Feature
by Tethys

As some of you know my RL work occasionally has me visiting Switzerland. I usually stay in a charming little village called Rapperswil near Zurich during these trips. Well on a recent trip there I found myself with some free time and so I packed up my trusty camera and went for a walking tour of the environs.

It didn't take long for me to notice an eerie familiarity to the place. I got to thinking; what do we really know about this Richard Bartle fellow? Is that British accent real? Did anyone actually see him at Essex University?

I leave the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. I for one am a suspicious sort, maybe there's nothing to it. Maybe not.

I started off in the western part of town, on the shores of Lake Zurich or Zurich Zee in the native German.

Well nothing terribly unusual that there would be a jetty here, after all people need to tie up their boats somewhere. I admired the view for a while then set off towards the south till I came across a road, more of a track really. Heading eastwards I happened to glance to the north.

Well it wasn’t misty, probably didn’t mean a thing. To the south I spied a little cottage and thought I’d take a look inside.

I didn’t much care for the place, the cellar was dank and murky so I headed back outdoors then eastwards hoping things might get a little cheerier.

I passed an inn along the way but I had no appetite for the fare offered there.

After fording a river I headed up through some pleasant olive groves. I thought it a bit odd that olives would grow this far north but carried on nonetheless.

Soon I found myself stood outside the entrance to a monastery.

The huge door was open so I went in, to the east. Sure enough having traversed a pleasant enough avenue I encountered the entrance to the abbatial church.

Even up till this point I was ready to dismiss my suspicions, that is until exploring around a great deal (even getting lost a couple of times) I finally stumbled across a crypt.

This was all getting too creepy so I exited the monastery and headed more or less north through some more olive groves and along a lane.

Here an imposing structure greeted me. The door was locked shut so all I could do was examine the keep from its base.

I think I caught a glimpse of a young lady in the window of the top floor but all in all the place didn’t look too hospitable.

Proceeding north I soon came across some lovely formal gardens and paused for a moment to admire particularly nice fountain.

Northeast I could make out a tree lined avenue, beeches I think.

But I decided to head west as I was getting a little fatigued and thought I’d start heading back to my hotel.

As I came to a ghostwalk sure enough further to the west I noticed a deerpark complete with a few deer, no stags however.

As tired as I was my curiosity got the better of me as I could just make out, to the north, what appeared to be a vast expanse of water.

As I approached the lake edge from the north an elegant white swan glided towards me.

Out of film and nearly exhausted I trudged back to my hotel, my head full of questions. If in fact The Land was inspired by a quaint little Swiss village why has this been kept from us?

Of course it could all be coincidence. Yes that’s it, a simple coincidence; you shouldn’t read anything into it all.