New Kraken Wars Chapter published!

Friday is Kraken Wars Day! Read the 2nd part of Jack Tracker's  epic steampunk story at the official Drow Science Blog.

Professor Wickentower's Transmissions through the Aether - Part 4

Dear readers and everyone else who visits this blog,

it is a very special pleasure for me to publish a new episode of the Professor's Transmissions through the Aether. Today it is a quite mysterious one, but don't be afraid: you are in good hands here. So get yourself a warm drink, take a seat next to the fire and listen to the Professor's words through your receiving device:

As the winter nights draw in, I am reminded of a tale I once heard, while sheltering from a most tempestuous storm....
During the worst storm to strike the far off lands of Mirrormere, a most isolated region, which is a vast lake surrounded by jagged peaks and pitted with shadow filled valleys, a Dirigible bound for Never drift, found itself caught up in the 'Krakens breath' a term used by the Aethernauts of Old New Gate, meaning a storm strong enough to tear the envelope of an Airship and twist her structure to breaking point. And indeed the Airship was dashed on the rocky spires and all but three souls, were lost on board.
These three, a young couple and their year old daughter, found themselves lost and alone in the bitter encroaching cold, stumbling through the heavy pines rising up from the snow blanketed land and only compounding their dilemma by attempting to follow the frozen river, which ended abruptly at the edge of a precipice. Now cut off from any safe route, the slope to steep to return, all seemed lost...Until a figure emerged from the snowy night and beckoned to them, a lean almost thin figure, swathed in furs and glistening with hoarfrost, his long hair white as the snow which settled on it, and a beard bristling with frost. Without an alternative, the couple followed him, their precious cargo clutched tightly, for arduous hours they allowed themselves to be led by this would be rescuer, who never spoke, not a word, or sound from his lips emerged in that time. Finaly he paused at a mountain track which ran below the snow line, and placing his sack on the floor indicated the route they should follow to the village, which sprawled out below them, welcoming window lights in the gloom and the clattering of carts, more welcome sights and sounds than any, after such a chilly ordeal.
And then, without a word, the old man picked up his sack and climbed back up the mountain, beyond the tree line, up into the snow line and vanished into the clouds shrouding the peak...And was never heard nor seen from again.
The family now safe in the town below recounted the tail of this unspeaking guide and were met with some curious gazes from those gathered in the tavern. You see, in the most far flung and isolated corners of the world, superstition is abroad in all walks of life. The more level headed said it was just a kindly old Hermit, who lived up there high up in the ragged peaks who performed a charitable act. But some whispered of the Revenant of an old mountain guide, who perished above the snow line searching for a lost group of mountaineers, finally fulfilling his last promise to return the lost ones to safety...And some? well, some whispered that this was old Jack Frost himself, who for some reason, took pity on the man, woman and child, and in that moment, decided he would performed one kindly deed, and lead the family to safety...But as I say, there are places in the chilly furrows of the world where superstition is rife, or as some may say, older more intimate knowledge of the half seen world, we sometimes stumble across , as the shadows lengthen and the chill winds blow, in the dead of winter....
What do you think?...

Exert From
 'My further travels across the 35th Dimension and other places'
Prof.Z.Wickentower.

Want to see the Prometheus in SL? Here are some places:

Good news! The new Prometheus-Class is now on exhibit in its full life-sized glory at Never Drift and Dark Wishes.

For the future there are several extensions for the ship planned - stay tuned!

The Prometheus II Is here!

I know some of you have been waiting for this release quite a while - too long actually. But real-life had quite a word in that matter and while I'd have loved to see it released at a much earlier date, that was just not possible.

But the long waiting is now over and I can honestly say that the Prometheus-Class II is by far the best ship I ever built. While it shares the same basic layout the old Prometheus-Class has (including 3 decks, elevator and a segmented bridge section), the new ship makes much more use of its space and looks also much more streamlined - and yes: a little bit more aggressive too^^

I also gave it two optional engine variants. Steam engines and dieselpunk-inspired radial engines in the style of the 1930s - and I think they both look very good in it!

Oh and the best thing of all: there is a flyable version too!

Here some specifications:

Dimensions:

• Length with landing strip retracted: 44.60 m
• Length with landing strip extended: 68 m
• Width: 30.10 m
• Height: 16.50 m

Enough blablah - lets have some pictures. They say more than a thousand words anyway:

The Prometheus-Class II is now available on the Marketplace! I decided to put it on a promotional price for the first week - so better get it as long its cheap!^^

The Steam Awakens

Just posting this here because... because!

And before you wonder: no, the Prometheus refit hasn't been shelved, as this picture may suggest. To the contrary actually. More news very soon...

The Aeronaut Express - August 2015 Edition

Never Drift, the city of the floating isles, is not only the home of the Cog and Kraken Pub and a pretty mad Professor, it is also the home of the Aeronaut Express, a monthly magazine for steampunks, airship-pilots and dashing explorers.

Jack Tracker 99, from Sprokit & Kogg Publishers is the editor and writer of the Aeronaut Express - and he does a fantastic job. Each magazine contains a colourful mixture: News, coverage of past and upcoming Aeronautical events (ever heard the name Lawnchair Larry? if not, you missed something!), for example the famous Airship Regattas, infos about aviation/steampunk sims, recent air-kraken activity and much more. SL and RL builders will also apprechiate the freebie textures and the occasional DIY guide.

Subscribing to the Aeronaut Express is free. You can find the subscribers at various places on the grid. For example at the Cog and Kraken Pub in Never Drift.

SL12B! Tomorrow! Yeäh!

The recent days were busy busy busy for us. Getting our infernal machine ready for the exhibit, working on the hunt gift and a few other things, which will hopefully be finished in the next days - yes, I must be mad to do all this stuff...

Do you dare to turn the dream generator on? I bet you do!

Many many thanks to my lovely partner Emma who spent her spare time this week scripting all the craziness I was building! (and it became more and more) You are the best dear!

Also big thanks to Professor Wickentower, who provided me with some of his cool steampunk airships for my exhibit. They do look fantastic, don't they?

Now we can finally relax and wait for the big opening. I can't wait to see all the other exhibitions and the events. It's going to be a pretty cool time!
Please note, the events will be held in the first week, starting tomorrow, while the exhibits will be around for another week, to give everyone the opportunity to see them.

Speaking of seeing. My exhibit made it into the Destination Guide! I am happy, very happy. And yes: quite proud too.

These links will provide you with everything you need:

The Dream Of Steam Exhibit

SL12B on the Destination Guide

SL12B Blog and Timeline

I hope you have a great time there!

Getting Ready For SL12B!

Yes, it is that time of the year again, when the grid celebrates the birthday of Second Life. Its the 12th already - time flies! 12 years are quite a steep age for the internet. When SL started, there was no Facebook, Amazon mostly sold books and even Google was still rather a novelty.
I personally didn't experience SL until 2007, which also is an appalling while ago already! So I got spared from all that mayhem of the grid's early days - and experienced instead the regular mayhem we more or less still have today!

Over the years I learned a lot here. About people, myself and last but not least building. When I started with SL I had absolutely no idea about building or even meshes, textures or scripts. I actually didn't dare to touch the build window until being 2 years on the grid - and promptly messed a nice set of wings up!

Well, things have changed. I can mess up the things I have built by myself now! Yay - achievement! But seriously: I am very happy for what I have learned and for the creativity inside me I could unleash via this lovely and messy and laggy digital world called Second Life.

In the recent years I also went more and more into attending events. First as visitor and blogger, but more and more also as exhibitor and this year's SLB will be very special for me in this regard: I will have my own exhibit on SLB!

I was busy building my exhibit most part of last week, taking my inspiration from various directions, added with a good amount of madness and megalomania. May I introduce: The Dream Of Steam!

I bet you don't guess where I got the idea for the building from. 

The exhibit features the most sophisticated steam- and tesla-technology. With lots of rotating gears (ask Emma, she had to script them all!), discs, glowing tubes and tanks and lightning and whatnot, to spread funny and crazy steampunk dreams into the world. Likely without causing permanent physical or psychological harm - yay!

No, it's not a doomsday-machine. Well, at least not quite.

The 16 SL12B sims will be opened on Sunday, June 21 at 12 PM SLT. The first week will see plenty of events. More info about this on the official SLB blog.

And here is a direct-link to my exhibit. The best way to start exploring SLB anyway, if you ask me!

Have a wonderful time!

Never Drift Opening Party Sunday 12 PM!

The all-brand-new-shiny-and-steamy Sim Never Drift by my friend Prof. Zen Wickentower has its great opening party tomorrow!

A sim waiting for being discovered: Never Drift

You are invited to celebrate this special event with us at the Cog and Kraken Pub. There will be two shows there. First a dance performance by the Beatniks, then the famous Clyde Barrow (not the one from Bonnie and Clyde though) will sing his jazz-tunes!


Here are the event details:

What? Sim opening Party, dance performance by the Beatniks & live concert with Clyde Barrow
Where? Never Drift
When? Sunday 14 June, 11:30 AM (Beatniks), 12 PM (Clyde Barrow), SLT

See you there!


*** Edit: Sadly the Beatniks won't be able to perform today, but Clyde Barrow will! See you at 12 PM for his show! ***

New Impressions from Never Drift & Opening Party Date!

The Professor is almost finished with building on his Sim. If that's not a good reason for some more pictures, I don't know a better one!

The Sim is called Never Drift, because it hopefully never drifts away!

The islands seen from below...

...from the famous Nautilus!

Looking like The Velvet Underground going steampunk: your Drow-Blogger and Prof. Wickentower.

The opening party will be on Sunday, June 14 at 12 PM SLT, featuring the fantastic jazz-singer and overall great chap Clyde Barrow! I will keep you up-to-date with further info.

Never Drift - First Pictures!

My good (and pretty crazy) friend, Professor Wickentower seems to finally has put down roots - air roots of course! He is now the happy owner of his own homestead region - Never Drift.

Here some first impressions. Needless to mention that its a lovely scenic and steampunky floating village with fort, airship dock, lighthouse, pub - and a lot else to discover!

Currently Never Drift isn’t open for public, but once the building is finished, access will be granted - stay tuned!

Professor Wickentower's Transmissions through the Aether

On one of my many journeys through the steampunky realms of Second Life, I met a person who would become very quickly a dear friend of mine. Professor Zen Wickentower. Regular readers may be familiar with this name. We did collaborate on several projects before.

Today, I introduce you to the narrative side of him. We were talking about him having a more or less regular series about his travels and the adventures he had. So here is the first part of "Professor Wickentower's Transmissions through the Aether". I hope you enjoy them!

Once, a few Tinkerers would have it, even before the rise of the Steampunks way back in the History of the JunkPunks of Old Shoregate, there were the Clockpunks. they had other names of course, Cogpunks, was another, and they lived isolated beyond the Black-Coal shores beyond the turbulent Aether streams, beyond the Grey-cloud reefs, in the brass walled Clanking City.

Clock workers, labored in their factories, sprung wound conveyances trundled along the copper paved streets and their clock work Dirigibles glided above the brazen roofs and pinnacles.

But that was a long time ago.

A very few claim to have seen one of these clockwork artificers and most think they are a myth...But...

Recently, a Mad Tinkerer, built the first, for a long time anyway, Clockwork Dirigible. Maybe he found a wreck, off the Cavorite crags? Or the worn and tattered schematics left by the original maker in an ancient, dust cocooned draw? Who knows?... Now these Clockwork Aetherboats are being spotted again, drifting almost silently through the clouds, their arrival heralded by the slow ticking and clicking of the clockwork mechanism.

Of the Clockpunks themselves? Little remains to show they were even here, some twisting spires of brass and cobweb shrouded clockwork are sometimes sighted on the distant horizon, before they are engulfed in stormcloud, or a curio, from their homes might turn up, at a merchants store, sold by a salvage man, tight lipped as to how he came by it of course!

But...some Aeronauts, say, in the quite hours of the, late watches, and if the static is very very low, if you listen very carefully to transmissions on the Aetherscope, you can almost hear the faint clicking of gears. Most say that it is just the engines of the Airship, echoing through the hull but some say that this is the sound of the Clanking city, out there, beyond the Black Coal shores, beyond the grey cloud reefs, where the air Kraken prowl and the Night Gaunts lurk....What do you think?

Exert from "My travels in the 35th Dimension and other places" 

                  By Prof.Z.Wickentower.

Sim Redecoration @Unzipped!

My friends Destany and Barnabas at Tesla Isle have given their sim a major - and quite beautiful - redesign.

Besides the new layout, with a lovely shopping village and plenty of scenic spots, the new place will also see new events, like treasure-hunts - great news!

After setting up my new store there I had a stroll around the sim with my partner Emma.

The Unzipped Mainstore with the new landing-area in the foreground.

Lovely Airship!

From the mainstore our journey lead us to the village on the eastern side of the sim. 

The center of the village is marked by a ring of gothic arches

Oh what a lovely store!

View from the village to the Unzipped mainstore in the north.

A little underwater excursion.

Back on the surface we met the local sea-dragon Tessie, who looks quite happy in its new environment!

As you see, there is a lot to explore and I guess I didn't even scratched the surface yet. The sim is definitely worth taking a look or two ;-)

Unzipped Landing point

Drow Science @Tesla Isle


P.S. Yes, thats a Ms. Marvel outfit I am wearing. I didn't change since our last dance at Raven Park. Putting on so much skin-coloured makeup over my natural drow grey was a hell lot of work btw ;-)

An Undead... Sim?

Shoregate, today afternoon: still kinda there.

It seems not only the zombies of New Shoregate, but the whole sim itself has become undead! Exactly one week after the last payment happened the place is still intact! Well – mostly.

I don't expect this state to last for much longer though. I guess the rental company just wants to show what beautiful landscaping and builds are possible on a homestead sim. There is at least a clear sign that the land managers did indeed visit and like the place. They put up their land sale booth right in front of the tower, instead of clearing up the sim and rezzing it then.

This is quite ironic, but shows how much the place was and still is appreciated and loved. That's at least how I interpret it ;-)

So if you want to pay the Sim that was New Shoregate a last visit – better hurry. It is still here. But who knows for how long.

This way, please.


P.S.
Due to changing the land-group by the rental company zombies, kraken or the plane rezzer don't work anymore. but the tram is still there! 

Starting Today: Steam X Hunt!

And you shouldn't miss it! I used my patented MiniaturizEX Raygun to shrink the Zephyr and make it a lovely room decoration!

Come and hunt it down at the Drow Science Mainstore!


The Steam X Hunt goes from today, March 1 till March 31, for more info tickle the official Blog: Steam X Blog

Drow Science @Steam X Hunt!

Busy, busy Drow! On March 1st, just when the Sci-Fi Convention will close its doors, the 10th incarnation of the Steampunk Hunt: Steam X, will take off!

Here a sneak-peek on my gift I have prepared for you:

Happy hunting!

Links:

Historical Hunts Blog

Drow Science Mainstore

Starting Today: The SciFi Convention 2015!

This is an event I was really looking for! Last year's convention was very enjoyable and I had lots of fun strolling around the exhibition grounds.

The Convention goes from February 20 to March 1st and offers a lot of events and exhibits. Check out their official blog for more info!

Oooh! What is this? Do we have built a new Zeppelin? Yes I have!

The Convention is also a good opportunity to introduce you to my latest release as centerpiece of the Drow Science exhibit: The Zephy-Class Zeppelin!
A luxurious air-liner in the spirit of the golden age of airships. Oh by the way: to prevent a rather unpleasant Hindenburg-style landing, I use helium instead of the highly inflammable hydrogen.

The ship fits quite well with this year's space-resort-theme and I ensure you that the Zephyr's pressure cabin works well in extraterrestrial atmospheres too!

You are very welcome to visit us at the convention! Here some impressions of my parcel this year.

Links:

Sci-Fi Convention Blog

Drow Science Exhibit


See you there! Have a wonderful time!

Professor Wickentower's Airship Workshop

The name tells it already: beautiful and sunny New Shoregate got a new addition! The Professor has set up his Workshop at the North-Eastern corner of the city - just where the factory was (we might have been forced to blow it up to clear the space!).

This is where the Professor feels really at home: blueprints, tools and the grime of years of airship-building.

Did someone say mad scientist?

Hardbottle, the erhmm... charming Watchman.

Robots working, human watching!

Spare-parts waiting for their use

The Professor musing in his office after a long and hard day.

The charme of bricks - the Airship Workshop seen from outside.

Feel for exploring the place? Here is your ticket, just don't wake up the Professor, if you see him!