Designing Worlds discovers the mystery of the stolen books in New Babbage

Now available on the web – our seasonal New Babbage show!

There’s a coal shortage in snow-covered New Babbage, as Saffia and Elrik pay one of their periodic visits to the steampunk city. But they’re just visiting some of the libraries there … what could possibly go wong?

An unexpected encounter in New Babbage

Before long, Saffia and Elrik, aided by the Assistant Maceholder Victor Mornington and Librarian Bookworm Heinrichs – accompanied, of course, by a hapless Mr Biggins – are dragged into an adventure involving stolen books, seasonal curses and a highly dangerous book, fit to be mentioned in the same breath as the Necronomicon and the Book of Al Azarine …

Uncle Tingly’s Christmas Tales for New Babbage Young ‘Uns, secure in its case

Uncle Tingly book designed and created by Edward Pearse
Bells, Bookstand (and chains) designed and created by Beq Janus

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Designing Worlds pays a seasonal visit to New Babbage – what could possibly go wrong?

Join us at 2pm SLT today, Monday 10th December, for the new episode of Designing Worlds at our studio in Garden of Dreams when we’ll be taking a seasonal trip to New Babbage. A rather chilly one too, if all the reports we’ve heard about the coal shortage are true!

New Babbage in the Snow, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Now, our trips to that industrial steampunk city have not been entirely without incident in the past – what with murders, dangerous dark mermaids, mendacious Santas and purloined diamonds … to say nothing of Elrik being mistaken for Sherlock Holmes, or that time we discovered the dark secrets under the lost Asylum …

But really, we’re visiting libraries this time! What could possibly go wrong?

Although we might wonder why it’s necessary to keep a certain children’s book chained up in a locked desk …

Uncle Tingly’s Christmas Tales for New Babbage Young ‘Uns, secure in its case

So join us, at 2pm today, to unlock the true terror of Uncle Tingly’s Christmas Tales for New Babbage Young ‘Uns … if you dare.

Or – if you can’t attend in person – tune in at 2pm SLT on Monday for the live show on http://treet.tv/live – where you can now chat with other audience members and even some of the participants during the show – or catch it later in the week on our shows page on the Treet.tv web site at http://treet.tv/shows/designingworlds – our very own version of the iPlayer!

Uncle Tingly book designed and created by Edward Pearse
Bookstand (and chains) designed and created by Beq Janus

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw: New Babbage in the Winter

New Babbage in Winter

Today’s jigsaw is a wintery vista of the industrial steampunk city of New Babbage under a dark sky, captured by Wildstar Beaumont.  Too dark and cold for even the urchins to be abroad, New Babbage is shivering in the grip of a severe coal shortage.

Fortunately (fortunately?) Miss Widdershins and Mr Merlin are on the way …

That’s right, today is the broadcast of Designing Worlds’ Christmas trip to New Babbage … what could possibly go wrong?

Let’s do a jigsaw – full details of the show will be coming shortly.

New Babbage in winter, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

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Designing Worlds returns – with amazing creations for the celebration of an amazing event!

Troy Vogel’s Build at Relay for Life

Join us at 2pm SLT today, Monday 17th September, for the opening show in the new season of Designing Worlds at our studio in Garden of Dreams as we take a look at some of the most amazing builds to appear on the grid this year.

We’ll be looking at some of the stunning creations for this year’s Relay for Life, created especially for the Relay weekend back in July.

They Keep Good Time in New Babbage: Inside the Clock Tower

We’ll be talking to Troy Vogel, winner of the Designer Sim Award, and to Brandon Pappentas, who created the remarkable Babbage Clock. We’ll be visiting the special locations for the Survivors and Caregivers (created by Barnesworth Anubis) and the very striking Mentors Camp – and talking with some of the people behind these. And we’ll be seeing an extract from the gorgeous performance by the Chiang High Trinity Sisters.

And we’ll be featuring (as this article does) the awesome photography of Beq Janus, Judith Lefevre, PJ Trenton and Wildstar Beaumont!

ChangHigh Trinity Sisters at RFL with Cypress Rosewood

In short,. we’ll be starting our new season with a really spectacular show – so do come and join us at 2pm!

Or – if you can’t attend in person – tune in at 2pm SLT on Monday for the live show on http://treet.tv/live – where you can now chat with other audience members and even some of the participants during the show – or catch it later in the week on our shows page on the Treet.tv web site at http://treet.tv/shows/designingworlds – our very own version of the iPlayer!

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New Babbage’s Air Kraken Festival

Start the festivities by landing at the Port Babbage Docks!

Festival-long Events:

-Festival Merchandise Cart: An open air market cart at the Port Babbage docks filled with festival themed wares, food and games for festival goers to take and purchase.

-Air Kraken Exhibit: An exciting and intriguing natural history exhibit by Kimika Ying focusing on air kraken at Melnik Air Park behind Portside Books in Port Babbage.

-Air Kraken Target Practice: Located on the docks of Port Babbage. Come safely test your shooting skills against the miniature-airship towed air kraken drones.

-Iron Bay Chef: We know that New Babbage has its share of mad scientists cooking away in their labs, but what are they cooking in their kitchens? Get ready for a special event that promises to reveal who is hungry for power and who is just hungry!

Start digging through your recipe books, Babbagers, for that extra tasty dish. You know the one – just the thought of it makes your mouth water, but it is probably only considered edible in our part of the world. The catch is this: it must incorporate a secret ingredient, to be revealed below.

Submit your recipes to Blackberry Harvey and Junie Ginsburg inword by notecard so they can prepare your dish in their test kitchens and then confer about the results. After all recipes have been prepared, all dishes have been tasted (by some lucky volunteers) and critiques have been written, these judges will determine WHO WILL BE OUR NEXT IRON BAY CHEF!

Your secret ingredient is… AIR KRAKEN!

This event will be executed as part of the Second Annual Air Kraken Festival, running from August 11 through the 25th. Submit your recipe by noon on the 24th so that winners can be announced during the festival closing event. (We cook very quickly.)

Ready? Get crackin’!

The winning dishes will go on the menus at The Cocoajava and The Gangplank.

(PRIZES: L$1000, L$750, L$500)

-SuperVillain Try Outs: Now is the time for those of you with a maniacal laugh, tyrannical motives and an aptitude for making minions to step into the spotlight. The contest is going to be held entirely on the BAR
( http://cityofnewbabbage.com/reader/ ).

There will be three posts/events for hopefuls to compete in:

1-Monologuing: Take this opportunity to toot your own horn. Tell us what makes you deserve the SuperVillain title. What are your plans for taking over? Why should we all bow and accept your greatness?

2-Fashion Show: Presentation is key. Show others who is in charge by how you dress. Submit at least one picture of your attire, accessories, and any other finery you wish to use to display your power. (Maximum number of pictures per participant is three.)

3-How to Get One’s Way (Dealing with Hecklers/Bribery): There will be hecklers in the life of a SuperVillain. There will also be all of the weak-minded fools who you will bend to your will through bribery (possibly the contest judges, one may never know). Explain in detail how you intend to inspire the masses and deal with naysayers (including your competition).

There will likely be cash prizes involved, but the grand prize is the title of this year’s SuperVillain! Mwahahahaha! *cough*

-Black Ink and Bold Tales Writing Contest: At the core of each Air Kraken is a well of deepest blackest ink. Pick up your quill, dip into the source and pen your poem or tale of adventure. All creative writings about these legendary beasts of the skies are welcome.

No minimum word-count, but please, no longer than 1,500 words. Submissions will be accepted the entire two weeks of the Air Kraken Festival, either by notecard to Ceejay Writer, or email to ceejay@cocoajava.com. After the festival, a panel of judges will choose the winners in these categories: Truly Terrifying Tale (horror), You’re Kraken Me Up (humor), Surprise from the Skies (cleverest) and Misunderstood Monsters (Pro-Kraken viewpoints), as well as one overall winner, the Tantamount Tall Tentacle Tale.

Plans are afoot to publish all entries in some form of anthology for everyone’s enjoyment afterwards. Submission of your entry shall indicate your agreement to this project.

One Time Events:

-H.G. Wells/ Air Kraken Festival Opening Party: Please join us Saturday, August 11th 6:30-9:00pm SLT at The Gangplank as we celebrate the opening of the 2nd Annual Air Kraken Festival, in honor of H.G. Wells. All attire is welcome, but please feel free to break out your air kraken hunting gear or best Wellsian finery! Victor Mornington will be our DJ.

-Closing Party: Come celebrate the close of the festival on Saturday, August 25th at 7-9pm SLT on the roof of Portside Books in Port Babbage. Dress in your best air pirate/air kraken fighting attire/festival attire. Dance, drink and be merry as Blackberry Harvey spins tunes.

-Please contact Sky Melnik if you have any questions or ideas concerning the festival.

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Prim Perfect Jigsaw: They Keep Good Time in New Babbage

The New Babbage Clock Tower

And their display at Relay for Life shows this.  The New Babbage build is on RFL Recovery (and the build is still there till Friday, so do go and have a look at it!).  It consists of a clock tower, set in a garden that shows the fours seasons (a nod to lasy year’s RFL theme, Seasons of Hope).

As Beq Janus wrote in her tour of the RFL builds:

Nathaniel Lorefield has constructed a clock tower, in true New Babbage style. The tower features 4 clock faces each of which has a different function, a clock to tell the time, a calendar, a planetary motion dial and a counter that counts the number of unique avatars that pass by.

Inside the Clock Tower

What is particularly impressive at a technical level is that the clocks are fully mechanised and actually work. This remarkable feat is due primarily to the contribution of New Babbage resident Mr Brandon Pappentas, a clock maker in real life, who made sure that all the designs would actually work.

Every quarter of an hour, four teams of mechanical dancers parade beneath the dials as the bells ring, whilst on the hour a steam engine is engaged to wind the central spring that powers the clocks themselves.

I think that’s worthy of a couple of jigsaws today – don’t you?  Fortunately, Beq has also provided some lovely pictures to go with this.

Here’s the first – a view of the tower.

The New Babbage Clock Tower in its Garden – photograph by Beq Janus

And here’s the second – a view of the beautiful gears inside the tower.

The Gears inside the New Babbage Clock Tower – photograph by Beq Janus

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Catch up with your Prim Perfect jigsaws (showing images of Second Life and other virtual worlds).

If you’d like to submit a photo of your own to feature as a jigsaw, send it to the Prim Perfect Flickr Group. It should be sized 800w x 600h, or else it will need to be re-sized.

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Saffia up for Sale! Rowan to be Rented! And a chance to buy Mr Biggins …

It’s all for Relay for Life, of course. Today in New Babbage at 5pm at Piermont Landing, there is an auction of prominent citizens and associated friends of New Babbage.  You can read all the details here on The Primgraph … but three items for sale may be of particular interest to readers of Prim Perfect and viewers of Designing Worlds (particularly the New Babbage shows).

Mr Biggins

There are:

Mr. Biggins – Adventure!
Buying Biggins will win you (and, if you want, your build) an appearance in our next Designing Worlds Babbage show.

Saffia Widdershins
Buy Saffia, and choose between:
1) An exclusive shopping trip, with Saffia taking you around the grid to stores you may never have heard of;
2) An tour of exploration, finding beautiful, out-of-the-way places;
3) A home makeover by Saffia and her team, with the option of appearing on Designing Worlds.

Rowan Derryth
A private Rowan talk for you an your friends by Professor Rowan Derryth, on Victorian art, design, and/or fashion (subject catered to your whims).

Illusions Ball

The auction will be followed by the Illusions White Themed Ball, to be held at Piermont Landing from 6 – 9pm with DJ Bats.

And if the People Auction doesn’t offer anyone who grabs your attention, perhaps you might be interested in the Auction of Things, to be held at 1:00 pm SLT Sunday, July 1st, also at Piermont Landing, and also just before a dance (DJed by Loki Eliot) – you’ll find further details of this too on The Primgraph blog!

So do come along and make a purchase to support Relay for Life … and you could find yourself in the next Designing Worlds show filmed in New Babbage!

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The Great New Babbage Bar Crawl

Get your crawl on in New Babbage between June 1st – June 30th!

In New Babbage, drinking is the only activity that rivals building as the national past-time. To celebrate National Drinking Month, 21 bars have hidden 21 bottles for you to find. Can you find them all before you pass out?

We take no responsibility if your typist decides to play the home version of this hunt along with your avatar.

SLurl to starting location:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Vernian%20Sea/210/91/29

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Æther Salon: Heraldry!

Please note this event in your personal calendar – the Salons are indeed a highlight of each month in the Steamlands!  (and there’s always food!)  The newly rebuilt Salon precariously straddles the Babbage Palisade & Academy of Industry sims, for cunning reasons of crowd balancing.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Babbage%20Palisade/254/60/106

and
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Academy%20of%20Industry/2/56/106

The Æther Salon is brought to you by Baron Klaus Wulfenbach and his assistants who take no responsibility for your lack of enlightenment should you choose not to attend.  Everyone hopes fervently that you shall be amongst us tomorrow!

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