The Forest of Rodeo Is No More.

I was as shocked as you when I learned that the map Magellan Linden found contained symbols that proved to be a variation of the WingDints font. The symbols are almost a mirror image for their WingDing counterparts. Interesting and strange that these same symbols, associated with a modern day digital typeface, would show up in a map made by an "ancient seafaring culture." There must be some kind of connection.

When I first showed that message from Magellan to Grandma Thetan (who, by-the-way, is doing a bit better now) back in May of 2004, she pointed out that all modern languages and alphabets have their roots in various older, and some dead, languages. She wasn't surprised that there were such similarities. In fact she stated that, "because of the sporadic crossovers that have occurred between this reality and that of Earth's in the past--it is no wonder that this world and Earth have had quite an influence on each other." I remember when she said this because it made a lot of things more clear to me at the time. She personally met the folks who became stranded here in the late 1800's (Earth time) and said that the knowledge and technology they brought with them had a profound impact on the culture here up until The Great Erase.

This happens as a matter of course now. Ever since the Lindens' opened The Grid to the public there has been a major influx of Earth-based culture. It is much easier to move between the two worlds and we are bringing every thing that reminds us of home along with us--architecture, vehicles, clothing, plants, etc.

It's like we never left Earth.

As a very new resident in SL, can I just add my voice to those congratulating Salazar on the Forest of Kahruvel. It's a beautiful part of SL. I was on the verge of giving up entirely on SL after only three days, besieged by rotating cubes, endless malls and wall to wall boring builds. Then I found the lighthouse and the forest. Keep up the good work!

Andy

A warm welcome to Second Life, Andy, and welcome to the SL Forums too. I see you've made your first post. You may also enjoy reading about The Great Erase.

Thanks, Torley. I'll read that link with interest

Andy

I notice a gap of months between some of the posts in this thread and the subsequent one. Where was the anti-necroposting crowd when we needed it?

This gap between posts dates will haunt the forums forever undenounced.

Because this is a legitimate necropost, Suezanne. (As I thought it would be, given the thread title.)

The necroposting I denounced is that done while bored, multiple times, and inconsiderately, just because one can.

coco

Wow Andy, thanks a lot! I'm glad you are going to be staying. There are many many great places here. The world is getting bigger every day. I've been here almost two years now and there are many places I haven't even been to yet. Need to go on another expedition I suppose.

Onward and Upward!

Salazar

Dear Friends:

The Phyneas Jack Memorial Trust is going through a large tier adjustment soon and would appreciate your help. We have a gap of five days (January 10th-January 15th) were we either won't have enough tier to cover or will have to pay twice for the same land since the two tier dates don't overlap.

Would you be able to help us cover the five days? We have to cover 58,000 sq. meters during that period. At 512 sq.m. each, we would only need 114 member donaters.

The land group has been made "open enrollment" during this time to make it easier for folks. If you have tier to spare please consider joining the Phyneas Jack Memorial Trust and donating your available tier to the group. You can pull your tier after January 15th and all member donaters will stay group members until the end of Janaury. Open membership will cease on January 10th and those who have not donated tier at that point will be ejected.

Those remaining will have permission to build in or above the forest until the end of January. Please construct ground builds to blend in with the wild and natural atmosphere there. You are free to build whatever you like above 600 meters. Below that has to fit the forest feel. The Forest of Kahruvel covers most of Stinson, Rodeo, Cowell and parts of Noyo and Davenport.




At the end of January, the person with the build/planting/tree/structure/whatever deemed best suited to the Forest of Kahruvel by the officers of the Phyneas Jack Memorial Trust will be invited to keep their build as a permanent place in the forest. All builds will be documented and recorded for exhibit in the village community center in Cowell.

Remember, to donate land tier temporarily:
1) Join the Phyneas Jack Memorial Trust group.
2) Donate your available/extra land tier (only needed until January 15th) to the PJMT group.
3) Build/plant to your heart's content until the end of January.

Please contact me, Salazar Jack, if you have questions and thank you very much for your help!

With appreciation,

The Officers of the Phyneas Jack Memorial Trust
Salazar Jack, Founder
Cessadia Thetan, Officer
Valdora Grayson, Officer
Adam Grayson, Officer

Updated Jan. 10 - 10:20pm SL Time

A special thank you to those that have stepped forward to help us over this hump. We have met our goal AND have an additional 2500 sq. m. of tier to boot! Thanks everyone for your help!

Our appreciation goes out to the following folks for donating some spare tier until January 15th:

Alazarin Mondrian
Aliasi Stonebender
Andy Enfield
Bino Arbuckle
Bradder Thereian
Dear Leader
Dolce Honey
Fairge Kinsella
Forcythia Wishbringer
Garnet Psaltery
Jaime Christensen
kami Kim
Karsten Rutledge
Kenzington Fairlight
Loki Pico
Lynn Lippmann
Max Hamilton
Marcos Fonzarelli
Morgana Aubret
PeteWyrm Thereian
Ravenelle Zugzwang
Remi Marten
Toy LaFollette
Travis Lambert
and Venya Salome

Thank you very much!

The Phyneas Jack Memorial Trust would like to extend an official recognition of thanks to Champie Jack for his incredible dedication and service to the Forest of Kahruvel. Champie has been instrumental in establishing the forest in Rodeo, Stinson, Noyo and Cowell and has supported the area with a one region land tier for at least a year. The mainteneance and continued restoration of this ancient forest would have been much more difficult without his assistance.

Champie Jack next to a building he restored in the village just south of the Forest of Kahruvel.


Champie, we will be forever in your debt.

You rock!

With much appreciation,

Salazar Jack, Founder
The Phyneas Jack Memorial Trust

This may not be the correct place to post this, but i believe the ancients of the Forest of Kahruvel, or a surviving enclave of them, may be responsible for the ruins in Morraine excavated by Ilianexsi Sojourner.
But I also believe other sites I have been looking at point to the possibility that there were in fact several races and cultures of ancients before the great erase, and there is also the possibility that some avatars in second life are descendents of these preexistant grid inhabitants, more in tune with the relics and artifacts of these lost peoples.

Hmm, intriguing idea! They may well have been built by some later generation of the ancients. The architecture of the ruins leads me to believe that they're rather more recent in age, but they might have been built by descendants of the original inhabitants... I have much more work to do on that site, so time will tell.

In the midst of all the obstacles, turmoil and problems we face here in Second Life I wanted to let everyone know about a wonderful thing that has happened in the Forest of Kahruvel.

About a week ago, the other officers of the Phyneas Jack Memorial Trust and I found out that one of our largest benefactors was not going to be able to continue contributing tier to the forest. Though we understood and were prepared to cover the tier, it was a bummer in that his billing date and mine were separated by a five day gap. If I were tier up when he tiered down we would be paying twice for the same 1 region tier.

I sent out a message to everyone I knew and asked if they could spare tier for five days and the response has been terriffic! With the latest donation by Keara Morgan we have just now accumulated enough to cover the five day period without double-paying. Please check out the recent post that lists all the contributors.

It is with great appreciation and immense pride in the residents of Second Life that I say, on behalf of the Phyneas Jack Memorial Trust, thank you very much. The forest has been here for you to enjoy and we appreciate your support. May the troubles we currently experience be short-lived, may we face them together and may each new day bring solutions to help us overcome our obstacles.

Onward & Upward!

Salazar Jack

Lucifer, feel free to share your theories and observations about the forest here, as well as your thoughts on how it might relate to the rest of the world. I have visited the ruins at Dunraven and have wondered about them myself. I agree with Ilianexsi, they seem to be more contemporary than the Kahruvel ruins. Perhaps maybe just a few hundred years older than the Brownstones in Grignano, Nova Albion, which were originally built a few generations before the Great Erase. (The current Brownstones are reconstructions.) Ilianexsi got some info from the locals about the ruins and has been able to reconstruct what she calls the "manor" from documents and pictures available to her. Although now that I think about it, the cave located near there may be quite older.

The obelisk found in NE Rodeo actually mentions three ancient races by name. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more. Mom remembers artifacts from all over the world on display in Nova Albion's museums before the Erase. It's a shame all that is gone. It would answer a lot of questions.

My family is originally from this world and I have definately felt drawn to specific parts of it since we've returned. Especially strange since I was only four when we left. I've met a few others that seem to feel the same way. Actually, my mom mentioned a woman who had responded to her forum post about the Erase. The woman had escaped that day, along with her brother and niece and had since returned here as well. There must be others. I have always wondered what happened to the people who weren't able to port out. I can understand rocks or stone ruins withstanding the Erase and I'm not too surprised when I stumble upon them. But when a piece of an old transit system schematic or fragments of a map turn up I am simply amazed. If something so fragile could survive... then maybe a person can too.

Today was a great day.

I was putting up a shop sign for a new tenant in the Brownstone West when I got an IM from my friend, Enjah Mysterio, who shares an interest in exploration. She was wondering why she wasn't able to get in to the structure in Bodega that I had begun building as a base of operations for future expeditions. I apologized and ported over to Bodega to turn off the land restriction.



While we were going through the book Osprey Therian had made of the Southern Continent journey, I was reminded of the trip I had made down there a few weeks later on one of the large birds Jesrad Seraph had raised. As I related this tale to Enjah, she became quite interested in the large flying beast. I asked if she wanted to go for a ride and she immediately accepted. We took the lift to the roof of the home base and I called for the Arwind creature.

Enjah and I mounted and we made our way toward the Forest of Kahruvel, flying due west from Bodega. The sound of the Arwind's wings regularly beating helped make for a relaxing ride and countered the sudden dips and steep climbs we would occasionally find ourselves in. After passing over the Hand of Omidyar, we approached the coast of Rodeo and spotted someone down below, close to the standing stones on the NE part of the bluff. It was Ilianexsi Sojourner, another member of the expedition party to the Southern Continent!



Ilianexsi had been taking photos of the stones. Enjah and I circled a few times (almost running over Ilia in the process!) and landed up on top of the bluff just SW of the stone circle. We met Ilia and the conversation got more serious as we began discussing the ruins. Both Ilia and I have had plenty of time to ponder them, but Enjah had not been around them that much and was full of curiosity. Ilia wondered aloud about the positions of the standing stones and the possible connection to the sun's position and course. That lead to a discussion about the short day and night cycle here and we continued talking as we made our way along the bluff. We reached the stone towers and proceeded down the staircase toward the farthest lookout point.



Ilia wondered what the staircase and surrounding structures had been used for, and if they were from the same period as the circle of standing stones. I pointed out that the two towers lined up with a similar structure along the water's edge and another one just below the surface. It's always been a curious thing to me and they seemed to agree. That vantage point looks out over the waters of Omidyar, and the giant land formation, in the shape of a hand, below the sea. I think the sea level may have been much lower long ago... the submerged tower seems to support that theory. I suggested to Enjah and Ilia that perhaps, at one time, the land around the Hand of Omidyar was above sea level. That would have made a cool-looking lake! Especially when viewed from the top of those towers.



We wandered further inland, into the heart of the forest, and took a good look at the other circle of stones at Kahruvel. The stone posts in the ravine are much shorter and squatter than the standing stones up on the bluff by the sea. Over the last few years my family and I have been able to unearth six posts arranged in a semi-circle around a central design with eight points. One of the posts has a hand print-shaped depression in the stone. It makes a sound when you touch it. Ilia, Enjah and I took turns pressing it and listening to the short faint hum that it produces. We wondered if there was a power source to it, or if it was trying to power something else. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to be working very well.

If you stand in the center of the circle and face that post, you'll be looking due east -- directly at the hand off Omidyar. The central design in the stone floor looks exactly like a compass pointing to the eight different directions. The six posts line up with six of the eight points... two of the points face the steep hillside directly to the west. Champie Jack and I have discovered that the hills around there are mostly made up of large volcanic ash deposits. The remaining two posts, that would complete the circle, are most likely buried close by. Ilia theorized that we might be able to get the post with the hand working properly if we can unearth the two remaining posts. I told them I would try to make some progress on that this weekend.

We wrapped up our discussion and headed off in different directions, much like the symbol embedded there in the forest floor.

Nice photos, Salazar! It was so exciting to hear that sound coming from the pillar-- I can only imagine what would happen if the power source, whatever it is, was working properly. That area seems to be yielding more questions and more mysteries all the time!

Dad and I were cleaning the faces of a few stones in the small ravine in Rodeo when the latest Grid attack occured. Mom had just radioed Dad that a few customers at the cafe had just told her regions were starting to close off because of a self-replicating object someone had unleashed. Just as we began gathering up tools our GINI T.D. indicators began beeping. I checked my Linden Time Dilation and saw the numbers rapidly dropping. Objects began to appear and multiply nearby. We decided to try and teleport immediately to Grignano and just made it in before The Grid borders closed. The objects don't seem to be in Grignano, but the Grid borders with the rest of Nova Albion are impassable.

I don't know where Grandma and Grandpa Baysklef are. I hope the're safe at their house in Stinson. Gramdna Thetan was supposed to be in Nova Albion today, but Mom hasn't seen her. She doesn't seem to have her GINI on either. If anyone reading this has seen them please post a message.

Thankfully our internet link at the cafe is still functioning. We'll have to wait it out here. A few others seem to have found their way here too. I'm glad Osprey left Mom a new coffee pot. At least we'll have something to serve them. Our espresso machine has been on the fritz for far too long. I need to get that fixed!

Salazar, I'm glad you're ok -- and hope your relatives connect with you soon. Me, I slept through the whole thing.

But it's actually fortunate you posted to this thread or I would never have found it. You see I'm fairly new (my rezday was just two months ago) so I don't know much about the history and archaeology of The Grid or what came before it.

The other day I was hiking in the Forest of Kahruvel (to clear my head after an intense session in the Ivory Tower learning how to build) when I came upon the observation shack. I found an old copy of the Nova Albion news you left there which described the forest and the mysterious map of your ancestor.

So I went to ARMORD. You won't believe this but the map is still in the analyzer in Marco's lab! That led me to the obelisk, which took me quite a while to translate. I was feeling quite proud of myself, but not sure how to research things any further.

Now I see that the obelisk's markings were translated years ago! Ah, well, I guess I won't be publishing my find after all... Still, it was an enjoyable romp in this wonderful world we live in. I'm eager to visit or discover any other sites with ruins which may still exist (and haven't been rezzed over with shopping malls). Hopefully the five pages of this thread will suggest some other spots for me to check out. I've only read the first few posts of it so far-- but thanks for documenting the discoveries.

I'd love to get involved with the Phyneas Jack Trust and support your efforts anyway I can.

Best,
Per

Hi Periapse!

Thanks for your concern. Sorry for the delay in responding. Something about that last Grid disruption fried some of the machinery at the Cowell lighthouse. I still haven't got power fully restored there.

Grandma and Grandpa Baysklef rode out the Grid problems fine in Stinson. They have begun rebuilding their home in earnest, now that the pre-Erase location of their house has become available. It's on a small island in the NW part of Stinson.

Grandma Thetan was visiting the Barcola section of the new Nova Albion Infohub when the disruptions began. She was just about to cross over into Sistiana when the Grid borders were closed. Rather abruptly too, she says, as Barcola's section of The Grid went offline she was right at the border and received a nasty shock that shorted out her GINI. She always warns me not to take uneccesary chances when The Grid is acting up. I wish she would take her own advice.

The Ivory Tower Library of Primitives in Noyo can be an overwhelming place. There's a lot to learn and so much to take in. I can see why you needed to unwind.

Sounds like you stumbled upon my great grandpa's lookout in Rodeo! There's a portrait of him on the wall next to the doorway. Marcos has let me keep the map at his lab for the time being. There are a lot of folks who find their way to the forest from that map. Good job translating the text, but no worries... although the initial message on the obelisk has been translated, there is still some work do on the obelisk itself. First, we still need to devise a way to extract it from the lava rock it's trapped in so we can run some more thorough tests on it. And I would like to transport it to the ARMORD Lab at some point to facilitate that better.

There is a lot of stuff to discover in this world. We've barely scratched the surface. Thanks for your offer to help the Trust. We'll be in touch.

Salazar I wish more people would do like you have done and devote all or part of their land to trees and I don't mean the trees that look like pink cotton candy on the end of a stick.

I have enjoyed your forest for quite some time.

Salazar rocks

I think there are quite a few folks who favor forests on their land... you just don't hear much from them. I'm glad I don't have to do it all alone. My family manages the Trust with me and there are many friends who help with land, land tier and the preservation of the ruins in the Forest of Kahruvel and the village nearby in Cowell.

I'm glad you enjoy the forest!

p.s. Please let me know if you have any thoughts about the ruins in the forest. I'm always eager to hear people's insights.

I only do that to calm myself down. I've always been fidgity.

He does!

I have noticed this rocking tendency. I think Valdora may be worried about it. Too much cappuccino!