weave a story so I don't have to talk, no

This happened earlier on June 28th:

[09:14] axxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I am at the first primi in Sl if someone wants a tp or LM
[09:14] Ixxxxx Rxxxxxxx: You're where?
[09:14] Cxxxxxxxxx Cxxxxxxx: first prim? Isn't the oldest object something by Stellar Sunshine?
[09:15] axxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Philip made this prim
[09:15] axxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Boardman (156,199,24)
[09:16] axxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: AApril 29, 2002

So I went to see.

[09:16] Mxxxxxxxx Dxxxxxxxx: Well he's older than that prim, and he's older than me
[09:17] Sxxxxxxx Fxxxxxxx: older than the first prim ever created in SL?
[09:17] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): So, considering SL was released in alpha in 2004, this is very interesting.
[09:17] txxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: he cant be older than this prim
[09:17] Mxxxxxxxx Dxxxxxxxx: Well in RL I thinks
[09:17] axxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: yeah
[09:17] Cxxxxxxxxx Cxxxxxxx: ah pre-release
[09:17] Mxxxxxxxx Dxxxxxxxx: It was a bit of double-edged sarcasm
[09:17] FSxxxxxxx Fxxxxxxx: was he part of SL when it was still called "Linden World"
[09:18] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): A-ha

History is important. I dimly remember Linden World; I think Another World, the first virtual-world system I played in, was a knock-off, actually. Or it was the other way around, but I truly think Another World came after.

{{Insert from the Editrix: I'm wrong--they may have been congruent design paths, so I don't feel Linden World 'stole' anything in any sense, but what I've remembered for years as Another World was actually just Worlds, and it launched as part of the Blair Witch 2 promotional event in October of 2000.}}

[09:19] txxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: so, why green
[09:20] Emilly Shatner-Orr (emilly.orr): Why not?
[09:21] txxxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: a basic cube :)

Interesting.

Though I was also amused I was the tallest person there.

And the final SLRFL totals came in, and they're...beyond phenomenal, this year.

running my hands along your edges

It's taken me some time to figure out how to say this. I won't lie that I felt extremely angry over this, and was lashing blame in several directions, though never to any of the folks I truly feel are, at least partially, responsible. I've calmed down since, but the embers are still there. What I'm going to say hurts...and deeply. And it didn't have to hurt at all. That's the thing that galls most, I think.


(An aerial overview of a section of Armada.)

This was part of the build in progress. Yes, the air was thick with the smells of drying fish and diesel, but it was still pleasant to walk the various docks and rope bridges, stopping in at myriad tea shops along the way. Saying hello to passing citizenry. All gone into the mists.


(Another view from a slightly different angle, of Armada.)

The floating circus tent off to the left was a meeting hall for residents. Inside could be found a center rotunda from which to air grievances, and surrounding the main floor were risers, for those who wished to sit, with the outer ring comprised of booths that sold fruit-sweetened drinks, popped grains of various kinds, strips of fish jerky and rough ales. This, too, disappeared when Armada did.


(A shot taken in murky waters underneath the bay, of the old Armadan rotunda.)

Underneath the waters could be found the lost ships that didn't make the whole of the journey, and the ruins of the first rotunda, sinking slowly into the shifting sea bottom. They are all gone, now, too.


(Archduke Hiro Shatner, in happier times..)


And what of the Duke himself? Well, for a variety of reasons (chiefly to do with the motiver behind the glass), he is kept far from the grid, but not some small part must be laid at the feet of the complainants against Armada. The reason he allowed it to dissolve back into the mists in the first place was because he could not stand the dunning missives, the angry IMs, the cavalcade of stampading dissent against him, the sim of Armada in the first place, against what he chose to build.

After months of verbal abuse, he finally could not take another negative word, and it was easier for him to cease its growing life than to fight for it. I do not blame him; I do blame those who spoke against it so vociferously that the only way to end stress from that quadrant, he thought, was to let the dream go.



And what about the denizens of Armada-now-dissolved? I didn't think to ask at the last moment of contact with the Archduke, but many of them were specifically programmed to do their duties on Armada itself. What happens to them?

Like this skyship piloteer. Where have they gone? Have they been packaged up and moved to Gearhaven? But Gearhaven as a whole uses much less complex robotic servitors, so...where do the elite units like this go?


(Being ferried around one of the original four sims; now down to two, or possibly even one.)

I may have more pictures, I'll keep looking. But I hadn't made it a priority to take a great many, because I was waiting for the grand opening. I wanted to announce Armada, had every plan to...and now, like every other precious thing on the grid that's gone away, it's disappeared into the digital mist. All because certain people could not stand the reclaiming of a dream not theirs.

We dream, we build, we pull our fancies into virtual reality. Isn't that the point? We won't agree with everything people build--just on my own small count, I received literally dozens, if not hundreds, of complaints on my various structures, in nearly every sim I've lived in. Part of it is that I'm not the best builder, and I admit that. But part of it is, what wants to crawl out of my head into reality doesn't agree with more than a few people.

I accept that, for the most part. But even I am not immune to criticism. I'm eleven years on the grid now, and I have had exactly one Rez Day party, because of how terrifyingly badly the first one went. Eleven years gone, some of the participants at that party having long left the grid, and it's still a scar on my soul. I may never be able to have another Rez Day party again.

I don't say that to elicit sympathy, or fish for compliments. I'm trying to make the point that that is one instance of a thing that changed me, changed my behavior on the grid. It took some of the luster out of a particular tradition, because of what one single person chose to say.

So how much more so when the complaints mount up? When they're paired with accusations of theft, misconduct, plagiarism--none of which are true? When they result in people complaining to other sim owners, sim owners that have nothing to do with a separate sim entirely? How much more does the stress increase when it's not just one person disapproving, but dozens? And over and over and over again, every single time he logs in?

Here's how bad it got--again, I am naming no specific names, but four individuals (that I've been able to verify) spoke to my direct superior at Sakura House, warning her against my involvement with the Duke. As courtesans, all we really have are our words and our reputations, as t'were, to stand on. And here were four voices dripping poison into her ears, out of 'concern', out of 'worry', that I was somehow traipsing off with a huckster and would abandon my House.

Why plant those sorts of doubts in someone who has control over whether I stay at Sakura or are forced out? Perhaps, to put even more pressure on the Archduke, an extremely underhanded and dishonorable style of attack indeed. But now we are here. Regardless of who and why, we have lost Armada, again, and I, at least, will mourn for its passing.

for you, for you, I would hold a deadly viper in my hand

The info box for Haunted Isle read:

"Haunted Isl! creepy, spooky, dark Island. Dragon Tour Rides - 7Seas Fishing. Vampire RP Dongeon !Fear the Zombies! Enjoy high country in the snow. Open Land, public.

Oh, dear gods.

Okay. Here we go again.



Wait...I have been here before...haven't I?



One of the Dragon boats used to ferry visitors around the sim.



No, the trees are different, the plants, but...damn, this is familiar.



The inside of the main house...the furnishings are different, of course, but the layout's the same...because the build is the same.



Well, that face is not conducive to resting.



Eldritch lights fill the woods, sliding between the the dark trees like ultraviolet shadows. Pretty in its own way...



There are some quiet spots, tucked around and about, perfect for photo ops. This one has popcorn and wine.

So, I did some quick scanning whilst out of the rain, found out that this build comes from Pandemonium, and this makes the third entry this year that's using it.

Don't get me wrong, I adore Ms. Quintessa's builds, but...it's so odd to see one of them everywhere.



And then the zombies got me, so...any other secrets of this build, you'll have to find for yourself.

My conclusion? If you like atmosphere, if you like people who've put some thought into their haunt...you might like this one. It's not a story place, it's more an experience place, and sure, they take a few stumbles, but for the most part, it's well-put-together, and nicely done.

Even if it's the third time I've seen the build.

on the seventh day I rest for a minute or two

(The below photographs all come from the "Passage of Time" exhibit at SL10B in Pizzazz. Part one and part two, for your reading pleasure.)

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

With 2009 came new challenges; namely, a system of 'rewarding' new premium accounts that I still hear complaints about to this day. Oh, granted, the occasional furniture or adornment gift that wanders towards premium accounts, the ability to buy and sell virtual land, and the premium-only sandboxen; these are all fun things, and--at least where the sandboxen are concerned--potentially invaluable to premium builders.

No, where the hitch seems to be is with the Lindenhomes. In essence, what the Lab has done is remade their "first land" proviso with a shocking difference, by giving each new premium account holder the ability to pick a "neighborhood", and subsequently receive--"free of charge"--a 512 parcel of land, complete with home and furnishings. Home and furnishings, I might add, that that premium account-holder cannot modify, retexture, or reconfigure in any way. It is theirs and not-theirs, in the same instance. It exists as a possession and it is never given away. Paradox? Yes, with each house that is offered.

I suppose, if the Lindens' intent is to quickly shunt new premium accounts towards tier fees and land ownership, simply because the Lindenhomes is question are so bland and utilitarian, then I suppose they work? So...yay for that?

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

I admit, I stood in front of this placard for a very long time. "Then in August, the Emerald viewer was in trouble..." This makes it sound as if it was purely a software issue, and not a deliberate violation of trust. I'm not going to turn this into another Emerald diatribe, but really, even within a commemorative event array, that single toss-off line does not sit well with me...nor, I would suspect, with any of the former users of Emerald who felt profoundly victimized by the developers' bad behavior.

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

This was another difficult placard to cover. I'm still not entirely comfortable with mesh, if only because I like to be seen as clothed when I go shopping. But the other issues that this particular sign mentions were both extraordinarily problematic at the time. As it turns out, looking back on these events, web profiles have turned out to be minimally non-invasive, though they still have features I'm not fond of using.

But the closing of the Teen Grid was a profound violation for many of us. First, because Claudia Linden, when asked, said it would never happen, but also because it's still such an appallingly bad idea. Intellectually, I realize there's no difference between someone I don't know who's thirty behind the screens, and someone I don't know who's seventeen; but emotionally, I stopped dating at all past the closure of Teen Grid. I do not want to play in mature ways with people I can't trust to be at least eighteen. It may be a minimal standard, but it's mine and I'm by damn clinging to it.

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

And here's another controversy that's still raging. There are many separate groups in SL, on many levels; at any given time, there's always someone new to embrace or disdain, but even within these cliques and sub-structures, there's a fluidity that comes from all playing in the same space, with the same tools.

The "Resident" last name--which, to be honest, doesn't even exist; it's a holdover to provide two distinct names under Legacy viewers--was the first brutal social distinction in SL. Within days of the announcement, anyone who didn't have a last name was almost universally dealt supercilious scorn or lip-curling disgust, and all for no reason, essentially--or perhaps for the very worst of reasons: "I was here first".

At this point, there are Resident-bearing sim owners, Resident-bearing business owners, and overall, as a defined class, they add more than they take away. But it's been a harder struggle for new residents than it ever should have been, simply by virtue of the Lindens removing their choice of a last name. It set the cultural bar excruciatingly low; too low for many at first even to make the attempt to struggle under. And it's a great shame to all of us, that so many of us couldn't see past that unfortunate distinction.

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

I'm still waiting for evidence that Project Shining will be worth the hype.

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

At the time I snapped this picture, the latest settlement involving the Lindens hadn't been announced. Looking back on it from the perspective of time, however, Rosedale's statement seems flawed and disingenuous. What we have in Second Life is real, and is ours? Hardly--as that settlement proves once again, what we have in SL is theirs, and it's as ephemeral as this exhibit will be, in a few more hours.

open atmosphere, take me anywhere

(The below photographs all come from the "Passage of Time" exhibit at SL10B in Pizzazz. Part one is here.)

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

I was on the grid in September of 2006. I was working at the Enigma still--my first, and, in some ways, best job on the grid--when the hacks began. Between "grey goo" infestations, rezzed-out pose items spontaneously ceasing to work, and griefing objects in a dizzying and disorienting array, we also had the first major hacking strike to the SL servers themselves. It would not be the last.

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

I have heard distant (and unfounded) rumors that gambling may be making a comeback. I'm not putting any faith in them right now, but I do agree that when gambling services and virtual banks left the grid, the grid economy never really recovered. Granted, there were large (and occasionally, scarily corporatized) interests behind the gambling industry, but on the ground, all we saw was commerce easily flowing, rent being fairly effortless to pay, and a naïve sort of financial exuberance (with an accompanying naïveté as to exactly what was happening).

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

The launching of Windlight I remember most vividly by how jarringly unhappy my graphics card was with the system. At this point, three entire engines later, changing Windlight settings is as effortless as thought...but at the time, it was a terrifying, unnatural thing for me.

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

It's still hard to believe that five celebrations ago, the controversial "no nipples" policy of SL5B was enacted by fiat. Of course, soon after Ursula-then-Zindra rose as the new Adult continent, and we all discovered we had bigger things to worry about.

From the transcript of Mitch Kapor's closing keynote remarks from SL5B:

So the first is, in the earliest wave of pioneers in any new disruptive platform, the marginal and the dispossessed are over represented, not the sole constituents by any means but people who feel they don't fit, who have nothing left to lose or who were impelled by some kind of dream, who may be outsiders to whatever mainstream they are coming from, all come and arrive early in disproportionate numbers.

It was the way the west in the U.S. was settled. It is the way Second Life has been settled. And in fact those early pioneers find a very arduous environment. In the early days, you really have to want to be here because life in certain ways is very very difficult, in fact too difficult for most people. It is unavoidable in some sense that there will be a very high attrition rate in the early years while a platform is being built out. It doesn't stay that way of course, it can't, but the difficulties of conditions cause those who stay to really bond together, have something in common.

And that sort of arduous frontier conditions really give these environments their charm and their character, but also their challenges [...] I think the larger prospect is bringing the value of Second Life and virtual worlds to the world at large. And to do so, it has to be opened up, it has to be made easier to use [...]

So the first thing is a much more realistic looking avatar and particularly for business meetings and meetings between people who know each other, the ability to look more like yourself when you want to, would be a positively good thing. And there are some technologies that have been developed that will create an extraordinarily realistic avatar out of a single digital photograph and a lot of algorithmic magic. These are not Second Life avatars yet, but they could be at some point.

I still find it baffling, and more than a little irritating, this insistence--from Kapor and others--that all anyone wants to do in Second Life is to log in painlessly, shop in permitted areas, and wander around looking as much like their RL selves as possible.

Don't mistake me--for those people who want to resemble their RL selves, I say more power to them. I have a friend who's done everything he can to match his RL self to his SL avatar, down to changing his in-world glasses and hair when they change. How'ver, far more of us want the creativity in SL to attach to our virtual selves as well.

Perceive it this way: I communicate one message when my RL self is in front of someone. Partially, that message is out of my control, because it rests within the viewer's internal perceptions of me or people like me. I only have my personality, my words, my body language, to communicate on my side of this interchange. Everything else rests on the perceptions of that viewer.



In SL, I can substantially increase the amount of communication on my side. Because it is my choice of presentation, my choice of avatar. Good or bad in the eyes of the viewer, these are choices I can and do make on a daily basis. As odd as many of my avatars have been (and still are), I have gone to scathingly few events where my choice of virtual appearance was wholly out of my control. In SL, what I think, what I feel, what I believe can become part of my avatar identity because of how I choose to appear on the grid--from footwear to ears and everything in between. It takes "Your World, Your Imagination" and makes it "My avatar, my identity".

While there is still perceptions on the part of any viewer that I do not control, it's far less haphazard than in RL, where I cannot as easily change hairstyle, eye color, skin color, and outfit. Which doesn't even factor in entire species shifts, or as Miss Neome is frequently seen in, avatars that are less "avatar" and far more "idealization of the perceived interior".

This is not a long-winded way of deriding people who choose to match their RL selves and their SL selves; it's a valid strategy, and for many people, it helps them adapt to virtual landscapes. But just as studies have shown that imagining a thing paves the way for that thing to happen (think studies that have proven a concrete link between disabled people visualizing walking, and subsequent physical muscle changes that would help them with the right equipment walk again), so it is with avatars. What we see ourselves as being, becomes part of our mental and emotional landscape beyond the grid; something Mitch Kapor denies at his peril.

for every questioned hour, for every second devoured

(The below photographs all come from the "Passage of Time" exhibit at SL10B in Pizzazz.)

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

I will admit to being somewhat bemused as I wandered Pizzazz; I always thought it was spelled with only three Z's. Of course, at this point, maybe there's already a sim named Pizazz; who knows?

At any rate, this was a huge box on the sim, patterned with gears, with timekeeping mechanisms on all sides. I admit, it drew me in. What could be inside such a structure?

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

The simplest answer: history. But not just history; a timeline of sorts, from the very first neophyte explorations of the grid, to so-called "modern" day.

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

As many problems as I have with Second Life, and how the Lindens handle Second Life, on this blog and in in-world conversation, the actual core concept I still think is fascinating. The core concept still fills me anew with wonder, even nearly seven years later.

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

While there had been virtual worlds before, from text-based BBS rooms to the early MUDs, onward to the present day, Second Life was the first ostensible "game" that created a space for residents to live and work within. As it w as explained to me at the point I got involved, "It's not really a game." Whereupon my ultimate question became "So what do you do in Second Life?"

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

I've spent many years in exploration of that goal; some years better, some worse, but I think my answer still veers towards "anything"...within certain limitations. Those limitations being how far we, ourselves, are willing to expand and change to learn from our virtual environment.

(from the events album; the "Passage of Time" exhibit in Pizzazz)

When I joined Second Life, telehubs still played a large part in residential transport around the grid. It wouldn't be fully abolished (and even now, many sims still have telehubs in spite of point-to-point transference) until...what, 2008? I think? Telehubs persisted in Caledon and Winterfell longer than the rest of the grid, too.

From events

Still culling through other pictures of this exhibit, because I thought it was important enough to capture as fully as I can. But do go check it out if you have time. It's worth it.

you're drowning in the grief of Jupiter's water

Al Satterwhite's Cozumel Diary project will be fully funded! Congratulations to all contributors!

And Among the Sleep will be fully funded! This one's even more exciting for me, personally, because I think it's an astonishing step in survival horror games. There's been games where the protagonist is a child--there are survival horror games where the villain is a child--but a toddler? And having the entire game hinge on not knowing, from the first moment, whether or not this is that toddler's nightmare, or really something going on? Beautiful.

I seem to be the land of oddly specific links on occasion. But, if you ever wanted to look like a Drow Lolita who's just wandered in from the Battle of Normandy...I can help you with that.

Speaking of Marketplace things, I found this, and I couldn't figure out what they'd done to make the face look like that. So I ordered the demo version, and took a closer look.

(from the Comparisons album; not my standard side-by-side run, but a comparison nonethelss)

I've been logging in and mainly going through new (or new-ish) inventory, so in the above image, I'm wearing the LoveCats 'Spring Fae' skin in purple (bought on sale about a week ago), with an Angelwing outfit (the Naerose set in purple) purchased at their last sale, the Nautilus eyes in Violet from Saturnine Dreams (closing on May 20th, so go buy things NOW!), and Truth's "Adeline" hair with roots in the 'Elvira' tone (bought at Truth's last sale, which was so chaotically handled, that while I'm happy to have more mesh hair, I really don't care if I ever go back to the store).

(from the Comparisons album)

Um. Okay, this is terrifying. And I'm not talking about the huge hands--that's an easy change to make on a shape, so you can demo it for potential customers, and they can see how the rest of the shape looks.

(from the Comparisons album)

And then the skin rezzed in. Yeah. That...shape...That is just wrong, in every conceivable way. Not the least of which is, it's supposed to be a 'fresh teen shape', and...bwuh? Teens have no chins and anime eyes? Since when??

(from the Comparisons album)

I did try the skin demo with what (at least this month) I'm considering as my default shape, and--while I don't normally wear tanned skins--this isn't a bad skin. The shading's decent, and overall, having looked through her Marketplace store, her skin line isn't bad. Slightly derivative, but seriously, who isn't, these days? But they look good.

It's just her teen shape that's baffling.

Wil Wheaton made the Rachel Maddow blog the other day, or at least, something he said at a convention did--a heartfelt, sincere, amazing answer to the mother of a new child on why it was perfectly okay to be a nerd. Well worth watching.

And the LEGO company is releasing a Steampunk set soon! It looks very cool, and of course, I am thinking of combining the Steampunk master set with the Pirates set...and maybe the zombie set. Woo-hoo!

I linked XD Design's window device charger a while ago on the blog--a beautifully designed, utterly impractical, inefficient and overpriced solar panel that sticks to a window near your desk or in your home. Well, now they've released something else that's beautiful, stylish, as well as inefficient and overpriced--a sunflower-in-pot solar-panel charger. They're both cute; they're both very sleek. But it seems form means more to XD than function, and that's really not the point.

Like Minecraft? Like 3D printing? Like designing things? Try Printcraft, a scripted variant of Minecraft wherein folks can log in, make their builds, and convert their creations directly to .stl files for 3D printing, in addition to uploading them direct from the game to Thingiverse. I don't know whether it's a pay server or not, but it's yet another great innovation to the base game.

In more...disturbing news, or at least potentially...a Japanese company has invented virtual water.

As Gizmodo--and the company's promotional materials--hint at, this likely won't be used for...well...water. But virtual sex has always been big business, so it's hardly surprising.

"Go home, rainbow! You're drunk!"

stood on the edge of your bridge until I felt the rain push me away

Some of this year's Twisted hunt.

(from the scavenging album)

I would like to assert I am not a Petite in this image.

(from the scavenging album)

I am actually standing 5'7", including the (admittedly low) heels, yet I cannot make it up the steps to AD Creations without flying.

(from the scavenging album)

Shame on you, AD Creations. Fix your stairs!

(from the scavenging album)

Seen at LoveCats: giant follower cubes. Cute and creepy. They don't actually go into the store, but they do come close.

(from the scavenging album)

Seen at CatniP underneath the Carnival. I'm fairly sure the Carnival goes away at the end of the month, though I could be wrong--either way, it's likely you should check it out now before it's gone! (Though a word of warning: if you don't like the sight of random dead bodies, don't go.)

(from the scavenging album)

Seen (briefly) in Steelhead Harborside. A stunning center build.

Found in the description of a random group along the way:

I am a cat; we dare to sit on the Thrones of Kings and in the laps of Gods. If you want to collar something get a Dog. Dogs have Masters. Cats have staff.

Indeed. Amusingly, the avatar who put this in her profile was in human skin for her SL pic, and as actually encountered in the store. This, of course, does not mean she doesn't sprout cat ears and a fluffy tail at other times; just that she, as seen, wasn't feline.

(from the scavenging album)

Seen at Post: the very practical 'house rules' list. Also, do check out the store in general--the texturing and shading work is breathtakingly good, from the store itself to the products on offer. And for that excellence of texturing, the prices are eminently reasonable.

(from the scavenging album)

Finally, seen at REDRUM: Preservation, and again, impressively detailed. I have no way of knowing most days if something is actually mesh, or not, because I have a mesh-enabled viewer. But I'd suspect it is, because that many tiny prims assembled together would be ruinous on sim performance. But it's well worth a visit for the macabre set.

though well-concealed, the scars, they just compound

A fortnight ago, give or take a few days, I suddenly realized it was October, and I had no haunt planned. This was, understandably, something of a shock: I hadn't expected either to want to build a haunt, nor did I have the land for it.

How'ver, in discussions with friends, a parcel was set aside, a ridiculous amount of prims reserved, so I set to.

(from the haunts album; floating above Lunitarium, contemplating potential builds)

It was hard going--not because I didn't have ideas, but because I didn't have the skills to bring them to fruition. Sadly, the warehouse as you'll find it, should you go, will not be all that I hoped.

It's not even, strictly speaking, a haunt. As such.

(from the haunts album; the path to Severance)

I should explain. What I originally decided on was a quirky, little, abandoned-warehouse haunt. Some sounds, some floating objects, a great deal of surreality that stayed on the cutting-room floor. No hunt, I felt, because I just didn't have the time to create anything.

And then...I found myself going through the pages of the Black Book, and I felt compelled to make more of a presentation piece of them. At the start, that's all it was. At the start, it was going to be a few extra textures, tossed in at random, into an otherwise unremarkable build.

Later...

(from the haunts album; the second floor)

At this stage, I still have sounds and such to throw down, but I've made over forty pages from the Book, plus assorted "tag"-style graffiti works for the walls of the warehouse, some unique industrial sounds, and I've gathered an insane number of things that look like they belong in an abandoned warehouse. What started as a quirky little thing has morphed into a fairly faithful tribute to...well.

Slender Man.

(from the haunts album; the second floor)

Of course, understandably, it's my own take on the topic. So some things may not match other recorded 'histories'; all I have to say to that is every chronicler adds their particular spin on things.

This is part of mine.

For what it's worth, I'm now opening SEVER to the public, though more may be added later. It can be found in Lunitarium.

Enjoy?