Baron Grayson and the 'Relic'

One of
the first
utterly
magical
'fantasies'
I
discovered
in Second Life was an incredible pirate ship named the 'Relic'. It was moored at a Sim that included extensive 'pleasure grounds'. At least, that is how I would describe the place. A palace designed with Moorish influence in mind that once operated as a casino was situated nearby. The main buildings housed the fashion designs of the owner.

There were at least three ships in the area, but it was the 'Relic' that drew me inexorably, as though a childhood fantasy had taken shape perfectly in the world of SL.

At the time, I knew little or nothing of Second Life artists but I sensed that there was something special about the ship. Its lavish appointments, its incredible detail as well as its romantic character created a place where I could believe in the somewhat idealistic vision of pirates developed by romantic tales of Henry Morgan, not to mention the 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.

In the days when I owned no land in SL, I liked to imagine that the 'Relic' was my own home. It was utterly deserted, after all. I never once encountered another visitor by accident there.

I would go there often at night when my own pain was most intense in the real world to lay on the lounge on the top deck to gaze at the full moon and stars. Sometimes I actually was able to distance myself a little from my reality and at least begin the slow tortuous journey into sleep.

I only recently investigated the actual history of the 'Relic'. The artist is named Baron Grayson. The ship was designed as part of a 'Burning Life' festival in 2004.

Its official description is as follows:


'Beyond its value as a personal living space, it has use in RPG, historical reenactment, and machinima applications.

888 prims, 36 linksets
Footprint is approximately 80m long end to end, 70m tall, and 20m wide.

Own a piece of SL history. This prefab took years of careful work. The first version of this ship was built as part of an inworld adventure, headed by Keith Extraordinarie in 2004 for Burning Life. I was one of a select handful of designers asked to join a GameDv team to create a ship or a compact, interactive 'Magic Cave Adventure'. It existed for the enjoyment of all SL for only that one week. The adventure is now long gone but a spark of it lives on in this build.'

Rather to my amazement, I discovered that the 'Relic' can be purchased, provided always that one can afford the price and that one owns enough land to embrace its prim count requirements.

For my part, I am exceedingly happy with my 'Accalia', a ship that actually can be grounded on my land and still leave enough prims for my castle, skybox and firepit in the sky, but the 'Relic' always will remain a treasured part of my early SL experience and memories.

I actually set it aflame one night with my crossbow and had rather a deliciously wicked time watching it burn... knowing it would not be destroyed by my 'illusive' flames.

N.B. In a couple of these photographs, all details of this fabulous ship did NOT rez properly... my laptop was giving me trouble in terms of graphics. I shall have to replace them with better photographs anon.