Otherworldly

A cosy winter skybox, furnished with a couple of elegant new pieces from Libertine’s collection, offers the perfect place for a lady to receive a special visitor. Garbed in a long gown with matching jacket, both decorated with luxurious fur, she lights a red candle that spreads a spicy scent in the room. Then she moves to lounge on the sofa, coyly hiding her face behind a lace fan.

There are so many goodies at this round of We Love Role-Play! Starting with the skybox, it is from Tirrany Design and features a beautiful fireplace at one end of the room and windows that overlook a snowy landscape at the other. The style of it is vaguely 19th century but could fit a broad range depending on how you furnish it. Here, I am using two pieces from Libertine, a new version of the Cheshire Pouf (which includes animations for decorating a Christmas tree) and the brand new Alice couch in an Adult edition.

The gown and jacket is by Luas and if you get the fatpack you can mix and match the colours between the pieces and also pick different fur colours. The candle comes from Jinx and includes a basic holding animation as well as either closed or open eyes.

A highlight of the Faire for many is the annual Quest. But did you know that here are several region-specific mini-hunts as well? They are a great way of doing some extra detailed exploration of those regions! You’ll find one of these on Ogham Grove, which inspired me to setup for some photos there as well. The pretty dress with the subtle sparkle in the texture is from the Muses (so happy to have Nephilaine back making lovely gowns) and the dramatic headdress and matching earrings is from Petrichor. With a HUD packed full of texture options, it was easy to match it to the dress. The poses are from Uzme Poses and the Sorcerer set, which for some poses include magical effects but I opted for using the druidic wand that was the prize in the hunt instead.

One does not simply walk into Faerie, even if one finds one of the gates that leads there. Faerie is an ever-changing realm of both beauty and terror and one needs to be prepared for the dangers that lurk within. A trusty steed, bold and well protected by armour, is a good companion for a perilous journey. An enchanted dagger at one’s side might also help, and jewellery infused with charms of good luck.

(Also, as an aside, if you have not read The Call by Peadar O’Guilin, do so if you want to read a truly frightening account of Faerie.)

As I promised, I have a lot of things to show you from The Horse Show. This time, I thought I would focus on four new releases from Teegle that enhance your interactions with your Teeglepets, as well as some accessories for prettying up your horses. I am also featuring a new set of riding boots from Eudora 3D.

Now, before you dive into this video, I want to point out a couple of things about the hitching post and the grooming add-on. I attempted to use both of them at the same time but was unsuccessful in doing so. I thought it was because the horse needs to have the hitching post set as an animation partner to use that one and for the grooming to work I needed to be set as the animation partner. However, I was told in chat that it should be possible for a horse to be partnered to two things, so I am not sure if a) these add-ons were not setup to allow that or b) I was doing something wrong. I will update accordingly when I know more.

I think I am well on my way to becoming a virtual horse hoarder. I’ve now got six of the seven Teeglepets plus the Teegle avatar (on a separate account, so I can take myself for a ride) roaming around on the sim. The latest addition is the absolutely gorgeous Arabian, beautifully modelled to have the distinctive dish-shaped face, large eyes and nostrils and proudly carried tail. The movements of this horse are also very well suited to the breed and while I did not do a video this time, I tried to capture some of it in the shots I took.

The Arabian is currently an event exclusive at the Princess Bride round of Enchantment and the same goes for the lovely Arabian Nights tack from Jinx that I also picked up. This made it easy to decide how I wanted to show off the horse and so off I went to setup the Sahara Oasis solid sky landscape from Landscapes Unlimited. To this I added the new ruins from Fanatik and tinted these to blend in more with the desert sands. As for myself, I decided to be a desert prince rather than a desert princess—easier to find clothing suited to riding astride.

I am completely enamoured with buying accessories for my Teeglepets right now. There are so many cool add-ons! Like this fabulous Norse Gods tack set from Jinx, newly adapted for the Clydesdale, and of course the Luxury mane and tail (also for the Clydesdale) from Mythril. I wanted to do a real sword & sorcery photo with my extra fancy Clydesdale, so I dressed the part using a set from lassitude & ennui and setup a background using the Stalker Castle from Fanatik as well as rocks from their 2018 collection. Speaking of Fanatik, don’t miss their sale! Up to 50% on many items and it ends tomorrow.

This started as an entry for Enchantment’s photo contest for their King Arthur-inspired round. Together with the Homeric epics, the Arthurian legends were among the first stories I fell in love with in the form of retellings for children and the wonderful Classics Illustrated before I got to the “real” versions of the legends—which of course with the Matter of Britain is a very nebulous thing given how many different versions there are! In any case, of course I had to attempt an entry for the contest given my love for the legend, it was just a matter of picking ONE favourite scene/element. Fortunately, it also had to be one that could be portrayed in SL, which narrowed the field somewhat. In the end, I settled for Arthur’s body being taken away to Avalon. Yes, there should be three queens—I guess the other two are hiding in the back (or front, rather)—and Excalibur is generally back with the Lady of the Lake rather than in Morgan le Fay’s hands, but we are allowed some liberties and personal tweaks. Like I said, there are so many versions anyway.

I started this post two days ago, but then my connection was acting up and I couldn’t upload any images, which made for a rather boring post! Yesterday, I spent most of the day at a dog show and was absolutely knackered when I came home. But after a good night’s sleep (squeezed in between our two boxers), I am ready to tackle it again. While Game of Thrones may be over, A Song of Ice and Fire and the world of Westeros continue on and continue making up a large part of my work. Which of course means it will continue to inspire me in Second Life. In this piece, I combine elements from Enchantment and Final Winter.

After spending last week in Spain at an academic conference about Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, we got back home just in time to watch and review the final episode of GoT. Given that this meant getting up at 3 am and not being back into bed until about 5.30 am, Monday was kind of a blur. But today I felt some energy returning and was able to setup the shot that I had initially planned to do before going to Spain. It includes pieces from the Iron Throne-round of Enchantment as well as from the current round of We Love Role-Play.

Jinx has a whole gacha full of huge animesh lions at the Fantasy Faire and the idea came to me of using a building set from Jammin to construct part of a ruined desert temple where these giant beasts still hold sway, attended by a mysterious veiled priestess. The veil by the Dreaming Thicket, available in several gorgeous colours, is also from the Fantasy Faire, as is the outfit from Evie’s Closet, the hair from Wasabi (the second of their two releases for the faire) and the tattoos from Stardust.

The Ice and Fire event is now open and you have until April 13th to check it out. For my second post about it, I selected the full costume from deviousMind inspired by a certain Red Priestess as well as one of the giant animesh direwolves from Jinx. I then setup a truly “Ice and Fire” inspired scene with a big bonfire in the middle of the snow and ice.