Friday, February 19, 2016

Uhre, Dragon Realm


By Becky "Sha" Shamen,


After spending a week developing Sunny Beach, this reporter was so full of been there,done that, she couldn't find another adventure to tempt readers with. Sha comes from a big family. Long before we discovered SL, we created a series of animated 3D characters, of which Katzu Quattle was a favorite. Katzu is a somewhat scary-looking, large purple dragon, who is actually a very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful Makara. When not growling and breathing fire, his voice sounds like Sean Connery's (http://shaadventures.blogspot.com/2014/01/old-poser-animations.html bottom video). By getting the Guardian Dragon avatar in our alt account, we were able to bring Katzu into SL. Katzu has already been featured in past Newser articles, including one in which he made the longest, one way flight possible in SL (about 25 miles). We brought Katzu back from his long vacation, to see what kinds of dragon adventures he could get into. We'll let him tell, in his own words.

* * * * *

Katzu:
I knew, as soon as they let me out of inventory, the first place I wanted to visit. In Sept. 2013, Sha wrote about a fantasy roleplay area, which she called "Vanwenia" (from the Elven word for Hello). The collective of sims, then numbering 39, is only about five kilometers West of the Sunweaver Estates and was divided into realms. There were areas for Elves, Dwarves, Humans and Dragons. Comparing the maps from then with those from today, we see there are now only 34 and some have moved or changed names. Where Sha had visited all the realms and made friends with Kings and Queens, she had seen few dragons. I was determined to meet the local dragons and see life from their perspective. 
 
As it turns out, on my first visit I managed to have my first meeting with the local king, Tsargoth Runeclaw, who was giving hunting lessons to a young dragon. At 7.6m tall, when on two legs, I thought I was the biggest dragon around, but Tsargoth made me look like a VW bug, parked next to a passenger airliner. Tsargoth welcomed me to the realm and I spent several sessions exploring all the sims I could get into, without use of a TP. The terrain is beautiful, thickly forested, with mountains, volcanoes, waterfalls, caves and hidden valleys. Flying above the mountains, I would swoop down and land at points of interest. If you like castles, you're gonna love this place. On my latest visit, I spotted a group of dragons and flew up to the caldera, where seven were hangin' out.

Given the location, this group was doing anything but chillin'. Three of them were big adults and two children played around and nibbled the claws of adults. Another adult, closer to my size and a human sized biped completed the group. I asked what name I should put on my map for their realm. It is called Uhre and they pulled out a map to show the 12 connected sims (highlighted on map), that make them the largest realm in the area. I listened to their conversation, for a while, to get a feel for how locals interact socially, then brought up that on Sunweaver sims locals seem to like gathering for theme parties, to shake their tails on the dance floor and tell silly puns. I was informed that they too..."might" shake their tails....but that is a secret.

Picturing these massive creatures dancing together got me thinking. I did a search and found an adult dance club, called Dragon Spire. On my first visit to the club, I was alone and noted that the doors were big enough and hall spacious enough to host a large group of dragons. I returned several more times, at different time slots, to see if the club got any traffic or regulars. As I met dragons there, I learned that the club is always open, although probably gets more traffic from noon to early evening. I even made a few new dragon friends there.
 
So there you have it, my friends. In Second Life, if you can imagine it, there are sims and clubs for it, somewhere on the grid. I'll be sure to join you on the next fantasy, as soon as I've had a bit of rest, upon my hoard of gold coins, which Sha paid me.
 
"Sha" (and Katzu)

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