I’m starting out today with something different. The Isles of Aquarius region is this year’s mer-region; everything in it is either in or very close to the sea.
SLURL: https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Isles%20of%20Aquarius/64/128/60
Sponsor: Safe Waters Foundation (appropriately enough)
Designers: EchoRayne Ayashi & Liz Corryong
The designers’ notes tell us that the shops and other structures we see were forged beneath the waves and have magically surfaced for the faire. They are still wet, and given all the sea spray around, are likely to remain so. The illumination from the orbs around the area bathe the region in life-force.
The shops and main path are above water, if only just. At the edge of the walkway, I can see there are but a few centimeters between the surface of the path and the sea. Even well along the path, there’s still plenty of sea spray. You might want to dress in bathing attire or waterproofs.
Signboards remind me that much of the region is below the waves, but for now I walk happily browsing the shops, looking in wonder at the gleaming, smooth, wet stone that everything is built from.
And what do I see in the first shop I peek into? They’re using one of my displays! 😊 As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, and no doubt will again, I’m always tickled when I find somebody using one of my products. I just love the thought of contributing part of the world we’re all enjoying. Anyway, shout out to Hawkers House! Thanks for such a great use of the display!
As I round the back of the shops walk, I get a good view of the above surface source of much of the Prana shining across the region. What happens if and when the hand reaches and seizes the orb? Will everything sink below the waves again? Or has the hand just released the shining sphere?
As several signs along the shops walk say, much of the region is under water. Getting there is all to easy. Just walk through any of the lone stone arches and you will find yourself on a descending stairway… briefly. Just a few steps down — and they’re big steps — the treads begin to cant forward. Just a little further and the stairs fail entirely. You arrive at the bottom by the simple expedient of falling there!
This is the heart of the region. There are many areas to explore down here and I have so far had time only for a very few. In the center is a submerged stone temple where information about the Safe Waters Foundation and its partners can be found. Just follow the stone arches, can’t miss it.
Off to the side is what looks like a white stone grotto with something glowing in it. Drifting over I notice that this in fact the base of the giant hand that rises above the surface to grasp the largest of the glowing orbs up there. Here at the base is a much smaller such orb, right at the heart of the root of the arm. I wonder, what is the relationship between the two orbs?
It’s look but don’t touch. I can’t get closer than this to it. Probably for the best.
Shops
Of course this is a shopping region! (As my L$ balance can tell you.) Shops I found along the way:
- Hawkers House
- Muu
- Mer Made
- Soleil et Lune
- Birchteeth
- Midnight Diva
- Jade Dreams
- SR Design
- Boudoir
- Venge
- Antaya/Misteria
- Living the FantaSea
- atame
- Fantasy Pixels
- Lily of the Sea
- Lenore/The Needle
- Tonkati Head
- MPP
- Since1975
- So Silly
- Second Moon
Thinking Outside the Plywood Box 