Heart of the Everstorm Book One Available at Second Life's Birthday!

After much anticipation, I'm thrilled to announce the 'soft release' of Heart of the Everstorm Book One during this year's Second Life Birthday celebration. As part of the Sing the Song of Speirling exhibit, you can acquire an aetheric copy of Book One in the Sky temple. This virtual book, can be placed on inworld tables or shelves and leads to a PDF online copy of the text.

At the exhibit's ground level, visitors can view images from Speirling's history, from its creation on the grid to more recent events. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLB%20Outgoing/190/84/21

Notecard text from the Memory Bridge:

Welcome to the Sing the Song of Speirling exhibit for SL21B, a unique celebration of Caledon's longest-lived duchy!

This exhibit is a testament to the rich history of Caledon's oldest remaining homestead duchy region, a place that has witnessed and shaped significant events over the years. 

Use shared environment (on medium settings or above) and turn on sounds for the full experience. 

Don't miss the Memory Bridge, a collection of images spanning Speirling's 17 years, and the Sky Temple gallery showcasing the current residents and members of the Speirling Unseelie Court. Take a virtual copy of Heart of the Everstorm, Book 1, and immerse yourself in the world of Caledon Speirling. 

I hope you enjoy your visit!

Cheers,

Lady Aeval-Leigh 

 (Attachments included for in-world visitors.)

Bits of Speirling history:

On August 28, 2007, Caledon Speirling arrived on the grid, divided in half as the Marquessates of East and West Speirling. Three other regions dropped that day--Sound, Middlesea, and Murdann--joining the older region of Lionsgate to create the Caledon Firth. The islands of Speirling were nestled in the center of this inland sea. Lady Darkling Elytis and Lady Kirawill Collingwood were the founders and first Marquesses of the region. The theme of fae, storms, and lots of purple took root.

On May 28, 2009, I (Lady Aeval-Leigh Galicia/Aeval Fae) took over East Speirling from the caretaker who had taken it on from Kirawill. The Everstorm above the islands grew. By the following year, the gothic flying castle, Thorni Scamall, was replaced by a flying steampunk fortress that steadily grew over the subsequent seasons.

On April 4, 2011, Speirling became a united duchy when Lady Darkling moved on to new (and much more important) responsibilities. Her love of giant trees and vardos is still represented to this day. Over 13 years later, the memorial pond she created for Sumie Kawashima and some of her original trees and lanterns are also there.

Shortly after the islands united, the air fortress over the Everstorm expanded into a complex, including multiple floating islands, children's hutches made from giant magical mushrooms, and an airship and docking island for their governess.

By the end of the year, Speirling became home to the Caledon Library's Spiritualism Collection. The H. P. Blavatsky Memorial Library moved into a tiny witch's cottage, supported by a sizeable crystal-encrusted branch over the Firth waters.

In Spring 2012, Speirling briefly had a " doppelganger" region in Jokaydiagrid (it was never outfitted to have nearly the mystic feel of the real thing). In 2013, another popped up in Cloud Party. Again, it didn't have the same magic as the one in Caledon.

July 2013—Speirling participated in the post-conference activities for the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference, including hosting workshops on storyboarding and inworld photography.

In December 2014, a new tradition began centered on Speirling—the freezing of the Firth. This was celebrated with the "Ice by Lamplight" event, a combined skating party and group tour of the Firth with activities in each of the five Firth regions and Caledon Llyr.

2015 - Speirling's Air Fortress was used as the image for Team Caledon's RFL posters.

(There's a reason not much happened between 2013 and 2015--Speirling's duchess was working on her dissertation!)

Early 2016--An effort to create a digital ethnography about Caledon's history and culture morphed into the early draft of the Heart of the Everstorm trilogy, the first of a collection of novels centered around the members of the Speirling Unseelie Court. (The voyage to bring them to completion has been a long one.)

November 2016 - Linden Labs raised prim allotments for homesteads, allowing the next significant expansion of Speirling's story. 

Spring 2019 - Speirling Realms opened to the public. Accessible through a portal in the Great Tree (a nod to Lady Darkling), Elphyne's Gate Park features portals to three sidhe realms--Hesperedion, Myrkrheimr, and the Shadow Realm (left unnamed). Hesperedion is heavenly-themed with a giant maze tower library. Myrkrheimr features a series of Underdark caves and a temple. The Shadow Realm may or may not kill visitors and send them back to their home location.

May 2019 - As Caledon has shrunk from its largest (51 regions), Speirling has had to move multiple times. But none was as weird as in 2019 when it was "misplaced" twice (including off the eastern coastline of Caledon) before landing in its new intended location.

March 2020—The skies of Speirling were reworked, including a new sky temple, floating islands, air kraken, and the endpoint for the Caledon Quest. This is what visitors will see today.

June 2021 - Speirling represented at SLB for the first time.

Summer 2023 - Speirling overflowed onto the mainland, namely the Purple region. Portals allow those with worn boats to travel from what is left of the Caledon Firth to the mainland's ANWR waterway and back.

September 2023 - Caledon's original creator, long-time owner, and beloved Guv'nah retired, passing the baton to the "Neo-Guv'nah" NeoBokrug Elytis, leader of the Wastelands. The "Neo-Guv" is a shutterbug who has featured Speirling in his weekly posts multiple times.

2024—Work on "Shades of Speirling" continues in the Purple region. Adocentyn Tower (the original Spiritualism Library) has been reborn there and is currently hosting "A Year Through the Chakras." The Sky Temple gallery in this exhibit will find a new role after SLB closes as part of the Shades of Speirling Gallery.

Once they've toured the ground level, visitors can use the "rift" teleporter to travel to the air temple. Here, I've set up a gallery featuring Speirling Unseelie Court series characters. Smaller portraits show their inworld avatars while the large steampunk-themed displays flip through images created by various AI engines when given their descriptions from the texts. In the center of the temple, on a plinth, is a copy of Heart of the Everstorm Book One that visitors can pick up a copy. 

Notecard text from the Sky Temple:

Welcome to Speirling's Sky Temple!

This variation is a bit different from the one over Speirling's Everstorm. If you choose to visit that one, it features an Egyptian altar and a pantheon of goddess statues. 

Here, I've gathered the "pantheon" of current residents of Speirling, lore-wise. Meet the Speirling Unseelie Court. Their gathered tales have been a long time coming, and to assist in the writing process, I've embraced the use of AI generators for idea creation. These tools help me visualize my descriptions from the texts in their unique way, often with surprising results. It's a fascinating and innovative exercise that adds a new layer of depth to my storytelling process. 

In this part of the exhibit, each frame features the avatar's profile picture from Second Life--and what different AI art generators have done with their descriptions.

Some are spot on (in my opinion). Others, not so much. But it's been a fun exercise, particularly when I get stuck creatively.

At the heart of the Temple, you'll find a virtual copy of the latest version of Heart of the Everstorm, Book 1. This is the first installment of the original trilogy, a series that will soon launch the entire Speirling Unseelie Court saga (if the author can resist tweaking the ending). 

Please, feel free to take a copy of the book. I invite you to delve into the world of Speirling and the Unseelie Court, to immerse yourself in their stories and mysteries. 

Hope you enjoy spending some time with the Speirling Court. It has been my home for quite some time.

Cheers,

Lady Aev

Sing the Song of Speirling exhibit entrance, SL21B

Sing the Song of Speirling exhibit, Memory Bridge, SL21B

Sing the Song of Speirling exhibit, Sky Temple exterior, SL21B

Sing the Song of Speirling exhibit, Sky Temple interior, SL21B