The Strong Girls of Hedeby

The idea was born a week ago: We're doing a Viking event. We somehow knew from the beginning that this would be a difficult task. Although there is enough material in SecondLife, somehow it also goes in the Gor direction too. But if it would fit together and would be one week enough time? To create a special place in SecondLife we need an inspiration at first. If you can't see the new place in your imagination, you will not able to create this. And the first thing that came to my mind was the song "Die Mädchen von Haithabu", which is currently very popular in Germany. There is also a video shot for this song in Haithabu, the German name for a former Viking village Hedeby. Today there is a beautiful museum village which one should visit. The lyric is simple, Vikings come from a trip and are stuck, they see a Viking Girl standing at the border of the river and she invited them to celebrate, and the song says that there is nowhere someone who can celebrate like the girls from Hedeby. 

So the invitation was quickly written.

Once again we want to go on a journey through time with you today. We go back 1,000 years to the villages and fjords in scandinavia, greenland, iceland and northern germany. We going in the time of the Vikings, the northmen and them women. They were not only plunderers, they were excellent sailors and explorers, they were craftsmen, cultivated agricultural products and kept livestock. And they believed a Valhalla and the gods there, Odin, Thor, Frija. Much still goes back to this time.

Come with us on the journey to the Vikings. Where men were still men ;-)

So it was a beginning. How is such a place created in SecondLife? I watched videos about Hedeby, but also the museum locations Roskilde in Denmark and the Viking ring fortress Trelleborgen in Sweden. Lots of impressions. I've really seen some of these places, but it's good to refresh memories. Then I visited some shops in SecondLife to get an impression of what might be possible. I also visited a friend's Sim, Thorvald Ragnarsson. 

He built a Sim Thorvaldshavn in SecondLife based on the Viking age and rents out houses there, too. It is really worthwhile to have a look there. He "live" there in this time. He had also offered me to do the event in his sim. A lot would be ready. I was really very happy that he wanted to help me. You can read a report about my Journey to Thorvaldshavn here. 

Only then it wouldn't been an event in the Sunshine Realm. I had to find a solution in our sim, and time was running out. If I had already guessed that SecondLife would be difficult with the teleport crashes just this week, maybe I would have given up at this time.

I returned to the shops with lots of ideas. I looked at it even more, talked to friends, and the picture for our event became more concrete. I tried to make an agreement with some of the shop owners. I really didn't have anything in my inventory that could be used to build a Viking world. And it was clear very early on that this time it would be a costly event. Now we reach a lot of people in SecondLife, the Sunshine Rocker Group with more as 800 members, I have my blog "Angy's SecondLife Diary"  and also a Flickr page with a lot of followers. A cooperation could be worthwhile. I had really interesting conversations, so I learned more about the inspiration of the shop owners. I used to be in Denmark a lot, and also the north of Germany has Viking tracks. But on the one hand the time was too short, on the other hand one did not want. As a customer, I was perhaps more interesting than working with a club that has 30 to 50 guests at every event, and sometime even more. We reached the 80 persons border this year too. And also here we could count on 50 visitors, and that with this complicated topic. This year we have already counted almost 2,000 visitors at the events, and there are actually more than 830 people in our group. Unfortunately, it is often the case that short-term success is more important. We have a saying for this here in Germany: "Love the sparrow in your hand as the dove on the roof". So I distributed my purchases over a few shops instead to focus it to one. Once again a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, many complain that SecondLife is slowly dying, but then do not do much to fill it with life. Secondlife can be so amazing, can be so colorful, can be so exciting. Come with us and look through our eyes at this virtual world.

A week really isn't much time. Also, we all lost a lot of time due to the TP problem in SecondLife this week, and Misty was hit especially hard. Now we had to find the place in the Sunshine Realm. We didn't want a new platform, we already have a lot of different places in our Sim. Originally we wanted to use the church ruin in the "Realm of Shades". But somehow the atmosphere around the ruin didn't match my ideas of a Viking world. Ok, the Vikings often attacked monasteries, so it would be possible. But I was just about to capture the moment when the men came back from a long voyage of discovery, and their wives and families were waiting for them, all just happy and celebrating together.

Sometimes you have to part with something, or reduce it. So I deleted the swamp and pushed the cemetery together a bit, so the inner area of the "Realm of Shades" is still there, but a skybox with the size of 1/8 Sim free. And also some more prims were available. On this empty area I was able to realize the vision for this new venue.

It was easy, the harbour where the Vikings come back from a reconnaissance trip. The fortified village with a festival hall that had to be big enough to accommodate the 50 guests. The Vikings were not just plunderers and conquerors, or sailors and explorers. They were also farmers and very good craftsmen. This place should express all this. 

A festival hall was not easy to find. And when we found one, we were uncertain whether it would be big enough. We decided us for the NS Viking Hall (Raven) of Nightshade Design. The Wall Building Set is from Nighshade too, and some decorations around. She make really good stuff, self if some of this very prim-intense. Sadly was the cooperation with Nightshade not possible. So we bought a lot stuff in other shops too, there mostly with lower cost and recommended other shops for the clothes.

Also components for the border and boats were found fast. Unfortunately, they were made with a lot of love for detail, but were often made before the mesh time, and unfortunately very resource-hungry. But we had some reserves in the Sunshine Realm, so I could use them too. And since we also have the "Surf's up!" event on Friday, and the beach had to be rebuilt, there wasn't much time to hesitate. So most of our Hedeby was finished on Thursday evening. So only 4 days from the idea to the finished viking world. Bic helped again, and made 2 banners. Thank you for your support each week, with textures, banners and advices.

As always we were nervous about how the event would go. What would our friends say to the place. Would the inspiration be the basis for our Viking celebrations, would it also reach them? What ideas would our friends and guests have if they wore the appropriate costumes? When an event gets closer, the tension increases. And I hadn't made up my mind yet either, had bought and combined a few things. But I wasn't 100% convinced until the end, and some things didn't really fit to modern mesh bodies. And it was supposed to be perfect.

And then it happened. Saturday at 4pm, we all came into the new world. DJ Yuimetal was already there and she entertained us like usual very well. It's always fun when she's there, entertaining us. Our little YuiMetal really seems to have arrived.

I had already written in the invitation: "where men were still men". Normally the men always have it a little harder, or they take it harder to find an outfit. But would it be the same here? What surprised me the most was Bic, and I know it wasn't easy for him. But he really came as a Viking warrior, with a breathtaking outfit and beard. Thank you Bic for jumping over your shadow. 

Also Phil and Odette were on the subject again. Both take part in our challenges every week and come in matching costumes. And that very often coordinated with each other. With a long beard and Thor's Hammer Phil was the Viking, and Odette came like an Amazon from the early days. I did i menshioned the helmet with horns? I can't say it often enough. I am grateful that you both are part of our family and each time help to fill this place with life. It is always exciting to wait to see what costume you have found. And that you don't take part in the event in silence like others, but also animate the local chat, instead of just writing a single character as a gesture in the chat like others.

That's what the Sunshine Realm is all about. We can provide an idea, develop an inspiration into an event location, but it's our friends and many guests who bring the Sunshine Realm to life. It's not the Sunshine Girls as dancers like in other clubs. Most of the Sunshine Girls participate, see the Sunshine Realm as a family, and enrich the place. They help to bring the visions to life. We can only be very grateful for that, too. Others see it only as a club like another, do not want to invest time and even some Linden. And unfortunately there are also those who bring the problems of other clubs or the frustration of not getting enough attention to our place. It's always frustrating when they don't take part in the public chat, but want to spin in IM's intrigues or make a fuss out to guests. Every week Misty and I invest a lot of time and resources to create unique events, create new places or rebuild others. We have our arms wide open and want to help everyone. But a minimum of decency and natural behaviour, friendliness towards our friends and guests, and just not envy and insulting to attack guests and make them feel bad, is not too much to ask.

It quickly got fuller in our Viking parties. We were quickly 50 people, and the hall was big enough. God thanks, sometime its not really to know before. Everything fit. We were 60 persons about the evening, at the end were 53 persons in the Sunshine Realm. This time we paid more attention to the outfits and also used the contest to take people out of the contest in jeans and even to eject them out of the sim. So were 49 persons there. What they don't understand, we invest time and effort, and Linden for the construction of such places. And we do a contest, that is also another Linden amount. Many take pictures, and a man in jeans next to the Viking warrior destroys this picture. So in the end the guests are extras too, and that's what the contest is for. Not so that some ALTs park and get a higher part without effort, while others are really there, have costumes, and get less for it. So this topic also gave us the opportunity to sort it out. I ejected 5 peoples this night and said to them, that they can come back with a costume. One could come back. But this mean too, that 49 of 53 guests came with matching clothes. This is the Sunshine Realm too.

Most of them really had fun. We laughed and danced together. Some as a couple and others in the group. It's always a colorful mixture. And most of our friends were there. So Fiona 2 and Lorica also made it, and mixed among the dancers. It's always nice to have all our friends around. Of course not everyone can always be there, but then there are also reasons. For example the work, the visit of friends and family in RL or something else. But most of them come, if it is possible somehow.

Then came the time of voting. Unfortunately there was some Lag in the Sim again. Many people, many costumes. And it is the weekend. SecondLife is currently fighting the EEP and TP problem. So I have again looked for a place on the board, and send a short prayer to the heaven. I asked everyone again to be considerate of the others and just click once. And of course we would ejecting all those who don't respect it. And then we opened the voting. Unfortunately I had to take 4 people out of the contest very early, but that helped. On the one hand the board quickly caught on again, on the other hand all the others were now careful and voted sensibly. So we could finish the contest almost in the planned time and had all 34 votes in the end.

After the farewell and the reference to the next events we started our after-party. For this DJ Polpeta took over the entertainment. And as always she had thought about it before and was looking for suitable music. We danced together, showed a lot of naked skin again. We discussed the event again and talked about new plans. The next week is time to take a breath for all of us, with simpler events. But there are already some new ideas for the future. Especially this time after a successful party is always something special. 

Thanks to everyone who took part. Everyone who helped to make this evening something special. Those who took part in the public chat and invested more than a short moment in the costume. They helped to make SecondLife a bit more colourful again. It was a beautiful evening and your friendship is something special.

We always have pictures at Google Images. There is a folder with pictures of the preparation, and a folder with the pictures of the event itself. It was really nice, just have a look at the folders. And if you are now curious, just have a look at our Sim, if it is in SecondLife, it is only a TP away from you. Here is the landmark to the Sunshine Realm. Beside the ground there are 3 more levels in the air, and a system of teleporters connects them. Look past the beach, here was our "Surf's up!" event, the Sunshiner's Pub, the temple or the gym. There are some interesting places. Or you visit us at one of our events, here the planning for the next week.