Numbers game

Inworldz Thirza is not a thing of beauty; the answer would be to ante up, but frankly, I don't know how many different grids I want to give my credit card number to. Or how many hours I want to spend dressing yet another dolly from scratch. But it was a trip worth making, to sim Taboo, to see a preview of Wizard Gynoid's Burning Life2 build. As you know, this year will be quite a departure from the vast acreage of the 2009 extravaganza; it's tiny by comparison, and independent of LL; but still no megaprims allowed, because of lag... nice to see some hidebound traditions have been respected.

There's newness though - all the prep and testing for Wizzy's burnt offering has been done over the past few months here in Inworldz, with help and suggestions from fellow builders soror Nishi, Artistide Despres, and scripter Nur Ophuls. The scripts to burn this down are rather complex, mainly because the temple will straddle a sim boundary. And all that jazz.

The build is a temple to the number seven, it's specifically designed for the roof to be open, because, she says,"we are bird-like animals". Wizzy chose to work on Inworldz for the space, privacy and the peace and quiet the little grid affords - soror Nishi did the same with tree of Trees. Once it's done, she'll simply import the whole thing to SL.

The lovely crystal shape will look a bit different in its final incarnation, Wizzy hasn't put all the smaller pieces into place yet, and the satellite overhead is a building tool, not part of the design. Also, the great circle beneath, being a megaprim, is going to have to be tweaked. Challenges that she is more than up to meeting. Flying around it, I wondered - why seven?

Wizard Gynoid: It's trivial/easy to make symmetrical constructions, four, six, eight, ten, but hard to make seven symmetrical. I like it cause it's hard to do. It makes my head hurt a little, which is good to do, like trying to write with my left hand. And seven is the classic number - number of classical metals, number of classical planets, days of the week, etc.It's a rather mystical number, full of power. The temple is made of triangles. When it comes time, on october 16th, the temple will start on fire, and as it burns, eventually, the triangles will bust apart and fall and continue to burn.

How cool is that.

We chatted a bit about falling apart; how cute the default animation is, without an AO running, and how responsive it is to external stimuli; and then the Microsoft thing, and the general weeniness of the Lindens. Wizzy looks pretty different in Inworldz, but equally ethereal to my eye. It's something we might as well get used to; even so, she's optimistic about the future of virtual art.
Wizard Gynoid: It will survive long after Linden Labs is gone. Open sims are out there everywhere, permeating the Omniverse. Universe is no longer an adequate word. There are many universes, many metaverses, all parts of the Omniverse.

A ragtag, fugitive fleet, abandoning SL to the Cylons? Or will the open sims be like villages in the rainforest, operating separately, fragmented, occasionally stumbling upon each other? Was that the strength of SL, that it brought us all together, builders and musicians and campaginers, divas and audiences, with our shared contempt for lag and Lindens? All the wildfire gossip, egocentric op-eds and inane plurks... some things I'm not going to miss.

If you're still debating whether to go to B2, 'bare' in mind the following.

Wizard Gynoid: One cool thing is that when we burn the temple down, it will be a nekky event, to hold down the lag to minimum. Only skins allowed. No prim hair, no attachments.
Thirza Ember: This build is so you - fascinating, esoteric, and brilliant but also with wonderful sense of  clarity that is refreshing. Like crystal.
Wizard Gynoid: Yes, it's like crystal, but will burn.
Well, nothing lasts forever. Only kids think it does.