Otherworldly

The ancient ruins, perhaps the last visible remnant of a long-lost civilization, were surrounded by towering ice bergs and miles upon miles of frozen ocean. Whatever else the people who built them had left behind was buried deep beneath the ice, erasing almost every trace of them.

Fanatik has continued their winter-themed releases (which started with the Ice Plates) and added Glaciers (which include cliffs, chunks and paths) and Icebergs (which include both regular and scripted versions). As with the Ice Plates, the scripted version of the Iceberg falls apart, though not from collisions but rather over time. With these three sets, all with beautiful textures and materials, you can create fantastic winter landscapes. The ruins are also from Fanatik, the older set which comes in a summer and a winter version in separate packages.

The pose comes from Be My Mannequin’s Matrix-inspired set and includes a bullet wall prop, but the outstretched hand was just what I needed for the astronaut carefully touching the ancient ruins. The spacesuit is an older release from Anachron,  a former brand from the Dreaming Thicket.

(Also, if you haven’t read The Book of the Ice by Mark Lawrence, do. But maybe start with everything else by him first, they read best in the order they were written.)

We’ve just passed the halfway point for the current round of Genre, so you still have some time to check out the various Celtic-themed items on sale. A great complement to the standing stones from LORE are these Iron Age roundhouses by Anachron, which come in a plaster or stone finish. Anachron, as it happens, is in the middle of breaking their brand into four sub brands, which each will be more focused on a particular type of items. The brands will be kisetsu (traditional(ish) japanese items), HashBang (cyberpunk/urban/punkish stuff), Dreaming Thicket - (fantasy and (pre-20th century) historical items) and Maraschino (20th century retro and vintage).

This is all rather inappropriate, but once I got the Alice boots from lassitude & ennui and the thigh high socks from Luxuria, I couldn’t help but to pair them with a couple of recent gachas—Anachron’s School Book Gacha and Roawenwood’s Kinky Back to School Gacha. My inventory is distinctly short on school uniforms, so went for the Vickie corset from Voluptas Virtualis, which I have shown before but which has so many colour and texture options that it certainly doesn’t hurt to show it again.

After a week of being buried beneath a paper on the Romantic image of the Middle Ages, I’ve taken off for space and found an abandoned ship. Or is it abandoned? It seems there might be a surprising visitor on board. Both the ship by 22769 and the spacesuit from Anachron are both from the current round of Genre, which unsurprisingly is themed Sci-Fi.

A few days ago, Truth sent a new hair to his VIP group. This group has been excellent value but this gift was particularly interesting as it is the first release with brand new textures as well as a styling hud that offers four styles in one. The best way to show it was of course to make a little video, in which I also show off releases from deviousMind, the Plastik and Anachron.

Ran has been keeping himself busy with our website of late, but I managed to lure him to the Fantasy Faire for some shopping. I was determined that at the very least, he’d get the toga from Last Ride. As it happened, I also had some classical garb to blog, although despite my misleading post title I am actually wearing a himation and not a toga. For that matter, Ran’s toga is not quite what you’d see on an upstanding Roman aristocrat either. But this is about the Fantasy Faire, after all, and I do think both Ran and ... uhm ... “Frey” look rather fetching.

With the help of a few pieces from Genre—most notably the amazing Underworld Gate from Anachron—I am preparing myself to step into the Fairelands as the Fantasy Faire 2017 is about to begin. The blogger preview starts today and then the Fairelands opens to everyone tomorrow. I have a few little previews to share with you today and there will be plenty more over the 10 days that the Faire is open.

Creativity can be a fickle thing and all of a sudden I struggle with my photos again, finding it hard to compose the scenes and fit all the pieces together. I think I am starting to feel as if I need to change something up, but I am not quite sure what. I will just have to experiment a bit, I suppose. In the meantime, I thought I would at least point you to some excellent bargains at the Wash Cart Sale.

The Muses are having a big Marketplace sale with individual items at L$125 and fatpacks at L$800. You don’t want to miss this if you like gowns, whether of a more vintage flavour or for your fantasy/medieval roleplay. You will also find a variety of vintage lingerie as well as some accessories. I am wearing one of the gowns on sale in these photos, as it happened to make an excellent match with the laden feasting table from Noble Creations.

I really like the field of tulips from Little Branch for the Victoriana round of Genre, so today I changed around the season on one of my sky landscapes and planted some tulips around the ballet academy build from Nomad. I think it turned out to be a rather charming backdrop for the gown from Anachron, also from Genre.

With so many events having started around the same time in January, it is easy for some to go overlooked next to others. For example, have you been to ROMP or spent all your time trying to get into the Epiphany? If gachas aren’t your fancy, but a bit of elegant kink is, then you don’t want to risk missing the current round of ROMP. After all, who doesn’t need some pole dancing poses and dead-sexy lingerie? Also featured in this post is a new release from the Plastik for Shiny Shabby.

There are thousands of hairstyles available in Second Life, yet it can still be hard to find more specialized styles for roleplay looks, so I am always thrilled when I come across one such as the style offered by Anachron at Genre’s medieval round. Finding a gown to go with such a hair is certainly much easier than the reverse; thanks to talented creators like Synjari Myriam of Senzafine I am rarely lacking a new dress for the occasion.

As soon as I saw a preview of DRD‘s Studios gacha for the Erotigacha event, I knew Ran and I had to get a few of those sets. As it turned out, we ended up with more than a few (including duplicates of the Casting Couch and the Roman set; contact me for trading) which looks likely to give me a lot of photoing excuses. The Medieval set, at least, was the perfect backdrop for some of my recent acquisitions.

It is one of those rare occasions when Ran finally has something new to wear, this time courtesy of Anachron. He’s also got a nice new long hair from Calico, a Hair Fair release just like my veiled style from Oblivion, which is matched to a new gown from Luminary. In the background, curtains by Paper Moon provide a dash of colour.

The theme for the new round of Genre is Underworld and I have to say this is my favourite round in a while with some really nice items available. My first post is entirely focused on a new-to-me brand called Anachron. They have two releases out for genre, a hair called Veiled Promise with an attached veil and a robe called Queen Persephone. I love the mesh work on these pieces (draped fabric everywhere!) and I love the choice of colours and patterns which result in a really Grecian feel. The texturing sometimes feels like it could have a little more structure, but overall I am quite thrilled with these pieces. At L$99 per piece, they are a steal and a great introduction to this brand.