Safari goes from Alexandria to Arizona

           Two horse riding opportunities this week, and two beautiful places to visit any time. The Safari group was honored to be the first visitors to the latest grand attraction on Outworldz, where 16 regions of ancient history, NPCs, architecture and drama awaited us (the good kind of drama, Shakespearean, naturally) and then an opportunity to meditate in the vast open spaces of the Rift Valley on Afar, OSGrid. HG Addresses at the end of the post as always.

Pharos of Alexandria

              Egypt is a collaborative build, bringing together the creative talents of Debbie Edwards aka Nyira Machabelli, Joe Builder and of course the legendary Ferd Frederix. Avia Bonne also did some of the artwork, she's a talented lady. Outworldz is a great grid with many themed activities - Dragons, Fairy Tales, and the African bush to mention just a few. The Outworldz website is undisputably Opensim's greatest treasure.

Ferd as Caesar,: "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me!"

          Egypt is a new build that seeks to capture a dramatic moment in world history, when the Roman empire collided with the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt. The climactic scene from Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra - Act V Scene 2 - is brought to life by NPCs. You can become part of the action if you wish, or simply wander the 16 regions either on foot or using one of the many vehicles and animals available across the regions.

           Your visit begins on a tiny island, and a short boat ride takes you to the monumental city of Alexandria, looking at its best. Then walk through the Monumental buildings to see the play.

           With a core for each of the sixteen regions in this build, our group (somewhere between 20 and 30 plus another 20+ NPCs on the land) barely made a dent in Ferds CPU. Not all the mesh rezzed immediately, as you might expect, but it was a heck of a lot quicker than any of us had the right to hope, and we enjoyed the Shakespeare in our usual chaotic way.

We arrive right in the middle of the drama playing out in Shakespeare's play

Cherry Manga: and Aime the sleeping beauty... :)
Wizardoz Chrome: lol
Ferd Frederix: Iras sort of lag walked out of dying
Thirza Ember: wow cleopatra is impressively fierce

Son't mess with the Queen

Cherry Manga: iras come here quick!
Ferd Frederix: I think the script will kill her anyway
Cleopatra Philopator: Do I have the asp’s poison on my lips? Did you fall? If you can leave your body so easily, then the touch of death is like a lover’s pinch, which hurts but is desired. Do you lie still? If you leave like that, you tell the world that it’s not worthy of a good-bye.This proves that I’m petty: if Iras meets Antony before me, he’ll want her first and give her the kiss that is my bliss to have. Come, you deadly villain.
Charmion Handmaiden:  Oh, eastern star! In this vile world? So, good-bye. Now, Death, you can boast that you have an incomparable girl in your possession. Close, soft eyes.

Aime (foreground) takes a nap on Cleopatra's deathbed

Ferd Frederix: Aime, let her die in peace haha
Wizardoz Chrome: I believe that if you invite Aime to a dance ..he  wakes up :)
Tosha Tyran: lol, she seems a little sado-maso, the good woman
Ferd Frederix: Always something unusual on a HG Safari!
Cherry Manga: what would Aime do for a french kiss...
Charmion Handmaiden: The sun will never be seen by such royal eyes again. Your crown is crooked. I’ll straighten it, then play—
Phred.420: gosh didn't expect this ending
Lux.Tergeste: hahaha
Ferd Frederix: Me either,.Phred
Lucy.Afarensis: hehe
Roland.Francis: grins
Nyom.Chung: Hope Aime isn't where they mummify the dead
Tosha Tyran: lol, Nyom, dont underestimate a mummified avatar
Ferd Frederix: Fair warning: there are deadly things in Alexandria that may kill you and send you here.
We walked through the palace to the vehicle rezzing area, where chariots, litters, camels, elephants and more were awaiting us outside on the terrace.
Roland Francis: nice combi of sound and scripting (applauds)
Nyom.Chung: Gorgeous avatars... Nice world. what a lot of work put into it
Lux.Tergeste: This is beautiful, bravo Ferd Debbie and Joe!!

Apparently Littering is OK in Ancient Egypt

Joe Builder: hmm you know i did Rome, Ancient Rome. So Fred asked me to help him create Cleopatra's Alexandria. I redid some of my roman builds, being Egypts Alexandria had Roman and Greek influence at the time. The building team all have the PC game Assassins Creed "Origins" which is this time of Cleopatra, so lot of ideas from that, in terms of design, we were all on the same page, in a way. Not too much arguing on what should be built LOL ... and its 16 regions, you know me i like the big stuff.

Joe Builder (center) Help the afari crowd get their rides organized

Thirza Ember: What was the biggest challenge?
Joe Builder: the mesh... new firestorm has issues with mesh. If there's lag, its 34k in prims - lots of textures in short time it should all come in. Another thing,  you know this build was on a kinda time restriction here, we were working up to this date, so I was here everyday, 7 days a week mostly. place is kinda big lol.

impressive elephant!

Nyira Machabelli: as always we had a ball building this...my favorite part is Cleopatra's Tomb

Debbie aka Nyira Machabelli and Ferd dressed as Anubis

        Our 90 minute visit was of course nowhere near long enough to see everything. My favorite moment was when Selby, who had paused on the roadway to take some photos, nearly got hit by a flying chariot...
... but really we only scratched the surface. The combination of  wit and humor and serious creativity is breathtaking, don't miss What an honor to be the first ones to see this marvellous build, I know people - including me - are going to be visiting 24/7 so I hope to see you there.

          Our second destination was a horse riding trek across three regions in OSGrid, belonging to artist Lucy Afarensis.

Lucy Afarensis

           Afar is a spiritual place. Light and form seem to dance in exquisite simplicity across the terrain. It's a portrait of the Rift Valley where time and human history seem a mere bagatelle. Inspired in part by the Great Rift Valley in Africa, home to the 'real' Lucy Australopithecus Afarensis, in part by the artist's love of Arizona, the wonderful windight and distant mountains make it a paradise for trekkers seeking somewhere to relax and meditate on the clutter of life.

         The arrival point is a small terrace with elephant, turn on your music for a very appropriate soundtrack. There were seventeen of us on arrival, then a dose of lag (probably caused by us all rezzing horses at once) cause us to need to go away and come back again after a reboot. The seventeen became seven, and a magnificent company of travellers you could not ask for.

Despite appearances, no horses were drowned in the making of this Safari

Phred 420: movement was good until the hang, but the horses were not animating much
Lucy Afarensis: I wish I knew more about this stuff The server is supposed to be very powerful
Flidais Merlin: hi is the sim on now?
Lucy Afarensis: It is
Flidais Merlin: yay!
Lucy.Afarensis: Did trouble start with sim crossings ?
Phred.420: it did for me

[Thirza.Ember : way better now, i can even see phred's beard now, also the two larks and a wren
Lucy.Afarensis: I am seeing a lot of resends on my console... Want try again ?
Flidais.Merlin: yes let's go
Lucy.Afarensis: Onward !
George Equus: region crash? can't get any of the horses to behave
snowbody Cortes: Lucy restarted the sim
George.Equus: ok i'll go by foot then
Flidais Merlin: we can tp to where we were can't we?
Lucy.Afarensis: Thats no Fun
Flidais.Merlin: ok np lets ride;-)

Lucy.Afarensis: Every body still here ?
Phred.420: crossed the boundary and running uncontrolled now
Lucy Afarensis: We are in Ixtlan now. Check out the view from here
Flidais.Merlin: this sim working better -can hear the horses
George Equus: the windlight here is awesome
snowbody Cortes: very
Phred 420: i want to camp here for the night!
Lucy.Afarensis: Its up 24/7 - enjoy

Thirza Ember: you have horses in your rl Lucy?
Lucy Afarensis: Haven't been on one for 30 years... no, 10 years - rode a horse in egypt
Thirza.Ember: they're like the bicycle, but with more poops ad fewer punctures
Lucy Afarensis: hehe, ready to go on ?
snowbody Cortes: yesss
Flidais Merlin: y
Lucy.Afarensis @hg.osgrid.org: Maybe they will work better with water, give em a drink
snowbody Cortes: eheh or a beer
Lucy.Afarensis: or maybe a margarita for the typist

Phred.420: the horses are animating after the reboot, they were just sliding along before
Lucy Afarensis: The going can be rough from here to El Norte... Still with us Thirza ?
Thirza.Ember: i kinda froze again - can't walk any more, only tp
 Phred 420: you can hop like a bunny
 snowbody Cortes: eheh

Lucy.Afarensis: The mountains ahead are made from NASA maps of Mars
Phred.420: and the colors?
 Lucy.Afarensis: Arizona of course
snowbody Cortes: great colors
Lucy.Afarensis: Canyons on Mars

Phred 420: very restful after all that buzz in Egypt, well you must like having it all to yourself :)
Lucy.Afarensis : My rl artists like seeing their stuff here
Phred 420 : oh just saw the purple mesa
Lucy Afarensis: It is open to all to explore any time
Brian : So Arizona is Reddish? Reminds me of Mars

Brian takes in the scenery

Phred.420: hate to leave this peaceful venue but must do so
Thirza.Ember: yes, it's late here and there's a big storm also
Flidais Merlin: ty have enjoyed it
Phred.420: ferd could add some scorpions and such
Lucy Afarensis: I am sure he could
Brian..: nite folks, until the next time
Thirza.Ember: such an original build, with a strong sense of place it's been great to see and worth coming back for ...hugs to all of you
 Phred 420: till next time then, goodbye
Lucy Afarensis: You are all welcome Thanks for putting up with my balky servers

Lucy Afarensis

snowbody Cortes: thank you so much Lucy ! bye bye

HG Addresses
Cleopatra's Lost World                       www.outworldz.com:9000:Egypt
Video of the build  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gb_wCBfppQ

Rift Valley, Afar                                  hg.osgrid.org:80:afar