SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/FF%20Last%20Stop/97/94/45
Sponsor: Teegle
Designer: Teegle
Shops
- Akipelago
- Attitude is an Artform
- Kreep
- Azai
- Bloo Cat Creations
- Hades
- DFS
- Sass
- QE Home
- Show Society
- Mythril
- Teegle
- Tutto e Vanita
- R4R
- Kmzasrt Kreetures
- Royal’s Customs
- Noxus Equines
- Corn
- Hiraeth
- The Flying Pony
- Secksose
- Cheval D’or
- Lumistice
I’m taking a moment here on the platform at the end of the line of a train that runs no more. The tracks, buffer, the platform itself, and some railings that surround former underground entrances are all of a once bustling city that remains above the water. Clearly there has been a disaster of epic proportions here. But what was it? What caused the flood? How long ago did it happen?
To answer these questions, or at least find out if they can be answered, let’s go back to the beginning. Entering from Whistlyn Shallows, the entrance is a subway tunnel that immediately dives under water. Aquatic weeds dangle from the tunnel ceiling while the strips of white tiles emit an eerie glow. Curious lamps have been suspended from the ceiling as well. Were they added after the flood? If so, who did that?
The designer tells us “This subway system, victim to a natural disaster many years ago, is thought by many to have been lost to the ravages of time. The residents of New Yokyo have constructed memorial sites on the surface to remember those that were lost in this terrible disaster, and all those who visit here report feeling an especially spiritual presence here. But very few can ever claim to have found their way into the lost subway tunnels. Those who do come back with strange stories of another world.”
A short walk brings me to a submerged platform. Arches in the subway tiled walls lead to the shops. Koi swim about the tracks, platform, and shops. Sea grasses grow around the tracks while other aquatic plants dangle from the top of the tunnel arch. More plants in varied bright colours grow from the surface of the platform itself, especially along the tiled walls.
Continuing along the tracks, another block of shops emerges. Walking through another tunnel, the next stop, so to speak, is a large station, submerged of course. This is where the sponsor’s shop, Teegle, is found. (It’s also the main landing spot if you use the gates at Fairlands Junction or the SLURL above.)
Not to discourage you from shopping a while at Teegle, but if you walk opposite the shop, you’ll find a sudden drop off and, within it, a small underwater canyon. Follow this to a dimly lit cave and you’ll find a very old koi waiting for you. It’s worth stopping to have a long chat with him. Don’t worry, he’ll start the conversation when he’s ready!
In my tour I continued to follow the tube to see the rest of the shops and then doubled back. The reason being that it’s at the main platform that there are stairs to the surface.
You may already have noticed from the signage in the tubes, or you may have missed it, but here at the surface, the Japanese theme of the region is unmistakable. This theme is natural since the designer told us during the LitFest Tour that the primary inspiration for this build was a single scene from “Spirited Away.”
Looking out from the railway platform, I can see tiny islands, all that remains above water of the city. The islands are decorated with Japanese Ishidoro lanterns in memory of those who were lost in the catastrophe.
Navigating along the all but submerged landscape, I cross an elegant, classically styled Japanese bridge which takes me to a quiet little bay surrounded by tall rock islands. Here is a small house. It contains a shrine and provides a place to stop and give thought to those we’ve lost.
Which is what I’ll do now for a little bit.
See you at the next region, Lolliocalypse.
Thinking Outside the Plywood Box 