News from Winterfell

We’ve received exciting news from Winterfell which was the Sim (or rather Sims) of the Month in the latest edition of the Prim Perfect magazine.

Readers of the magazine will already know that Winterfell is a unique and fascinating collection of medieval gothic islands in Second Life, catering to the Vampire, Unseelie, BDSM, and D/s lifestyles.

In a recent development, it has recently opened its tenth island, Winterfell Absinthe, adding to the existing nine sims of Winterfell, Winterfell Breakwater, Winterfell Ebonshire, Winterfell Fathom, Winterfell Harbor, Winterfell Haven, Winterfell Reprieve, Winterfell Sanctuary and Winterfell Undertow.

Winterfell Absinthe, as the name implies, is a little different. Inspired by the writings of Lovercraft, Stoker, Blackwood, Stevenson and Poe, it aims to create an atmosphere of Victorian decadence and horror to add to the existing medieval style.

All the sims are the creation of Serra Anansi, our Designer of the Month (and of whom I am still getting reports as to what a great landlady she is in Winterfell!) – and all have been developed since November last year.

In her most recent expansion, she added Winterfell Absinthe to act as the gateway to the popular and respected Victorian/Steampunk nation of Caledon.

“Early next year Winterfell and Caledon will share an ocean link and we will be able to either sail or take a ferry between our two fine nations,” Serra explains. “I can not begin to tell you how excited I am about this link. It has been a long time dream of mine to share a boarder with my dear and long time friend Desmond Shang’s nation.”

To facilitate this, next month Serra is ordering Winterfell Laudanum (another dark Victorian sim) – with another darkly suggestive name!

But Serra is hardly resting until then.

One of her earliest projects was to build Winterfell Castle, the great castle that rules over the North in George R R Martin’s novels, A Song of Fire and Ice. Over the months, the Castle disappeared as more land was needed for expansions as Winterfell became more and more popular as a place to live and run a business.

Now Serra has regained the 8192 meters of land north of the village, to re create Winterfell Castle. To facilitate the new build the north wall of the village will need to be taken out so the castle opens up into the village. This means that their will be a re-allignment of the market area. Serra is offering some excellent deals so that merchants should not suffer as the process goes forward

The completion of the Castle will see a range of private and public spaces:

• Club 13 (Serra says that she is looking for a better name, if anyone has ideas. Does not need to have 13 in the name.)
• Community meeting hall
• Space for the upcoming Winterfell Library
• Shop space in the base of the castle to help replace shops lost by the expansion
• Formal open gardens and gazing pool in the middle of the village
• Serra’s personal residence

 

A significant reason for this re-development is that Serra is looking to create a proper “capital” for Winterfell in the existing village. One step towards this has been taken by Silverdrake Sparrow who has started the community projects by setting up a group Flickr account, which you can see here.

“Anyone looking for a place to hold regular meetings, group events, civic services will have my full and enthusiastic support,” says Serra.

All in all, anyone setting up or running a store with a dark theme might find it a very good time to start planning a branch in Winterfell!

You can stay abreast with news about Winterfell by reading Serra Anansi’s own blog here.

 

And remember – there’s still a house to be won in Winterfell in this month’s star competition!

To win the house in Winterfell Ebonshire, built and furnished by Serra Anansi, all you have to do is answer the following three questions (contained in this month’s magazine on Page 18):

• This month, our star sims are the Winterfell sims. But where does the name ‘Winterfell’ come from?
• What is the name of Dellybean North’s store?
• What is the name of the newest Winterfell sim?

All the answers are somewhere in the magazine so read it carefully and you will find the answers you need!

Then send your answers to primperfect@gmail.com – together with a completion of this sentence (in not more than 15 words):
“I want to live in Winterfell because …”

The closing date for the competition is December 6th, 2007

Mark your email subject as: Star Competition Autumn 2007. Include in the email the name of your avatar. Do NOT IM or notecard anyone connected with the magazine. The winner will be the person who answers all the questions correctly and also supplies the best tie-breaker, in the opinion of the editorial team.

There is NO cash alternative.