Your "headcanons" about the Second Life world(s)

[Gopi Passiflora]

"Headcanons" are basically your own created backstories or explanations for things not your own (like movies, books, or video games.)

What are some "headcanons" you have for Second Life?

Mine:

-The Second Life world is one planet.

-SL is a parallel universe version of Earth, only with more magical stuff like creatures that cannot talk or fly, can in this world.

-Avatars can fly and teleport because of magic.

-There is more interspecies harmony in SL than in Earth (mainly due to the fact more species can talk and understand each other.) Of course, it is still not perfect harmony.

 

[Sid Nagy]

One can log in, one can log out.
In between most stand around waiting for a miracle while sorting inventory and unpack boxes from sales.

[animats]

Be nice to NPCs. Some of them remember. Someday, they will be in charge.

[CaithLynnSayes]

Saw the title of this thread and my mind went:

Learned a new word I guess... Also, never thought of SL like that, so this silly picture is most likely the only thing I will post here.  

[Lokiande]

Idk why people are poking fun at this, I think it's a great way to try and breathe a bit of life into how we interact/RP on SL!  

To be honest I actually tried doing something similar myself when I was still new to the grid, and over the years fleshed out how SL could work as a fictional setting! 

First, a name- Soth Leona. Idk what drove me to choose that name but I did and I like it. 

In the fictional world of "Soth Leona", it is another world entirely, off in its own section of a universe where vast intergalactic distances are traversed by warp gates. There is interplanetary trade between Soth Leona, Earth, "counter" Earth [Gor], and many other worlds. Gor is actually in the process of being completely decolonized except for a few wildlife research stations, and the horrors of slavery are a distant, if painful memory that nobody wants to see again. 

The planet of SL itself is teeming with a thousand different people and cultures but for now I'll try and focus on a few key things I thought up. 

There is the water of the Great Seas, that which surrounds the continents and gives life, but can also rise up to sink nations if the Pantheon hasn't been appeased. Mostly the Pantheon takes money, with the occasional offering of food.  

The Mainland [Heterocera, Sansara, Jeogot, Zindra, Corsica, Satori, Nautilus, and The Twins Gaeta] is debated over whether they are the corpses of cosmic horrors the Pantheon slew, the sleeping forms of the Pantheon itself... or just dirt. Everyone claims some stance, and if you ask you'll get about 10 different answers and 20 reasons why theirs is clearly correct. 

Beyond the continents of the mainland are the Islands. Scattered like stars throughout the Great Sea, they are traveled to by boat, plane, Dragon, sky chariot and many other methods besides. They can be vast Cities, thrumming with life and energy. They could be farmland and gardens, left to grow semi wild and tended to by unionized workers to be sold all around the planet. They might be Feudal Territories, held under sway by Lords and Ladies vying for power but a season, only to be deposed in bloody succession. 

The ones who truly rule an Island are those who choose to walk the life of Arbiter. They are the ones who seek out permission of the gods to raise land from the depths, to seed the soil and call forth life, to make it habitable and welcoming to travelers and settlers alike. They also have the powers of Banishment, to bar select people from their land until a time of their choosing. Often found on an island's Council, if not very close to it they are the final say on disputes between inhabitants. 

The average inhabitant of Soth Leona varies greatly in shape, size, and species alone. Humans, elves, furries, dragons, robots, aliens, dwarves and giants, the list goes on. It used to be that SLers were taught early on the skill of Crafting, not just that of the varied arts but of Summoning, of calling forth little bits of matter to be shaped and moved by magic. It is a skill that some say is being lost to time in favor of the ease of offworld imports of goods. 

Universal Healthcare exists, as does Universal Basic Income, and any work is done because people WANT to contribute to their communities, not because they'll go into poverty if they don't.  

Roads are wide to accommodate foot traffic, and ease of use for mobility aids such as wheelchairs and walkers. There is a robust public transit system on the Mainland, and personal transport never caught on as much as some hoped, so there will likely only be double wide car lanes and the occasional hulking skeleton of a parking garage. 

A year or two past it was not uncommon to see flocks of dragons in flight above the Blake Sea. Many years before, a vast floating citadel of dark brick, home to those calling themselves Grendel's Children, left the skies above the forest and canyon of Avaria Tor, instead making its way to a little volcano where it has stayed since. A new generation of little colorful horses has spread out from their own Island, belying their cute demeanor with foul words and alliances with the worst of the military in Jeogot.

...and that's all I got for "SL if it was a fictional world"!

[Love Zhaoying]

4 minutes ago, Lokiande said:

Idk why people are poking fun at this

One reason is, "canon" / "headcanon" is a concept used in much, much, fiction and RolePlay. So, if you're aware of the concept of "canon" / "headcanon", it's nothing surprising when applied to Second Life" - and people make fun of everything.

Another reason you can see in the responses is, for some people "head canon" is a new term and they think it sounds funny.

 

[Possum888]

I've never heard of headcanons before now......

[Bree Giffen]

I don't have much of a head canon for SL. Sometimes SL reminds me of a book by Michael Moorcock called Dancers at the End of Time. It's set so far in the future that it's at the very end of all time. The last residents of Earth are immortal and decadent. They can create anything and even change their bodies. I've forgotten most of the story but I remember the setting.

[Zalificent Corvinus]

52 minutes ago, Lokiande said:

Idk why people are poking fun at this

46 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

One reason is, "canon" / "headcanon"

30 minutes ago, Possum888 said:

I've never heard of headcanons before now

 

"Canon" - "Hi I'm Talented.Author, the creator of "Popular Fiction World", the owner of the Intellectual Property, I wrote all 25 books, consulted on all 4 movies, and the 3 TV series, including the animated series. and ALL of these things are the Official Canon, for MY World.

 

"Head Canon" - "hi I'm NOTalent.Nonentity, a clueless overentitled fanboi, I don't own any part of this franchise, and I flunked out of my Creative Writing evening classes at the local Library, 5 mins nto the first lesson. However, II demand my right to rewrite the whole thing to accommodate my overpowered god-modder Para RP character's Special-Snowflake Status! with MY own personal Head Canon"

 

Hope that clarifies things for the questioners. Carry on.

[BilliJo Aldrin]

Guess instead of a personal backstory, its a back story for all of second life. I guess its called a headcanon, because that's the only place it can exist, inside your own head.

 

[Missy Starchild]

All SL humans and creatures are natural shapeshifters able to temporarily take another form as they desire.

A lot of servers are different planets and teleporting is like some really advanced sci-fi tech.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Missy Starchild

[Gopi Passiflora]

12 hours ago, Lokiande said:

Idk why people are poking fun at this, I think it's a great way to try and breathe a bit of life into how we interact/RP on SL!  

To be honest I actually tried doing something similar myself when I was still new to the grid, and over the years fleshed out how SL could work as a fictional setting! 

First, a name- Soth Leona. Idk what drove me to choose that name but I did and I like it. 

In the fictional world of "Soth Leona", it is another world entirely, off in its own section of a universe where vast intergalactic distances are traversed by warp gates. There is interplanetary trade between Soth Leona, Earth, "counter" Earth [Gor], and many other worlds. Gor is actually in the process of being completely decolonized except for a few wildlife research stations, and the horrors of slavery are a distant, if painful memory that nobody wants to see again. 

The planet of SL itself is teeming with a thousand different people and cultures but for now I'll try and focus on a few key things I thought up. 

There is the water of the Great Seas, that which surrounds the continents and gives life, but can also rise up to sink nations if the Pantheon hasn't been appeased. Mostly the Pantheon takes money, with the occasional offering of food.  

The Mainland [Heterocera, Sansara, Jeogot, Zindra, Corsica, Satori, Nautilus, and The Twins Gaeta] is debated over whether they are the corpses of cosmic horrors the Pantheon slew, the sleeping forms of the Pantheon itself... or just dirt. Everyone claims some stance, and if you ask you'll get about 10 different answers and 20 reasons why theirs is clearly correct. 

Beyond the continents of the mainland are the Islands. Scattered like stars throughout the Great Sea, they are traveled to by boat, plane, Dragon, sky chariot and many other methods besides. They can be vast Cities, thrumming with life and energy. They could be farmland and gardens, left to grow semi wild and tended to by unionized workers to be sold all around the planet. They might be Feudal Territories, held under sway by Lords and Ladies vying for power but a season, only to be deposed in bloody succession. 

The ones who truly rule an Island are those who choose to walk the life of Arbiter. They are the ones who seek out permission of the gods to raise land from the depths, to seed the soil and call forth life, to make it habitable and welcoming to travelers and settlers alike. They also have the powers of Banishment, to bar select people from their land until a time of their choosing. Often found on an island's Council, if not very close to it they are the final say on disputes between inhabitants. 

The average inhabitant of Soth Leona varies greatly in shape, size, and species alone. Humans, elves, furries, dragons, robots, aliens, dwarves and giants, the list goes on. It used to be that SLers were taught early on the skill of Crafting, not just that of the varied arts but of Summoning, of calling forth little bits of matter to be shaped and moved by magic. It is a skill that some say is being lost to time in favor of the ease of offworld imports of goods. 

Universal Healthcare exists, as does Universal Basic Income, and any work is done because people WANT to contribute to their communities, not because they'll go into poverty if they don't.  

Roads are wide to accommodate foot traffic, and ease of use for mobility aids such as wheelchairs and walkers. There is a robust public transit system on the Mainland, and personal transport never caught on as much as some hoped, so there will likely only be double wide car lanes and the occasional hulking skeleton of a parking garage. 

A year or two past it was not uncommon to see flocks of dragons in flight above the Blake Sea. Many years before, a vast floating citadel of dark brick, home to those calling themselves Grendel's Children, left the skies above the forest and canyon of Avaria Tor, instead making its way to a little volcano where it has stayed since. A new generation of little colorful horses has spread out from their own Island, belying their cute demeanor with foul words and alliances with the worst of the military in Jeogot.

...and that's all I got for "SL if it was a fictional world"!

This is pretty good! Thanks for the elaborate response!

[Rahadin]

12 hours ago, Possum888 said:

I've never heard of headcanons before now......

A headcanon is a fan's interpretation of a character that is not canon and doesn't technically contradict the canon. Like habits, likes and dislikes, backstory, and nature of relationships between characters. An example of a headcanon would be a fan believing that Mario prefers pepperoni over other pizza toppings.

11 hours ago, Zalificent Corvinus said:

"Head Canon" - "hi I'm NOTalent.Nonentity, a clueless overentitled fanboi, I don't own any part of this franchise, and I flunked out of my Creative Writing evening classes at the local Library, 5 mins nto the first lesson. However, II demand my right to rewrite the whole thing to accommodate my overpowered god-modder Para RP character's Special-Snowflake Status! with MY own personal Head Canon"

 

That's not what a headcanon is.

[Persephone Emerald]

My headcannon for SL is that it exists in a different kind of reality, that there is our Physical World reality, Dream reality, several Spiritual realities, and Second Life exists as a combination cyber and shared Mental reality. Each reality has it's own rules. Physical reality has laws of physics, chemistry, time and biology that limit what is possible. Dream reality and Second Life reality have similar rules that allow shape-shifting and flying, but SL reality has technical limitations that dream and spirit realms don't have.

Similar to in Dream reality, people in SL do things based more on emotion and subconscious drives than on Physical World social conventions. SL is more stable than Dream reality, and does have it's own social conventions that dreams don't have. SL reality is missing our RL senses of scent, taste and touch. Dream reality has scent and taste, but these are muted compared to in Physical reality.

Basically, SL is like a shared lucid dream, except that it's more stable, we're more conscious of RL while we're in it, and we have technical limitations in SL that we don't have in the Dream Realm.

[Persephone Emerald]

21 minutes ago, Rahadin said:

A headcanon is a fan's interpretation of a character that is not canon and doesn't technically contradict the canon. Like habits, likes and dislikes, backstory, and nature of relationships between characters. An example of a headcanon would be a fan believing that Mario prefers pepperoni over other pizza toppings.

Discussion question:

Is headcannon similar to unconfirmed personal gnosis?

[Marigold Devin]

While I have never heard the word/term "headcanon", the back story I have always had about Second Life is that it could "poof" at any time, all the servers are plugged into one very long gang plug now, and one day a new cleaner will come along, and use the only socket in that room for their floor polisher.

And all will be

GONE

[Rahadin]

6 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Discussion question:

Is headcannon similar to unconfirmed personal gnosis?

Not really.

[PheebyKatz]

Basic: It's Snowcrash full of people who have mostly never read Snowcrash. And without the Ashera Virus.

Advanced: It's Snowcrash full of Tolkien, LeGuin, Lovecraft, Lucas, Rodenberry, etc. fans, and also some weird old guys who live in what's left of their mom's basements and have to close 32 tabs every time someone knocks on the door, and who have mostly never read Snowcrash.

[Arielle Popstar]

11 hours ago, Marigold Devin said:

While I have never heard the word/term "headcanon", the back story I have always had about Second Life is that it could "poof" at any time, all the servers are plugged into one very long gang plug now, and one day a new cleaner will come along, and use the only socket in that room for their floor polisher.

And all will be

GONE

You too??!! I had the exact same fear of a janitor tripping over the cord to the servers and making my virtual reality go Poof! Thought that's what they meant by Snowcrashed. In my case though having the addict mind set of protecting my supply, I went through the actual pain of learning how to set up my own locally hosted opensourced server software so that couldn't happen. It is only me who trips over my cords now and makes my reality go poof. 

 

 

[Marigold Devin]

1 hour ago, Arielle Popstar said:

You too??!! I had the exact same fear of a janitor tripping over the cord to the servers and making my virtual reality go Poof! Thought that's what they meant by Snowcrashed. In my case though having the addict mind set of protecting my supply, I went through the actual pain of learning how to set up my own locally hosted opensourced server software so that couldn't happen. It is only me who trips over my cords now and makes my reality go poof. 

 

 

I am going to have to re-read that book again soon. All I can remember is some odd dog creature, sadness, and someone called Da5id!

[Conifer Dada]

Robots owned by Linden Lab clean our place (Egotherapy) once a week at night, when it's likely to be empty.  Any additional cleaning is done by staff, myself included, as and when needed.  We have been advertising for a volunteer brass polisher for ages, but have had no replies. There's a lot of brass to polish at Egotherapy. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Conifer Dada

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

My head canon is that every time someone stays in character while asking for product support, or while having a job interview, I'll have the Lord Chamberlain remind them that We are the Padishah Emperor Shaddam the Fifth of the Known Metaverse and that they shall prostate themselves before Us at all time.

Edited November 6, 2023 by Arduenn Schwartzman

[Lyric Demina]

My headcanon is that SL is the nascent realization of the show "Black Mirror"s concept of  San Junipero and that, eventually, when the time comes to shuffle off this mortal coil, I can come and live in this simulated reality forever after. 

So whenever I decorate my SL house I make sure to include all my favourite foods and tons of books