7/17/2011

Fire Ants move to Western Australia

"Ant Vegas: Migr-Ants": The Red Fire Ants had to leave their world once again, after having wrecked it for the second time. The ant people migrated to a land called Western AUstralia and rebuilt their famed but sinful "Fabulous Ant Vegas".


The Aeonia Artist Group was invited to do the July-Show at UWA Virtlantis, a full sim presentation sponsored by the University of Western Australia in Second Life. This is already the third installment of "Ant Vegas" - an installation first created for Burn2 in October of last year. Since then new members joined Aeonia Artist Group bringing fresh ideas and knowledge to our community. Hence it was more than feasible to try and explore our famous theme once more - and even go deeper. 


After "Welcome to Fabulous Ant Vegas" and "Ant Vegas - the ant-ology" I proposed the as a title for the  3rd sequel "Ant Vegas: Migr-ants" and wrote the story for it (see below). 
It just so happens that Australia has a big problem with an invasive species called Red Fire Ants (Solenposis invicta). This was the best basis for our Ants - who had faced their second apocalypse - to migrate to this part of the earth. 


Within two weeks our group rebuilt Ant Vegas, using parts of the first two installments, but also adding alot of new themes to it, like a mining facility (by yours truly), a poppy field, a teen-vegimate-club, or a crocodile swamp. New creatures are introduced, like the mentioned crocodiles, wallabies and antaboriginals. And loads of new fun and story.


Read more: http://www.aeoniaarts.com/news/


Visit Redrock Mining Facility @ UWA Virtlantis: 
http://slurl.com/secondlife/UWA%20VIRTLANTIS/115/135/22


The story of  "Ant Vegas: Migr-ants":


“They were merely settled in their new desert home, when all hell broke loose.  Fire broke out at every corner of their hive. And as if – from one moment to the other – the laws of gravity wouldn’t exist anymore, parts of their hive were floating through the air.
The queen gathered her flock in the temple and asked them to pack whatever they can carry and meet at the entrance of the desert metropolis.
The prophet had told them long before, that they were a travelling people, not meant to settle down and enjoy the fruits of their land forever…”
So it was written in the ant-ology, the mystical book preserved by the priests .  And so the story is still told by the elders to remind the young of the disastarous fate of their forefathers.
Yet, little they had learned over the course of the years. And it came upon them just the way the prophecy foretold. The city their great-great-mothers had built after the exodus from the desert many moons ago, was once again in peril.
The new queen saw what was fortold by the priests who had fished at the moon pond. The promised land they had called “Aeonia” was turned once again into a sinful metropolis – exploited and soiled, and no more a welcoming place for future generations to live in.
The queen – along with the priests – knew that their dream of rebuilding the perfect ant-society, as it was described in the scriptures, had once again failed.
As her great-great grandmother and the great-great-grandmother before had done, she gathered her flock and once again started a journey with an fate yet unknown.
The Messengers – their beloved gods – once again had mercy on the failing souls and led the people to a great new land. Thankful to their creators and in honor of them, the and-folk called their new home “Australia Occidens”.
The queen was disillusioned, but yet eager to show her gratitude to the Messengers. So she rebuilt the great temple in their honor with her bare hands. She had a last bit of hope, that her people would be grateful for therenewed promise their gods had made to them.
The ants on the other hand, went about their ways as their fathers and grandfathers had done. In their strive to pursue the path towards individuality, they fiercely started to rebuild all the tempting ventures their forefathers had discovered in the desert.
Despite the eager warnings of the priests, that their world may – once again – face an Apocalypse, the ants recreated  their beloved yet sinful “Fabulous AntVegas”.