Ivory Tower Library of Primitives, Part I: The Region

The Man, Natoma

Written 25 January, 2018

When I was new in world and found everything a challenge, Sweetie took me to the Ivory Tower Library of Primitives in the Natoma region and bade me stay there until I could rez a prim.

I'll talk about the Ivory Tower Library of Prim in my next blogpost. In this one I'll talk about the historic sim on which it sits today.

Natoma is one of Second Life's original sixteen regions, created in those days of yore when Second Life was called Linden World. Before the Second Life beta began, Natoma was the site of the first city build, and when beta began Natoma hosted the first commercial area and the first welcome area for new citizens:

Natoma then became the location for the original Welcome Area which was given the nickname "Newbie Corral" due to its wooden fences around it.

                   --Second Life Wikia: Natoma

Most of the builds from those days are long gone, but two of Second Life's earliest objects are still present: the Man Statue and the Arch D'Linden.

The Man was created by oldjohn Linden in 2002. Check out what avatars looked like back then:

Handsome, huh? And so sophisticated!

Inspection of oldjohn's The Man shows it consists of just 10 prims-- and that includes the base! The prims that comprise the statue were created on July 19, 2002.

This is a bit of a mystery, as oldjohn himself wasn't created until September 1, 2002. Perhaps the Lindens have solved the mystery of time travel, but a more likely reason is the avatar age part of the profile wasn't created when old oldjohn was first spawned.

If you look closely, you'll see the current owner of the statue is Avi Arrow. More about her in the next blogpost.

The Man isn't hard to find; just go to Natoma and you'll see it. It sits on a hillock and is easily spotted. So too, unfortunately, is the ugly-ass rotating advertising sign that seems to have been created to spoil the view.

All I can say is thank the goddess for the ability to derender.

Another historic early build is the Arch d'Linden Grande, pictured below:

According to my x-ray vision, the arch, which weighs in at a whopping 34 prims, was created by Alberto Linden on October 18, 2002.

The current owner is Avi Arrow, who looks after and maintains the ITLP. The last owner was Torley Linden, who, I imagine, snagged a copy because he realized its historical significance.

There are other interesting things here and there on Natoma. At first I thought this starship Enterprise was circling around the huge ITLP.

I soon discovered that was a trick of perspective. It was primmy, but quite small.

Here's an interesting statue by Marcov Carter.

Marcov's statue symbolizes, to me at least, the right of every citizen of Second Life to create objects he or she then owns. It's something I fear will be lacking in the Lindens' new virtual world Sansar, which, as best I can tell, is designed to turn its citizens not into builders, but into consumers. Of course many people in Second Life, and perhaps most, don't create content, but I suspect it won't be easy or inexpensive in Sansar. So hurrah, Marcov, for capturing so well something essential in Second Life-- the prim. I can think of no better place for your statue to stand than in front of the Ivory Tower Library of Prim.

For a good read about Natoma by DrFran Babcock, click here.

Teleport to Natoma

Next: The Ivory Tower Library of Primitives, Part III. The Building