My Journey to Heritage Key, Part 3 - Stonehenge

(Parts 1 and 2 here and here.)

Fresh from my adventure in Amarna, I returned to the Travel Center and walked through the "Stonehenge Portal." This transports one to a staging area, in which one has the choice of four different eras: 2400 BC, prior to the construction of the stone circles; 2300 BC, during construction; 1500 BC, in which one experiences life in a Druid village and a burial ceremony inside the circle; and modern day, in which one celebrates the solstice with modern Druids.

First things first, however: as with Life on the Nile, there are several Druid outfits from which to choose, in order to blend in with the natives. I change quickly, and approach my trusty guide.


First stop: 2400 BC! I walk up to the natives, who tell me a little about the place and their lives.

A mini-game involves wandering the perimeter of the setting, examining the informational signs that describe the flora and fauna one would have encountered at that time. Below, I pose with my prize!


Moving forward a century, I see the workmen erecting the great stones. Below, I help raise a stone into place. A mini-game involves helping a man repair his wagon by collecting nearby logs. Hey, no one ever said that exploring the past would be work-free!

The great slabs are largely in place, though the site does not yet look complete.


Following my guide to 1500 BC (you can see the blond man in the light-colored robe standing by the teleporter in the picture below), I start in the Druid village. The village has a funeral planned for the next day, and preparations are underway. I help prepare a simple meal by combining various ingredients. [Author's aisde: that taxed my cooking ability.]

I then participated in the funeral rites. The priest explains the scene. Signs provide information about how archaeologists made the finds that allowed them to draw conclusions about how Stonehenge was used.


Finally, I travel forward to the present day and see Stonehenge as it is currently preserved (including the highway traveling past the site). Modern Druids complain about the lack of access to the site and its proximity to the highway. Finally, I take a quiz to illustrate how little I really know about Stonehenge. (Look at the shadows on the picture below!)


At the end of another enjoyable day, I return one last time with my guide back to the portal, and from there back to the Travel Center, where another adventure awaited.

Manifesto Contest

The Mad Scientist Convention continued on Sunday with the Manifesto Contest and Costume Contest.

Below, Miss Darlingmonster Ember's Tesla coil-powered apparatus. She must have strong shoulders indeed!


Miss Stereo Nacht. One imagines Paul Hogan saying: "Naw, that's not a wrench." He pulls out Miss Nacht's wrench. "Now that's a wrench."


Our Mistress of Ceremonies, Mrs. Volare, looking quite be-tentacled:


I stood back and observed the proceedings in a strictly journalistic capacity, though I did partake in an excellent glass of absinthe. I have no idea whatsoever as to why the later pictures exhibit some camera shake.


Miss Searra Weatherwax also seems content to observe:

Herr Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (shown below with Frau Anachen Lowey) delivered the shortest manifesto: "Don't make me come over there!"


Miss Magdalena Kamenev, looking lovely in a strapless gown, delivered a spirited rant.


Mr. Garth Goode, making the rest of us hungry for calamari, channelled his inner Cthulhu during his manifesto, combining an appeal to Science (with Mr. Goode, naturally, the sole arbiter of Science) with veiled threats to the Old Ones.


Miss CronoCloud Creeggan ascended the dais to deliver her platform, which started off well with a fiery call for more shoes. This brought the ladies in attendance to her side, until the Baron noted that she never suggested the shoes be shared with her subjects. Miss Creeggan's tirade then wandered into the realm of sparkles and ponies, and never quite recovered its earlier laser-like focus.


Mr. Leintati Innovia surely surpassed the rest of the field in the "mad" portion of Mad Science, delivering a lengthy, rambling manifesto that was quite divorced from reality. Lovely, really, in its own way.

Although I had other obligations and could stay only through the delivering of the manifestos, I understand that Baron Wulfenbach's precis carried the day in the manifesto contest and that Miss Nacht won with her outfit. Congratulations to the winners! To the others, I say, "Bwa ha ha! You may not have carried the day this time, cursed be to the corrupt judges, but beware next year!"

[N.B. Please don't take my comments about the participants seriously. Everyone who participated was a good sport about the thing, and a good time was had by all. I regret not having the foresight to copy each speech for your amusement; Mrs. Volare will be doing so in the Steamlander after she sobers up as soon as she recovers as time permits. My hat's off to the lady for another successful RFL fundraising event.]

Minion Build Competition

The Mac Scientist Convention continued on Saturday with a build competition. The theme: minions. After hours of hammering prims together, a dozen or so minions were ready for judging.

Caledon RFL Co-Captain Lucien Brentano judged the competition. Mr. Brentano had a unique mode of transportation on which to travel about the Oxbridge sandbox: the Noobmobile. He looks far too happy about his ride.

Mr. Brentano awarded three prizes. The first, for "Most Creative Use for a Used and Used-Up Henchman," went to Mr. Aeos Dragone for his Nooblood-Powered Clock":

Miss Martini Discovolante won the prize for "Most Likely to Make Mr. Lucien Wake Up Screaming" for her ArachnoBard:

Last, but certainly not least, Dead Vanessa Hamer won in the category of "Best Interpretation of a State Official" for Scary Des. Observe the unsettling details: two sets of arms and legs, the frightening tier meter, and, of course, the chicken:

Although all the contestants made something special, I particularly enjoyed Miss Cutea Benelli's bug-eyed creation (which also had a child monster wandering about):

I also was quite impressed with Mr. Garth Goode's Noob Minion (the Noob thing seemed to be a theme for the day):

Also notable was Miss Veleda Lorakeet's wonderfully Steampunk dress. As someone commented: "Any more gears on that and it would move under its own power."

Congratulations to the winners and to all the contestants!

The Curse of Rothesay Lives On

Miss Anderton has placed her share of Rothesay up for sale:

http://www.steamlander.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=2783

I have lost track of the number of times three of the four parcels have changed hands. At least Mr. Merlin can't complain of having to see the same neighbors month in, month out!

Mad Scientist Convention in SSC

I find it difficult to keep track of all the events on the social calendar, but one I look forward to is the Steam Sky City Mad Scientist Convention, now in its third year.

Mrs. Fogwoman Volare hosted a "meet and greet" session wherein one could exchange information on world domination plans (a little coordination there goes a long way), the latest Mad Scientist fashions (one would hate to be wearing the same lab coat as the pipsqueak villain standing nearby), and minions. Good Lord, these people complain about their minions more than the aristocrats complain about their servants, and that's saying something!

I attended strictly in a journalistic capacity - no Scientist I, though I'm sometimes Mad. Well, quite often Irked, so I thought I would fit in.

Mr. Garth Goode with his famed Face Light. I stand on the right - I thought the skirt with the skulls would fit right in!


Miss Darlingmonster Ember, looking dressed to kill, or at least maim, and Miss Emilin Nakamori, looking deceptively harmless. One really can't judge a Mad Scientist by her appearance at these things.


Our Hostess, Mrs. Volare, standing next to Mr. Goode. The hat, he explained, was useful for meetings; it would take notes for him whilst he napped. I coveted the hat.


Mr. Denny Kozlov, in purple plaid.


Mr. Gray Pennell.


Miss Cutea Benelli and Miss Trilby Minotaur. Miss Benelli out-skulled me by a healthy margin. Miss Minotaur was wearing a darling lab outfit, complete with a syringe of scary-looking green liquid strapped to her arm. Just the thing to wear to a dissection!


I voted for my favorite Mad Science photo - in fact, I voted twice: it seemed like good preparation should I ever move to Chicago.

If time permits, I will drop by the building contest later and report on that.

New Toulouse Jardin

I was looking for ideas for a brief getaway when someone suggested the French-influenced New Toulouse. Having enjoyed my earlier visit, but never having seen the two newest regions of Jardin and the Bayou, this seemed to be a terrific idea.

My first stop was Jardin, an area of stately manor homes. Interspersed among these mansions is the church below - or, rather, what appeared to be a deconsecrated church and now the (future) home to the Museum of New Orleans History.

After that, my guide took me on a tour of the fine homes.

As we passed by the home shown in the picture below, my guide whispered that this was the residence of the Prim Minister herself, Miss Gabrielle Riel. We also passed by the Edison Ballroom, which looked to be the scene of formal dances.

Despite the heat and humidity that hung like a pall over the town and caused the vegetation to run wild in many places, I could not help but be impressed by the splendor of the town.

As we ended the tour along the riverbank, my driver said to me in the local patois, "Now that you've seen how the other half lives, do you want to see where the workin' men an' women live?" I nodded. "Well, jes' git yoursel' into this boat heah an' I'll show you. We'ah goin' to the Bayou."

My Journey to Heritage Key, Part 2 - Life on the Nile

Walking through the teleporter to the Life on the Nile exhibit takes you to Amarna and the house of Setmare the Scribe. A variety of Egyptian outfits are available - I chose the "Beketaten" -, as well as a "journal" that keeps track of the mini-games in the area. (Sadly, the journal does not keep track of accomplishments between visits, so be sure to complete a set of accomplishments before logging out.)

The first room in the house is the western loggia, and appears to be used as a music room, with a lute and a flute-like instrument available. Below, I'm playing the solo in "Stairway to Heaven" - Jimmy Page, eat your heart out!


Setmare the Scribe is in the main hall. Come near him and he will say he does not recognize you, and challenges you to answer a question. Answer incorrectly and you may find yourself damp.

Other interior rooms include the entrance hall, the harem (!), and various bedrooms. Various household members interact to a limited degree with visitors, and a number of rooms have information displays with explanations about life in this time and place. Below, I play with makeup.


Don't forget to explore the roof of the house, the outbuildings, and the exterior. Below is an explanatory sign. Click on the prim to activates the sign. One of the interesting things is that the sign will display on the client side, so that avatars can read through the different screens at their own paces. (Note the small "1" in the upper-right-hand corner, signifying that we are on the first page, and the hand by the "click for more..." at the lower-right-hand part of the page.)


Without automation, a household this size took a fair number of servants to run. One of the mini-games involves finding these areas (not all have servants, such as the one depicted below) and sitting on the appropriate object to "help out" in running the household.

While you're at it, keep on the lookout for the four pieces of a letter that will help reveal a household plot. Solve the plot and reveal it to the correct person in the house and you could save the day! (If all that sounds too much like work, I assure you that the mini-games are not taxing.)

Before you leave for more modern times, be sure to find the river raft and play the game Rock, Scythe, Papyrus. (An ancient version of a game most of us are familiar with.) Win the round and your opponent moves backward, toward the Nile. The game ends when one player falls into the crocodile-infested river. (Fortunately, the sim is not damage-enabled.) Exploring solo? No problem. As one can see from the picture below, a hippopotamus is happy to assist. "Move, porky - you lost that round."


Next: to Stonehenge!

My Journey to Heritage Key, Part 1

At the risk of appearing to jump on the bandwagon – largely because I am jumping on the bandwagon – I thought I’d spend some time exploring the work that Rezzable has been doing with Open Sim. (For those who haven’t seen these excellent pieces, Dio Kuhr writes about her experiences here and Ariane Barnes writes here.)

Dio discusses Heritage Key as a learning envrionment, and has a brief interview with Rezzable's CEO, Jon Himoff. I'm no ed-yoo-cater; I'm more of a happy-go-lucky sort, interested in entertaining myself and others, and if I happen to learn something along the way, great. As a result, my perspective is a somewhat different one.

I'll start with a big thank you to Miss Viv Trafalgar, who made sure I was able to log in without trouble and spent a very pleasant hour or more with me (well, it was pleasant for me) showing me the welcome area, the travel center, and the various Stonehenge exhibits - more on those in Part 2 of this series - and pointing out the AO that, among other things, got rid of the horrid duck walk. Miss Viv, who has done extensive work for Rezzable both in Heritage Key and elsewhere, also discussed the ongoing evolution of the software behind the Heritage Key grid. [*N.B. All errors are those of the author, as the disclaimer in academic work goes. In addition, I haven't quoted Viv, in part because, in my scatter-brained way, it didn't occur to me until it was far too late that, gee, some our conversation might be of wider interest but by then it was too late to ask whether she would like to be quoted. Instead, you get my musings.]

Heritage Key is an OpenSimulator (or OpenSim) grid, existing separately from the Second Life grid, so it requires its own registration and avatar creation. OpenSimulator an open source server software designed to host virtual worlds. OpenSim looks a great deal like Second Life - I assume much of that was reverse-engineered from the SL server side - and uses the same communications protocols for client to server communication. As a result, any of the Second Life clients should work with OpenSim.

If my experience in Heritage Key is representative of OpenSim, the platform has come a long way from my earlier experiments with it. I would have login difficulties, suffer frequent crashes, and, during the infrequent times when I could both log in and not crash immediately, the lag was so intense as to render the platform unusable. This time, I've had no trouble logging in, have crashed only once, and performance has been fairly good. It seems to be rougher around the edges than SL, but the developers are no doubt heading rapidly in the right direction.

Heritage Key has its own client, which is a simplified version of a standard SL client. Start by registering at heritage-key.com (and that little hyphen is important; otherwise, you find yourself looking at the web page for a RL community in Kissimmee, Florida), create an avatar name - and, wonder of wonders, you're not limited to a menu of last names! - and default avatar, all of which come with some degree of a Steampunk outfit. Download and install the software (for Windows or Mac). The software launches with a click of a button on the HK site, as well as the usual way. Alternatively, one can configure a standard SL client with the "Target" line of properties to: -loginuri http://login.heritage-key.com . In theory, at least. When I tried this, I logged in but I stayed a cloud. For the moment, I'm sticking with the HK client.

After logging in for the first time, I found myself in the Welcome area.


This is a Roman-style plaza with a central fountain and statues representing various Heritage Key exhibits (e.g., an ibis and mummy) - and possibly future ones - note the terra cotta warrior. Below, the HK Rhianon:


At one end of the plaza is this globe, with teleporters that are set for destinations that appear to be children-oriented:


At the end is an AO vendor and four brass-and-glass teleporters. No clicking to "sit" in order to teleport - just walk in! The destinations: Skills Center, King Tut's Treasure, Travel Hub, and Avatar Center.

The Skills Center is a short tutorial on basic movement, communications, and inventory management. The Avatar Center has male and female avatars, complete outfits, several hair styles, and some individual pieces of clothing. There are changing rooms as well, for the modest. Below, I model the Steampunk top hat and goggles available in the area while standing next to "my" skin and shape. The family resemblance is unmistakable.


The Travel Hub, with its big brass clock as a centerpiece, has an information desk with signs that describe the various destinations. Around the edge of the room are teleporters for the various destinations: Life on the Nile 1350 BCE; Collections Gallery, Tut's Treasure; Valley of the Kings 1920s; Stonehenge Solstice; Stonehenge Portal; and, listed as "opening soon," The British Museum.


In Part 2, I discover intrigue in ancient Egypt!

Le Havre and Honfleur

From the lovely village of Giverny, a walk south takes one to the Norman town of Le Havre, overlooking the harbor and facing the town of Honfleur. At least, these recreations spring from the creative mind of Miss Kaye Robbiani, who recently discovered, as sim owners are wont to do, that two sims were not enough.

Our tour starts at the Hotel Le Havre.

The hotel has a charming cottage across the way; the design of the cottage is for sale.


One could travel by boat across the harbor, and no doubt this would be a charming way to see the area as the sea breeze gently ruffles one's hair, but I took my trusty airship, and landed on the coast.

The high street, so to speak, has a number of small shops with wares by names familiar in the Steamlands, such as Mr. Nix Sands, Mr. Ambiant Kukulcan, Mr. Equine McMillan, Miss Terry Lightfoot, Miss Kembri Tomsen, Miss Audry Fotherington, Mr. Alastair Whybrow, and Mr. Storm Engineer.

To the west of the shops stand several cottages.

Behind the cottages, protected by a hill and several tall trees, is an art gallery, owned by Mr. Monty Streusel. One can sit outside at the cafe and look at the surroundings,...

...or tour the rooms of the gallery and admire those surroundings.


Back in the airship, I decided I had had enough walking for one day, regardless of how breathtaking the sights. It was time to head home and find a medicinal brandy.