Greetings and Salutations Antiquity,

It has been my extreme honor to help run the Estate of Antiquity for the last 5 years. Over this time, working with a group of the most talented administrators and owners one could hope for, helped build an Estate we are all proud to call home....from the Texas Capitol Building, that has stood in the same place since Jan. 2008 and the surrounding plaza to the open seas, ports and let us not forget our huge forest area, filled with palaces and roads, areas to explore and unwind. Antiquity truly lives up to its name, touching the greatest eras of the past. The fantastic builds, details and warm atmosphere are what make Antiquity special to us.

With that said, we are being forced by economic issues to downsize Antiquity so that it can continue being home for all that love her. For the past week, the administrators and owners of Antiquity have been discussing the best possible solution to the cost squeeze. It has been decided that the best option is to cut the cost of tiers by reducing the number of sims.

A plan to cut 4 sims has been proposed and evaluated. We are in the process of contacting our residents with time and helping them through all this. We understand this is not easy, but we all want to make sure Antiquity survives. The admins and owners are all in agreement. We carry on. Smaller is better then the other options.

Some of the sims we keep may be moved around in order to maximize the sailing.

This is something that has been very difficult to do. I love SL, but the cost of land here is just not possible with our current size. I even wrote a note to linden, begging to reconsider prices. Ebbe himself mentioned that nobody should have to lose a creation over the high cost of tiers. But until SL changes their price structure, bringing it more in line with InWorldz or better yet, OpenSim, we will have to downsize a bit.

Just this week we got news of two old established sims closing. Goatswood and Venexia will be closing in June, due to the high cost of tiers. These two are just added to a long list of estates closing due to the high cost to maintain them. It is a shame Linden Labs has not realized the huge amount of art that is being lost every month due to the high cost of tiers. People's dreams, communities, homes, lost, due to this. I hope soon they will see this and cut us a break.

As it stands, most of the French region and gardens will have to be removed. The Forest will be thinned out and kept at its most basic. We are keeping the forest for now, to allow for our showing of Buckingham and for anyone that may want to keep a home up there, but we will also have to evaluate the situation on the status of Buckingham towards the end of summer.

With all that said, it breaks my heart to have to remove any of what has been built here. As soon as the tiers here get more reasonable, we will be able to restore it all to its former self. Also, if for some reason, we find concrete committed renters that would like to step forward and rent some of the sims, or maybe the French Chateau de Clagny and its gardens, Dominica and its lovely tropical forest and champaign reef and historical stone fort, there is still time. We still have a little bit of time to make the final decision. There are many locations that could be sponsored to help keep them on display in Antiquty. Maybe a group of families would like to get together and sponsor Clagny as a summer retreat, or the the tunnels of Mount Antiquity. If you ever wanted to be a part of Antiquity, now is the time.

I would also like to take a moment to thank the people that have been donating what they can to help us. Twelfthnight donating sales from her dresses to Antiquity, Cathryn and the wonderful store that she has set up to benefit Antiquity. All the great people that have donated time and objects to the emporium. All the people that run events, Pamus, Pz, Tessa, Eddy, Rose, Bea and Drez, Bella and Misty on Sunday, Tia with the Calendar, and Burton, Annie, lil Carline and Fang with Market, and Diego with the Merchants runs that help keeps us going. All the great builders, Cousin Crotian and Louis. Master builders, all the others that drop lindens in our donation boxes. Our merchants that have stores here. Pirate Roberts, and family, Cara and all her support, Thomas and the Continentals. Cousin Claudia and Prissy, Inish and Okwa, Bob, Owaci. Gai with MSB and Brendon in Somerset. Our Ambassador O'Flaherty. All the people that come to battle with us, join in on our horse or battle events. KarenKate and Howard Community College. Our long time supporters that are too many to mention, I know I left out lots of people so feel free to bash me. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

These, in short, are our plans for Antiquity moving forward. If by some miracle in the next couple weeks, we secure funding for one or all of the sims or areas, these plans could change in the next couple weeks. I should also note, if you have not visited the Antiquity France or Antiquity Dominica, please take a moment to see these beautiful creations. The beautiful little seaside village on Antiquity Caribbean. They are just beautiful and worth getting a look at.

Antiquity is our home. Many of us have lived here for the majority of our SL lives. We have friends and loved ones here. For that reason, we want to ensure that Antiquity can survive any turmoil that may come our way, and secure our home for many more years to come.

One last favor, take a moment, pray, send positive thoughts to the Linden Gods, to take an ax to tiers.

We will keep everyone updated with changes as we go forward till we get it all figured out.. Thank you all for your continued and much needed support.

Jacon Cortes

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His Royal Highness Jacon Cortes de Bexar Prince of Antiquity, Duke of Cumberland, Duque de Bexar, Duc de la Valliere, Marchese di MSB
updated by @jacon-cortes-de-bexar: 06 Oct 2016 06:35:31AM

Place like Berlin, Du Coeur , Rocca and Antiquity, should be recognized for what they are, Educational Environments, Regions which gives Great credit and shows the vision of Virtual Worlds.

As such, and being LL dose not have to pay for all of the Work done on creating and maintaining these sims, but instead gets to reap benefits and get paid for hosting, it really needs to creat a new set of Tiers spaciffically for these, Something which keeps these sims in SL, and not force them to eaither close or move to another World.

I absolutely agree with you. It is really such a heartbreaking thing to see wonderful sims to shut down just because of the ridiculous tier costs. It is especially the case for those who love SL, such as we do in this wonderful community. I personally do think that the educational initiative would profit LL greatly, because it shows that SL has such useful and INTERESTING aspects to it as well, apart form clubbing and so on (stereotypes aaalll the way).

I feel for you, Jacon, and the struggles that the Antiquity, as other historical non-profit communities, is going through now. :'C

I agree with you both, some sort of consideration should be given by Linden. Antiquity is not the only estate to be struggling. I take my hats off to all Estate owners that work so hard to keep these places going for all to enjoy. If i were to list, all the wonderful estates and builds, that were lost over the years, due to costs, we would be here all day.

What gets me a bit upset, is that even through the worst world recession in decades, not one ounce of consideration was given by LL to its residents. Even now, with people just getting back to work, and confidence building, they continue to keep prices high. When asked about it, LL will offer only vague answers about costs. This is very disappointing. LL could have been creative, maybe offered discounts on multiple sims, or allowing sims to stay grandfathered when passing to new owners if the estate stayed together, maybe discounts for long established sims.

Antiquity will continue in SL, even with a smaller footprint. But under the current circumstances, I do not see any possible growth from our current state due to the extreem cost involved.

That said, we have also opened a location in the Kitely Grid on OpenSim Hypergrid. OpenSim is much smaller then SL, but it is growing, with a number of SL people that have migrated. This location is not meant to replace our SL location but extend it. It is also way more affordable.

Content is the key. That is all that is really lacking in OpenSim, but the new Kitely Market, that allows your objects to be sold to any hypergrid connected grid, is slowly changing that. Although Kitely currency is not interchangeable with US Dollars or other currencies, you can sell your objects via paypay and charge in hard currencies.

In my humble opinion, the key to any possible growth within SL is working together as a block of like minded historical estates. It is also the same in OpenSim. I stand ready to offer land for any creators that may want to establish in OpenSim on our Estate in Kitely and be able to experience OpenSim with out any cost to them.

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His Royal Highness Jacon Cortes de Bexar Prince of Antiquity, Duke of Cumberland, Duque de Bexar, Duc de la Valliere, Marchese di MSB

I am sorry to hear that Jacon and I completely agree with you about the tiers. I doubt SL is going to lower tiers though. I wish you luck and hope you will be able to save some of the regions.

An eloquent post, Jacon. Let us hope the Lindens come to an understanding that educational environments enrich us all and should not be forced to close for lack of funding.

Best wishes to you, Antiquity has done so well to remain going. The tiers are crazy but all you can do is examine what is possible, and move forward.

Thank you very much Skye, we are trying to save as much as we can keep.

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His Royal Highness Jacon Cortes de Bexar Prince of Antiquity, Duke of Cumberland, Duque de Bexar, Duc de la Valliere, Marchese di MSB

Thank you so much Lorsagne, cost should not be a hindrance, lets hope they realize it soon.

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His Royal Highness Jacon Cortes de Bexar Prince of Antiquity, Duke of Cumberland, Duque de Bexar, Duc de la Valliere, Marchese di MSB

thank you so much Lady Hartfield. All we can do is keep moving forward. Back is not progress.

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His Royal Highness Jacon Cortes de Bexar Prince of Antiquity, Duke of Cumberland, Duque de Bexar, Duc de la Valliere, Marchese di MSB