★ The Kingdom of Irukandji ★

If you have a viewer for OpenSimulator installed, click the landmark to teleport to Arius.

Islands and seas of Irukandji

Due to its enormous size, the Irukandji Continent is divided into several states and regions, each governed by their own tribal royal family.

Why did I create the Kingdom of Irukandji?

It was 2006. I'd spent the past ten years writing, drawing, and painting in order to deal with past trauma. Virtual worlds attracted me as a potential new artistic medium. I went there to create in happy solitude in the hope that it would help me move on.

The only virtual world platform back then was Second Life. The graphics were basic but I didn't mind. I liked that the avatars had a manga-esque quality quite similar to my painting style. And so I started creating a new world.

I hadn't expected that I'd meet other people in-world, but I did. They'd come to see my creations, my islands, my oceans. Hundreds of people, and then thousands from across the world. And we'd talk.

Some asked if they could stay, to live on my artistic canvas, my utopian paradise world. So I created more land so they could build a home. I called the new continent Irukandji, named for the tiny jellyfish of North Queensland.

That's how I saw the new continent, as something very small within the much larger virtual world of Second Life. My main simulator, Tamita Island was the jellyfish bell, with each island and sea that stretched out from it, another tentacle.

A few months later, V2 graphics were released, complete with shadows and lighting, and realistic rippled water. Irukandji exploded.

Freedom ★ Peace ★ Integrity

When Irukandji was first taking form, virtual worlds were quite conservative. Extremist right wing groups and religious zealots were rampant. So, when I came along with my liberal attitude and don't-give-a-damn approach to uptight people, I attracted all the marginalised folk of the metaverse.

Not surprisingly, at a time when homophobia in particular was rife throughout much of the world, Irukandji became THE gay enclave in Second Life. I happily ran with that.

Over the years, as the world settled down a little, the emphasis on being gay-themed became less relevant. Average every-day people moved in, thinning out the population and Irukandji became a little more suburban.

I was happy with that too as I've never liked enclaves. Always at the core of Irukandji's culture though, was freedom of sexuality. Our motto summed up the mindset: Freedom, Peace, Integrity.

Irukandji History and Culture

I realised that Irukandji needed a back story. Otherwise, it would just be another cheesy string of tropical islands. So I began to write its tales, its folklore and myths, its history.

I liked the idea of Irukandji being a minor kingdom 'somewhere in the South Pacific', left to its own devices in the modern age.

The story of Irukandji fully evolved; its journey through time from ancient tribalism, then as a British colony, then rebellion, independence, civil war, then finally, prosperity.

• Tiamo Reef Memorial
• The Liberation of Kalamat

I formalised the continent's title to 'The Kingdom of Irukandji', and the estate managers became its princes. It was a kingdom without a king, which begged for another story, and that followed.

We gained a police force and a navy, and divided the vast continent into states and regions. Various residents of long standing became Governors of those states. We held election campaigns and voting days, with the most ludicrous candidates often winning.

The whole gig was an insane amount of fun. New subcultures, monuments, and customs began popping up everywhere. For everyone involved, logging in each day was addictive and rewarding to the imagination. It worked so well.

A Brief History

The nation began in ancient times as a loose collective of neighbouring but warring tribes. It was then colonised by the British who spent a century searching for its fabled 'pool of gold'.

They failed in their quest, and after decades of rebellion, Irukandji gained its independence. Civil war soon followed, with the Pinjarran tribe seeking to dominate the islands, but the rest of the kingdom united against them and the Pinjarrans were defeated.

Today, the Kingdom of Irukandji is self-sufficient, made wealthy by its huge gold reserves. Its wealth and high quality of life have made Irukandji a significant stabilising power in the South Pacific. It is decent and generous to its less fortunate neighbours, and in return, is respected.

While Irukandji was not created to make any particular political statement, I've come to realise in recent years that I indeed modelled Irukandji in part to address the problems in the South Pacific that Australia should be solving, such as poverty, rising sea levels, lingering colonialism etc.

Massively successful

At Irukandji's zenith in 2008 - immediately before the global financial crisis - the estate turned over US$175,000. That still blows me away decades later.

We had 400 paying residents from around the world living on my regions, adding their homes, shops, and artistic content as part of their avatars' daily lives. Another 4000 people per week visited the islands to explore and buy content from my shops.

On top of that, six elected governors from within the resident base helped run the show, plus an overseeing Council of Princes - trusted estate managers who embraced my vision of Irukandji's culture and roleplay.

The look, the society, the culture, the ambience, the art - Irukandji was visually stunning, breathtaking, and unbelievably huge. Twenty years on, Irukandji in Second Life remains the largest virtual continent ever created in the southern hemisphere.

Years later in InWorldz, the theme worked again. Despite a much smaller grid population, Irukandji v2 still maintained around 50 landholders, with 38,000 visitors in its first year.