Shanghaied! Edited transcript

Jedburgh30 Dagger: Hello everyone! Ladies and Gentlemen, Viv, Serafina and I are pleased to welcome you to the December Aether Salon - Shanghaied! I would like to thank each and every one of you for joining us today here in Steelhead Shanghai.
As many of you know, the Aether Salon typically meets in Palisades and Academy, New Babbage to discuss steam and Victorian topics on the third Sunday of each month. This month’s salon is a road trip edition and I hope you are all as excited about being here today as I am.

Just a few matters of housekeeping before we get started. Please be courteous when asking questions and we will try to make sure your questions are answered in the order in which they were posed. As a courtesy to all, please turn off everything that feeds the lag: all HUDs, scripts, AOs and so on. Please no weapons, bombs, rolls of duct tape, or clawhammers while the speakers are talking. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Edited and unedited transcripts will be posted this week on aethersalon.blogspot.com so you can revisit today’s event, read transcripts of past salons, and for a laugh, peruse “overheard at the salon.” Please join the Aether Salon group and receive notifications of future salon events, click the lower right hand corner of the large brown sign by the entrance of the Salon. We sincerely appreciate the support we receive from everyone in the community and we humbly thank you all.

Many fine people have contributed to today’s salon: We are grateful to PJ Trenton for photographs, Canolli Capalini of Capalini Fine Furnishings for the chairs, and TotalLunar Eclipse and Elegia Underwood for the craft.

I'd like to turn the floor over to the talented and lovely Miss Puchkina. Sera?

Serafina Puchkina: Thank you, Miss Jed. Today I am most honored to introduce today's speakers:
Miss Riven Homewood is a longtime Steelhead resident and the Director of the Steelhead Public Library. Her presentation today is based upon the library's recent display about Portland's Chinatown. She is a frequent visitor to the Dragonlands Hotel, which is owned by her sl sister. Current interests include trying to understand the relationship between history and fantasy.

Miss Elegia Underwood has been knocking around the Steamlands for a couple of years now. She is a storyteller, a poet & a roleplayer. Rumours amongst those who know her are that she is the human embodiment of an ancient Dragon. Some believe this. Some don't. Whatever you think, be assured that she has the temper of a Dragon, little patience with fools or the intentionally unkind & finds human beings almost as amusing as a cat finds a baby bird with a broken wing.

Serafina Puchkina: TotalLunar Eclipse set foot in Steelhead City October of 2006 and never left. After a few months his partner, Tensai Hilra and himself were given the title of managers of Steelhead, and eventually owning five sims in the Steelhead Estates. TotalLunar Eclipse set foot in Steelhead City October of 2006 and never left. After a few months his partner, Tensai Hilra and himself were given the title of managers of Steelhead, and eventually owning five sims in the Steelhead Estates.

Please join me in welcoming our first speaker, Miss Riven Homewood.

Riven Homewood: Thank you so much for having me here today. I'm going to have to ask your assistance. This viewer is very sensitive, so please don't click on it or you will probably advance the slides.
I hope perhaps I can answer some questions that may be in your mind as we sit in this beautiful oriental setting in the midst of Steampunk Oregon. Why Oriental Steampunk?

How on earth does a Chinese pagoda fit into Steampunk roleplay?

Well, to me one of the most interesting developments in Steampunk has been the way it's expanded beyond its original focus on Victorian England. As people from other cultures have become interested in Steampunk, they've imagined how their culture might fit into the Steampunk universe.

This is an airship, as imagined by the artist James Ng. Thus we have places like Steelhead, where we imagine life in a 19th Century Oregon town where Steampunk and fantasy are constant influences -- and Steelhead Shanghai, where we are today
In the late 1800s, nearly every town on the West Coast of North America had its Chinatown. This is Chinatown in Portland, Oregon around 1890, and this is a photograph of it

Chinatowns were usually slums, but they were believed to be exotic places filled with mystery and intrigue. How did this come to be?

People came from all over the world in hopes of making their fortunes during the California gold rush, and the Chinese were no exception. Some stayed to pan for gold, but others found it was far more profitable to offer services to the other miners, such as the ubiquitous Chinese Laundry.

Many, many Chinese came to this country in the 1860s to work on the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. There were two railroad companies who built this railroad. The Union Pacific began in the eastern United States and worked its way west. This was a time when huge numbers of Irish were immigrating to the United States, and most of the laborers who build this railroad were Irish. The Central Pacific Company began building the route east from Sacramento, California in 1863

Although the beginning of the effort took place on relatively flat land, labor and financial problems were persistent, resulting in only 50 miles of track being laid in the first two years. The company needed over 5,000 workers, and it only had 600 on the payroll by 1864. One of their worst problems was that laborers tended to run off to the gold fields rather than staying with the hard work on the railroad.

Chinese labor was suggested, as they had already helped build the California Central Railroad, the railroad from Sacramento to Marysville and the San Jose Railway. People laughed at the idea, saying Chinese men would be too small to do this kind of work. Charles Crocker of Central Pacific pointed out, "The Chinese made the Great Wall, didn't they?" And so it came about that most of the work of building a railroad over the California mountains was done by Chinese laborers. They came in droves.
They lived simply, in labor camps that traveled along as the track spread out across the country. And they were usually paid far less than white men doing less dangerous work. The saga of the Central Pacific Railroad is more than I can go into today, but it was amazing.

Once the railroad was completed, many of the workers chose to stay here rather than returning to China at once. A few were able to bring their families here, but most remained as single men, often sending money home to support their wives and children who remained in China.

Employment opportunities were limited for Chinese but certain jobs were readily available particularly doing laundry and housework or serving as cooks, gardeners, and vegetable sellers

This is a photo of Chinese vegetable gardens in Portland, Oregon. Chinese gardeners supplied a large proportion of Portland's residents with fresh vegetables. The vendors carried produce through the streets in large baskets, and laundry workers used similar baskets for collection and delivery of clothes and linens

The majority of Chinese immigrants, however, worked hard labor jobs like cleaning fish in canneries, clearing land, cutting timber, and blasting tunnels for the construction of railroads.

Many of those who were able to save a little money opened small businesses serving both Chinese residents and the larger community. Some developed these businesses into highly profitable ventures, never returning to China.

This photo of a Chinese man with his child is quite unusual for it's time, because for a long time there were very few Chinese women here. Many of the women who did come brought here as prostitutes. They were often tricked into coming because they believed they were coming to be married. Once here, they found themselves essentially slaves, with no other options but to work as prostitutes for the person who "owned" them. By 1870, only 3,536 Chinese women had emigrated to California. 61 percent (2,157) were listed as prostitutes.

HeadBurro Antfarm: A lot of the Tongs capitalized on that fact and ran women trafficking operations to feed the men

Riven Homewood: During periods of economic depression, there was a good deal of political backlash against the Chinese. Because they worked hard and would accept low wages, they were blamed for widespread unemployment. They became a convenient target.

Lelani Carver highly recommends the movie "1000 Pieces of Gold" regarding this marriage/slavery trickery.

Riven Homewood: Laws were passed, such as The Chinese Exclusion Act, which was passed in 1882 and severely limited the number of people who could emigrate from China. Laws were passed, such as The Chinese Exclusion Act, which was passed in 1882 and severely limited the number of people who could emigrate from China.

When this slide finally rezzes - Laws were passed, such as The Chinese Exclusion Act, which was passed in 1882 and severely limited the number of people who could emigrate from China. This is a telegram sent by the White House to the governor of Oregon asking him to try and prevent violence against the Chinese when the Act passes

Apparently the governor didn't take the president's advice, or at least he didn't do enough to prevent the violence.. In some places, there were riots, chinatowns were burned down and many people were killed. Chinese immigrants experienced discrimination and sometimes violence no matter their social position.

For example, in 1886, four years after the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Daily Oregonian offered rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any person attempting to drive the Chinese out of the state or the country.

Portland's city government responded to such events with a force of newly commissioned police and volunteers who attempted to quell anti-Chinese mobs. The Chinese Exclusion Act wasn't repealed until 1943. Yet the Chinese stayed on, and they remained a major force in shaping the culture of California and the Pacific Northwest.

And it wasn't just the Chinese. People came from Japan, the Philippines, India and all parts of Asia, and all of their cultures had an influence. When we imagine life in Steampunk Oregon and Washington, it would be totally inaccurate to imagine it without the Orientals.

If you'd like more information about the history of Chinese people in the Pacific Northwest, I've compiled a list or resources at http://delicious.com/rivenhomewood/chinese

Most of the images and much of the information for today's talk came from the Oregon Historical Society's online Oregon History Project at http://www.ohs.org

Thanks so much for being such a great audience :)

Serafina Puchkina: Our next speaker is Miss Elegia

Elegia Underwood: If my Booksis could shift her slide viewer to the side... Excellent. Well, my goodness, I feel completely daunted by that presentation, Riven.

Lunar asked me to speak about roleplaying in shanghai. So I set up this slide show that will eventually rez for all of you if it hasn't already. Usually once a pic is loaded, it will be visible the next time around. These are some of the fascinating places around Shanghai...

Roleplay in Steelhead & specifically in Steelhead Shanghai isn't as immersive as in some places, but then we're a mixed community. Some of us claim not ever to be In Character. Others of us are ALWAYS In Character, though the character changes. A few are always in one unchanging Character, one developed over years of roleplaying.

In & around Steelhead, I'm aware that when I speak, I am the Dragon of Dragonlands. I am not the typist. Whether I am speaking to someone I meet on the street, or speaking in group chat or writing on the ning or in a blog, I am the Dragon.
Lunar is the Elf and the Manager. Tensai is the Blower Up of Things... AND the Manager. Riven is the Librarian of Steelhead.

For those who wish to roleplay in Shanghai... For my part, if you wish to involve me in your story, you need only walk up to me & speak. For some people, you need to seek their permission & agree in advance what will be done.

Several of the residents of Steelhead weave their tales entirely in nings or blogs. I have a notecard with some of these links. IM me if you want a copy. I meant to include it in the supplementary materials, but I didn't get back from the play in time.
As you can see from the scenes flashing behind me, the Shanghai region of Steelhead is full of wonderful settings for stories &, as long as you stay out of private homes, you are free to use them.

There is an opium den in the cellars of the hotel, a sake bar with a relaxing couch thru a curtained doorway where one may lounge & dream in comfort, an abattoir, a tea room, an apothecary full of oddments & herbs of all sorts, a shipworks, smuggler's hideouts, a doctor's office in the slums, ships, boats, sampans & a noodle seller.

Here are just a few of the links...
http://headburroantfarm.wordpress.com/burro-tales/
http://steelhead-adventures.blogspot.com/ http://hiberniaskids.blogspot.com/
http://bandobast.wikidot.com/ A vast collection
http://caerfyrddin.org/mostlyconsulate.htm

Here are some story fragments I wish to scatter about as if I were seeding the clouds that hang so frequently over the city. Perhaps something will grow from them... or not. Use them as they exist or cherry pick elements or ignore them entirely.

Elegia Underwood winks & chuckles.

Elizabeth Sorensen, former Europan. A young woman sat up late in the warmth of the teahouse. Her room upstairs was too cold for anything but sleeping snug in the comforter. Here she could write in the dim light of a fire & a lamp, & she had permission to keep her teapot full.

Beside the teapot was a small twist of paper that contained herbs from the apothecary in front of the hotel. The gentle old oriental had promised her that these would help her sleep & ease her anxieties.

There were many sheets of paper scattered on the table. Some of them had many crossings out. Some were crumpled.

Elizabeth Sorenson was sure that, if she could only finish the novel she was writing, it would offer her the freedom she sought.
Freedom from the obligation to marry a man she couldn't love. Freedom from her parents' sheltering ways. Freedom from a life of drudgery. She knew she had it in her, but she was down to her last few coins. After she had landed on the ship from Europa, she had sought out this one small, at least partially respectable boarding house in the port of Steelhead Shanghai. She'd been here for nearly four months now, & soon she was going to have to find a way to earn a living...

Oh dear... What will become of her?

Ho Wu Li, Chinese peasant. Wu Li served as crew on a merchant junk from Shanghai. He was a farmer by birth & knew little of the sea, so he had served at the lowest level. He helped in the kitchen & kept things clean. He took care of the pigs & chickens they had brought along as food, though they had all been eaten by a month ago.

When the ship landed in Steelhead Shanghai & began to unload, Ho Wu Li was just one of the men who didn't come back from unloading sacks & crates onto the dock. Instead, with the others, he had disappeared into the twilight shadows in search of a job in this golden land. He meant to send the money back to his parents &, when there was enough, he would return & find a wife. Now he was alone in a land where he did not speak even five words of the language. His companions had abandoned him. He was cold & hungry.

Should he return to the ship & a certain beating? Or perhaps he should make his way up the hill to the bright beckoning lights of that large building. People were going in & out. There was laughter. He could smell food... Will he find shelter? Will he survive the winter? Perhaps one of you will tell us.

Ivor Lupinsky, Polish American. The large, middle-aged man stood with his back against the brick. The wall was fast losing the heat it had accumulated as the weak winter sun set behind the buildings across the harbour.

Ivor Lupinsky could hardly warm his hands on the small cup containing the rice wine, but the fiery liquid warmed his innards. The scent of the alien liquor took him away from all that was familiar. And that was a good thing. He didn't want to remember.
He & his wife saved for years to move everything they had out to this land of pioneers. They & their two children came out on one of the first trains to cross the entire continent. It was an amazing ride & they were all full of hope. Inge & the two kids were gone in a typhoid epidemic, though, before a year had played out in the new home. Ivor had taken to drink & gambling.
Now he lived hand to mouth in the employ of the Dragon. It wasn't that she didn't pay him a decent wage. She was generous with those who pleased her. But he couldn't seem to keep from drinking it or gambling it away in the opium den beneath the hotel. Now he was in debt to her, too. And each day it was getting harder & harder to get up & get dressed & help to guard the shipments that went in & out of the small lagoon beneath the hotel.

He wondered how long she would tolerate his slipping standards, but he went back inside & bought another sake. He sat down in the corner of the bar to drink it & proceeded to forget about the Dragon until tomorrow morning.

Many sad tales in Shanghai... or perhaps there are happy endings to be told?

Seamus O'Hoolihan, old sailor. Seamus handed a stick of licorice to the youngster. He figured the little Chinese boy would dive into it right there, but instead, the little feller bowed & said something in his own language & hurried off.

The old sailor liked the kids in Shanghai. And that was good because there were more than a few. Some of them lived on the street. Some of them seemed to have shelter in the railcars the Dragon kept up there on the hill. And some lucky ones lived with Miss Mara, though everyone looked out for them.

After he lost his second foot last year when the harpoon rope tangled around it, he had to give up the life of the sea. Now he just sat here on the docks & played checkers for money.

Sometimes, at the Dragon's indulgence, he'd go up to the hotel & play some of them foreign games she encouraged in the lobby. But he wasn't as good at those & didn't win as often. On the other hand, if he was up there when the dinner bell was rung, like as not Mr Sung would give him a can of noodles & a small piece of pork. And it didn't cost him nothing but the walk uphill on two peglegs & a pair of crutches.

With the winter coming on, he was thinking he needed a bit more coin for coal to heat the shed he rented here in the slums, but he was danged if he knew where that might come from.

There they are... Story fragments... Thrown to the winds...

If you look at the easel under the stairs that says Shanghai Mystery Contest, you can get a notecard with all of these. Shanghai Mystery Story Contest (sponsored by Dragonlands Hotel & Hovels) The Dragon of Dragonlands wishes to sponsor THREE (3) mystery weekends in order to encourage visitors to Shanghai & story beginnings.

Contestants are invited to come up with a storyline set firmly in the seedy underworld of Steelhead Shanghai. While the mystery may begin or end anywhere in Shanghai, & while it may wend wherever it will, the Dragon does insist that at least one clue or the beginning or the end is located somewhere in Dragonlands.

Submissions should include an introductory setting, a list of no fewer than 5 clues & no more than 10 & where they should be found & a solution. Submit one notecard (to Elegia Underwood) which should include Landmarks to each clue site, including the point of origin, ie, a dead body, an empty case with holes in it, a half sunken sampan with blood on the gunwales, whatever beginning you wish. The title of the notecard should begin "CONTEST -..." DEADLINE 5 Jan 2010.
If you want to supply objects to enhance the story, they will be welcome, but the final decisions will be based on the storyline & structure & how much fun the search for the miscreants will be. You are encouraged to generate peripheral roleplay in the course of the investigation.

The best three will each be awarded 1000L & the opportunity to stage their own mystery. (Those who do not desire the responsibility may relinquish this task to the Dragon & her minions. The Dragon will oversee all activities.)

The Dragon reserves the right not to award any or all of the prizes if submissions do not intrigue her. Please address all enquiries to Elegia Underwood, the Dragon of Dragonlands. ("A REAL Dragon? Pffft! There's no such thing as Dragons.")

Viv Trafalgar: Should there be questions about the contest, or about the rest of this ongoing wonderful welcome to Steelhead, please do save them to the end

Elegia Underwood: All the info is available from the placard on the easel under the stairs. And more! Please weave your stories here in Shanghai. The setting invites them. And those of us who live here are for the most part happy to play!
And that's all from me!

Elegia Underwood bows to the audience after the chinese fashion.

Serafina Puchkina: Our final speaker today is TotalLunar Eclipse.

Viv Trafalgar: following Lunar, we have questions and a craft - donated by your wonderful speakers

TotalLunar Eclipse: As stated, I am Lunar, owner of the Estates in which you are visiting today. First off I want to welcome back Miss Viv who I heard has been missing. And I will dispatch my Sheriff werewolf to find the miscreants who have dared steal her away. But each city has its shady areas, for Steelhead, Shanghai is it.

Elegia Underwood looks innocent & stares at something on the ceiling

TotalLunar Eclipse: The Shanghai Concept was something completely out of the blue, when we first laid plans for Steelhead’s growth after Port Harbor this sim was supposed to be Mt St Helens and the sim to the south would be Multonomah Falls.

So where did the idea come from, oddly enough out of a dream, a dream of opium dens and rickshaws that inspired my design for something completely different. All the Steelhead Estates are based around the Pacific Northwest pre turn of the century, but each sim itself entails a different theme upon the concept, from the mines in Boomtown, to the rustic outback of St Helens.

In the pacific northwest, in Portland there are stories of drunken fellows being stolen away, then sold to slavery to captains who had lost their crew because they abandoned ship to remain in the area or search for gold.

They were... Shanghai’ed, thus the name of the city. St Helens? Well... it did erupt May 18th and we may celebrate that every anniversary.

Shanghai was thought up and when the idea was presented to the people it was picked up quickly and in less than a month it was ordered… oddly on my RL anniversary, August 7th. It was one of my first terraformingly dynamic sim, the worst of it being newly opened St Helens.

I wanted to give the appearance of a city that had been mined to death and abandoned thus being taken over by the refugees of the railroads and industrial tycoons looking for cheap labor. The south of Shanghai has a tiered effect on the land, as in its past it has been over mined and its resources stripped away.

Unlike the rest of the cities Shanghai has relatively few trees, foliage and most of its beauty lies in its waterways, the oddness of its tiered mountain and the buildings, boats and junks. If you have visited Shanghai before, you would have no doubt ended up in the city’s pagoda. Its absolute center serves as the distribution of character in the Bushido tradition, North corresponds with Tortise, West with the Tiger, South with the Phoenix and East with the Dragon, and over the absolute center of the city is the Sun Pagoda.

In Steelhead a lot of our civic buildings are inspired by RL builds, such as the City Hall building’s exterior being the Melbourne Hotel in Melbourne Australia, or the Ballroom as a portrayal of the Beaumont Hotel from Ouray Colorado. In Shanghai that is no different with the creation of the Sun Pagoda. The RL Sun Pagoda, or Rì Tǎ, is the tallest copper pagoda in the world towering over nine stories located in Guanxi China along with its smaller counterpart the ‘Moon Pagoda.’

In Shanghai we recreated the exterior to honour this sacred landmark and in time when we expand the Shanghai concept to the east we will have the ‘moon pagoda’ as well. In research there was actually very little I could find as a concept that meshed Steampunk and Oriental together. The photo behind me is both pagodas Sun and Moon.

It was an architectural nightmare those edges.. Tensai helped.

Viv Trafalgar: how so Lunar?

TotalLunar Eclipse: The curving of the roofs. They are not sculpted. As far as steampunk and oriental like I said, very little found aside from artwork.

Steampunk, best described by Captain Robert of Abney Park at Steamcon 09’ ‘is a genre that is undefined, and best left undefined. Because once you start defining it you have to set rules.’ We shape and mold our personal definitions here in the Steamlands, Steelhead included.

The Firefly show added oriental into the concept of Steampunk and we went by that and some odd drawings here or there. From there we took RL conceptual work, RL buildings, and those artworks and tried to define this city.

I asked a lot of my residents to imagine these two concepts together and help create this foundation, but from the slums of Shaiman Alley on the waterfront to the boxcar apartments surrounding the Dragonlands, BlakOpal’s dry dock and various rickshaw’s, boats, junks we have created our version of what Oriental Steampunk is in the Shanghai Concept and are looking forward to expanding that at a later date of course.

You'll have to forgive me for not jumping on the chance to expand sooner but two sims in four months... I need a break. This platform, Shanghai is open for everyone. I made it to you to explore, to RP, to dream and to visit.
Thank you for your time, that is my talk :)

Viv Trafalgar: Lunar, thank you. Your buildings speak most eloquently for you, and I know we are all pleased to see the work. We have time for some questions for all three speakers, and I would like to remind everyone that next month - back in Babbage, Miss Saffia Widdershins and guests will be talking about Children. Do not miss it.

If you have a question please speak up in chat and I’ll call on you. As the hour is late I will also set out the craft. All funds in the speakers fund will be donated to the speakers

Jedburgh30 Dagger: With Salon, there is always a craft

Vivi Boxen: Planning on making any more sims for these kinds of building?

Viv Trafalgar: Vivi who is your question for? Lunar?

Vivi Boxen: Maybe a sort of town designed for Oriental steampunk like rp, parties and stuff? Yes Lunar

TotalLunar Eclipse: Yes, I have plans for Shang hyu. That is where Moon Pagoda goes.

Tensai Hilra: somehow, he likes the idea of a moon pagoda ;)

TotalLunar Eclipse: Well.. yes
Viv Trafalgar: I like the thought too - i've seen moon gates, not sure how a moon pagoda would look?

TotalLunar Eclipse: There are a series of moon bridges all about.

Tensai Hilra: its similar to the sun pagoda, but silver and luminecent

Elegia Underwood: (Be sure to get a notecard from the placard beneath the stairs before you leave.)

TotalLunar Eclipse: Not very good to traverse if you have vehicles.

Stormy Buccaneer: bridges to the moon you say?>

TotalLunar Eclipse: Yes, to the moon.

Viv Trafalgar: Other questions for RIven, Gia, or Lunar?

Elegia Underwood: Here's a picture of me in the opium den, but I never partake of my own products!

Viv Trafalgar: Third call for questions on RP, Immigration, Building :) otherwise we can devolve into an off the record soiree.

Elegia Underwood: I am mellow because when I am annoyed, I just let the steam blow out my ears.

Viv Trafalgar: We are glad you could all come and hope to see you next month in Babbage

Bookworm Hienrichs applauds. "Good to have you back, Miss Viv!"

Riven Homewood: Miss Viv, Miss Serafina - thank you so much for having us and for doing this in Steelhead

Viv Trafalgar: Thank you for allowing Salon to visit - very much!

Ceejay Writer: It is very lush, and my typist, who lived in the Pacific Northwest for decades, feels an affinity here.

Serafina Puchkina: Thank you, Miss Riven. Congratulations to you, Miss Gia, and Mr Lunar. Well done!!

Viv Trafalgar: We’ll conclude our transcript now

Shanghaied! unedited transcript

[14:05] Aeolus Cleanslate: greetings all!
[14:05] Vivi Boxen: Hey Myrtil
[14:05] Serafina Puchkina: Hello Mr Cleanslate
[14:05] Jasper Kiergarten: ahoy Aeo
[14:05] Serafina Puchkina: Welcome
[14:06] TotalLunar Eclipse stares at the snowman in the corner
[14:06] Viv Trafalgar: oh Dear Mr. Cleanslate
[14:06] Aeolus Cleanslate: I'll stand at the back so I don't melt on anyone
[14:06] Vivi Boxen: What happened to you at the Opium bar Viv
[14:06] Jedburgh30 Dagger: It's beginng to look a lot like Cleanslate
[14:06] Ceejay Writer: (Vivi, it is in the ning, we are about to start salon here.)
[14:07] Vivi Boxen: ((No it isn't... honestly i skimmed through it))
[14:07] Bookworm Hienrichs laughs at the picture she just got of Mr. Cleanslate and Mr. Trenton.
[14:07] Jedburgh30 Dagger: Hello! Can everyone hear me?
[14:07] Viv Trafalgar: Hello Saffia, welcome
[14:07] Ceejay Writer: ((*facepalm* Forum. Two entries both with VIV in the title)
[14:07] Vivi Boxen: ((or **^&%ing hell...))
[14:07] Elegia Underwood waves at Saffia.
[14:07] Vivi Boxen: ((Missed them))
[14:07] Saffia Widdershins waves back ...
[14:08] Ordinal Malaprop: Hello to all arriving on top of other folk!
[14:08] Jedburgh30 Dagger: Hello everyone! Ladies and Gentlemen, Viv, Serafina and I are pleased to welcome you to the December Aether Salon - Shanghaied! I would like to thank each and every one of you for joining us today here in Steelhead Shanghai.
[14:08] Ceejay Writer: ((Then look more carefully. A lot of work went into those, so a recap doesn't do justice.))
[14:08] Vivi Boxen: ((Link to the pos again please))
[14:08] Jedburgh30 Dagger: As many of you know, the Aether Salon typically meets in Palisades and Academy, New Babbage to discuss steam and Victorian topics on the third Sunday of each month. This month’s salon is a road trip edition and I hope you are all as excited about being here today as I am.
[14:09] Elilka Sieyes nods.
[14:09] Viv Trafalgar is very excited to be ANYWHERE
[14:09] Jedburgh30 Dagger: Just a few matters of housekeeping before we get started. Please be courteous when asking questions and we will try to make sure your questions are answered in the order in which they were posed. As a courtesy to all, please turn off everything that feeds the lag: all HUDs, scripts, AOs and so on. Please no weapons, bombs, rolls of duct tape, or clawhammers while the speakers are talking. Your cooperation is appreciated.
[14:10] Mara Razor: i want to find out how to take the script out of my hair
[14:10] Jedburgh30 Dagger: Edited and unedited transcripts will be posted this week on aethersalon.blogspot.com so you can revisit today’s event, read transcripts of past salons, and for a laugh, peruse “overheard at the salon.” Please join the Aether Salon group and receive notifications of future salon events, click the lower right hand corner of the large brown sign by the entrance of the Salon. We sincerely appreciate the support we receive from everyone in the community and we humbly thank you all.
[14:10] Tensai Hilra: (I can help later mara, im me)
[14:10] Jedburgh30 Dagger: Many fine people have contributed to today’s salon: We are grateful to PJ Trenton for photographs, Canolli Capalini of Capalini Fine Furnishings for the chairs, and TotalLunar Eclipse and Elegia Underwood for the craft.
[14:11] KlausWulfenbach Outlander applauds
[14:11] Viv Trafalgar: Claps
[14:11] Harlock Juran claps
[14:11] Lelani Carver claps
[14:11] Alaex Aeon claps
[14:11] HeadBurro Antfarm: /claps
[14:11] Eladrienne Laval claps
[14:11] MissLily Nightfire claps
[14:11] Jasper Kiergarten: IM me for a chair
[14:12] Jedburgh30 Dagger: I'd like to turn the floor over to the talented and lovely Miss Puchkina. Sera?
[14:12] Bookworm Hienrichs applauds.
[14:12] Serafina Puchkina: Thank you, Miss Jed. Today I am most honored to introduce today's speakers:
[14:12] Serafina Puchkina: Miss Riven Homewood is a longtime Steelhead resident and the Director of the Steelhead Public Library. Her presentation today is based upon the library's recent display about Portland's Chinatown. She is a frequent visitor to the Dragonlands Hotel, which is owned by her sl sister. Current interests include trying to understand the relationship between history and fantasy.
[14:12] Serafina Puchkina: Miss Elegia Underwood has been knocking around the Steamlands for a couple of years now. She is a storyteller, a poet & a roleplayer. Rumours amongst those who know her are that she is the human embodiment of an ancient Dragon. Some believe this. Some don't. Whatever you think, be assured that she has the temper of a Dragon, little patience with fools or the intentionally unkind & finds human beings almost as amusing as a cat finds a baby bird with a broken wing.
[14:13] Serafina Puchkina: TotalLunar Eclipse set foot in Steelhead City October of 2006 and never left. After a few months his partner, Tensai Hilra and himself were given the title of managers of Steelhead, and eventually owning five sims in the Steelhead Estates. TotalLunar Eclipse set foot in Steelhead City October of 2006 and never left. After a few months his partner, Tensai Hilra and himself were given the title of managers of Steelhead, and eventually owning five sims in the Steelhead Estates.
[14:13] Serafina Puchkina: Please join me in welcoming our first speaker, Miss Riven Homewood.
[14:13] Bookworm Hienrichs applauds.
[14:13] Elilka Sieyes claps.
[14:13] Serafina Puchkina applauds
[14:13] Ordinal Malaprop claps
[14:13] HeadBurro Antfarm: .-'`'-. APPLAUSE APPLAUSE .-'`'-.
[14:13] Viv Trafalgar applauds
[14:13] Jedburgh30 Dagger: Applauds
[14:13] Ethera Hissop claps
[14:13] KlausWulfenbach Outlander applauds
[14:13] Ceejay Writer claps and waits expectantly.
[14:13] Harlock Juran: /claps
[14:13] Elegia Underwood claps politely & grins at her booksis!
[14:14] Saffia Widdershins applauds
[14:14] Mara Razor claps
[14:14] Vivi Boxen: ((no idea what this is about :S))
[14:14] Riven Homewood: Hi everybody
[14:14] Redgrrl Llewellyn: curves a smile and claps
[14:14] Riven Homewood: Thank you so much for having me here today
[14:14] Riven Homewood: I'm going to have to ask your assistance
[14:14] Vivi Boxen: Hey Riven
[14:14] Riven Homewood: this viewer is very sensitive, so please don't click on it or you will probably advance the slides
[14:15] Riven Homewood: Can you all see the slide okay?
[14:15] Elina Koskinen: yes
[14:15] Aeolus Cleanslate thinks viewers should be less sensitive
[14:15] Ceejay Writer nods.
[14:15] Harlock Juran nods
[14:15] Riven Homewood: Great
[14:15] Riven Homewood: I hope perhaps I can answer some questions that may be in your mind as we sit in this beautiful oriental setting in the midst of Steampunk Oregon.
[14:15] Riven Homewood: Why Oriental Steampunk?
[14:15] Riven Homewood: How on earth does a Chinese pagoda fit into Steampunk roleplay?
[14:15] Ordinal Malaprop: Very well!
[14:16] Riven Homewood: Well, to me one of the most interesting developments in Steampunk has been the way it's expanded beyond its original focus on Victorian England.
[14:16] Riven Homewood: As people from other cultures have become interested in Steampunk, they've imagined how their culture might fit into the Steampunk universe.
[14:16] Riven Homewood: This is an airship, as imagined by the artist James Ng
[14:16] Riven Homewood: has it rezzed for most of you?
[14:17] Elina Koskinen: yes
[14:17] HeadBurro Antfarm: nope
[14:17] Ethera Hissop: yes
[14:17] Elegia Underwood: Still blurry.
[14:17] Riven Homewood: Thus we have places like Steelhead, where we imagine life in a 19th Century Oregon town where Steampunk and fantasy are constant influences
[14:17] Riven Homewood: --and Steelhead Shanghai, where we are today
[14:17] Redgrrl Llewellyn: Oh! [gasps] Brilliant!
[14:17] Valice Davi: *loves the ariship design*
[14:18] Riven Homewood: Have you all seen it?
[14:18] Lelani Carver would like to book passage.
[14:18] Riven Homewood: Because I need to change the slide now :)
[14:18] HeadBurro Antfarm: yep - lovely :)
[14:18] Riven Homewood: but I think somebody has already changed the slide by clicking on the screen
[14:19] Riven Homewood: Hopefully when this one rezzes it will be the one we want
[14:19] Riven Homewood: In the late 1800s, nearly every town on the West Coast of North America had its Chinatown. This is Chinatown in Portland, Oregon around 1890.
[14:19] Elina Koskinen: there it is
[14:19] HeadBurro Antfarm: you could put up a transparent prim in front to avoid stray clicks :)
[14:19] Elegia Underwood thinks Riven needs an Owner-Only slide viewer & looks squinty eyed out to the audience to see who the miscreant is who dares to click on the viewer.
[14:19] Riven Homewood: and this is a photograph of it
[14:19] Elina Koskinen: ...and it's gone
[14:20] Riven Homewood: You can tell I don't do this sort of talk very often, can't you :)
[14:20] Elegia Underwood: Ha!
[14:20] Elegia Underwood: Can see it!
[14:20] Elina Koskinen: lovely photo
[14:20] Riven Homewood: Chinatowns were usually slums, but they were believed to be exotic places filled with mystery and intrigue.
[14:20] Redgrrl Llewellyn: smiles as her eyes focus]
[14:20] Ordinal Malaprop: full of drugs
[14:20] Riven Homewood: How did this come to be?
[14:20] Vivi Boxen: ((OK back and read the post))
[14:20] Redgrrl Llewellyn: thinks of the lovely dens
[14:20] Riven Homewood: People came from all over the world in hopes of making their fortunes during the California gold rush, and the Chinese were no exception. Some stayed to pan for gold, but others found it was far more profitable to offer services to the other miners, such as the ubiquitous Chinese Laundry.
[14:21] Lelani Carver has seen the one in Seattle, and parts of the Underground that were reputed to be opium dens
[14:21] Vivi Boxen: ((Hard to get the rest of the story, but i got the gist))
[14:21] Elina Koskinen: mm, dens...
[14:21] HeadBurro Antfarm: I hear there is an opium den very close to where we are right now...
[14:22] TotalLunar Eclipse: :)
[14:22] Riven Homewood: Many, many Chinese came to this country in the 1860s to work on the construction of the first transcontinental railroad.
[14:22] Riven Homewood: There were two railroad companies who built this railroad.
[14:22] Riven Homewood: The Union Pacific began in the eastern United States and worked its way west. This was a time when huge numbers of Irish were immigrating to the United States, and most of the laborers who build this railroad were Irish. [14:23] Riven Homewood: The Central Pacific Company began building the route east from Sacramento, California in 1863
[14:23] Riven Homewood: Although the beginning of the effort took place on relatively flat land, labor and financial problems were persistent, resulting in only 50 miles of track being laid in the first two years.
[14:23] Riven Homewood: The company needed over 5,000 workers, and it only had 600 on the payroll by 1864. One of their worst problems was that laborers tended to run off to the gold fields rather than staying with the hard work on the railroad.
[14:23] Aeolus Cleanslate: (the Sierras were a PITA)
[14:23] Riven Homewood: Chinese labor was suggested, as they had already helped build the California Central Railroad, the railroad from Sacramento to Marysville and the San Jose Railway.
[14:23] Riven Homewood: People laughed at the idea, saying Chinese men would be too small to do this kind of work. Charles Crocker of Central Pacific pointed out, "the Chinese made the Great Wall, didn't they?"
[14:24] Riven Homewood: And so it came about that most of the work of building a railroad over the California mountains was done by Chinese laborers. They came in droves.
[14:24] Elegia Underwood: Ha!
[14:24] Riven Homewood: They lived simply, in labor camps that traveled along as the track spread out across the country. And they were usually paid far less than white men doing less dangerous work.
[14:24] Elegia Underwood thumbs her nose at skeptics!
[14:24] Riven Homewood: The saga of the Central Pacific Railroad is more than I can go into today, but it was amazing.
[14:24] Riven Homewood: Once the railroad was completed, many of the workers chose to stay here rather than returning to China at once.
[14:25] Riven Homewood: A few were able to bring their families here, but but most remained as single men, often sending money home to support their wives and children who remained in China.
[14:25] Riven Homewood: Employment opportunities were limited for Chinese but certain jobs were readily available particularly doing laundry and housework or serving as cooks, gardeners, and vegetable sellers
. [14:25] Lelani Carver reflects on immigration policies of the era; they were not enlightened.
[14:25] HeadBurro Antfarm: I *love* that picture - such wonderful buildings!
[14:26] HeadBurro Antfarm: (not to live in, though)
[14:26] Ordinal Malaprop: Terrific architecture for something "temporary".
[14:26] Riven Homewood: This is a photo of Chinese vegetable gardens in Portland, Oregon. Chinese gardeners supplied a large proportion of Portland's residents with fresh vegetables.
[14:26] Ordinal Malaprop: I dare say they would have preferred it to be less temporary.....
[14:26] HeadBurro Antfarm: Lunar has made some very like it just near this hotel - my favourite builds in Shanghai :)
[14:26] Darlingmonster Ember: nods
[14:26] Riven Homewood: The vendors carried produce through the streets in large baskets, and laundry workers used similar baskets for collection and delivery of clothes and linens
[14:27] Riven Homewood: The majority of Chinese immigrants, however, worked hard labor jobs like cleaning fish in canneries, clearing land, cutting timber, and blasting tunnels for the construction of railroads.
[14:27] Riven Homewood: Many of those who were able to save a little money opened small businesses serving both Chinese residents and the larger community . Some developed these businesses into highly profitable ventures, never returning to China.
[14:28] HeadBurro Antfarm: There is a great cannery museum in Steveson (sp?) near Vancouver BC - they really bring it alive!
[14:28] Riven Homewood: This photo of a Chinese man with his child is quite unusual for it's time, because for a long time there were very few Chinese women here.
[14:28] Riven Homewood: Many of the women who did come brought here as prostitutes. They were often tricked into coming because they believed they were coming to be married. Once here, they found themselves essentially slaves, with no other options but to work as prostitutes for the person who "owned" them.
[14:28] Riven Homewood: By 1870, only 3,536 Chinese women had emigrated to California. 61 percent (2,157) were listed as prostitutes.
[14:28] HeadBurro Antfarm: A lot of the Tongs capitalized on that fact and ran women trafficking operations to feed the men
[14:28] Viv Trafalgar: Good Lord
[14:28] Elina Koskinen: ((could we wait a moment more with these slides?))
[14:29] Riven Homewood: During periods of economic depression, there was a good deal of political backlash against the Chinese. Because they worked hard and would accept low wages, they were blamed for widespread unemployment. They became a convenient target.
[14:29] Elina Koskinen: ((they're going a bit fast...:D))
[14:29] Lelani Carver highly recommends the movie "1000 Pieces of Gold" regarding this marriage/slavery trickery.
[14:29] HeadBurro Antfarm: I'll look out for it, TY
[14:29] Riven Homewood: Laws were passed, such as The Chinese Exclusion Act, which was passed in 1882 and severely limited the number of people who could immigrate from China.
[14:29] Riven Homewood: Laws were passed, such as The Chinese Exclusion Act, which was passed in 1882 and severely limited the number of people who could immigrate from China.
[14:29] Riven Homewood: When this slide finally rezzes - Laws were passed, such as The Chinese Exclusion Act, which was passed in 1882 and severely limited the number of people who could immigrate from China.
[14:30] Riven Homewood: This is a telegram sent by the White House to the governor of Oregon
[14:30] Lelani Carver is fascinated by the telegram.
[14:30] Elina Koskinen: ooh
[14:30] Riven Homewood: asking him to try and prevent violence against the Chinese when the Act passes
[14:30] Lelani Carver notes it was indeed sent to Salem, the capital.
[14:30] Riven Homewood: Apparently the governor didn't take the president's advice, or at least he didn't do enough to prevent the violence.. In some places, there were riots, chinatowns were burned down and many people were killed. Chinese immigrants experienced discrimination and sometimes violence no matter their social position.
[14:30] Serafina Puchkina: Excellent visuals
[14:31] Riven Homewood: For example, in 1886, four years after the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Daily Oregonian offered rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any person attempting to drive the Chinese out of the state or the country.
[14:31] Riven Homewood: Portland's city government responded to such events with a force of newly commissioned police and volunteers who attempted to quell anti-Chinese mobs.
[14:31] Riven Homewood: The Chinese Exclusion Act wasn't repealed until 1943.
[14:31] Riven Homewood: Yet the Chinese stayed on, and they remained a major force in shaping the culture of California and the Pacific Northwest.
[14:31] Darlingmonster Ember: mmm
[14:31] Riven Homewood: And it wasn't just the Chinese. People came from Japan, the Philipines, India and all parts of Asia, and all of their cultures had an influence. When we imagine life in Steampunk Oregon and Washington, it would be totally inaccurate to imagine it without the Orientals.
[14:32] Riven Homewood: If you'd like more information about the history of Chinese people in the Pacific Northwest, I've compiled a list or resources at http://delicious.com/rivenhomewood/chinese
[14:32] Riven Homewood: Most of the images and much of the information for today's talk came from the Oregon Historical Society's online Oregon History Project at http://www.ohs.org
[14:32] HeadBurro Antfarm: Wonderful - TY Riven!
[14:32] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:32] Vivi Boxen: Thanks Riven, that was right over my head
[14:32] Serafina Puchkina: Yes, thank you!
[14:32] Elilka Sieyes applauds
[14:32] Elina Koskinen: :)
[14:32] Saffia Widdershins applauds
[14:32] Viv Trafalgar: Thank you so much Riven
[14:32] Serafina Puchkina claps
[14:32] Lelani Carver: Well done, Riven!
[14:32] HeadBurro Antfarm: .-'`'-. APPLAUSE APPLAUSE .-'`'-.
[14:32] Eladrienne Laval claps
[14:32] Elegia Underwood claps.
[14:32] Keramineh Darkwatch tries to clap around the wriggling dog on her lap
[14:32] Harlock Juran claps
[14:32] Bookworm Hienrichs applauds.
[14:32] Riven Homewood: Thanks so much for being such a great audience :)
[14:32] MissLily Nightfire claps
[14:33] Vivi Boxen: Don't worry i am pretty dumb
[14:33] Viv Trafalgar: ((please hold your questions we will have time at the end - and a transcript up after))
[14:33] Beq Janus: claps
[14:33] Ethera Hissop claps
[14:33] Redgrrl Llewellyn: the librarian claps enthusiastically loves delicious! ]
[14:33] Vivi Boxen: Takes me a while to learn stuff ^^
[14:33] Serafina Puchkina: Our next speaker is Miss Elegia
[14:33] Elegia Underwood: If my Booksis could shift her slide viewer to the side...
[14:33] Elegia Underwood: Excellent.
[14:34] Elegia Underwood: Well, my goodness, I feel completely daunted by that presentation, Riven.
[14:34] Elegia Underwood grins.
[14:34] Elegia Underwood: Lunar asked me to speak about roleplaying in shanghai.
[14:34] Riven Homewood: Sure, sure
[14:34] Riven Homewood grins
[14:34] Elegia Underwood: So I set up this slide show that will eventually rez for all of you if it hasn't already.
[14:34] Elegia Underwood: usually once a pic is loaded, it will be visible the next time around.
[14:35] Elegia Underwood: These are some of the fascinating places around Shanghai...
[14:35] Elegia Underwood: Roleplay in Steelhead & specifically in Steelhead Shanghai isn't as immersive as in some places, but then we're a mixed community.
[14:35] Elegia Underwood: Some of us claim not ever to be In Character. Others of us are ALWAYS In Character, though the character changes. A few are always In one unchanging Character, one developed over years of roleplaying.
[14:35] Elegia Underwood: In & around Steelhead, I'm aware that when I speak, I am the Dragon of Dragonlands. I am not the typist. Whether I am speaking to someone I meet on the street, or speaking in group chat or writing on the ning or in a blog, I am the Dragon.
[14:35] Elegia Underwood: Lunar is the Elf and the Manager. Tensai is the Blower Up of Things... AND the Manager. Riven is the Librarian of Steelhead.
[14:36] Elegia Underwood grins at Riven & Lunar.
[14:36] TotalLunar Eclipse: :)
[14:36] Riven Homewood: :)
[14:36] Bookworm Hienrichs chuckles.
[14:36] Tensai Hilra: :)==)
[14:36] Elegia Underwood: For those who wish to roleplay in Shanghai...
[14:36] Vivi Boxen: Sorry about asking all those questions
[14:36] Elegia Underwood: For my part, if you wish to involve me in your story, you need only walk up to me & speak. For some people, you need to seek their permission & agree in advance what will be done.
[14:37] Vivi Boxen: Just got confused and i tend to ask a lot of questions
[14:37] Vivi Boxen: Didn't mean to interupt anything
[14:37] Elegia Underwood: Several of the residents of Steelhead weave their tales entirely in nings or blogs. I have a notecard with some of these links. IM me if you want a copy. I meant to include it in the supplementary materials, but I didn't get back from the play in time.
[14:37] Elegia Underwood: As you can see from the scenes flashing behind me, the Shanghai region of Steelhead is full of wonderful settings for stories &, as long as you stay out of private homes, you are free to use them.
[14:37] Mara Razor needs to restart her blog
[14:37] Vivi Boxen: Just got confused and i tend to ask a lot of questions
[14:37] Vivi Boxen: Didn't mean to interrupt anything
[14:37] Elegia Underwood: Several of the residents of Steelhead weave their tales entirely in nings or blogs. I have a notecard with some of these links. IM me if you want a copy. I meant to include it in the supplementary materials, but I didn't get back from the play in time.
[14:37] Elegia Underwood: As you can see from the scenes flashing behind me, the Shanghai region of Steelhead is full of wonderful settings for stories &, as long as you stay out of private homes, you are free to use them.
[14:37] Elegia Underwood: There is an opium den in the cellars of the hotel, a sake bar with a relaxing couch thru a curtained doorway where one may lounge & dream in comfort, an abattoir, a tea room, an apothecary full of oddments & herbs of all sorts, a shipworks, smuggler's hideouts, a doctor's office in the slums, ships, boats, sampans & a noodle seller.
[14:38] Elegia Underwood: Here are just a few of the links...
[14:38] Darlingmonster Ember smiles
[14:38] Elegia Underwood: http://headburroantfarm.wordpress.com/burro-tales/
http://steelhead-adventures.blogspot.com/ http://hiberniaskids.blogspot.com/
http://bandobast.wikidot.com/ A vast collection
http://caerfyrddin.org/mostlyconsulate.htm
[14:38] Elegia Underwood: Here are some story fragments I wish to scatter about as if I were seeding the clouds that hang so frequently over the city. Perhaps something will grow from them... or not.
[14:38] Elegia Underwood: Use them as they exist or cherry pick elements or ignore them entirely.
[14:39] Elegia Underwood winks & chuckles.
[14:39] Elegia Underwood: Elizabeth Sorensen, former Europan
[14:39] Elegia Underwood: A young woman sat up late in the warmth of the teahouse. Her room upstairs was too cold for anything but sleeping snug in the comforter. Here she could write in the dim light of a fire & a lamp, & she had permission to keep her teapot full.
[14:39] Elegia Underwood: Beside the teapot was a small twist of paper that contained herbs from the apothecary in front of the hotel. The gentle old oriental had promised her that these would help her sleep & ease her anxieties.
[14:40] Elegia Underwood: There were many sheets of paper scattered on the table. Some of them had many crossings out. Some were crumpled. Elizabeth Sorenson was sure that, if she could only finish the novel she was writing, it would offer her the freedom she sought.
[14:40] Elegia Underwood: Freedom from the obligation to marry a man she couldn't love. Freedom from her parents' sheltering ways. Freedom from a life of drudgery. She knew she had it in her, but she was down to her last few coins.
[14:40] Elegia Underwood: After she had landed on the ship from Europa, she had sought out this one small, at least partially respectable boarding house in the port of Steelhead Shanghai. She'd been here for nearly four months now, & soon she was going to have to find a way to earn a living...
[14:40] Elegia Underwood: Oh dear...
[14:40] Elegia Underwood: What will become of her?
[14:41] Elegia Underwood: Ho Wu Li, Chinese peasant
[14:41] HeadBurro Antfarm: it will end poorly, I fear...
[14:41] Riven Homewood: One way a woman can always make a living...
[14:41] Elegia Underwood: Wu Li served as crew on a merchant junk from Shanghai. He was a farmer by birth & knew little of the sea, so he had served at the lowest level. He helped in the kitchen & kept things clean. He took care of the pigs & chickens they had brought along as food, though they had all been eaten by a month ago.
[14:41] Elegia Underwood nods, smiling sadly. "Indeed."
[14:41] Elegia Underwood: When the ship landed in Steelhead Shanghai & began to unload, Ho Wu Li was just one of the men who didn't come back from unloading sacks & crates onto the dock.
[14:41] Elegia Underwood: Instead, with the others, he had disappeared into the twilight shadows in search of a job in this golden land. He meant to send the money back to his parents &, when there was enough, he would return & find a wife. [14:42] Viv Trafalgar: oh dear
[14:42] Elegia Underwood: Now he was alone in a land where he did not speak even five words of the language. His companions had abandoned him. He was cold & hungry.
[14:42] Ceejay Writer listens, rapt, to this mans tale.
[14:42] Elegia Underwood: Should he return to the ship & a certain beating? Or perhaps he should make his way up the hill to the bright beckoning lights of that large building. People were going in & out. There was laughter. He could smell food... [14:42] Elegia Underwood: Will he find shelter?
[14:42] Elegia Underwood: Will he survive the winter?
[14:43] Elegia Underwood: Perhaps one of you will tell us.
[14:43] Riven Homewood has a good idea just which large, well lit building that might be :)
[14:43] TotalLunar Eclipse: I take my chances with the beatings.
[14:43] Elegia Underwood grins.
[14:43] Elegia Underwood: Ivor Lupinsky, Polish American
[14:43] Elegia Underwood: The large, middle aged man stood with his back against the brick. The wall was fast losing the heat it had accumulated as the weak winter sun set behind the buildings across the harbour.
[14:44] Elegia Underwood: Ivor Lupinsky could hardly warm his hands on the small cup containing the rice wine, but the fiery liquid warmed his innards. The scent of the alien liquor took him away from all that was familiar. And that was a good thing. He didn't want to remember.
[14:44] Elegia Underwood: He & his wife saved for years to move everything they had out to this land of pioneers. They & their two children came out on one of the first trains to cross the entire continent. It was an amazing ride & they were all full of hope.
[14:44] Vivi Boxen: Love the polish, Had a secret Santa who is polish she bought me this little Christmas teddy bear
[14:44] Elegia Underwood: Inge & the two kids were gone in a typhoid epidemic, though, before a year had played out in the new home. Ivor had taken to drink & gambling.
[14:44] Vivi Boxen: Sweat people
[14:44] Elegia Underwood: Now he lived hand to mouth in the employ of the Dragon. It wasn't that she didn't pay him a decent wage. She was generous with those who pleased her. But he couldn't seem to keep from drinking it or gambling it away in the opium den beneath the hotel. Now he was in debt to her, too.
[14:44] Riven Homewood: so sad
[14:45] Elegia Underwood: And each day it was getting harder & harder to get up & get dressed & help to guard the shipments that went in & out of the small lagoon beneath the hotel.
[14:45] Riven Homewood: what kind of shipments?
[14:45] Elegia Underwood: He wondered how long she would tolerate his slipping standards, but he went back inside & bought another sake. He sat down in the corner of the bar to drink it & proceeded to forget about the Dragon until tomorrow morning.
[14:45] Elegia Underwood: Many sad tales in Shanghai... or perhaps there are happy endings to be told?
[14:45] Vivi Boxen: think i forgot ya before
[14:45] Darlingmonster Ember smiles
[14:46] Elegia Underwood: Seamus O'Hoolihan, old sailor
[14:46] Elegia Underwood: Seamus handed a stick of licorice to the youngster. He figured the little Chinese boy would dive into it right there, but instead, the little feller bowed & said something in his own language & hurried off.
[14:46] HeadBurro Antfarm: I'm enjoying developing the Dragon Lady into a sort of underworld fixer to rival the Bing Kong Tong I've developed for the slums :)
[14:46] Elegia Underwood: The old sailor liked the kids in Shanghai. And that was good because there were more than a few. Some of them lived on the street. Some of them seemed to have shelter in the railcars the Dragon kept up there on the hill. And some lucky ones lived with Miss Mara, though everyone looked out for them.
[14:46] Elegia Underwood: ((I will cheerfully play that role, HBA!))
[14:46] Elegia Underwood: After he lost his second foot last year when the harpoon rope tangled around it, he had to give up the life of the sea. Now he just sat here on the docks & played checkers for money.
[14:47] Elegia Underwood: Sometimes, at the Dragon's indulgence, he'd go up to the hotel & play some of them foreign games she encouraged in the lobby. But he wasn't as good at those & didn't win as often.
[14:47] Elegia Underwood: On the other hand, if he was up there when the dinner bell was rung, like as not Mr Sung would give him a can of noodles & a small piece of pork. And it didn't cost him nothing but the walk uphill on two peglegs & a pair of crutches.
[14:47] Elegia Underwood: With the winter coming on, he was thinking he needed a bit more coin for coal to heat the shed he rented here in the slums, but he was danged if he knew where that might come from.
[14:47] Elegia Underwood: There they are...
[14:47] Elegia Underwood: Story fragments...
[14:47] Elegia Underwood: Thrown to the winds...
[14:47] HeadBurro Antfarm: Wonderful! TY
[14:47] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:47] Elegia Underwood: There they are...
[14:48] Riven Homewood: Fantastic!
[14:48] Tensai Hilra: very nice
[14:48] Harlock Juran claps
[14:48] Annechen Lowey applauds.
[14:48] Darlingmonster Ember: v nice
[14:48] Lelani Carver applauds
[14:48] Riven Homewood: *:-.,_,.-:*'´ `*. HoOoOoO!¸.*´`'*:-.,_,.-:*
[14:48] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:48] Redgrrl Llewellyn: claps and smiles
[14:48] Ethera Hissop claps
[14:48] Elilka Sieyes claps
[14:48] Elegia Underwood: If you look at the easel under the stairs that says Shanghai Mystery Contest, you can get a notecard with all of these.
[14:48] Elegia Underwood: Wait!
[14:48] Elegia Underwood laughs.
[14:48] Valice Davi: *claps*
[14:48] Elegia Underwood: I'm not QUITE finished.
[14:48] Elegia Underwood: Almost.
[14:48] TotalLunar Eclipse: Yes, please speak longer :)
[14:48] Viv Trafalgar: Please let Miss Underwood finish
[14:48] Darlingmonster Ember: continue
[14:48] Viv Trafalgar: thank you :)
[14:48] Riven Homewood: Oh yes, please – more
[14:48] Saffia Widdershins applauds
[14:48] Saffia Widdershins: go on ...
[14:48] Elegia Underwood: Shanghai Mystery Story Contest (sponsored by Dragonlands Hotel & Hovels) The Dragon of Dragonlands wishes to sponsor THREE (3) mystery weekends.
[14:49] Elegia Underwood: In order to encourage visitors to Shanghai & story beginnings.
[14:49] Elegia Underwood: Contestants are invited to come up with a storyline set firmly in the seedy underworld of Steelhead Shanghai. While the mystery may begin or end anywhere in Shanghai, & while it may wend wherever it will, the Dragon does insist that at least one clue or the beginning or the end is located somewhere in Dragonlands.
[14:49] Elegia Underwood: Submissions should include an introductory setting, a list of no fewer than 5 clues & no more than 10 & where they should be found & a solution. Submit one notecard (to Elegia Underwood) which should include Landmarks to each clue site, including the point of origin, ie, a dead body, an empty case with holes in it, a half sunken sampan with blood on the gunwales, whatever beginning you wish. The title of the notecard should begin "CONTEST - ..." DEADLINE 5 Jan 2010.
[14:49] Elegia Underwood: If you want to supply objects to enhance the story, they will be welcome, but the final decisions will be based on the storyline & structure & how much fun the search for the miscreants will be.
[14:50] Elegia Underwood: You are encouraged to generate peripheral roleplay in the course of the investigation.
[14:50] Elegia Underwood: The best three will each be awarded 1000L & the opportunity to stage their own mystery. (Those who do not desire the responsibility may relinquish this task to the Dragon & her minions. The Dragon will oversee all activities.)
[14:50] HeadBurro Antfarm: 5th Jan? Ye Gods!
[14:50] KlausWulfenbach Outlander: Heh.
[14:50] Elegia Underwood: Well, I might be persuaded to extend the deadline.
[14:50] Darlingmonster Ember: (( nice touch ))
[14:51] Elegia Underwood: don't tell me you have real lives!
[14:51] Ceejay Writer chuckles.
[14:51] Darlingmonster Ember: chuckle
[14:51] TotalLunar Eclipse: Heaven forbid!
[14:51] Elegia Underwood: The Dragon reserves the right not to award any or all of the prizes if submissions do not intrigue her. Please address all enquiries to Elegia Underwood, the Dragon of Dragonlands. ("A REAL Dragon? Pffft! There's no such thing as Dragons.")
[14:51] HeadBurro Antfarm: I'm just thinking that Xmas & NY are almost upon us - I won't be around much until after then :)
[14:51] Elegia Underwood: Ah.
[14:51] Viv Trafalgar: Should there be questions about the contest, or about the rest of this ongoing wonderful welcome to Steelhead, please do save them to the end
[14:51] Elegia Underwood: Well, perhaps I'll extend it then.
[14:51] Elegia Underwood: All the info is available from the placard on the easel under the stairs.
[14:51] Elegia Underwood: And more!
[14:52] Elegia Underwood: Please weave your stories here in Shanghai. The setting invites them.
[14:52] Elegia Underwood: And those of us who live here are for the most part happy to play!
[14:52] Elegia Underwood: And that's all from me!
[14:52] Darlingmonster Ember: bravo
[14:52] TotalLunar Eclipse claps
[14:52] Elegia Underwood bows to the audience after the chinese fashion.
[14:52] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:52] HeadBurro Antfarm: .-'`'-. APPLAUSE APPLAUSE .-'`'-
. [14:52] Ethera Hissop claps
[14:52] Viv Trafalgar applauds
[14:52] Serafina Puchkina puts down her pen and applauds
[14:52] Ceejay Writer applauds happily.
[14:53] Eladrienne Laval claps
[14:53] Annechen Lowey applauds.
[14:53] Harlock Juran claps
[14:53] Bookworm Hienrichs applauds.
[14:53] Elegia Underwood: thank you !
[14:53] Redgrrl Llewellyn: claps enthusiastically
[14:53] Elegia Underwood: thank you very much.
[14:53] Vivi Boxen claps with a confused look
[14:53] Saffia Widdershins applauds
[14:53] TotalLunar Eclipse: Thank you Miss Elegia
[14:53] Serafina Puchkina: Our final speaker today is TotalLunar Eclipse.
[14:53] Mara Razor: Hoooo!
[14:53] Elegia Underwood: You're most welcome, elf! *grins*
[14:53] Annechen Lowey applauds.
[14:53] HeadBurro Antfarm: The boss? Quick, look busy!
[14:53] Harlock Juran claps
[14:53] TotalLunar Eclipse eyes the burro, "Why are you not planting trees?"
[14:53] Viv Trafalgar: following Lunar, we have questions and a craft - donated by your wonderful speakers
[14:53] KlausWulfenbach Outlander applauds
[14:54] Elegia Underwood: I hope people have been able to see some of those slides of this wonderful place.
[14:54] TotalLunar Eclipse: I guess you can stay HBA... for now.
[14:54] Annechen Lowey snickers.
[14:54] TotalLunar Eclipse: As stated, I am Lunar, owner of the Estates in which you are visiting today.
[14:55] TotalLunar Eclipse: First off I want to welcome back Miss Viv who I heard has been missing.
[14:55] TotalLunar Eclipse: And I will dispatch my Sheriff werewolf to find the miscreants who have dared steal her away.
[14:55] TotalLunar Eclipse: But each city has its shady areas, for Steelhead, Shanghai is it.
[14:55] Ceejay Writer: "Good for you, Sir!"
[14:55] Elegia Underwood looks innocent & stares at something on the ceiling.
[14:55] Vivi Boxen: I enjoyed the pretty pictures
[14:56] Riven Homewood is so happy to know Miss Viv is safe!
[14:56] Elegia Underwood: Oooo, look at that!
[14:56] Elegia Underwood: Gorgeous!
[14:56] TotalLunar Eclipse: The Shanghai Concept was something completely out of the blue,
[14:56] Valice Davi: nice
[14:56] Darlingmonster Ember: mmm
[14:56] Vivi Boxen: Nice buildings
[14:56] TotalLunar Eclipse: when we first laid plans for Steelhead’s growth after Port Harbor this sim was supposed to be Mt St Helens and the sim to the south would be Multonomah Falls.
[14:56] Viv Trafalgar is very happy to be safe!
[14:56] Vivi Boxen: We should build them like that
[14:56] Valice Davi: a creative use of architectures from other cultures.
[14:57] TotalLunar Eclipse: So where did the idea come from, oddly enough out of a dream.
[14:57] TotalLunar Eclipse: a dream of opium dens and rickshaws that inspired my design for something completely different.
[14:57] Vivi Boxen: We should still build em like that, because those roofs look good in the rain
[14:57] Mara Razor gives lunar her undivided attention
[14:57] TotalLunar Eclipse: All the Steelhead Estates are based around the Pacific Northwest pre turn of the century,
[14:57] HeadBurro Antfarm: Dreams should always have opium in them :)
[14:57] TotalLunar Eclipse: but each sim itself entails a different theme upon the concept, from the mines in Boomtown, to the rustic outback of St Helens.
[14:58] Riven Homewood loves St Helens :)
[14:58] Ceejay Writer: St. Helens is wonderous.
[14:58] HeadBurro Antfarm agrees :)
[14:59] Eladrienne Laval nods
[14:59] Mara Razor: boomtown rocks
[14:59] TotalLunar Eclipse: In the pacific northwest, in Portland there are stories of drunken fellows being stolen away, then sold to slavery to captains who had lost their crew because they abandoned ship to remain in the area or search for gold. [14:59] Jasper Kiergarten: remembers when the actual Mt still looked like that
[14:59] Ceejay Writer: Jasper... me too. I was in Seattle at the time.
[14:59] TotalLunar Eclipse: They were... Shanghai'ed
[14:59] Jasper Kiergarten: :)
[14:59] Vivi Boxen: Ramember when the mountain blew to pieces...
[14:59] TotalLunar Eclipse: Thus the name of the city.
[14:59] Valice Davi: XD
[15:00] Viv Trafalgar: always good to ... foreshadow, eh Luar?
[15:00] Viv Trafalgar: *Lunar?
[15:00] Vivi Boxen: Wonder when we will evacuate the town
[15:00] Riven Homewood: Not for about 60 years :)
[15:00] Mara Razor: in 1980
[15:00] Mara Razor: more than that...
[15:00] Riven Homewood: Whoops - 90 years then
[15:00] Tensai Hilra: :P, no evacuation... though I know someone who sells 'volcano insurance'
[15:00] TotalLunar Eclipse: St Helens? Well... it did erupt May 18th and we may celebrate that every anniversary.
[15:00] Vivi Boxen: Hehe
[15:00] Tensai Hilra: *volcano even
[15:00] Viv Trafalgar coughs and raises an eyebrow
[15:01] Vivi Boxen: We could make a bet... that that volcano will blow on 1980 think how much cash you'd get
[15:01] Ceejay Writer: You should celebrate that day indeed, Lunar. With a blowout party.
[15:01] Annechen Lowey: Things tend to explode around Manager Tensai without apparent reason.
[15:01] Riven Homewood: Wow, that's a wonderful building~!
[15:01] Annechen Lowey: An anniversary makes an explosion necessary.
[15:02] TotalLunar Eclipse: Shanghai was thought up and when the idea was presented to the people it was picked up quickly and in less than a month it was ordered… oddly on my RL anniversary, August 7th.
[15:02] Tensai Hilra: yay! he remembered!
[15:02] TotalLunar Eclipse: :P
[15:02] TotalLunar Eclipse: It was one of my first terraformingly dynamic sim, the worst of it being newly opened St Helens.
[15:02] Darlingmonster Ember smiles
[15:02] Annechen Lowey chuckles.
[15:02] Viv Trafalgar: what number is the "sim anniversary"
[15:02] TotalLunar Eclipse: I wanted to give the appearance of a city that had been mined to death and abandoned thus being taken over by the refugees of the railroads and industrial tycoons looking for cheap labor.
[15:03] Darlingmonster Ember: ah, the ledges
[15:03] Vivi Boxen: I think that Volcano has erupted multiple times
[15:03] TotalLunar Eclipse: The south of Shanghai has a tiered effect on the land, as in its past it has been over mined and its resources stripped away.
[15:03] Riven Homewood: and the railcars left behind :)
[15:03] TotalLunar Eclipse: Unlike the rest of the cities Shanghai has relatively few trees, foliage and most of its beauty lies in its waterways, the oddness of its tiered mountain and the buildings, boats and junks.
[15:03] TotalLunar Eclipse: If you have visited Shanghai before, you would have no doubt ended up in the city’s padoga.
[15:04] Darlingmonster Ember smiles
[15:04] TotalLunar Eclipse: . Its absolute center serves as the distribution of character in the Bushido tradition, North corresponds with Tortise, West with the Tiger, South with the Phoenix and East with the Dragon, and over the absolute center of the city is the Sun Pagoda.
[15:04] Viv Trafalgar nods – lovely
[15:04] TotalLunar Eclipse: In Steelhead a lot of our civic buildings are inspired by RL builds, such as the City Hall building’s exterior being the Melbourne Hotel in Melbourne Australia, or the Ballroom as a portrayal of the Beaumont Hotel from Ouray Colorado. In Shanghai that is no different with the creation of the Sun Pagoda.
[15:04] TotalLunar Eclipse: The RL Sun Pagoda, or Rì Tǎ, is the tallest copper pagoda in the world towering over nine stories located in Guanxi China along with its smaller counterpart the ‘Moon Pagoda.’
[15:05] TotalLunar Eclipse: ’ In Shanghai we recreated the exterior to honour this sacred landmark and in time when we expand the Shanghai concept to the east we will have the ‘moon pagoda’ as well.
[15:06] Annechen Lowey: Aha.
[15:06] TotalLunar Eclipse grins at Annechen
[15:06] Serafina Puchkina murmurs: interesting
[15:06] Darlingmonster Ember: nice shot
[15:06] Elegia Underwood: another Shanghai sim!
[15:06] Elegia Underwood: :D
[15:06] HeadBurro Antfarm: ooo, I'll be sure to tell Dr Beck!
[15:06] Tensai Hilra: shot by Mari Moonbeam
[15:07] TotalLunar Eclipse: In research there was actually very little I could find as a concept that meshed Steampunk and Oriental together.
[15:07] HeadBurro Antfarm makes wishlist: More slums I hope :) And a cannery
[15:07] TotalLunar Eclipse: the photo behind me is both pagodas
[15:07] TotalLunar Eclipse: Sun and Moon.
[15:07] Bookworm Hienrichs: Lovely.
[15:07] Ceejay Writer: A cannery would be wonderful. Then I could import goods for my own place in Babbage. ;)
[15:07] Elegia Underwood: Ooooo!
[15:07] Elegia Underwood: So beautiful!
[15:07] Elegia Underwood: And just like ours!
[15:08] HeadBurro Antfarm: Beautiful!
[15:08] Elegia Underwood: Well done!
[15:08] TotalLunar Eclipse: It was an architectural nightmare those edges.. Tensai helped.
[15:08] Elegia Underwood chuckles.
[15:08] Tensai Hilra: :)==)
[15:08] Viv Trafalgar: how so Lunar?
[15:08] Mara Razor: the slums in shanghai aremost excellent
[15:08] TotalLunar Eclipse: The curving of the roofs
[15:08] TotalLunar Eclipse: They are not sculpted
[15:08] Darlingmonster Ember: truly wonderful builds
[15:08] Elegia Underwood: Ha!
[15:08] Elegia Underwood: I recognize these colours!
[15:09] Vivi Boxen: If i could build like that
[15:09] TotalLunar Eclipse: As far as steampunk and oriental like I said, very little found aside from artwork.
[15:09] HeadBurro Antfarm: The slums are some of my favourite build I've seen in my 3 years in SL
[15:09] TotalLunar Eclipse: Steampunk, best described by Captain Robert of Abney Park at Steamcon 09’ ‘is a genre that is undefined, and best left undefined.
[15:09] Viv Trafalgar nods
[15:09] TotalLunar Eclipse: Because once you start defining it you have to set rules.’
[15:10] Vivi Boxen: Nice
[15:10] TotalLunar Eclipse: We shape and mold our personal definitions here in the Steamlands, Steelhead included.
[15:10] HeadBurro Antfarm: I love the idea of their closeness, their sense of overlapping menace - that's not often found in SL - build tend to be grid-based and in neat parcels
[15:10] Mara Razor: amen
[15:10] TotalLunar Eclipse: The Firefly show added oriental into the concept of Steampunk and we went by that and some odd drawings here or there.
[15:10] TotalLunar Eclipse: From there we took RL conceptual work, RL buildings, and those artworks and tried to define this city.
[15:10] Viv Trafalgar: ahh I was thinking of Firefly
[15:10] Darlingmonster Ember smiles a bit and nods
[15:11] Mara Razor: firefly was an awesome show. Curse fx for cancelling it
[15:11] TotalLunar Eclipse: I asked a lot of my residents to imagine these two concepts together and help create this foundation,
[15:11] Lelani Carver nods and tries to remember the useful curse words she learned from watching the Firefly tele-cine-whatzit.
[15:11] TotalLunar Eclipse: but from the slums of Shaiman Alley on the waterfront to the boxcar apartments surrounding the Dragonalnds,
[15:11] Mara Razor: gorram and shiney were the two expressions i picked up from firefly
[15:11] Vivi Boxen: Know how this is wild west steampunk? Are we at risk of Apache raids?
[15:11] HeadBurro Antfarm: Frel?
[15:11] Elegia Underwood: (that painting is "Oriental Steampunk" by superspacemonkey & found on deviantart.com )
[15:11] TotalLunar Eclipse: BlakOpal’s dry dock and various rickshaw’s, boats, junks we have created our version of what Oriental Steampunk is in the Shanghai Concept and are looking forward to expanding that at a later date of course.
[15:12] Jedburgh30 Dagger: that's gorram
[15:12] HeadBurro Antfarm: No, Frel was the other show
[15:12] TotalLunar Eclipse: You'll have to forgive me for not jumping on the chance to expand sooner but two sims in four months... I need a break.
[15:12] Vivi Boxen: (Oriental steampunk is beautiful, but i mostly enjoy post appalyptic steampunk as well)
[15:12] Stormy Buccaneer: ((Jules vernian is my fave))
[15:12] HeadBurro Antfarm: We'd rather wait that have you burnt out, mate
[15:13] Riven Homewood: I love how the basic concept of Steampunk expands in so many directions!
[15:13] TotalLunar Eclipse: This platform, Shanghai is open for everyone. I made it to you to explore, to RP, to dream and to visit.
[15:13] HeadBurro Antfarm: Farscape! Frel was in Farscape :)
[15:13] Riven Homewood: Yes- both Shanghai and St Helens were well worth waiting for
[15:13] Vivi Boxen: ((Who is Jules? I know Charles Babbage))
[15:13] TotalLunar Eclipse: Thank you for your time, that is my talk :)
[15:14] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[15:14] Viv Trafalgar: Lunar, thank you
[15:14] Elilka Sieyes claps
[15:14] Eladrienne Laval applauds
[15:14] Bookworm Hienrichs applauds.
[15:14] Mara Razor: indeed
[15:14] Darlingmonster Ember: bravo
[15:14] Elegia Underwood: `*.¸.*´ APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´
[15:14] Vivi Boxen: YAYYYY!
[15:14] Valice Davi: *claps*
[15:14] Annechen Lowey applauds.
[15:14] Riven Homewood: Thank you, Lord Lunar –
[15:14] Violet MacMoragh applauds
[15:14] Riven Homewood: Applause, applause
[15:14] Jedburgh30 Dagger: applauds
[15:14] TotalLunar Eclipse: Quite welcome
[15:14] Vivi Boxen: Lovely pictures
[15:14] Viv Trafalgar: your building speak most eloquently for you, and i know we are all pleased to see the work
[15:14] Vivi Boxen: And fun ideas
[15:14] Valice Davi: :)
[15:14] HeadBurro Antfarm: TY Lunar :)
[15:14] Harlock Juran claps
[15:14] Stormy Buccaneer: ((Jules Verne. twenty thousand leagues under the sea.. ))
[15:14] Beq Janus: claps
[15:14] Alaex Aeon claps
[15:14] Ethera Hissop claps
[15:14] Viv Trafalgar: We have time for some questions for all three speakers, and I would like to remind everyone that next month - back in Babbage, Miss Saffia Widdershins and guests will be talking about Children
[15:15] Viv Trafalgar: Do not miss it
[15:15] Riven Homewood: Oh cool!
[15:15] Viv Trafalgar: if you have a question please speak up in chat and i'll call on you
[15:15] Beq Janus makes a note in her diary and hopes the kids don't crayon all over it
[15:15] Viv Trafalgar: as the hour is late i will also set out the craft
[15:15] Ceejay Writer: Craft!
[15:15] Riven Homewood: Maybe my niece will still be here on school vacation for that one
[15:15] Harlock Juran: I have to run, but Good evening all, and it was very interesting!
[15:15] Viv Trafalgar: all funds in the speakers fund will be donated to the speakers
[15:14] HeadBurro Antfarm: TY Lunar :)
[15:14] Harlock Juran claps
[15:15] Darlingmonster Ember: ?craft?
[15:16] Elegia Underwood: Thank you so much for coming, Mr Juran!
[15:16] Jedburgh30 Dagger: With Salon, there is always a craft
[15:16] Vivi Boxen: Planning on making any more sims for these kinds of building?
[15:16] Riven Homewood: The crafts are always wonderful, too
[15:16] Viv Trafalgar: Vivi who is your question for? Lunar?
[15:16] Viv Trafalgar: (yes there's a pagoda in this one!)
[15:16] Vivi Boxen: Maybe a sort of town designed for Oriental steampunk like rp, parties and stuff? Yes Lunar
[15:17] Vivi Boxen: Sorry ^^
[15:17] Vivi Boxen: Sorry
[15:17] TotalLunar Eclipse: Yes, I have plans for Shang hyu.
[15:17] TotalLunar Eclipse: That is where Moon Pagoda goes.
[15:17] Darlingmonster Ember: aaah
[15:17] Tensai Hilra: somehow, he likes the idea of a moon pagoda ;)
[15:17] TotalLunar Eclipse: Well.. yes
[15:17] TotalLunar Eclipse: :)
[15:17] Darlingmonster Ember smiles
[15:17] Viv Trafalgar: I like the thought too - i've seen moon gates, not sure how a moon pagoda would look?
[15:18] HeadBurro Antfarm: LOL - there can be no better reason for a new sim!
[15:18] Riven Homewood: Sun buddahs, moon buddahs....
[15:18] TotalLunar Eclipse: There are a series of moon bridges all about.
[15:18] Tensai Hilra: its similar to the sun pagoda, but silver and luminescent
[15:18] Elegia Underwood: (Be sure to get a notecard from the placard beneath the stairs before you leave.)
[15:18] Vivi Boxen: You like my idea of a new sim? YAYYYY! i am contributing *smiles*
[15:18] TotalLunar Eclipse: Not very good to traverse if you have vehicles.
[15:18] Tensai Hilra: beautiful
[15:18] Stormy Buccaneer: bridges to the moon you say?>
[15:18] TotalLunar Eclipse: Yes, to the moon.
[15:18] Viv Trafalgar: Other questions for RIven, Gia, or Lunar?
[15:19] Stormy Buccaneer rubs hands together, "Hmm yes, yes!
[15:19] Elegia Underwood: Here's a picture of me in the opium den.
[15:19] Elegia Underwood chuckles.
[15:19] Elegia Underwood: but I never partake of my own products!
[15:19] Stormy Buccaneer: Now we know why she is so mellow.
[15:19] Elegia Underwood laughs.
[15:19] Darlingmonster Ember: of course not...
[15:19] Mara Razor laughs
[15:19] Viv Trafalgar: Third call for questions on RP, Immigration, Building :) otherwise we can devolve into an off the record soiree
[15:19] Elegia Underwood: I am mellow because when I am annoyed, I just let the steam blow out my ears.
[15:20] Ceejay Writer eyes device with some envy.
[15:20] Elegia Underwood chuckles.
[15:20] Beq Janus thinks Elegia did not inhale
[15:20] TotalLunar Eclipse: That photo is damning evidence.
[15:20] Viv Trafalgar: please do be sure to -- bursts out laughing
[15:20] Vivi Boxen: How high can you actually build it?
[15:20] Riven Homewood: I love what you did with that opium den :)
[15:20] Stormy Buccaneer: Thats, it Miss Underwood for precedent!
[15:20] Elegia Underwood: Thank you.
[15:20] Beq Janus grins
[15:20] HeadBurro Antfarm: I'm afraid I must be off - thank you for such a wonderful evening :)
[15:20] Elegia Underwood grins at Stormy.
[15:21] TotalLunar Eclipse: Take care HBA
[15:21] Eladrienne Laval: Good night HBA
[15:21] Elegia Underwood: Thank you for coming, HBA!
[15:21] HeadBurro Antfarm: Night all :)
[15:21] Riven Homewood: Goodnight HBA - stay safe
[15:21] Elegia Underwood: Wonderful to have you!
[15:21] Viv Trafalgar: Thank you!
[15:21] Saffia Widdershins applauds
[15:21] Vivi Boxen: Might take a lot to build it it to the moon
[15:21] Viv Trafalgar: We are glad you could all come
[15:19] Elegia Underwood: but I never partake of my own products!
[15:19] Stormy Buccaneer: Now we know why she is so mellow.
[15:19] Elegia Underwood laughs.
[15:19] Darlingmonster Ember: of course not....
[15:21] Viv Trafalgar: and hope to see you next month in Babbage
[15:21] Bookworm Hienrichs applauds. "Good to have you back, Miss Viv!"
[15:21] Riven Homewood: Miss Viv, Miss Serafina - thank you so much for having us and for doing this in Steelhead
[15:21] Beq Janus: This is a beautiful place, I hope to return soon to see more of it
[15:22] Elilka Sieyes agrees
[15:22] TotalLunar Eclipse: Always a pleasure.
[15:22] Valice Davi: same here
[15:22] Viv Trafalgar: Thank you for allowing Salon to visit - very much!
[15:22] Ceejay Writer: It is very lush, and my typist, who lived in the Pacific Northwest for decades, feels an affinity here.
[15:22] Serafina Puchkina: Thank you, Miss Riven. Congratulations to you, Miss Gia, and Mr Lunar. Well done!!
[15:22] Viv Trafalgar: We’ll conclude our transcript now

Shanghaied! December Aether Salon

Sunday, December 20 at 2 pm slt
Steelhead Shanghai
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Steelhead%20Shanghai/124/39/48

You awaken in the dark. The smell of the sea fills your nose. Where are you? Wait - there was the night out with friends... and then the - oh dear, and after that the... hmm. You can't remember much more. But you are absolutely not where you had been. You're on a ship - headed - where, exactly? You've been shanghaied!

This month, the Aether Salon will take a field trip to the exotic and beautiful Steelhead Shanghai. Once there, hosts TotalLunar Eclipse, Riven Homewood, and Elegia Underwood will regale us with tales of the region.

Adventure, danger, and mystery await you at the next Aether Salon. Join us on December 20.


Viv, Sera, & Jed
Aether Salon of Babbage
(http://aethersalon.blogspot.com)

December Aether Salon

Furnishings! November Aether Salon - edited version

Jasper Kiergarten: most welcome
Jedburgh30 Dagger: Hello everyone! Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Serafina and I are pleased to welcome you to the November Aether Salon - Furnishings! An exploration of Victorian furniture and what goes into the creation of furniture and other things in Second Life. I would like to thank each and every one of you for joining us today.
Miss Viv is currently travelling abroad, and is unable to attend, but is with us in spirit. Sera has asked me to fill in as her co-host today.
As many of you know, the Aether Salon meets to discuss steam and Victorian topics on the third Sunday of each month, in Palisades and Academy, New Babbage. This is our 12th salon and I hope you are all as excited about being here today as I am.
Just a few matters of housekeeping before we get started. If you are standing in the back, please move forward onto the maze so that you can be assured of hearing the speaker. Please be courteous when asking questions and we will try to make sure your questions are answered in the order in which they were posed. As a courtesy to all, please turn off everything that feeds the lag: all HUDs, scripts, AOs and so on. Please no weapons, bombs, pointed sticks, or loose bunches of fruit. Your cooperation is appreciated.
Edited and unedited transcripts will be posted this week on aethersalon.blogspot.com so you can revisit today’s event, read transcripts of past salons, and for a laugh, peruse “overheard at the salon.” Please join the Aether Salon group and receive notifications of future salon events, click the lower right hand corner of the large brown sign by the entrance. We sincerely appreciate the support we receive from everyone in the community and we humbly thank you all.
Many fine people have contributed to today’s salon: We are grateful to Clockwinder Tenk, Miss Ceejay Writer, Miss Breezy Carver, Miss Ahnyanka Delphin, PJ Trenton for photographs, and Canolli Capalini of Capalini Fine Furnishings for the chairs and the craft. Mark your calendars for upcoming salons…December salon will be ‘on the road’ with a field trip to Steelhead Shanghai, so be sure to mark your calendar for that on December 20th.
Sera?
Serafina Puchkina: Thank you, Miss Jed. I would like to officially welcome Miss Jed as part of the Aether Salon staff.
She's long been an invaluable help behind the scenes, and today marks her first official time as a member of our staff. Thank you, Jed. You are a good friend, and we appreciate your many, many talents.
I also want to acknowledge my co-host and good friend Miss Viv, whose vision created the Aether Salon and her talents made the salon what it is today. RL will always trump SL, but it was hard for Miss Viv to miss today's salon. We miss you, Miss Viv.
It is my distinct honor to introduce today’s speaker, someone who is well known in New Babbage. After losing her family to cholera, she was sent to her Uncle Chadsworth Capalini, a carpenter who lived in Lexington, Kentucky.
He took her regularly to his woodshop and as Canolli grew, her attention to detail in the woodworking was attributed to the Uncle and his business became known for high quality furniture and chests. Not wishing to lose a valuable commodity, her Uncle kept any suitors away. Uncle Chadsworth disappeared under mysterious circumstances and suspicion was cast upon the young woman. The store was closed and Miss Capalini disappeared.
Seven years later, she appeared in New Babbage. At first, Canolli constructed a chair here and there, donating them to the New Babbage Geographical Society. Seeing the excellence of her work, commissions started rolling in. She was able to open her own store in a few months.
She disapproves of excesses and generally carries a bit of food on her person in case she meets an urchin. Friendly, with a soft southern drawl, but wary of crowds, she gets along well in New Babbage. Particularly because no one asks any questions. Certainly not about her past and not about the hammer she keeps upon her person at all times.
Without further ado, please help me in welcoming Miss Canolli Capalini.
Canolli Capalini nervously stammers.. "Thank you, Miss Serafina for this honor. Undoubtedly you may have wondered why I was asked to speak." To be quite in agreement, so have I.
I was asked to give a sort of history of Victorian furnishings.. and to be honest, that encompasses such a great field, I didn't know where to begin.
My lovely friend, Miss Breezy Carver, advised me to begin *glares at Bob* with what I know best. I was trained in Kentucky in my uncle's workshop to execute a specific styling of furniture.. Namely the Biedermeier stylization.
So, I come before you today to discuss this very stylized and specific furniture era, for it is an era that affected the whole of Europe as a backlash to the more ornate stylings of the pre-French Revolution era.
It is a misconception that Biedermeier refers to a famous cabinet maker.
Canolli Capalini grins to herself at the little furniture maker joke.
But in reality, as the French Revolution wound down and the aftershocks were still reverberating through Europe, a series of political cartoons rose referring to a "aristocratic Biedermeier" family. Fictional, but wide spread and well known.
Jedburgh30 Dagger: so this was a reaction to styles like Chippendale?
Canolli Capalini: More Empiric, Miss Dagger.
Lelani Carver wonders if it was because Europe had previously been so excessively Rococco.
Saffia Widdershins: Louis Quinze ...
Canolli Capalini: German aristocrats began to fear a similar style revolution that the French had. Furniture and decor began to reflect that. From the early 1800's to the mid 1800's you see a backlash against the ornamentation that had so previously dominated interior design. Furniture became more clean. . . simply made. Heavy, with very distinct lines. Dark woods began to be favored as opposed to lighter and gilded woods. In effect, the aristocracy was trying to make themselves seem humble, to seem more, what they considered "common."
Aisling Sinclair: but that veneer work is anything but common
Canolli Capalini smiles. "Indeed."
Lelani Carver observes that the wood grain is beautifully matched in the example
Canolli Capalini: The stylizations that arose were not found in common homes, but only the rich. Carpentry was an expensive trade, particularly with the fancy veneering and rare woods that were being used.
As the years progressed, you had a new upper middle class rise.. One that was not concerned with uprising peasantry (as they had been in that class merely 40 years before) but more concerned with showing off their new-found wealth.
Ghilayne Andrew: looted, pillaged and plundered new found wealth?
Lelani Carver: Beer barons and trade, most likely
Canolli Capalini: as the gothic revival period (more ornate) began to flow across Europe, this neauvo-riche wanted to copy its older counterparts, and you begin to see the simple clean lines of the biedermeier style merge with a more art deco feel.
As the gothic revival period (more ornate) began to flow across Europe, this Nuevo-riche wanted to copy it's older counterparts.. and you begin to see the simple clean lines of the biedermeier style merge with a more art deco feel.
Ornamentation began to creep into the edges.. the woods became more expensive and rare, with inlays providing sharp contrasts.
Aisling Sinclair: this was about 1840?
Canolli Capalini: a little after.. the biedermeier period actually ends with the Napoleonic period.. so about 1848.. You see the gothic revival approach shortly after that.. which is why you see such a heavy biedermeier influence in the early 1900's. Indeed, the style even lends itself to Art Deco and the more Shaker stylizations that came with Frank Lloyd Wright. Craftsman has a lot to thank "Biedermeier" for.
I brought with me some pictures of prime examples of this unique and very adaptable style. This first example is a very simple cabinet, but as you can start to look closely at the veneer work, it is anything but simple.
Cross grains of veneer to provide lines on flat surfaces was one of the earmarks. It was all about the wood. Again, an example of using woodgrains to provide the ornamentation. I do believe.
vida Serrao: they spent as much time on the backs of things as the fronts, didn't they Miss?
Canolli Capalini: and yes, they did.. The piece over all was meant to be a work of art as a stand alone.
Canolli Capalini: This set of chairs actually dates to 1837 and has been reupholstered in a vintage cloth. Sadly, I do not have these in my shop, but I am looking to making some similar. Note the curvation on the back with the slight ornamentation at the top. It curves outward even as it curves upward, providing that very clean line. AND! it should be noted.. the original upholstery would have been more of a solid tapestry.. less ornate than flowery stripes.
Fono Heninga: Is that a shell motif, or a fan?
Canolli Capalini: This is a fan motif. Note again, on the legs, the very marked difference in wood grains and colors.
Canolli Capalini clears her throat. "This stylization may seem familiar to you, if you have been through my shop."
This was a set more towards the gothic revival.. note the extra spirals on the underarm. But the lines are still very simple and very functional. Ah, but fashion goes hand in hand with decor..
Serafina Puchkina: It's interesting how art, music, fashion, literature, and now I find out, furniture echo each other through the years
Canolli Capalini: With the advent of the Biedermeier period, you started seeing a lessing of some skirts.. again, to show more of a connection to the peasantry.
Ghilayne Andrew: and architecture
Canolli Capalini: err.. skirt widths.. not the skirts themselves. This little hall table is a prime example of still biedermeier, but not part of the straight or curved legature you see normally. More toward the gothic revival, classical influences began to show up in columnesque ornamentation.
Fono Heninga: lovely character!
Canolli Capalini: All speaking of the marvelous adaptability of this wonderful style. Here we have a simple round table.. but check out the top.. and the bottom.. ! Note how the light to dark woodgrain is used effectively to create a pattern more aesthetically pleasing. This is an example of a mirror from the period. Ornate, but not flowery
And on to my personal favorite part of the stylization, the very divine Divan, which has an interesting sidenote to it, all on its own.
Canolli Capalini leans up excitedly...
With the push of the British empire into the middle east, you start seeing an arabesque influence into the same Biedermeier stylization. Indeed, it suited the romantic repression that crept through the Edwardian and Victorian age perfectly.
Elegia Underwood: And introduced the romance of the harem... the odalisque... neh?
Canolli Capalini: It should be noted at this time that Sir Richard Burton was scandalizing the Victorian literary world with his translation of 1001 Arabian Nights.
Ivniciix Wemyss: ...and yet...the Turkish influence of Cpntinental syle happened a full 199 years earlier yes? 199 years that is...on the Continent...
Canolli Capalini: Yes! Absolutely..
Ivniciix Wemyss: ...Mozart’s Abduction form the Seraglio being only one example....
Aisling Sinclair: has this been reupholstered as well?
Canolli Capalini: Here you see a very different stylization of sofa that is still encompassed in the biedermeier styling.
Yes.. This is a much blockier and heavier style, without the curving lines, but still has the clean functionality. Actually, I think this one is the original upholstery.
Ceejay Writer: Doesn't look comfy, but very attractive.
Canolli Capalini: It wasn't meant to be "comfortable".. it was meant to look austere.. plain.
Ivniciix Wemyss: it does presage Craftsman style a bit doesn't it?
Canolli Capalini: Exactly, my point. Wright and the Stickley Brothers owe a LOT to Mr. "Biedermeier".
Elegia Underwood: It presages Shaker style, too. *chuckles*
Aisling Sinclair: except for the neoclassical fabric
Canolli Capalini: Here we have a hall table.. You have the generous curves and highly ornate veneer woodgrain. This piece is actually much smaller than a dining room sideboard. A small writing desk. Here is my own version of that very desk. I actually became a bit more ornate.. *chuckles softly* got carried away.
Elegia Underwood: Are the legs on each side from a single piece, Miss Capalini?
Canolli Capalini: On the picture it is.. on mine, I .. uhm.. well, I had an accident with the mahogany piece I'd obtained for it, but you still have the distinct contrast in wood grains. Now this is a very simple piece.. but I included it for the very reason of how well you can see the contrasting woodgrains.
Ivniciix Wemyss: looks similar to a fold out card table also
Canolli Capalini: Last but not least, I've included a larger desk.. so you can see the brass work that started appearing in the late 1800's.
Fono Heninga: Secession, here we come! Nice.
Canolli Capalini: Which brings us to the last portion of my presentation.. a very short blurb on construction in SL.. Many times I've had people tell me that "Oh, look.. your woods don't repeat", things of that nature. I construct furniture in this world to be as close to keeping with the pieces I love so much.. so therefore, no.. on many pieces, you can tell it's different woods, different grains, it looks like wood put together. That is deliberate.. a furniture maker doesn't make a cabinet out of a single piece of wood.. and neither do I. :)
Are there . well, any questions?
Aisling Sinclair: how does Biedermeier relate to the American Empire style?
Darlingmonster Ember hand up
Canolli Capalini: American empire was basically the American take on the beidermeier. You had an immigration that came into the states that had viewed the more rich interiors of beidermeier and brought that ideal with them.
Aisling Sinclair: *nods*...so many similarities
Canolli Capalini: Very many similiarities.. however, you had a larger abundance of hard common woods. So, you don't see quite so much veneer with the American Empire, and it tends to be heavier.
Dreddpiratebob Streeter: briefly, i would like you to tell me why on gods green earth anyone cares a damn fig for bloody furnitures?! Also, Where’s the elephant you promised?
Canolli Capalini: Because Master Streeter, Furniture symbolizes power..
Dreddpiratebob Streeter: it does?
Canolli Capalini: Why do you think the heads of organizations are called "Chairs"
Jedburgh30 Dagger: Did the continental furniture makers use tropical woods like mahogany?
Canolli Capalini: Yes Miss Dagger, they did; however, it was VERY expensive.
Darlingmonster Ember: Puts hand higher
Jedburgh30 Dagger: Miss Ember has a question
Canolli Capalini: You see a LOT of the veneers are made of rare woods, hence why you see the aristocracy with the stylization in their homes and not the butchers, bakers and candlestick makers.
Darlingmonster Ember: you mentioned beidermeier as antecedent to the Craftsman and Deco styles... since Steampunk styles recombine these things... are you aware of any trend to have furniture recombine in this fashion...besides your own work in SL?
Canolli Capalini: Excellent question! Are you speaking just in SL or furniture on a whole?
Darlingmonster Ember: both please
Canolli Capalini: Bidermeier attracts me specifically because of its versatility. In RL, there isn't .. that I can think of.. a furniture stylization/era that encompasses SO many different earmarks of what makes it.
Ivniciix Wemyss: Might I add that it also depends on how one defines Steampunk...as materials or as motifs, such as the "gear" bottom to the round table that was shown
Canolli Capalini: You can have something be art deco, or gothic, or more craftsman.. and still be considered within the stylization.
Canolli Capalini: nods.. exactly Mr. Wemyss. In SL, well, everyone is recombining ideas and snatches of everything they see. As far as I know, I'm one of the few people that's trying to provide furniture that looks more historically accurate, whether or not it actually is. There are so many wonderful furniture makers.. it's hard to pinpoint different styles.
Fono Heninga: Ah! This is related to my question, if I may? I was wondering - you mentioned earlier that you strayed out of style - is staying true to a style important for you as a maker?
Canolli Capalini laughs.. "Yes, actually it is. I take a great deal of pride in how detailed and true to a stylization I try to be, so yes.. it is actually very important."
And I'd like to add.. it's the very versatility of this style that *I* think makes it work perfectly in a steampunk setting.. even though I don't have gears in it.. or metallic pipes or such.. I think it's an elegant footnote to our "might have been" period.
Fono Heninga: *nods* a range of style makes things more ...real
Jasper Kiergarten: well dark woods look so wonderful beside brass
Jedburgh30 Dagger: If you look to my right, you will see a bookcase over in the corner. Miss Capalini has again very graciously given us another superb craft
Canolli Capalini smiles.. Please.. the bookcase is my gift to you, for being such a wonderful and forgiving audience.
Jedburgh30 Dagger: If there are no more questions for our speaker... Thank you all again for your support, and your attendance!
Serafina Puchkina: As always, the tip jar proceeds go directly to the speaker. Thank you all for your generosity
Canolli Capalini whispers loudly, "Can I get down now?"
Ceejay Writer: CAnolli Capalini.... come on down!
Jedburgh30 Dagger: You're done darlin'
Serafina Puchkina: Thank you all for coming today
Ivniciix Wemyss: isn't this one on the aethrtrop maple inside?
Canolli Capalini: It is maple..
Beq Janus: Alll do not forget that there is another sign on the way out that will allow you to donate to the Salon itself and recognise the efforts of those beyond the speakers who run this show [
Serafina Puchkina: Thanks, Beq. I forgot. Yes, that goes to tier for this place
Darlingmonster Ember: ciao for now gentles