Otherworldly

A priestess of the moon awaits you in her temple, the sacred pool behind her reflecting the sky above the atrium. What mysteries can she reveal to you?

Welcome to the September round of We Love Role-Play, where you will find—among many other fantastical releases—the Cyclus crown from Bliensen+MaiTai and the Corabella gown by Luas. A discount of between 15% and 30% is offered on all new releases, so there are great deals to be had as well.

The crown is unrigged mesh that can be resized and repositioned if needed. It is adorned with two full moons and three crescent moons and mixes various metals that have a slightly worn and tarnished look, which adds to the realism of the piece.

The gown comes fitted for several different bodies, including Lara X. It includes a HUD for texture changes, allowing for a two-toned dress and a separate corset/belt colour, as well as a choice of gold or silver for the jewellery on the belt. It is a bit on the long side, which usually isn’t an issue with mesh gowns, but here I found it seemed to expect a pair of high heels.

The Fantasy Faire is over for this year (though I did manage to sneak in for this photo) but We Love Role-Play is here! The May round offers a fine lineup of creators and I am starting my blogging with a silk from Ruxy accessorized with double armlets from Secret Witch.  Ruxy’s outfit features metal flowers, delicate chains and two minimal pieces of fabric for your modesty. The included HUD gives several texture options for each element and the set is fitted for Maitreya Lara X and Legacy.

Secret Witch’s armlets combines celestial imagery with a serpent, very appropriate indeed for a witch. There’s a HUD for texture options and the armlets are fitted for Maitreya Lara X, Legacy and Ebody Reborn.

The pose was released by Astalianda for the Fantasy Faire and the hair is a recent Happy Weekend special from Wasabi, a cute pigtail style with or without bangs.

Szystrum Synod is the fascinating creation of Walton Wainwright of [ContraptioN], an alien world inhabited by sentient machines that continue to exist long after the demise of their creators. Not only has he built a stunning sim, he has also conceived of a backstory for the world and details about its inhabitants which you can read here. A worldbuilder in all senses of the word.

I am wearing a full avatar from Somnium representing one of the seven houses of Szystrum Synod. I picked the House of Testament, the house of remembrance and history.  The avatars have four arms, two that work as regular arms and two that can be posed using presets or the pose creator in the Black Dragon viewer. In addition to the avatar I am wearing the Astrocartograph Aura by Seydr and using a pose from Astalianda’s Intrigue set. The Astrocartograph Aura is animated, cycling through different hues and showing an astrological map from the perspective of Earth with orbiting comets.

Do not miss the chance to explore Szystrum Synod while the Faire lasts.

I love the combination of the revealing gown (which can be switched between long and short with the HUD) and the mask for hiding your face in this collaboration between Petrichor and Ersch for Midnight Order. Wear just the gown and the shoes (and alright, maybe a panty) and you are set for a glamorous evening. Add on the mask and you’re going to the meeting of a secret society. Finally, wear the various floating crystals and you look like a seductive enchantress. The various HUD packs also allow for varying your look and affecting the chosen textures with your choice of materials. With seven supported body options, the odds are good that the outfit will work for you.

The tied-off pigtails style is from Wasab for Uber and comes with the option of a whole collection of little hair ornaments. These can be turned on and off in batches and coloured per batch. The style also includes optional bangs and options for having the pigtails over your shoulder or brushed back.

My badly timed taste of Covid, which has left me with an annoying cough and tiredness as well, has meant that I’ve seen far less of this year’s Fantasy Faire than I would have liked. We’ve now passed the halfway mark, the Faire officially ends on the 8th of May, so I will have to get some serious exploring in the next few days. First up, I had to return to Opet, Alia Baroque’s stunning Egyptian-inspired sim. What better place to show off some of the poses in the Isis set from Astalianda as well as the spectacular Dai crown by Bliensen + MaiTai? The outfit is not from the Fantasy Faire, however, but a new NextUp release from deviousMind for the Secret Garden.

Don’t miss the chance to explore Opet as well as the other Fairelands. And while you’re doing so, make sure to find some donation vendors or donation kiosk to contribute to the fight against cancer.

Tomorrow is your very last chance for this year to visit the wondrous realms of the Fantasy Faire. This may be my last post for the year, unless I manage to squeeze out another one tomorrow, but don’t count on it. For this one, I opted for focusing on a couple of builds available at the Faire to create a Viking homestead.

J’adoube, sponsored by The Looking Glass, is a fascinating build filled of both whimsy and beauty. Giant chesspieces, chessboard-patterned flowers and butterflies, boats with trees sprouting from them. It feels like walking into a different reality, a sidestep away from the world as we know it. I could not resist the opportunity to blog some of the beautiful pieces that make up J’adoube, though I knew I could not possibly capture a similar feeling to the full sim. Instead, I opted for showing off some beautiful period clothing from Old Treasures and Portal (including a couple of great gifts/cheapies at the birthday round of We Love Role-Play) over a game of chess in a garden.

Roughly a week remains of the Fantasy Faire 2021. One of the things you do not want to miss out on doing is the traditional quest. This year it is called “The Language of Birds”. You can buy the HUD needed to participate in a regular (L$250) or deluxe (L$350, includes exclusive outfits from Silvan Moon Designs) version at the landing points on all the Faire sims and all the proceeds go to RFL. The quest package also includes a charming little companion that will help you out with extra hints along the way.

You will need a bit of patience for the quest as you are looking for birds and they are sometimes fairly small and may not rez until you are closer by. But the rewards are well worth it, from the sim-specific gifts for finishing each part of the quest to the grand prizes at the very end. Plus, you get a wonderful free tour of the Fairelands; I definitely saw areas I had missed on my shopping tours! The final sim, The Seventh Valley, is particularly gorgeous and that is where I took this shot. It was very much a spur of the moment photo, I hadn’t actually planned to blog about the quest or the outfit I was wearing right then, hence the lack of closeups on the accessories, but I liked how it came out!

As the first entry in a clothing line, Old Treasures has released the Gentilhomme set for the Fantasy Faire. As soon as the Faire opened, I sent Ran over there to get the doublet (he felt the pants looked a little too muscular in the shading for his tastes) and he opted for the very well-priced mixed colour pack in the RFL vendor. This kind of well-made medieval clothing for men is not exactly common in Second Life, so we were both happy to see Old Treasures move into this market. And since he dressed up so prettily, he gained himself an invitation to my private chambers (mild nudity at the end of the post).

I have to admit that in Second Life I am often a “bigger is better” kind of girl—at least when it comes to hair! And the Temptress style from Exile, available at the current round of Epiphany (which I somehow managed to get to on my laptop and a mobile connection out in the woods), is both big and bold. It also has a bit of a windswept feel to it that I think suited the Dancing Star poses from Astalianda very well. They, in turn, set just the right mood for the pretty Gelsey halter with its tassels from Paper Moon. I must say that I think it manages to match up very well with the skirt from the the Dreaming Thicket, both in style and colour scheme. I kept with the purples in the decor as well, when selecting one of the Oasis tents and Oasis firepits, also from Paper Moon.

Today is the final day of Fantasy Faire for this year, the final hours before the Fairelands disappear into the mists once more. But, they always return, in one form or another. For my final post, I thought it was fitting to commemorate this by incorporating some items from previous Fantasy Faires together with some key pieces from this year.

What wanders the lush woods of Queensgarden? A creature of legends, an elusive wood walker. Her skin is nut brown and dappled like a deer’s, she has long, claw-like nails and eyes like those of a cat, and she wears clothing made of leaves. At her side, a large wolf, a companion but nevertheless a wild animal.

With everything on offer at the Fantasy Faire—from skins to companion creatures—it is easy to create a fantastical character of your own, whether wholly original or, as in this case, loosely based on a pre-existing source. And remember, you will be shopping for a good cause if you buy from the RFL vendors that raise money for the American Cancer Society.

Today also marks the beginning of the first part of this year’s Faireland’s Quest, don’t miss it!

Somewhere deep in the woods stands a tall tower, where a man wearing a mask has arranged for a secret meeting with a lady. Who is the man who will not reveal his face? And why has the lady agreed to meet with him in such a secluded location? Is there a scandal in the making, perhaps? Or does he know some dark secret that he is using to blackmail her with?