After the volcano – Caledon style

Those Caledonians are a phlegmatic bunch.

As many of you will know, Caledon (the series of Victorian-themed sims under the governorship of Desmond Shang) have a rich and varied social calendar.

Last night’s event was somewhat more … explosive than usual.

Caledonians were bidden to a beach party on the new Caledonian location of Saint Kitt Islands.  Nothing unusual in that, you might think – although old hands in Caledon might have been alerted by a couple of accompanying messages – Radio Riel, issuing the invitation, mentioned casually in passing, “don’t worry about all of those naysayers who claim the islands aren’t safe.  Des has assured me that they are perfectly safe.”

Equally worrying was perhaps a test of the Caledon Emergency Broadcasting System:
*beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep*
This is a test of the emergency broadcast system.
Had this been an actual emergency, say, a catastrophic volcanic eruption, you would have been given helpful information like where you might go to swoon or panic, where you can find the biggest batch of whisky, oh and where you might seek shelter and assistance as well.
We now return you to your regularly-scheduled Second Life, already in progress.

So perhaps those attending weren’t wholly surprised when the islands they were partying on erupted in the most spectacular volcano., with lava flows, explosions, red hot rocks hurtling through the air and clouds of noxious gases, and the land rocked – then rose and fell.  It was all most spectacular.

Being a phlegmatic bunch, as I said above, the Caledonians enjoyed it hugely.  Some took to the air in a wide variety of steampunk craft and bi-planes in order to have a grandstand view; others endeavoured to dodge rocks on the ground and continued to party. Some even created fiery cocktails in honour of the occasion.

It was a stunning display of Second Life creativity – and it will be continuing (we are told) for a couple more days before volcanic activity ceases. There is a viewing platform where you appear to be comparatively safe (damage is enabled, and you will yelp and lose health points if you get in the way of flying rocks).  And it is definitely worth a visit.