Return to The Deathlands

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

It's been a while since we at the Newser first wrote about The Deathlands, and some time since we last did an update. Described as "an isolated post-apocalyptic island community where a handful of hardy survivors desperately cling to what passes for life after the nuclear winter," life certainly seems grim when you first drop in, with what looks like a ghost town in the desert full of wrecked buildings.

Dropping by while I was still in my Platinum Avatar Challenge as a tiny dinkie, I didn't look very threatening compared to the rats I saw crawling about. Maybe because I still smelled like a fox, they avoided me.

There was an opportunity to make a few Lindens, presumably for newcomers. There were little trees in spots in the sim that when touched gave a little cash.

Going  a little further, I found out one reason the rats were nervous.

I soon found a shooting area. There were a couple HUDs needed to play, and a free weapon provided.

Modern weapons sure are light these days.

To play the game, you need to be part of the Deathlands group. After that, just wear the Huds, have a weapon, and walk in and start shooting mutant spiders, zombified soldiers, scarabs, and other enemies. 

The larger spiders can shoot venom at you. That or otherwise being touched by a baddie results in lost hit points. Presumably bullets by other players will hurt you too, but when I was there we were careful not to hit one another. Other Deathlanders might not be so steady with their arm.

I didn't do too badly, getting a score of 82. I think it was mostly spiders.

I soon ran into Rebel Wolf, also known as The Baron, the man who runs the Deathlands. 

After I had a good look at the shooting area, there was something he wanted to show me.

He wanted to show me the bunker. 

"Can never have too many blast doors."

Inside was plenty of old equipment. "Sats and 'puters still work," Rebel commented, "We just have no idea what they are telling us"

"THIS was the problem...a 56K modem dial up."

There were some stocks of food here.

And of course there was the coffee, "Coffee was made by 'ays. It's Deathlands strong wolf blend. Gotta have coffee in Second Life."

There was a generator room to power the place, "It's a diesel genny. Well ok its nuclear, works better."

There was also an armory and a repair bench. There were plenty of rifles and submachine guns, enough for a platoon. 

"I'm wearing the SAC SR 16, a very nice weapon."

One room had "Wolfs humble bed, with moonshine, aged two weeks." Rebel commented after paying tier, he often felt like curling up in a ball.

There were also a couple maps on a table. Rebel commented "Yes we are planning to take over other sim."

"Got nukes? we do."

"Of course we have time for fun too." Rebel then grabbed a fire extinguisher, and fired it at me, chuckling, "Bix is on fire!"

Next was the decontamination shower, "I'll stay clothed so folks don't get blind. Also is good for the fleas."

Leaving the bunker, Rebel showed me a lookout tower.

Rebel told me he had a working tactical missile, "Its only 80-some years old what can possibly go wrong?" But opening the silo, something went wrong.

We checked out a concrete building next to a reactor tower, "Old reactor control room. Some stuff still working. Some guy named Homer Simpson worked here."

But the water running through didn't look so good. Rebel had different ideas, "Hey green water is NICE!"

Rebel showed me a garden area on top of a building, "Some food is grown on rooftops," explaining much of the area's soil was still recovering from radiation and other poisoning.

"I have a green thumb. Oh wait, that's rad poisoning."

But not all of the waters were too toxic. Rebel showed me a fishing area, "Yes we eat the fish. Help yourself."

There was some greenery nearby to prove the point, but one plant looked weird, "This plant watches ya. Awww, it likes you."

There was more greenery nearby, encouraged by moisture, "fresh water from mountain, broken pipe." He did caution me, "Don't pick any leaves off my marajuana  plant." I then asked with a grin, "For medicinal purposes?" Rebel grinned back, "Of course."

Medical care in the Deathlands can be a problem. The only one with a Medical Degree is (NPC) Doc Mengele. "Probably should not use him unless yer really sick," Rebel cautioned, "He's a little insane." Rebel went on to say there was a strong rumor he was the great-grandson of a certain German whom made his way to South America in the later 1940s, though of visitors, "not too many pick up on that."

We walked through the streets for a while, and at one point Rebel invited me to sit down, on a chair with a lot of wires, "Trust the wolf." I hesitated, so he sat down himself. The results were lots of electric sparks. When it was over, he called it getting his "Daily buzz." My response was I'll stick with coffee.

The last part of the area Rebel showed me was a place were there were several children, "We even have kids here. ... They a little crazy though." He commented this was the part of his sim that's gotten the complaints, "I have actually been yelled at for this." But he did say there was a certain reason why the NPCs were there, that one of the more troubling aspects of a post-apocalyptic world would be what happens to the kids, "How would kids be treated, loved, ignored, cast aside?"

It was about this time Rebel told me he had to take care of some real-life matters, inviting me to stick around at the shooting area or wherever else I wanted to explore.

On a final note, my avatar challenge in the dinkie fox soon ended after my tour. Rebel might say the background radiation or something else in the area cured whatever ailed me.

Post-apocalyptic themes aren't for everyone. But there is a message. What if our lives of material comfort, in which the only thing driving us nuts are things like a certain cartoon getting canceled and not being able to score with the ladies, were all of a sudden taken away and the matter of simple and basic survival became a day to day concern? Perhaps some of us whom think we're prepared wouldn't be, and some of those who think they'd be dead meat would end up not just surviving but starting up the path to rebuilding.

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Paradise%20Kingdom/88/35/22

Bixyl Shuftan

The Deathlands

By Bixyl Shuftan

Recently, a friend and I dropped by a rather desolate place in Second Life: The Deathlands. The place describes itself as "an isolated post-apocalyptic island community where a handful of hardy survivors desperately cling to what passes for life after the nuclear winter." Upon entering, a crow greeted us, "Greetings ... welcome to Deathlands! It is many years since the Nukes cleansed the Earth. Among the frail and diseased survivors there are few rules, so feel free to wander Deathlands and sample its many pleasures and perils." Almost as if on cue, the radio stream played the tune "Darkest Dream." Later songs included, "Love is Dead," and "Poison Remains."

The place is owned by Rebel Wolf (HermitBlue), considered the "mutant warlord" here, and Luddita Wolf (luddita) his consort. Seeing us, "We are the survivors," they showed us around. "You are under the care of Baron Wolf," he told us, "It's safe in Deathlands. Well, sorta safe. Probably should not drink the water." Showing us some NPC figures, one was a rather bloody doctor with a paitent who didn't look too good. "Hes the only medical we have," Rebel told us, "so he gets away with a lot."

There were a few places mentioned in the notecard that I'd gotten on entry, such as the Dead Tree where a number of corpses hung, "The Motel From Hell" in which the beds were bloody mattresses and the "bathroom" was a bucket with flies buzzing over it, the hull of an old Russian submarine that had somehow washed ashore and repurposed, and others. There was one not mentioned that Rebel wanted to show us: The Bunker.From the outside, the place was concrete and steel. Inside, there were bunks, machinery, and what looked like some kind of control center with access to satelites, "Some of us survived the nuclear winter in here!" For some reason, there were warheads of small missiles in there.

But not everything here was a grim survival story. There are two social spots. One is "The Music Festival Grounds." Rebel spoke of it, "The survivors built a dancefloor." The dancefloor itself was made of of sections of wood planking piled together with a rustic-looking stage in the back. The place was surrounded on three sides by chair-link fencing, presumably to keep the more drunken partiers from stumbling into the lagoon. But not everything about it looked safe as there was a yellowish-green looking cloud of mist in the middle. When I asked Rebel, he responded, "Oh, I think it's radioactive gas (cough)." As we were talking, a few more people came by, including one with a guitar. Before long, he was playing some music, and an impromtu party started.

After a while, the party moved to what passed for a high class club around here, "The Loser's Club." Advertised as a "notorious dive bar where survivors barter their favours in return for liquor and cigarettes," the peace was kept by a burly-looking NPC acting as a bouncer standing watch just outside the front door. "Dont mind Ivan outside," Rebel told us, "he just looks mean!" Another NPC, a waitress, handed out drinks on request. Those not dancing could sit on an old couch or one of the barstools. One seemed a little woozy from the gas earlier, "I may pass out soon."

There were other places in the distance that I never set foot on, such as a stretch of highway that came to a dead end over the water, a waterfall, and numerous other buildings in various states of repair and disrepair.

The Deadlands is in http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Blue%20Eyes/118/159/22

Addition: on August 18, the Deathlands was moved to a new sim, at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Paradise%20Kingdom/88/35/22

Bixyl Shuftan

Tales From the Ghost Forest – LEA14

By DrFran Babcock

I had seen the Linden Endowment for the Art’s Tales From the Ghost Forest mentioned on the log in screen several times. Usually, that means it’s a build about which I won’t write, because I figure that promoted sims get a lot of coverage. I decided to visit anyway, with a friend, and decided to tell you about it.

First, after a few visits, and some photography, I am not really sure I understand Uan Ceriaptrix’s build. However, the mood he creates, and the post-apocalyptic feel made me feel immersed in another dimension. I believe that’s what art is supposed to do.

The build is composed of four different parts. You are greeted by a giant spider when you teleport into the sim. Be careful or you may end up in her web. Instead, follow the colored balls over the long bridge, up a ladder, and enter Junk City, which is just what it sounds like. According to Ceriaptrix, this area, which is a barren path studded with garbage and pollution is the point at which things started to transform through a change and restructuring of technology. Humans have been transformed into avatars and holograms, and homo sapiens are extinct.

Leaving Junk City, you enter the Ghost Forest, which the artist labels as Mother Earth. This region is filled with science, technology, and devices that have been left to the trees and fishes, to provide them with energy. In place of the machines, odd vegetation sprouts along the canyon path. Twisted, odd vegetation, that is tended by alien creatures. Boggy greens submerge your feet in tiny plants as you walk along and tiny bubbles float up through the ooze, hinting at the possibility of new life.

When you leave Mother Earth you will find yourself in Election (or die trying), which is the hope for the regeneration of the world. The luminous beings have kept collections of biology so that the ecosystem can be regenerated.  UFOs, chairs with teeth in their seats, aliens, and giant insects hold court, bringing the damaged land back to life.

At the end of the path the land ends, and the water beckons. Under the water in the unconscious that contains a carousel, a sand castle, a display of Uan Ceriaptrix’s, and other items.

I loved the build for it’s look and the builds that were on it. The terraforming created a land that was at once familiar and alien. Uan is a skilled creator, and his palette of sandy-colored ground, and green toxic or leavy touches. The windlight setting creates a smoggy sky that reminds one that this is a dying land, trying to regenerate.

I have always believed that despite what the artist or the art is trying to say, once the public views it, what is perceived becomes their truth. As I said, I don’t think I understood what was intended, but I liked it, and it made me feel strong emotions of loss.

You can come and visit The Tales From the Ghost Forest at LEA14: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA14/128/128/15 and decide for yourself.

DrFran Babcock