No great mythology is without its canon; it stands that since I, being Torley, established the Torley tales, that I establish and summarize (some of) what's known to date about the Torleys. For the sake of simplicity, this list only includes Torleys which've actually been seen by the Resi(dent)s of Second Life.
Torley Torgeson, Sr. - AKA "Father", was the first Torley — in chronological order — to appear in Second Life. Dressed in a hot pink trenchcoat, not unlike what would happen if Neo left his garments at the Sesame Street dry cleaners, he proclaimed:
"I am NeoN, I am the OneN!"
Also perma-toting a Roland V-Synth keyboard, a nod to a musical past, it's obvious Torley Sr. is based on my First Life self. The blue jeans refer to "normality", and retroconning it, would be a convenient symbol for ambient excellence: "things that do the job and kind of disappear into my life". Speaking of symbols, the orthagonal, predominantly orange-and-blue glyph on Torley Sr.'s chest is the old, depcrecated "Torley Symbol". It's since been replaced with a certain "Watermelon Eye":
Torley Torgeson, Jr. (Prime) - Time-traveling daughter of Torley Sr. She came back in time to save him from a hopeless future of failure. It's a good thing she succeeded. She's prolly the most well-known Torley because of her Community Team Spirit, altho this is arguable. What's not arguable is how chatty she is. In her own words:
"I am a cyberpunk princess, picotech advocate, Technomusicologist-in-training, and much much more. Autistic. Mostly Asian-Avatarian, 2X, reasonably tall. A bit bratty and snarky, but ultimately a friendly explorer in search of new experiences. I like to do crazy stuff with my awesome friends on here! Specialties: making conversation, wearing neon clothes, fly real bad. An honorable partygirl, analytical yet casual… the adventures go on and on & on + onandon."
Torley Torgeson, Jr. (Arcana variant) - No, she didn't just get a tan! This Torley from an alternate timeline is more serious, mature, and her humor is more undercooled than laugh-out-LOLarious. She's also a far more proficient photographer and postprocessor.
TTJr.-Arcana is a strong tactical decision-maker, preferring solitude with sushi to raucous parties. She does know how to have a good time, tho — her "sisters" taught her!
Torley Torgeson, Jr. (Z'Castillo variant) - She's the one on the left doing the ch-cha! with her fingers. (Center is Prime, and rightmost is a future Prime — full-fledged Technomusicologist — in her father's robes.) Inspired by Dreamfall via clothes crafted by Solivar Scarborough, she harkens back to a simpler age of adventure gaming, when storytelling was king and gimmicks were incidental, not the main selling points.
As such, she refuses to dye her hair watermelon to match the natural roots of her siblings. This is a point of contention which sometimes causes a disturbance in the Torley Council (keep reading), but the Council also recognizes the right for all Torleys to have individuality and free expression, as long as they're friendly.
TTJr.-Z'Castillo is especially adventuresome, and is as good with rubbing prims to make fire as she is with sorting her Inventory before grid downtime.
Torlop - This big, fuzzy, cutesy bunny is the representative for anthropomorphic animals (furries) on the Council. She likes watermelon-favored carrots and enjoys sitting crosslegged while having her ears kneaded. Also known for her audacious flower hat.
What's more, she not only recognizes animal rights, she carries a shock probe to cause excruciating pain. Torlop was birthed from the labs of avatar geneticist Ryntha Suavage.
TorBot JL-2086 - Constructed by Enabran Templar, took on sentience and a craving for watermelons (or the silicon synthete thereof). Has automated mobile swords for… making food. Cyberpunk and cool stuff.
When TorBot was last seen, it was filming social activity in Second Life's great good places, compiling footage to be used in time-lapse movies like this.
Torange - R.I.P. She's dead, get over it. Born and died in Preview 1.6, enjoyed watching Godzilla, managed to beam out a message to the council so that the future birth of MELONZILLA would take place.
Shown in the background of this picture is Torange's Mentor, a rice farmer whose name isn't on file. But what is known is that he can distill achievables like noone's business!
And pardon me if I sounded heartless — Torange will be missed.
Torlavian - A majestic bird of watermelon feathers who loves to flock together. Born from "Birdman of Avatraz" Psyra Extraordinaire's talented talons, Torlavian is a proud, noble creature who takes heart in making new friends.
Torlavian is also Minister of TBoTrS, The Bureau of Transporting rippleshock Safely. Intellectual but never pretentious, Torlavian recognizes wealth isn't limited to birdseed, is preparing for the knowledge-based transition to a third wave society.
Primitor - If any Torley's done it back in beta and before, it's Primitor the primitar. With his mask a stoic, expressionless reflection of the pangs of creation, Primitor hates negative redundancy. When confronted with such crap, he kicks its ass, and keeps walking forward.
Primitor's routinely given building and combat advice to other Torleys, and he might as well be recognized as Das Fieldkommandant in crisis situations.
Thanx to n00body Cain for reanimating this prized artifact.
Tollie - Arf arf! Who's the top dog in the Tor-hizzouse? Tollie of Evangeline Suavage Kennels, that's who! This loyal, bright-eyed pup loves tips, tricks, and treats. He even starred in his own music video when he decided to be a submarine captain.
Accompanied by Molyenka, his pet cat named by Robin Linden, Tollie later assumed the identity of "Don Torleone". Complete with sombero and ginormous star-shaped glasses, he cracked down on watermelon smugglers gridwide.
With a job well done, he was adopted by Ravenelle Zugzwang + Torley Olmstead, and found much to Aroooo! about.
Tolly - Not to be confused with Tollie, Tolly is a "tall dolly" who wants to be an idol. A gentle giant, Tolly's found her own peace in sitting on a sloping hillside and watching Second Lives being lived.
Tolly was put together with care by Kats Kothari.
Torley Torgeson, Jr. (Torlanime variant) - Tolly's shoulder-buddy and confidant, she's the result of an AVR (alternate virtual reality) Torley Prime after she crossed chronostreams and was injected with an uberdose of saturated colors. As shown, she's a goddess of local lighting.
Sometimes nervous, shy, and often excitable, Torlanime doesn't appreciate being mistaken for one of her relatives, and will get all @_@ and XD if she's confused.
At least her headgear, by luly Lulu, is a fashion hit.
Torse - Such an awwwedorable winged little pony! But be watchful, for Torse is strong-willed and undomesticated. Watermelons can soothe this savage beast, but with such an insatiable craving for them, you'd best bring a truck — or more!
When Torse first arrived on the scene after being created by Wynx Whiplash, event calendar spammers teleported away in terror. This was but a part-time job, however, and being away from the countryside made Torse feel sad. Now back on the farm, Torse is living a happy, stress-free Second Life.
MELONZILLA - Notoriously bad speller, notoriously good lover. Like it sez. Also, absurdly ridiculous driver of car-in-cars. What does he have to say about all this?
"RAWRRRR! I'M MELONZILLA."
OK, so he's not big on elaborate soundbites, but with that jumbo melonhead of his, he's got the brainpower to outthink the competition.
Recently appointed to the following position on the Torley Council: MC Priest of Good Taste, Arch-Admiral of Greater Goldfish and Lesser Fauna, Co-Minister of Melonology, Guru of Subak, Lord of the High Towers of Melitopolski & Perhaps Some of the Tsamma Suburbs, Keeper of the Sacred Square Melons, Ph.D, Esq.
He's a high achiever.
Torley Olmstead - After Torley Jr. saved Torley Sr., he became reborn as Ravenelle Zugzwang's beloved husband.
And:
Watermelinden - A a meta-title used to describe Torley when Torley (for lack of a better pronoun) is inworld as Torley Linden. "Linden" is the Second Life last name for employees of Linden Lab, and Torley's a Community Developer of Communications at LL.
Any Torley that satisfies these three conditions:
- appears as "Torley Linden"
- loves watermelons
- is working + playing at the same time
is a Watermelinden.
Torley Tester - A Torleymorph, an auspicious shapeshifter, who can assume the form of just about any Torley — but not without sacrificial results. Torley Tester verifies bugs, and crashes a lot… with love!
Finally…
The Torley Council - A ruling regulatory body that's not as boring as it sounds, since they're in the Juicy Way galaxy. TTC consists of most of the Torleys, including all of the above, who've chosen to make lives better for their fellows. They share happiness, bring people together, and observe inspiration. Torleys often find themselves, accidentally and deliberately — truth often shows it to be a mix of both — to be at the center of significant events.
The Torley Council…
… represents the multiple inner voices of the offline Torley. Similar to how many people are familiar with shoulder angels, Torley has an entire universe of consciences.
I (now switching to first-person), Torley, have chosen to communicate creatively through the Internet at large and Second Life in particular: not just by describing my thoughts + feelings literally, but providing a generous conduit of narrative, based on my own mythology. Why? Every time I'm asked this question, I can answer differently. Here are some reasons:
- it's fun
- it's lovable
- it's memorable
- it involves watermelons
- it opens me up to others
- it improves my writing skills
- it helps me develop my character(s)
- it helps me deal with problems through allegory
- it helps me explore myself and the world around me
- it's true to Second Life's motto, "Your World. Your Imagination."
The storyline (time travel, AVRs or alternate virtual realities, etc.) evolved naturally, and as with many things in my life, the importance of actions I performed early on didn't become lucid until many months down the line. Patterns are seized, held like fish in a net, then freed back into the timestream, flowing like water. The same holds true as I continue to travel into the future.
The above should give you more insight into my artistic processes, which can't be uncoupled from my day-to-day existence. Through Second Life and my blog, it's been more than any joy I could've conceived beforehand to be able to give so much of myself, and get so much back in return.
I only hope in reading this, you too, can liberate your inner council. May your scattered pieces come together, and you will do great things!
Somehow my original attempt to comment on this post ended up on the "New Years Resolution" post that you made, despite the fact that I commented on this one. I apologize. Please delete my other one. (: Here's what I wanted to say:
Wow, Torley that is a lot of different “yous.” I don’t actively roleplay in sl despite having an avatar of the opposite gender, but I find that Grizzy is much more outgoing and friendly, much more self confident, a little less cynical, a little more vain, much more fashion conscious, and of course much much much more girly than rl me. (: While still in many, many ways she’s still me (same values, same interests, same sense of humor), my choice of avatar changed my personality… oh and get this: Some of Grizzy’s friendliness, extroversion, and self-confidence is slowly rubbing off on rl me. (:
RL me made a brief appearance in sl lasting a couple of days and he was just that, rl me. I decided rl me is for rl.
While I think there will be one and only one Grizzy, who is a variation of rl me… at least for a while, the opportunity to reinvent one’s self in sl is one of its greatests benefits.
It is as I have intuited…the Torley-spirit is eternal, and takes on many forms and many instruments throughout the known universes. And I have a feeling there are many Torleys that we have yet to meet…but we will.
The version of Erbo you see in SL is basically me…because, I suppose, I was already so projected into the Internets when I rezzed into the world, I couldn't help being me. That is not to say that there aren't other aspects of me out there…but I prefer to let them be themselves. And, instead of assembling a Council from within, I've surrounded myself with good people from without…building my own community, as it were, and as people like Howard, Andre, and Casey have taught me.
Have you ever played persona?
Heh, I used to keep a blog with multiple personal characters discussing life events. It confused my friends.
Grizzy, no apologies necessary. Sorry for any confusion I may've induced! I gotta see what's been doing this odd comment-shift thing, I've noticed it several times, now.
I, too, have experienced SL me personality traits becoming more prominent in my First Life. I haven't always been this outgoing, or perceived to be, at least! As there's a lot of RL< --->SL dynamics, I'm especially curious about what we can bring into Second Life, bake, and benefit from.
Erbo, again you strike such a chord with your poetic words. I'll let you know should I see more Erbo-spirits in the world.
Curious thing for me, I've noticed, is how a lot of people have different avatars and personas on varied accounts, but doing that on a single account is rarer. Which is weird, because provided you're adept at sorting your avatars into folders, changing yourself is just a drag away. Of course, some people would rather disassociate, have different groups of friends, etc. across accounts. Fascinating stuff.
Aster, I've not played Persona… do you mean the video game? Or if you mean it in a more general sense, I've done method acting.
I think sometimes of Dungeon Masters and how they need to play a cast of characters: in the past, I had a fun, related idea titled "Jelina's Forum Friends".
Wow torley. You've got quite a few online personalities. I've only got about 4 or 5, but you should check out my 'picks' tab in world to see them all. Mine dont vary from one end of the spectrum, to the other as much as yours may though, but each diferent 'character' of mine definately has its own personality, traits, annoyances, styles, looks and even vocabulary.
And kudos to Tollie and Torlop - theyre the two best ones in my opinion.. of course though, I'm probably a bit biased on that part..
[...] Torley Linden is one of the more interesting and open members of the Linden Lab staff. Torley's latest post is even more personal than many of the past posts that I have covered, which were mostly camera tutorials. Really awesome camera tutorials. In this post Torley tracks Torley though out history. It is really fun to see the transformations between Torley Sr. and Torley Jr. [...]
[...] Hiro Pendragon: Right on, Torley-san! I love re-purposing textures! My first shirt was… A guide to Torleys: [...]
Torley — I love the confusion you cause in those needing to limit you with gender-specific pronouns. I just use the one most applicable to the avatar I saw you wearing last. So you're a he now, thanks to Melonzilla. (And gosh, how I love that guy.)
Nanaki: I just realized I left out 3, maybe 4 Torleys more. What a dilemma — perhaps I'll wait down the line and do a Volume II instead of incrementally updating this post. It's hard for even me to keep up with!
Happy you see the creative benefit in having multiple online personalities too. 
Dillon: Hahaha yes, I DESTROY PRONOUNS. Your convention's a sound one; I should recommend that to others, unless they get confused as to which me they saw last! *RAWR*
[...] Speaking of, I can't ever underestimate the power of context: the pronoun someone chooses may rightfully have to do with the most recent avatar they saw me as, like Dillon Morenz observed: I just use the one most applicable to the avatar I saw you wearing last. [...]
Um… I only have one online personality.
were i can get that suit's
I am just me, but for commercial purposes (photoshoots of male/unisex clothing items) there is a big, bald male somewhere in my inventory, whose name unfortunately is still Laetizia Coronet. If only someone would tell you all about the consequences of name choosing before you choose one… I'd have picked something unconnected to gender like 'Professor' or even just letters, like T.S. Garp in The World According to Garp.
@Laetizia: I agree there should be more of a primer, esp. because you can't change your name later. There've been numerous instances in wish someone wanted to change a name because they found, through experience, that it didn't suit them. Since Second Life frees us of many things, one of them should be the ability to change your name as it fits you. I know it opens a can of worms on some fronts because there still needs to be ways to identify someone, but the suggestion of an initial "Guest" trial period has come up before…
Wow I just randomly came across this page and I'm totally flattered!
You, Torley, live an amazing Second Life!
It's inspiring to see how people can be as everchanging as second life itself.
It totally lives up too it's creativity
My avatar and self in second life is pretty much just a reflection of my rl self though. Same personality, same character and gender it's just tending to be a bit "better", since I'll never be able to create great selections of outfits in my real life for just a few bucks to upload for "textures" haha
Despite having just one personality my 'form' is changing though!
) though despite having my appearance changed slightly it's still all the same 'me'! Just fuzzier ^^ I even wear the same clothing in both forms (often requires me to change 'em alot though to work on either form 
) but it's nevertheless a great experience and has probably inspired me to even learn more about my real self 
I also have a 'furry' form of myself (it's a puma of course!
The last entry here is pretty long ago, but I simply couldn't resist commenting
If you come across this, then I just want to let you know that you are absolutely great! Even though we haven't met each other I think I can say that
It kind of makes me sad to think of how you were just one of the many Lindens, whose name I just pick up at some random blog newsreport or in an in-world-issue notice without much more depth to it.
It's simply great to see that a Linden is enjoying this world as much as we do and that makes me think, that our world's management is in the hands of just the right people ^.^
Keep up the great work
never forget to enjoy your second life!
Aww, where's Waterley? (Your new watermelon-headed avie) '^_^
@Puma: I'm so glad you're here! Thanks for sharing… nice to see you use a lot of emoticons too. I find that in today's expanding Grid, with such an exponential rate of growth in some areas, it's understandable-yet-undesirable for people to make assumptions about stuff without going deeper. That is precisely why I like to get more of myself out there, to show I am a person too. Furry sometimes as well.
Of course I am passionate about my work, and joyed learning about what your creativity. Thank-you, and I will keep it up. 
@Smiley: Oh, Melonkip? He and some other new additions haven't been added here… I may do a 2nd volume if there are enough (I'm sure there will be many more in time). I think sometimes, I need a wiki to better keep track of so many me's.
Hah! Using many emoticons?
It's more like I can't type anymore WITHOUT using them! XD
Some call it a bad habit, but I think more of it as a better way to express myself ^^; …
But then again .. Yeah! I do use too many xP , though I can't stop it anymore. ^.^
Aaaaaaaaaaand I have to try really hard NOT to use 'em , when I'm writing serious emails! (Or write somewhere in general o.o;; )
Hah! And a torley wiki, now that'd be something
Though it's probably *impossible* to keep track of all your avs/activities to have the wiki always up-to-date X3
@Puma: I'm sure to paraphrase Richard Stallman, that enough eyeballs could keep my activities in line… we may someday find out… in DA FUTURE! =^_^=
This is cool Torley, Torley, Torley, Torlop, Torbot, Torange, Torlavian, Primitor, Tollie, Tolly, Torley, Torse, Melonzilla, Torley, Watermelinden, Torley. My favorite, from seeing this page is Torse. =D
JZ
@JetZep: Haha yeah Torse has got a real vibrant attitude, likes to roam the fields… free spirit!
[...] I? Whoever I am and whatever I means in this context of multiple personalities (or consortium as Torley likes to call it). There is just one way to find out. If you like this story, share it with the rest of the world. [...]
Nice Watermefamilly!!!!
rofl
I use to have different personalities in SL too.
I think is a part of the human being to explore ourselves.
Mind needs to grow up and Second Life it helps.
Congrats Torley!!