Ruins

Opening tomorrow, Monday, March 9, at 12 pm slt, is a new sim-wide build, Ruins, by Cica Ghost. (As I write this, though, Cica has just opened the sim, so it's possible to visit for an unofficial advance peek.) Only the blackbirds and wildflowers remain to inhabit the ruins of the once active city, its brick edifices having collapsed to reveal the deserted worlds within. While we can easily discern where some buildings stood — a few still have a floor or two intact — many columns stand alone or in groups, only vaguely suggesting some former structure.

To my mind, the brick ruins evoke a nineteenth-century city, perhaps a gritty industrial revolution town, built long before modern steel and glass, but of course Cica intended no such deliberate connection. Perhaps the iron cables strung between some of the columns have helped keep them steady and erect over the decades. Trees grow inside what were houses; flowers — now shriveled and dead — populate a bathtub. But perhaps we do see some signs of life: the weathered wooden planks between buildings suggest that someone has been here — at least since things fell to ruin — and, in a kitchen, water is running, and a pot of pasulj — Serbian white bean stew — is on the stove, an orange balloon floating languidly overhead.

If you're not running a viewer that automatically changes your environmental settings, you're likely to miss out Cica's custom windlight, shown here. The ruins are sure to be a favorite location for photographers and will probably remain on display for about a month. Please consider leaving a contribution near the landing point to support this and future work, or visit Cica's shop (there's a landmark giver on the sim) to pick up copies of some of her other artworks.