Tainted Hearth: Just like as if it had evolved over centuries...

Posted by Alpha Auer

I have been coming to the conclusion that I write far more enthusiastically when I do not directly contact the designers of a virtual build, but leave myself open to my own musings and impressions of the place. In the case of Tainted Hearth, this may be leading me to certain errors in identifying the names and functions of all parties involved in the design process and if this is indeed the case, I stand very much corrected. As far as I have been able to ascertain, this island has been created by AzA Zymurgy and Lacey Mertel, through a skillful collection and subsequent weaving together of objet trouvé into a strongly integrated design system - an approach that I have adopted at Syncretia myself and one that I wholeheartedly applaud and find highly appropriate for metaverse creativity. Again, I may be completely mistaken in this assumption, and if so, my sincerest apologies to the creator(s) of Tainted Hearth.



One of the things that struck me from the first moment of setting foot at Tainted Hearth is the very subtle way in which this island seems to carry layers of history: When observed from a History of Architecture perspective it is quite startling to see that some of the buildings seem to belong to far earlier periods than others: Thus while the art gallery, located on its own individual islet is in a modernist industrial style, some of the buildings atop the hill seem to date back to the early 20th century and yet others seem to go back to earlier stylistic periods, all the way back to the central European late Gothic tradition which is exemplified in the "cathedral", with its very own gargoyle perched on the roof, in a vastly exaggerated and humorous rendition of the manner in which I have seen them perched atop Gothic buildings in Prague. And isn't this precisely how cities grow? Don't we have this conglomeration of architectural styles in most, if not all, urban centers throughout the globe? It is this very clever replication/re-interpretation of emergent historical architectural growth that for me has set Tainted Hearth apart from the vast majority of themed sims that I see all over Second Life®. By and large, for me, themed sims do not work all too well: This usually has to do with the fact that whatever theme it is that has been implemented tends to become superimposed onto the entire sim, creating an air of artificiality, of over deliberation, of over-design and ultimately of uniformity. Now, I am not even sure if it would be appropriate to categorize Tainted Hearth as a themed sim, so vast are the differences in architectural periods and styles manifest in the building work, however if one were to do so, it is most certainly a themed sim that works!


Reminiscent of the Black Towers of Prague maybe?


The modernist/industrial art gallery foregrounded to a conglomeration of historic architectural styles.

In a "real" city, the conglomeration of styles usually ends up creating a cohesive Gestalt with the aid of environmental factors, such as the atmospheric pollution which with the passage of time tends to paint the discrepant surfaces into a more or less uniform hue. Another catalyst of Gestalt in civic architecture is also, of course, the indigenous vegetation and climate of a particular location. And just so, at Tainted Hearth the same thing seems to have happened: Scattered throughout the island is the Sculpty Tree of Despair by Seph Da Silva, (of which I have quite a few rezzed at Syncretia as well ;-), one of the most dramatic and beautifully textured trees that I have ever come across in Second Life. And taking the concept even further, the designers of the island seem to have taken their cue for terrain texturing from Da Silva's trees as well, creating a strangely burnt out, aged looking carpet of vegetation throughout the island. And even the terraforming seems to have followed Da Silva's theme of despair and corrosion. And then finally complementing this ecological framework is the architecture itself, which while discrepant stylistically, manages to convince us that it has been subjected to the same climatic elements over an extended period of time, resulting in a soft blending of texture and hue.

But ultimately, when all is said done, it is the actual content of the place, the conveyance of a subliminal convoluted narrative, reminiscent of Central European fairy tales, compounded by a sense of the ominous, indeed almost the uncanny, that makes Tainted Hearth a definite must see of NPIRL virtual sim building.

You can teleport to Tainted Hearth directly from here. You can see larger and more photos of Tainted Hearth here.

Nautilus

Nautilus is a region very recently added to the world of Second Life®, rezzed slightly to the north of the Japanese Continent, covering a total of 22 sims, a sizable portion of which are submerged under the ocean. I found out about Nautilus pretty much during the first hours that it was rezzed since the event happened almost literally on our doorstep at Klein, the whacko sim that is one of my two Second Life homes, housing my beloved alpha.land.

These sims are far from being mere empty pieces of land; indeed they are built quite extensively based upon a theme, which seems to me to evolve around the Minoan or early Greek civilizations. This work has been undertaken by the Linden Department of Public Works and the Mole Family. There are many things that I liked about Nautilus and a few things that left me dubious. So, I will reverse the usual practice of leaving critique to the end and air out my misgivings first and then proceed onto all the good things that I saw.

My first problem is the conspicuous absence of any kind of terraforming above sea level. Indeed, for the largest part the land is as flat as can be, whereas in the parts that have been raised the elevations are abrupt and geometric, causing sudden harsh breaks and shadows. This would maybe have worked had the theme of the building activity been of a kind that would have complemented a geometrically structured terrain. As it is, the rezed material looks lost and out of place placed upon the huge flat expanses of virtual grass since the building work undertaken sustains a detailed realism which does not get followed through on the ground that it has been erected.



My second issue is with the city planning, which has been implemented on a grid system. Again, in my view, very problematic; taking away a great deal from the thematic credibility of the region given that the urban evolution of the period in question was emergent rather than planned, houses growing in an organic manner, following the curvatures of land, water, access routes and safety zones. Indeed gridded city planning is something which to the best of my knowledge came into existence only after the Enlightenment on any kind of a big scale. So, even if temples or public areas would be built upon geometric principles, the town itself would huddle around these pivots in a more or less higgledy piggledy fashion, creating the peculiar charm which we see in the centers of most old world cities even today. An excellent example of a historic town implemented in Second Life was the, sadly no longer existent, Romenna by Nick Lassard and I really would have loved to see something more along those lines materialize at Nautilus as well.

And now onto the good stuff, and here I think I will do less talking and let the many images that we took in Nautilus speak for themselves.



The building work executed by the Mole Family is impeccable in detail as well as in overall structure. The many temples and public areas are beautifully proportioned, conveying a satisfying sense of space as well as vista. The perspectives generated by the columned walkways and pergolas that traverse the countryside of Nautilus are a joy to walk in and to gaze upon. Particularly charming is the huge public bath...





... as are the civic areas around some of the smaller harbors.







And of course special mention needs to be made of the big temple, situated in the Central Citadel. The interior of this building is nothing short of a virtual feast of spatial light and harmony, complemented by a huge version of one of the glowing pink quartz crystal central altars, which are a recurring theme across the entire region.





The texturing of the public spaces of Nautilus is amongst some of the best that I have seen in Second Life, again hugely to the credit of the Mole Family. Sadly the dwellings that make up the bulk of the prim work leave something to be desired in terms of texture, particularly when placed in proximity to the gorgeous public builds.

The underwater domain of Nautilus was of particular interest to me since as a builder I have used it quite extensively myself, immersing considerable portions of Syncretia under the ocean. Indeed I have plans to submerge the entire island in its next incarnation, which I will be undertaking before long. Here at Nautilus a certain effort has indeed been made. However, all in all, the underwater is not nearly as well built and textured as what is to be seen above sea level. It would have been great to see portions of the city above sunk under the sea, maybe in the shape of ruins, in addition to the odd ship and plane wrecks and wall remnants encountered here and there.








Underwater photographs courtesy of Hardwarehacker Hoch

One of the biggest aesthetic problems in Second Life for me is the foliage. Not to put too fine a point on it, I do not like Second Life plants. Amongst other issues this also lies in the way in which the plants of Second Life sink into the virtual soil. Thus, unless some effort is made to integrate these two design elements (i.e., the plant and the soil), for me no plant ever manages to take root in Second Life convincingly. There are cases where the extraordinary skill of the landscaper will overcome the inherent shortcomings and perform miracles in this regard, as would be the case in Chakryn Forest where Andrek Lowell has performed just such a miracle. Under the ocean in Nautilus, where rezzing has ended up relying largely on underwater flora this shortcoming to me became glaringly obvious. The good thing about the ocean depths is that some excellent terraforming, indeed almost good enough to make up for the shortcomings of the foliage has been undertaken.

We are told by Linden Labs that "there look to be several hundred parcels available, all of them 1024 square meters in size". Thus Nautilus will be an area available for Residency and "auctions for the new area will go live on the 24th October with all auctions starting at L$2000".

You can teleport to the Nautilus Central Citadel directly from here and once there continue to investigate this huge region spreading before your eyes in all compass directions. You can also see many large sized images of Nautilus here and here.

3D doodling with Vlad

NPIRL florist, sculpty master, and video artist Vlad Bjornson is hosting an interactive 3D doodling session and is inviting content creators to come build together on a chosen theme. He's calling it Collabricate. This could become a weekly event, folks!

You'll certainly be in good company. Here's a great vid he created in October of last year: his Top Ten Second Life® building tips.



Vlad's spreading the event over the course of two days to give more people a chance to get in-world and participate: this Saturday, August 30th between 11am and 1pm SLT and Sunday, August 31st between 5 and 7pm SLT.

Got any brainstorms, suggestions or questions? Visit his Shiny Life blog and let him know.