Many people have hit on new and unusual ways of raising money for this year’s Relay for Life (see the Charity News section in our March magazine for details of what Relay for Life involves). One recent idea that appealed to us is the competition to find the Eight Wonders of Caledon, organised by a Caledon resident, Mr Denver Hax (with the support of Dame Lapin Paris).
Caledon, of course, is the Victorian steampunk set of sims, almost as well-known in the real world, it seems, as in the Second Life variety. Famed for its strong community, as well as the inventiveness of its residents, it is not surprising to learn that they have some spectacular builds there to form the Wonders of Caledon.
No surprise either that they had to raise the number the number from the historical Seven to Eight!
The final eight were chosen by the votes of Caledonians and visitors, and included some quite lovely builds – such as Podruly Peccable’s Botanical House in Caledon-on-Sea. This is a beautiful Edwardian building (accurate even to the slightly rusting on the iron window frames, thanks to all the condensation).
Another that proved a strong favourite with the voters (coming First in the order of precedence) was Zoe Conolly’s Penzance Aerodrome. This provides a home for many of the amazing steampunk aircraft much enjoyed by Caledonians – and also the early loving recreations of early aeroplanes – not to forget the hugely impressive (in every possible sense of the word!) blimps.
People paid a sum to Relay for Life for the privilege of voting – and the eight finalists also made it into a Thinc book!
The final stage was when a team visited each of the Wonders in turn and voted for the one that they believed the overall Wonder of Caledon. This was Steam Sky City and, really, one can see why.
It’s a sim-worth of building, suspended in the sky -a team build by (among others) Desmond Shang, Jules Whittlesea, Ambiant Kukulcan, barney Boomslang and Maklin Deckard. There are a few buildings on the ground, but the majority of the structure floats serenely overhead, connected to the ground by a few pylons and some impressive steampunk machinery (as you can see in the picture at the head of this page).
That in itself is remarkable – but also one must surely delight in the sheer complexity of the buildings in the structure. This is no smooth, homogeneous creation of a sleek aerial pod. It’s a fantastic collection of buildings packed together, with the feeling of something that has grown dynamically, rather than been created. To me it gives the feeling that there was order and structure … but there are also human beings who live and work here, by the Lord Harry, and their needs have shaped their wonderfully eccentric environment.
The selection process came to an end last Saturday, when the builders of the eight received awards in a special prize ceremony. And then the evening concluded with celebratory fireworks.
It was only fitting that all should win prizes, because the standard of entries was enormously high. A full list – with slurls follows and, really, if you’re at a loose end this holiday weekend, I would suggest you go and visit.
In order of precedence:
1st Penzance aerodrome, Caledon Penzance
2nd SteamSky City, Caledon Steam Sky City
3rd The Botanical House, Caledon-on-Sea
4th The Gaiety Theatre, Caledon Penzance
5th The Falcon Tower, Caledon Steam Sky City
6th The Rakehell Airship, Caledon Tanglewood
7th Dusenberg Zeppelin (look up!), Caledon
8th The Astrotorium, Caledon Eyre
Prim Perfect 