UNDER THE MANGO TREE--Tamsin Barzane

I'm hoping my university will get me a sim so my students and I can work together on exciting projects without prim worries--it won't have any effect on Saminaka, and I will issue you all an invitation for any interesting things we do in future. It would provide a permanent home for The Middle Passage Experience, and a hoped-for expansion of the Experience as well. Oooooh, the thought of landscaping without prim concerns is very exciting!

But my Fall seminar with the students will involve virtual worlds in general, so it seems necessary to explore other ones as well. Interesting scholars on SL are helping me feel my way around these complicated new arenas, and have been telling me about open-sourced sims accessed through Second Life alternative viewers. There are several, and I'm going to take my closest looks at New World Grid, a French construction (http://www.newworldgrid.com/) and OpenSource Grid out of California (http://www.osgrid.org/). Apparently you can move between some of these grids, and there's even a 30 Euro program that will back up your SL inventory, making it accessible (though, for full perm items, not necessarily legal) in these other worlds.

I'm going to report more on this after a tour, but let me give you a little preview. Neither is as professional as SL--New World's registration website had several non-working links, making it a little tricky to get inworld. OS Grid was equally problematic at first--it used the same external viewer as New World, and, not being as savvy as some, even a second download continued to open New World for me, not OS Grid.

Why bother exploring either? They look much like SL, but supposedly have less of an economy--and land ownership can come via the astounding number of 45,000 prims per sim! In some cases (no, I don't know the details or which of the grids this applies to), if you have your own server, you have free land--you are your own Lindens, in a way (it takes, according to advisor Khoisan Fisher--interview with him next week and more on these matters--a computer with a 2 gig processor and 1 gig RAM can do the job).

I decided to remain Tamsin Barzane in the New World--I didn't even check to see if I could use my own RL name--a curious psychological displacement, I suppose! The new basic Tamsin was an embarrassment, with her crewcut and herky-jerky walk.

It was strange to get on, pick up some freebies, and feel very much the noob--I didn't know where to drop and open them. Why? The search interface directed me to SL spots, but when I clicked them for a tp, they told me those SL locations no longer existed--a glitch, certainly, for one was Saminaka! I haven't explored much yet, but my first map foray let me to Tropical Paradise, where a quarter region granted the owner 2000 prims at 10? a month. That ? is not a typo, but the character that appeared--presumably euros, but I'm not sure.

There is a virtual Venice, because I saw it in this Flickr photo by Olish Newman (Newman is this world's surname counterpart of the Lindens, the world's administrators).

Both NWG and OSG are considerably smaller than SL, which limits social interactions--at least so far. But if you have a school or some other project, it might be just perfect. Both call for over-18 year old participation, and low numbers: New World has only 3623 users, and 228 regions--just over 500 are on right now. Its blog began February 2008, when this opensourced world went online. It will be interesting to see how it differs from SL--I was interested to see that several persons of color were among the default avatars (though no Asians seem to be defaults, here or in SL--odd indeed).

Khoisan tells me the OS Grid has about 2500 regions, but neither comes close to SL's over a million users, alts or not.New World seems to survive on charity; UPLOADS ARE ALL FREE! For creators, this is enticing, but SL is also about appreciating the work of others, and their personalities. I haven't run into anyone on New World yet--though my first weeks on SL were much like that, too! I look forward to tours from Khoisan, and if any of you have used these or any of the other grids, please let me know your observations and thoughts.

ANCIENT ETHIOPIA IN SL--Tamsin Barzane

It takes geological change to make real continents grow, but virtual ones are faster. I am happy to report that the SL continent of Africa is swelling in its specificity—a Virtual Ethiopia called Enda Brukh has joined Saminaka (Nigeria), Virtual Africa (South Africa), Africa (Malawi/Zambia/Zimbabwe). AbaBrukh (“Aba” means “father,” while “Brukh” means “blessed”) Aabye has recreated not only some traditional stone structures of today’s Ethiopia, but has reached far back into the past to reconstruct part of an early historical palace.

AbaBrukh Aabye’s love and interest in Eritrea and Ethiopia goes back nearly forty years. “I was in the Army during the Vietnam era,” he said, “and got sent to DLI-WC, the Defense Language Institute in Monterey California, to learn Arabic for a year. At the end, I was sent to Asmara, then in Ethiopia, now in Eritrea; the US had a communications base there. I had studied archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania, so I was in heaven. I connected with the Ethiopian Institute of Archaeology, and took part in several important excavations.”

He stayed even after his stint in the service was over, but after about five years had to leave, for the political situation was heating up—this was not long before the revolution that unseated Emperor Haile Selaissie.

Although his plans for grad school in archaeology were derailed, SL has given him the opportunity to present some of his research findings to a wide audience in a lively, inviting way. “I've always wanted to do something to make people more aware of the wonderful history and archaeology of Ethiopia and Eritrea,” AbaBrukh says. “I did a lot of drawings, started scanning my huge collection of photos and slides.”

AbaBrukh discovered SL through NPR, where he formerly worked. A mother who was an artist and an engineer father had long ago developed his visual skills, and his entry into SL made building inevitable. “Finally I could make a 3D restoration of a site that is just a ruin, and make it livable!” he said.

He entered SL in Spring of 2007, and estimates it took him about a year and a half before he began constructing. He has two 1024 parcels, and hopes to acquire a third. They are located within a two-sim recreation of an ancient Roman city, since Axum (also spelled Aksum) was a kingdom that traded substantially with Rome. This environment is an attractive one—no concerns of jarring Jetson-like towers or overnight malls. Wintry snows may be out of keeping with Ethiopia when the sim gets seasonal, but that is not too heavy a price to pay.

AbaBrukh reminds visitors that ancient Axum and much of modern Eritrea and Ethiopia have a culture that mixes African and Semitic threads through language, religion and other aspects. “The palace dates from the 4th century, the height of Aksum's power,” he says. “Aksum grew from a pre-existing culture of traders and warriors that developed in the Abyssinian highlands. They spoke a Semitic language, probably native to the region, not borrowed from South Arabia, as was once thought, but related to those in southern Arabia. The cultures were also related, and tied by commerce, art and architecture, and language.” Only the Red Sea separates Ethiopia from Yemen and other Middle Eastern regions.

AbaBrukh Aabye notes, “Aksum grew very powerful by trading frankincense and spices to Rome and the Mediterranean world--and very wealthy. They controlled trade in both items.” He points out this dominance put them in a position “much like the oil states are today.” Besides these items, they also led international trade in ivory and exotic animals, as well as African gold. To consolidate their mercantile powers, they destroyed their Kushite Nubian rivals to the north, centered at Meroe.

Axum began to grow at the outset of the Christian era and maintained its position for several centuries, trading with Rome and Byzantium. AbaBrukh observes, “The Emperor Ezana decided that to stay in the good graces of newly Christanized Rome, he needed to make the same move, so in the 4th century, he made Christianity the official religion.” The Roman Emperor Constantine had legalized Christianity that same century, so its official recognition occurred at about the same time in both African and Europe.

Axum marked the graves of its kings with the tallest monolithic monuments in history, taller than Egyptian obliesks. These burial vaults must have been amazing repositories of grave goods, but were thoroughly looted in ancient times. AbaBrukh plans to use a megaprim to erect at least one in Enda Brukh.

Before it was Christian, ancient Ethiopia had a Judaic presence, as well as polytheistic religion. Ethiopia still has a strong belief that the Biblical Queen of Sheba, whom they call Makeda, was their daughter. Her union with King Solomon produced Menelik I, who brought the Ark of the Covenant from across the Red Sea, and founded a pre-Axum dynasty.

A stele just outside the palace once stood near its real-life counterpart at the important Eritrean site known as Metera or Matara. “Unfortunately,” AbaBrukh says, “During the 2000 war, Ethiopian troops camped in the site. Lacking other entertainment, they blew up this oldest example of the modern alphabet common to the two countries. The inscription survived, but all below was shattered.” Written Ge’ez (today only a liturgical language), has an imposing yet graceful character.

The palace itself is beautifully textured, its small stones showing the area’s expertise in making mortarless walls. AbaBrukh notes, “I’ve watched villagers using the same building techniques that date back to Aksum and earlier, and, as you can see from the palace, they did build multi-story buildings.” The palace section currently has two stories, but a third is planned.

Another new direction will be an even older site. AbaBrukh’s avatar seemed excited at the thought of it! It’s “a temple that is at least 2500 years old now, the walls still stand almost intact. It’s from the kingdom of Da'amat that preceded Aksum.”

The authenticity of AbaBrukh’s builds shine in every detail, as does its exquisite beauty. Its vegetation, its weaver birds--even the haystack on the room of its modern Tigray village house (so goats won’t get to it)—all add to the atmosphere. Photos and slide shows of Ethiopia provide more information, as do the specifics a guided tour can provide. He noted that a well-off villager reserves the upstairs for entertaining, while the ground floor is for the family and animals. Beer jars, skins and carpets are in the appropriate spots.

The ancient palace has an audience hall and other chambers, and includes imported Roman furniture appropriate to its wealthy rulers. Its crossed spears and shields served as an ancient Aksumite and Ethiopian symbol of authority. AbaBrukh points out that the palaces had plumbing of sorts, and may have included baths modeled after those of the Romans. “The hot tub,” he admits, “Is an anachronism.”

This fabulous site deserves more traffic, for it hasn’t yet received much publicity. Please visit and learn about an early African world few know about yet. And don’t forget the stele that acts as an offering point—AbaBrukh has knowledge and passion enough for a whole sim, if donations can get him there. He deserves that canvas, and so do we.

Visit ancient Ethiopia at Enda Brukh here: http://http//slurl.com/secondlife/Locus%20Amoenus/201/27/29

Oliha Yiwama, Associate Editor

The capable and imaginative Oliha Yiwama is my Associate Editor--it is no accident that the Compass is being published soon after he came on board in SL! Oliha (as this week's column shows) is soon off to RL Nigeria, and will be sending us his observations and anecdotes--and when he returns, wooooo-eeeee! Things will be hopping at Saminaka with all kinds of new ventures! Oliha's got writing (newspaper and otherwise) in his past, present and future, and is sure to amuse and amaze.

Your Editor, Tamsin Barzane

Sannu da zuwa! Welcome to The Saminaka Compass! As your editor, I'll try and ensure you are entertained and enlightened, kept up on not only Saminaka's doings, but those of other interesting SL corners. Contribute! Be a regular columnist! Write scathing letters to the editor!

In RL, I once served as the arts editor of two big university dailies, but since then have abandoned snappy prose for acadamese. Here, however, I plan to get my snap back! American born, but have my Nigerian residency papers--Saminaka lets me remember, keep up to date, and drag you into my love affair with Nigeria. Enjoy the ride!