THE FETED INNER CORE, REVEALED!

Many said Prokofy Neva was mad, and that his descriptions of a so-called "Feted Inner Core" (or FIC), a secret society of Second Life aristocrats, were little more than fevered rantings. How was it possible, after all, that a cabal of subscribers had become so powerful, they'd gained direct control over an entire world's future? There were intimations they existed, to be sure, but even those seemed like the glimmerings of a receding mirage, to most. Including, I confess, to me.

Until last sunset, that is, when someone quietly and anonymously slipped a series of annotated screenshots into my inventory. They depicted a well-known Resident (and suspected FIC grand council suzerain), caught in the act of unspeakable machinations. What follows, unabridged, is the journal of this unknown investigator's discovery:

SL Explorers Log 4.25.2005

We venture deep into Bragg (244,16) and find ourselves approaching a strange object 200 meters high. Rumors of secret FIC lairs have made us cautious, but truth, justice and the Prokovian way push us onwards.

We discover the abberation...

Approaching the madness...

We creep along the girders for stealth...

... and realize the scale of the horror.

As the machine continues its dirty transformations.

To my horror, the Monitor begins to turn toward me...

The last moment comes quick.

[WARNING: EXPLORER NOC DATA STREAM] . . . . . signal terminated . . . . . satellite check 1.A45c . . . . . re-acquisition failed . . . . . REPEAT re-acquisition failed . . . . . rescue operations cancelled . . . . . estimated probability for success: 0.05% . . . . . proceed SL evacuation operation OMEGA [WARNING: EXPLORER NOC DATA STREAM]

The transmission ends there. Fortunately, I was able to track down someone with intimate knowledge of the mystery behind it.

"I came up with the idea after one of the many Forum 'FIC' debates, and someone painted a very funny verbal image of Philip feeding Aimee newbies to munch on," Forseti Svarog explains.

These ever-recurring debates revolve around the accusation that an unacknowledged hierarchy of Residents exists. And from the commanding heights, the argument goes, an ultra-talented, financially successful aristocracy of Residents exerts undue influence on Linden Lab. Svarog's reaction to the image of Linden Lab's CEO tossing helpless new subscribers into the clutches of veteran fashion doyenne Aimee Weber was to turn it into a kind of 3D parody diorama, then convert that into a narrative told in screenshots. The end result is like an editorial cartoon satirizing excessive class warfare rhetoric-- except that here, the classes only exist in an online world. (Or, perhaps, only on the official forum of the online world.) Social satire of a virtual society, in other words.

"[R]ather than Photoshopping a single image," Forseti tells me, "I decided to built a 3D set and then take screenshots. Duping the many Aimees was actually very straightforward. It required catching her at the right moment [to take screenshots of her], removing the background of the image and alpha-channeling [i.e. making translucent] 'cutouts' of various Aimees." He did the same with the hapless victims lined up at the cloning device, all of them in the bowed, puppet-without-strings posture of avatars in away-from-keyboard mode. "[T]hose people were in on the gag," says Svarog, "since I needed shots of them in 'away' mode.

"The rest was simply doing what I love-- building and texturing."

Beyond the technical challenges, Forseti worried that people might wonder why he was suddenly obsessed with creating dozens and dozens of Aimee Weber cutout dolls.

"[S]ome friends came upon me and got very worried that I was building a love/cult shrine to Aimee," he says. "Which almost threw me off the idea, but they got into it when they realized the gag, so I went ahead."

Forseti acknowledges that Residents are likely to have differing reactions to the underlying satire, too. "Some people will find it funny, some strange," he says. "Either which way, it was my little humor-based protest to these FIC claims, which I consider nonsense. There will always be those who feel victimized at the drop of a hat, and there are those who get-up-and-go and tackle the challenges ahead with zest and positive determination.

"OK," Svarog concludes, grinning, "off the pulpit now."