was sold. Since my move to Second Norway a few months ago, I’d only used the land in Triphosa for my small thrift store. It also served as a kind of a memento to a quarter sim that I used to own in the area. Eventually I decided to let it go. Fred, a good friend of mine, bought it and is now working on building a new train station there.

Duncan and I on the empty parcel, soon to be Fred’s train station

I haven’t given up on mainland, though. I still want a mainland place with access to a public road, where I can come back to after a road trip. I managed to find just one such location, on a continent I haven’t explored much so far – Nautilus, in a place called Odie. There I’ve just set up my petrol station and cafe, conveniently located right next to the public rezz zone.

The area is pleasant and surprisingly free of too much mainland clutter. And Route 12, judging by what I see on the world map, looks promising. I’m definitely looking forward to exploring it.

The place is still in need of some finishing touches, but if you need to fill your tank and grab a cup of coffee or a slice of home-made pie, you’re welcome to visit:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Odie/67/248/52

Final sale at Triphosa Bazaar

As I’ll be abandoning my last remaining mainland parcel in Triphosa on the east coast of Heterocera, the reseller store will go away too, at least on that location. 

On that occasion, come to the final sale at Bazaar. It will remain open only until 1pm SLT, 1st June. It’s mostly gacha items made by quality creators, at significantly reduced prices. Here’s the SLurl: http://tinyurl.com/hwweoa2

Heterocera Travelogue #14: Philudoria

I resumed my journey across Heterocera on a chilly winter day in December, leaving Phyllodesma and entering Philudoria.

The train station near the border crossing is already in the neighbouring Malacosma, but it can serve as a good starting point for visiting the area, and there’s also a rezz zone if you wish to rezz your own vehicle. I waited there for a bit until the fog lifted up, planning my way around Philudoria.

Apart from a very short stretch of the road that enters the sim at its southwestern tip, there is also a network of railway tracks here. I hopped onto my freight train and headed deep inside Philudoria, towards north.

The local train station / SLRR rezz zone is very small and it’s actually the end of that stretch of SLRR. You can see the crane in the distance, in the neighbouring Xanthorhoe, where the Lindens have done some work on the new bridge and a railway connection to the east coast of the continent (but no work on that has been done in months, so I’m not holding my breath).

Already from here I could see that Philudoria is one of the quirkier places on mainland. First, you can’t miss the two large buildings.

The one on the right, Dolphpun Somme Art Gallery and Particle Factory, doesn’t seem to have any entrance doors, but that OK, as the walls are phantom. Up on display, there’s a curious assortment of inworld snapshots and gifs, most of them homoerotic.

The place on the left is owned by the same person, and seems to be a shop selling cheap T-shirts. It all has a bad mainland feel to it.

The structures are quite large, taking up the entire western part of the sim, and are not the most appealing example of inworld architecture. But hey, at least the clock is working right!

Immediately opposite Dolphpun’s is the place owned by Facepunch Studios. I’m not on speaking terms with those guys, as they happen to be the pranksters who were rezzing silly things on my land on several occasions and causing commotion there.

Still, I visited the Arcade they opened on Facepunch Plaza.

It’s a fun place, but not all of the games actually work…

The area around the Facepunch Plaza is abandoned. Well, almost… I did find a small parcel with a single prim rezzed on it!

And another one, with only grass and a beanbag in Charity’s Bastion.

And there’s Ben’s Land, where you can sit on his half-buried birthday cake.

Obviously, all that was too much excitement for me, so I went back to the train station and walked into the first train that came by. For the next travelogue, I’ll travel further north to Xanthorhoe.

Foggy autumn day at Norgaard Village… But sun broke through over the chapel.

Heterocera Travelogue #12: Lythria

After an uneventful visit to disappointingly empty Philereme, described in the previous travelogue, my next stop along Route 4 proved to be the very opposite. Lythria is a fun and lively place, mostly thanks to Simple Wunderlich’s Zoo of All Things.

Studying the map of Lythria

The place is quite large, spanning across most of Lythria. There are lots of trees and flowers – and animals, of course, some of which are roaming freely.

There are also curious builds everywhere around, such as this gallery of sorts, where each hall contains a panorama of a different natural setting. Interestingly, I can see this build from my home in the neighbouring Triphosa, but this has been the first time that I actually stepped inside to see what’s in it.

Close to the parking and rezz zone area, there are stalls where you can purchase Simple’s books which contain inworld photography and collections of meditations.

Also, freebie lovers will appreciate different gadgets, artwork and prefabs available here (admittedly, on the high side in terms of prim count).

There’s more to see across the road, where the Aquarium is located. Apparently the entire build is available as a freebie.

There are also cozy spots where you can relax after all the walking and sightseeing, some of which are secluded behind lush vegetation.

Personally, I was happy to come across this barbecue, as the whole visit made me quite peckish.

Given the size of the Simple’s Zoo, you can spend quite a lot of time here exploring, hunting for freebies, checking out gallery spaces or looking at the animals. I remember this place from before I even moved to the continent and it’s always interesting to visit.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the place is truly one of the Heterocera’s landmarks. It’s certainly a wonderful refreshment after a series of underdeveloped sims along Route 4.