Exploring SF on the grid Part III

The Babylon 5 Experience. Babylon 5 station has slowly evolved from a corner of a mainland sim to having two full sims of their own. I don't know if the aim is to eventually build the whole station, but they've gone an impressive distance to far.



Located in the Epsilon 3 and Epsilon Eridani sims, the Bab 5 station hovers high above the planet surface.


The Zocalo is a retail centre where you can find all manner of Babylon 5 and other SF outfits and ships.


View from one of the meeting rooms aboard B5.


Command & Control (or "C&C") the heart of operations on Babylon 5.


Chambers of the Interstellar Alliance


MacBari's: That even in the future some things stay the same.


The newly installed rail car let's you travel from one sim to the next.

The layout boasts security rooms, alien environments, rentable quarters, medical labs and an a variety of levels from the show. Friday nights are RP nights, but they have various things happening outside that from time to time.

For some reason the idea of Security Chief Garribadger stuck in my head during one of the conversations. I'm waiting for Raglan to invade the sim and see what the result is :-)

Weekend dances

This Saturday, the 30th of August, sees the official opening of the Consulate of Europa Wulfenbach in Antiquity.

It's also Mary Shelly's birthday, so the theme for the dance has been chosen as Clanks and Constructs.

Two dances for the day: 12-2 SLT and later from 4-6 PM SLT. I will be DJing the second of the two dances. So bring out your best robot or your greatest creation and come along and dance to some interesting and fun music!




At 6:30 pm SLT I will be hosting the dance at Carntaigh for the CaleCon simulcast.

A contingent of Caledon residents will be sending their typists away to Ontario in Canada for CaleCon! Saturday evening, via the wonders of the aethernet, we shall be able to watch them via screens set up in Coughton Court and they shall be able to watch us via a digital projector.

I'm not sure if AVs watching their typists may cause some sort of temporal paradox but it will be a fun night anyway.

Radio Riel "From the Library" - Music Militaire

Today's "From the Library" features a selection of pieces either written for the military or performed by military bands.

Selections include pieces by Gustav Holst, Edward Elgar, John Philip Sousa, Gottfried Piefke, and performances by the Australian Military College Band, the Gordon Highlanders, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, the US Military Academy Band and the Gebirgsmusikkorps 8 der 1. Gebirgsdivision Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

So shine your boots, brush off your jacket, strap on your sabre and enjoy.

You can listen to the program now at http://music.radioriel.org, or visit the Radio Riel offices in Caledon Penzance or any Caledon Library branch in-world and press Play on your embedded music player.

Changes to Steelhead

It's been many months since my typist's work roster was changed, preventing him from attending most of the social events in Steelhead. As a result my visits to Rosehaven or to the Pearse'd & Cut outlet in Steelhead rarely take me beyond their doors.

Recently after adding some new merchandise I noticed the footpath out the front of the shop had seen some work and it was then I remembered that some of the old underground tunnels from Ambertown had been excavated.


I think the cultists' Egyptian temple has long since been cleared away but it would be nice to see them join up with the tunnels under Boomtown.


As I was investigating I noticed that the Kokopelli stage has also seen a facelift. More trees and less brick, though the trumpeters have been kept.


The interior of the Steelhead Ballroom and Hotel has also undergone a facelift. The new carved panels and timber floors give it more of the feel of old world charm and style. You can almost feel the waltz as you walk through the door now.

Steelhead has changed greatly from the rustic frontier town is used to be. The discovery of silver and the growing market for "guard turkeys" has obviously been of huge benefit to Steelhead's growing wealth.

Congratulations to Lunar for his continuing work on the booming growth of Steelhead.

Exploring SF on the grid Part II

It's hard to think of Flash Gordon now without mentally adding the "Ah aaah" of Queen's stunning sound track to the 1980 movie. Still, Flash Gordon was the seminal spaceman, along with Buck Rogers, for most of the mid to late 20th century.

Lumiere Noir, the builder of The Ivory Tower of Prims, has created am impressive SF build so far removed from the cyberpunks and the Trekkers. Classic SF with bubble space helmets and flying cars.

The Planet Mongo hovers above the scorched planet surface and offers a variety of vendors selling things from disintegrator rays to jet bikes. There's not much in the way of RP here which probably makes it even more of a unique build.


The flying city above the planet Mongo


Close up of the the city


The planet surface,

Caledon Cavendish

Newest and penultimate sim for the Independent State of Caledon arrived yesterday with limited fanfare it seems.

A split void, the Marquesates of Cavendish (though I don't know whether they're East/West or what yet)

The back yard off Argylle is getting awfully crowded.



Congratulations to the Marchionesses Edwina Heron and Elizabeth Morgenrote

Jump, Jive and Wail

My dear cousin the Duchess of Loch Avie organised a 1940s theme dance for Thursday night. The wonderful setting created by Iason Hassanov, was complimented by the tunes provided by Otenth Pederborn of Radio Riel.


The "hanger dance" theme was spot on


Managed to catch a dance with Lady Bryndal


Not sure if they were called the Raquets or the Double Dutchesses.


Finally my own Duchess arrived and we had a few dances.


Before popping over to Steeltopia to catch the end of Duchess Woopass's set for the night

It was a nice change to pop out and be sociable. If only time would let me do it more often.

Exploring SF on the grid

As many of you may know my typist is something of a Science Fiction fan so we decided to post a few articles about some of the various SF landmarks around the SL grid.

Now you can find Star Trek and Star Wars sims without trying, so I'm going to leave those for later. To start with I'll venture to Joss Whedon's short lived but much loved Firefly.

For those living under rocks, Firefly was a TV series from the man who gave us Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Due to networks not really getting the concept and screening the episodes out of order (when they weren't put on at two in the morning) the series never really rated well and was cancelled after only 11 episodes. But such was the quality of the show that fans were soon sending copies of those episodes, as well as 3 others that eventually found their was on the internet, to other people who they thought might like it. They dubbed themselves "Browncoats" after the Independence Army in the series. They are also, to the best of my knowledge, first SF fandom to evolve purely via the internet. I've yet to see a Firefly fanclub, though clubs for Galactica, Trek and Red Dwarf are all over the place.

Now Washburne (or Washtown as it is sometimes called) has been around for a while. But a recent visit showed just how much it has expanded.


The streets of Washburne with Londinium's clocktower in the background.

Since then Londinium has been created next door. And above Londinium is the Trafalgar Space Station.


Trafalgar Space Station.




There are even other space stations around.


And interesting things if you go looking.

So if you're a fan of the show and have never been to Washburne you should definitely visit. Make sure you check out the Big Red Button shop while you're there.

If you're not a fan, well we all make mistakes :-)

Does antelope taste like venison?

The Caledon Antelope (Antilopinae Caledonicus) has been spotted in Eyre. As soon as I manage to get one home I'll let you know if there's a difference in taste.

Steampunk Quizzness

Your result for The Steampunk Archetype Test...

The Charming Noble

You are surrounded by adventure and mechanical marvels which you helped bring about. You don’t dirty your hands with the details, instead having one of the many engineers, bodgers, and tinkerers under your employ do the work. Your time is better suited for balls and social occasions where you charm and regal bearing makes you the center of attention and you can keep the conversation steered away from the unsettling topic of the anti-royalists who keep posting flyers all over the city.

Take The Steampunk Archetype Test at HelloQuizzy

Your result for The Steampunk Style Test...

The Scientist

You are the Scientist, the embodiment of steampunk’s academic side. Where other technological styles might emphasize the gadgets of the genre, you realize there is more to science than doohickeys and gears. Your accessories are medical bags, test tubes, measuring instruments, and academic papers. You are more likely to carry a compass, quadrant, or ether-attuned spectrometer than a wrench or welding torch. You probably carry a timepiece, and your prolific reading gives you every right to wear spectacles. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of your style is that it combines the frock coats and bustle gowns of the 19th century with the trappings of Victorian science.

Try our other Steampunk test here.

Take The Steampunk Style Test at HelloQuizzy

Underground, over ground, Wombling Free...

Recently I made a comment about wombles to someone while chatting. Unsurprisingly they didn't know what wombles were. What WAS surprising was that there no womble AVs in SL. Given how huge they were in the UK and Germany I figured someone would have made wombles.

I am happy to say I have now rectified this little oversite.

For your enjoyment, may I present the first four of what may grow to be a larger group.









These tiny AVs are available from my shops in Victoria City, Steelhead, Steeltopia and New Babbage. With luck they will also find there way to a small spot in Raglanshire.

Also added to the range is a tiny morning suit: