Month: April 2024

Fantasy Faire 2024 – Whispering Pages

On By altathiemenIn Second Life, SL EventsLeave a comment
A woman with long white hair tied in pigtails and wearing a long black skirt with a bikini top sits looking at a partly open wooden chest. The chest is filled with books and scrolls. Stone walls form the background to the right and behind. Grass grows around where the woman is sitting.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Whispering%20Pages/128/128/98
Sponsor: Sweet Revolutions & Telperion Designs
Designer: Mondi Beaumont & Sweetgwendoline Bailey

Shops

  • Cygnet’s Dreams
  • Collect Decor
  • Rainy Fey Creations
  • Xtal Store
  • John Dee’s Emporium
  • Global Nomads
  • Unique Obsession
  • Garden of Hedone
  • Enchanted Fantasy
  • Mindgardens
  • Sweet Revolutions
  • Dabble
  • Dark Intentions
  • K9NNOR
  • Torgon’s
  • Audition
  • Star Journey
  • Azeriz
  • Arkhive
  • Witch in a Box
  • Dreamscaped

Whispering Pages is a region that is impossible not to love; it’s practically made of books, literally. The landing point is on a gigantic opened book. Off to one side is a huge tree with pages for foliage. Some of the buildings are giant standing books. Even the ground and rocks are often covered in text. The very path down from the landing area is made of shimmering pages.

As you walk through the comfy, woodsy feeling build, you’ll see various critters reading books. Books growing from the ground. They appear almost like blossoms at the top of tall stalks.

A green forest stretches out from the viewer. The view is level with the tree tops. A giant book floats in the middle of the view above the trees. It is opened at about the middle. A green roofed pavilion sits on the opened book. In the foreground, beneath the trees, a couple of low buildings with turf roofs can be seen. Tall tree grow from their roofs.

This is a shopping region and following the main path will take you to a number of excellent merchants’ places of business. However, there’s much more to this region. Sneak past the shops into the central depression and you’ll find a memorial garden, a field of poppies, and a ruined church (full of books, naturally).

I believe the designers’ intent was to create a space that, like a good book, is fun to be in, but different every time you return to it, with surprises you missed the last time.

A picture from inside a ruined church. In the foreground an a orrery ticks away inside a brass railing on a gray-brown stone plinth. The pedestal is decorated with diagrams of constellations. Off to the left, a woman is sitting on the ground with a small child in her lap. She is reading from a book. Above them hangs a lap that looks like it glows by magic. It is suspended from a downward curving branch of a small tree growing next to them.

This place is also great for inspiring stories. I’m always happening on little scenes that just ask to be filled out with a tale of some kind. Why is this here? What are those two doing over there? How did they get here and where will they go when they’re finished? What happened to the ruined building? Who is continuing to use it and why?

A dragon with glowing blue eyes and a flame burning above its head sits by a tree that is growing out of a stone circle. The dragon is sitting on hoard of piled books. To the right, a grove of young trees sits. In the distant background the ocean can be seen.

Climbing out of the memorial garden area, you can find a wide seating area in another library. This collection is watched over by a dragon, who sits on its own hoard of books. (I heard it being pointed out that a fire breathing creature is an odd choice for a guardian of books. Maybe he has really good aim!)

I think keeping books from this library past their due date is… unwise.

Fantasy Faire 2024 – Ogham Grove

On By altathiemenIn Second Life, SL EventsLeave a comment
A woman with long white hair wearing a black belly dancer's outfit stands at the right edge of the view. She is looking toward the left at a patch of mist hanging about at eye level. The mist varies in colour from purplish toward her to gray toward the left. Bright dots float within the mist. Dense forest fills most of the background except to the right (behind the woman) as it breaks up and reveals a distant ocean.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ogham%20Grove/125/231/62
Sponsor: Jinx
Designer: Julala Demina

Shops

  • Nox Equine
  • LFT
  • Nisa
  • Bee Dinkie Designs
  • Horkus Porkus
  • Fusepark Builders Group
  • Ever Green
  • Analog Dog
  • Simply Shelby
  • Jinx
  • Cinnamon
  • enlight
  • Wendigo
  • FFS
  • Zoom
  • Broken Arc
  • Runic
  • Stardust
  • 3rd Eye Perceptions

One of the most important things about Ogham Grove will strike you instantly upon entering; this is a forest region. More specifically, it is a northern European forest region. The whole region is built around the Ogham, an early medieval, runic alphabet. More about that later.

A patch of sunlight streams down into a dim forest with a high, dense canopy. Assorted conifers and hardwoods fill the view in all directions. A light mist hangs in the air. Receding straight away from the viewer is an earth path that runs between stumps and rocks. The path sparkles with red, gold and green gemlike objects.

More than most other Fantasy Faire regions, Ogham Grove is built on two levels, both physically and conceptually. Entering from one of the adjacent regions leads to a forest path that runs along at ground level and will, if followed according to the “Shops” and “More Shops” signs, take the traveler by all of the region’s fine merchants. (Note that this involves a great effort of will as to stay on the shops path one must ignore signs reading “Secret Stuff.”

A light purple jackalope (a jackrabbit with antlers) sits in a small clear area beside a forest path. It is looking toward the viewer, but just off to the right. It appears poised to leap at any moment. Ferns and other undergrown rise just outside the small clearing. Tall hardwood trees, and further away, a few young pine trees fill the view. Steeply angled rays of sunlight stream down in the foreground and background.

Once you are shopped out, there are two entries into the secret portions of Ogham Grove. First, there are circular stone arches at branches of the shops path. If you pass through either of these, you will find parts of the grove that begin to touch on it’s hidden meaning.

A bare earth path passes under a tall, circular stone arch which passes through a high stone wall running out of sight to the left and right. Half a dozen candle lanterns hang from the upper part of the arch. The distant figure of a woman with white hair, wearing a long black skirt can be seen in the center of the image. She is walking away into the distance. The path inside the arch is bounded by tall hardwood trees. The distant view is filled with even more trees. Beams of sunlight stream down in the middle distance illuminating the path.

If you are interested in the region’s side quest, keep an eye out for a dark cave off to the side of this area. From what I’ve gathered, that is where it begins. (Sadly, I have not had time for quests this week ☹.)

To find the real secret of Ogham Grove, climb back up to the flagship shop (Jinx), walk directly down the steps away from it and keep going until you near the top of the rise on the other side.

A broad stone platform stands in the distant foreground. It is about 20 feet square and is reached by rough stone steps on two visible sides. (It appears sheer on the left side. Four heavy stones stand at the corners of the platform. In the middle stands a solitary gray stone. A woman with white hair wearing a long black skirt is reaching out to touch the stone. To the left of the platform there is a grove of medium height trees with long green leaves and bright red flowers. The rest of the area surrounding the platform is grassy with occasional flowering shrubs or plants. In the distance taller conifers grow.

Here you will see trails branching off left and right. Each leads to a small island above the lower forest. (The are in fact the roofs of the enormous tree stumps all the lower shops are housed in.) That island is joined to another with a small foot bridge, and so on.

There are quite a few of these little islands. Each focuses on a specific tree (or sometimes vine or shrub). There are standing stones on each which, when touched, will identify the rune on the stone, name the tree or other plant associated with it and provide some additional information.

And this is how we know we’re in a northern European forest. The Ogham is an early Irish alphabet and all these associations are with plants and trees with which they were familiar; the residents of the forests that surrounded them.

I wonder if similar botanical associations have grown up around alphabets, syllabaries, or pictograms from other cultures. I would be very surprised if they did not.

Make sure you take both loops or you will miss half the story. The loops wind their way back to the Jinx shop. So, after completing the first, head back down the steps, up the rise and then turn the opposite direction.

Fantasy Faire 2024 – Plankbarrow Harbor

On By altathiemenIn Second Life, SL EventsLeave a comment
At the left of the image, a large iron anchor hangs from an unseen point of suspension against a dark sky. The tip of a wooden post can just be seen at bottom-center. At the right edge is a woman with long white hair wearing a transparent plastic raincoat and heavy knee high boots. She is looking toward the anchor.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Plankbarrow%20Harbor/136/115/99
Sponsor: Static
Designer: Nama Gearz

Shops

  • Antaya
  • Eclectica
  • Fantasy Pixels
  • Senzafine
  • Annex Boutique
  • Love
  • ERG
  • Sigil
  • Static
  • Constraint
  • My View
  • Thrive
  • The Space Between
  • Jazabelle Boutique
  • Ichor
  • Madrat
  • The Crosstime Garage
  • Krature
  • Mer Made
  • Misteria
  • Choppai
  • Te Moana Auro
  • Zen Child Designs
  • Skellybones

As I find as I wander into Plankbarrow Harbor, Lolliacolypse is not the only nexus of darkness in this year’s Faire. This darkness though is of a different flavour entirely. In fact, it may be merely physical darkness. There are a number of scary looking things here, but the mood is different. It’s almost as though the pirate residents of Plankbarrow are welcoming visitors, for now, in their own unpracticed way.

A rough boardwalk recedes from the lower center of the image into the middle distance, passing through a timber gate. Sharp spikes are planted around the uprights on either side of the gate. Skulls, ladders with rungs made from bones, and stumps with dimly glowing candles also adorn the entrance. On either side of the gate is a wall made from slapdash weathered planks. In the distance, above the gateway, a large wooden shipwreck is perched a rise, its tattered sails visible only in silhouette. An anchor dangles from its prow. Above all, a moon with a sinister skull like appearance hangs in a dark sky.

Entering from Sievea. Pass a few more mushrooms and I’m on a sort of pier winding its way above the ocean. (I presume ocean becuase of the character of the shipwrecks I can see in the distance, but it is very calm, though there is a swell that speaks of ocean.) The water is hard to see. It’s perpetually shrouded in mist. But it can be heard.

Coming to the entry gate, things look far from welcoming, at first. Spikes, skulls, suspended bones, and a low fog hovering just above the water. Even the moon looks and feels distinctly sinister. Yet, there’s no bar to entry. The path is wide open. And the gate is invitingly, if dimly lit.

A rough boardwalk curves high above dark water. A woman can be seen looking down from the walk at a collection of giant tentacles emerging from the water.

However the entrance makes you feel, I’d recommend staying on the boardwalk and not going for an evening swim. Sharks, eels, and whatever may be attached to the giant waving tentacles I saw from a high spot on the boardwalk all make for doubtful aquatic safety.

Pier, shops, um, dwellings, nearly everything appears to be made from pieces of wrecked ships. This is sensible as they seem to be in good supply. There is a wrecked vessel around almost every corner.

Lights can be seen in doors and windows, but nobody can be seen using them. A pub stands by the boardwalk and sounds can be heard from within, but the door will not open to the likes of us.

A dwelling of several stores appears to have been constructed from pieces of several shipwrecks. Windows from at leas three large stern lights glow from light within. The dwelling is perched precariously on top of a haphazard construction of weathered planks. Repurposed main shrouds look like they provide access to the balcony that just from the lowest story.

Plankbarrow was inspired by Brigadoon, only instead of protecting a small village of happy-go-lucky Scots highlanders from the pressures of the world around them, Plankbarrow is a pirate haven. The designer asks why not a Brigadoon for every culture.

So, once a century, Plankbarrow heaves to in its travels through the mists and is accessible to visitors, for a short while. During that time they are welcomed. But the visitor is warned not to overstay, or they may be there for the next century.

A dimly lit shop interior. Assorted bottles, flasks, a candle and at least one skull sit on a few shelves in the right background. An earthenware pot sits in the foreground. Behind it is a small casque on its side. A blue pixie is perched on the barrel, beckoning the visitor into the shop.

Aside from the Fantasy Faire shops, retail is a risky business for the visitor. In one small shop, apparently committed to the care of a blue pixie, the wares on offer appear to be mostly intoxicants and poisons.

Plankbarrow Harbor is another excellent example of the combination of amazing lighting and superb textures. The two work together to create the mood of the centennial pirate haven. I’m sure if I looked at a plan of the whole build, a sensible, manageable pattern would be visible. But the way the components are laid out, the eye is dazzled and the mind tricked into seeing the whole thing as an impossible tangle of constructions.

Fantasy Faire 2024 – Lolliocalypse

On By altathiemenIn Second Life, SL EventsLeave a comment
A heavily tattooed woman with long white hair stands before a stone shop front; only her head and shoulders are in the frame. She is at the left of the image looking toward the right at a very large, very angry cupcake. Only the top of its cake and a couple swirled layers of icing can be seen but if all of it were visible, it would be about 8 feet tall. Orange and purple eyes look out from between layers of icing. Long sharp teeth fill a mouth that emerges between the icing and the cake.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lolliocalypse/169/128/71
Sponsor: What’s Lost Spirits & Nephilim Photography
Designer: What88 Zond

Shops

  • Hexed
  • Menkoi
  • Jangka
  • The Undiscovered Jewel
  • Stix
  • Moonforest
  • The Little Bat
  • Color Alchemists
  • Madame Noir
  • Celeste
  • Amadeu
  • What’s Lost Spirits (where you can get some very dark cupcakes)
  • atame
  • nope.
  • Birth
  • The Dark Fae
  • Gypsy Wolf Creations
  • Musgrave
  • Flamingli
  • Tara
  • Moonley Inc.
  • Vortech
  • XS Primal
A woman with long white hair stands on pavement with broad red and white stripes. She is wearing a clear plastic knee length rain coat and heavy knee high lace up boots with high heels and thick soles. Before her is a bridge bounded by tall red and white candy striped pillars. Beyond the bridge is some nightmare creature with a fearsome face, angry blue green eyes and a vast cave like mouth filled with long sharp teeth. The creature appears to be at least 20 feet high. No arms or legs are visible.

Every Fantasy Faire, there is at least one region where the light fails and darkness prevails. This year, it’s Lolliocalypse. (Last year it was Dingir which was also designed by What88 Zond 🤔.)

Lolliocalypse is all about food, sweets to be specific. All over the town, or what remains of it, there are cakes, donuts, jellybeans, cupcakes, and ice cream. But they are all dark, huge, twisted parodies of the confections we’ve all come to know and love (albeit too much sometimes).

Immediately upon landing, I was struck by the palpably unwholesome atmosphere of the town. I was overcome with a desire not to be contaminated by it. I quickly put on my plastic mac and a pair of seriously heavy boots. Properly equipped, I started across the bridge to begin exploring.

Two enormous cakes, with candles burning on top of them, appear to ooze down a street with broken pavement. The cakes are splotchy brown and purple in colour with slightly more purplish icing. They look to be about 15-20 feet high. Each has huge eyes in deep sockets and wide, cavernous mouths with long sharp teeth, about 3-4 feet in length. The foremost one has a forked tongue lolling out that extends maybe a dozen feet in front of it.

The town is collapsing. The buildings, most appear to be made of chocolate, being consumed, walls failing after enough of their substance has been gnawed away. How did things reach this point?

A plaque at the main landing area gives us some important clues.

“In the whimsical town of Lolliocalypse, the legacy of Cornelius Candyclaw, a revered alchemist, cast a long shadow. His descendant, Mayor Craven Candyclaw, inherited not only his name but also his obsession with immortality. Convinced he had unlocked the secret to eternal life, Mayor Craven and his wife, Bonbon, embarked on a perilous path. They enacted Cornelius’s final experiment, transforming the unsuspecting citizens into delectable candies, consumed to achieve everlasting life.”

And maybe they have achieved everlasting life, though at a terrible cost. And maybe life for them will be everlasting only so long as edible portions of Lolliocalypse remain.

A collection of giant, deformed confections occupies the slowly collapsing and decaying center of a town square. A brown and purple birthday cake, tens of feet high with wild staring eyes and a cave like mouth filled with sharp teeth; An iced muffin with a similar visage, an enormous pie with an eye looking out of its center, dark donuts and lollypops surround the outer edges of the dark buffet. In the distance the buildings of the town square stand, though some are beginning to collapse.

What message do we take away from Lolliocalypse? That too much of anything, candy, even life, is dangerous? Or just don’t toy with the laws of nature (and confectionary). I think each of us will have to take away their own lesson after visiting.

This is a region filled with whimsical darkness, but it’s still a treat to behold. The forms of the demented desserts are very well done indeed. The lighting is ideal for creating the proper mood. Pay particular attention to the dark lanterns, shuttered things that should give no light and yet are surrounded by a pale illumination. The broken pavement is perfect for the town. Look closely there too for some surprising details.

Fantasy Faire 2024 – The Last Stop

On By altathiemenIn Second Life, SL EventsLeave a comment
A heavily tattooed woman wearing a gold bikini stands at the left edge of the frame. She appears to be standing on a railway platform. To the right, a set of railroad tracks run through water to an end of line buffer. Water, and a few water plants, fill the scene out into the distance where rock cliffs rise.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/FF%20Last%20Stop/97/94/45
Sponsor: Teegle
Designer: Teegle

Shops

  • Akipelago
  • Attitude is an Artform
  • Kreep
  • Azai
  • Bloo Cat Creations
  • Hades
  • DFS
  • Sass
  • QE Home
  • Show Society
  • Mythril
  • Teegle
  • Tutto e Vanita
  • R4R
  • Kmzasrt Kreetures
  • Royal’s Customs
  • Noxus Equines
  • Corn
  • Hiraeth
  • The Flying Pony
  • Secksose
  • Cheval D’or
  • Lumistice

I’m taking a moment here on the platform at the end of the line of a train that runs no more. The tracks, buffer, the platform itself, and some railings that surround former underground entrances are all of a once bustling city that remains above the water. Clearly there has been a disaster of epic proportions here. But what was it? What caused the flood? How long ago did it happen?

To answer these questions, or at least find out if they can be answered, let’s go back to the beginning. Entering from Whistlyn Shallows, the entrance is a subway tunnel that immediately dives under water. Aquatic weeds dangle from the tunnel ceiling while the strips of white tiles emit an eerie glow. Curious lamps have been suspended from the ceiling as well. Were they added after the flood? If so, who did that?

The designer tells us “This subway system, victim to a natural disaster many years ago, is thought by many to have been lost to the ravages of time. The residents of New Yokyo have constructed memorial sites on the surface to remember those that were lost in this terrible disaster, and all those who visit here report feeling an especially spiritual presence here. But very few can ever claim to have found their way into the lost subway tunnels. Those who do come back with strange stories of another world.”

A view through an underground railway tunnel arch into a submerged platform. Sea grasses grow around the tracks while other aquatic plants drape from the top of the arch. Many coloured plants cover the platforms, especially close to the tiled walls.

A short walk brings me to a submerged platform. Arches in the subway tiled walls lead to the shops. Koi swim about the tracks, platform, and shops. Sea grasses grow around the tracks while other aquatic plants dangle from the top of the tunnel arch. More plants in varied bright colours grow from the surface of the platform itself, especially along the tiled walls.

Continuing along the tracks, another block of shops emerges. Walking through another tunnel, the next stop, so to speak, is a large station, submerged of course. This is where the sponsor’s shop, Teegle, is found. (It’s also the main landing spot if you use the gates at Fairlands Junction or the SLURL above.)

A heavily tattooed woman with long white hair wearing a gold bikini sits astride a bright yellow and pink seahorse. Before her is an enormous koi fish. It is orange and white and is easily ten feet tall and thirty feet long.

Not to discourage you from shopping a while at Teegle, but if you walk opposite the shop, you’ll find a sudden drop off and, within it, a small underwater canyon. Follow this to a dimly lit cave and you’ll find a very old koi waiting for you. It’s worth stopping to have a long chat with him. Don’t worry, he’ll start the conversation when he’s ready!

In my tour I continued to follow the tube to see the rest of the shops and then doubled back. The reason being that it’s at the main platform that there are stairs to the surface.

Ishidoro lanterns mark the tiny islands that are all that remain above the water until the gray rock cliffs that rise in the distance.

You may already have noticed from the signage in the tubes, or you may have missed it, but here at the surface, the Japanese theme of the region is unmistakable. This theme is natural since the designer told us during the LitFest Tour that the primary inspiration for this build was a single scene from “Spirited Away.”

Looking out from the railway platform, I can see tiny islands, all that remains above water of the city. The islands are decorated with Japanese Ishidoro lanterns in memory of those who were lost in the catastrophe.

Navigating along the all but submerged landscape, I cross an elegant, classically styled Japanese bridge which takes me to a quiet little bay surrounded by tall rock islands. Here is a small house. It contains a shrine and provides a place to stop and give thought to those we’ve lost.

Which is what I’ll do now for a little bit.

See you at the next region, Lolliocalypse.

Fantasy Faire 2024 – Silevea

On By altathiemenIn Second Life, SL EventsLeave a comment
A woman with long white hair gazes toward the right from the left edge of the picture. The rest of the frame is filled with brightly coloured underwater plants in purple, gold, yellow and green.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Silevea/121/144/66
Sponsor: Unity Maxim
Designers: Ravenstarr, Cube Republic, and ICA84

Shops

  • The Lost Unicorn
  • Dragon Magick Wares
  • Artisan Eden
  • Iceland
  • Unity Maxim
  • Cube Republic
  • Enfant Terrible
  • Gor-Jus Animations
  • Azul

I’m writing this while touring, taking pictures, and making notes in Last Stop. Multi-tasking again. Which in practice means that I’m spending a lot of time in Last Stop standing around looking like a idiot while I’m pecking away at WordPress in another window. Don’t see why my Second Life should be any simpler than my first.

While I nearly always use the Firestorm viewer, I did my exploration of Sievea in the standard Linden Lab viewer. During the LitFest Tour, one of the designers mentioned that a lot of Silevea was built using PBR, and that it looks quite different using a viewer that can properly render the new materials. I’m told that the current Firestorm beta will show PBR materials. I haven’t set that up yet while I always have a current copy of the LL viewer within reach. So, standard viewer it is… if I can remember where all the controls are.

A troll, with fungus growing out of his back, hides behind the stalk of a tree sized mushroom as a woman with long white hair and wearing a black belly dancing outfit cautiously approaches him from the left. In the foreground, tall grass height glowing tendrils of other fungi rise up. At the left, behind the woman, a path goes off into the distance. It is bordered with softly glowing blue flowers. Other tree sized mushrooms of various varieties can be seen in the distance.

Entering from Fairelands Junction, I walk immediately into a giant fungal landscape. The mushrooms and other fungi glow. Faery lights dance around the path and a troll lurks to seize unwary visitors. Or maybe not. He moves to stay “hidden” behind the mushroom stem as I approach him. He’s quite shy actually.

Besides the troll, all about, particularly near the water, sylvan fae can be found. These are the guardians of the mushrooms and the water. See how many you can spot and if you can figure out what they’re up to!

Taking the turning for the Fairechylde just on the left as you walk in. Shortly I come to a quiet little glade where there’s a small alter of remembrance. Here you can write a message to your loved one and send it to the stars. This is the Sprit Bowl, “The Spirit Bowl is a mystical artifact, revered for its ability to bridge the realms of the living and the departed.”

Continuing up the Eldriven Ridge will provide some great views of Silevea and eventually take you to the Fairechylde, the traditional Fantasy Faire live music and party boat. This year it flies over Silevea looking down on the central lake.

Under a dark blue, cloud filled sky, a Tudor style building of several stories, with steep gabled roofs, sits. There are lights on in some of its upper windows. In the foreground, ten foot tall mushrooms with brightly glowing coloured spots grow at the foot of a tall stone wall that fills the left edge of the frame. A path angles from the right foreground to the upper-right. It is bordered by pale green glowing flowers and smaller fungi.

A little further along the main path, the shops begin on the right, while on the left is dark lake lies. Huge frogs watch over it as do much smaller fae.

As the path turns to the flagship shops, the environment becomes a bit more urban. They’re housed in combination stone castle/stockbroker Tudor fashioned buildings. This is where we can see most clearly the dual nature of this region. It is both a sylvan glade and a human town. However, this is not a contradiction or a conflict. “Despite their intrinsic bond with the wild, the Sylvan Spore Fae share a
harmonious relationship with the inhabitants of Silevea.”

A woman with long white hair wearing a black belly dancer's outfit sits thoughtfully in a glade of tall twisted trees and softly glowing mushrooms several feet high. Faery lights of various hues drift about her.

Before leaving, take the turning on the left as you near the exit to Plankbarrow Harbor. This will take you into the Glen of Whispering Woods. This is a marvelous little glade where you can stop for a while and ponder whatever needs pondering. (I seem to do that a lot.)

This is a great place to take a moment and read through the page from the book of Silevea Lore you picked up at the main landing spot. (You did click on the book, didn’t you? 😉)

The creation story is the heart of this region’s lore. “Legend has it that when the world was young, the Great Mother, a deity of nature herself, breathed life into the heart of Silevea. With her breath, she created the Sylvan Spore Fae, tasking them with the guardianship of the fungi kingdom and the protection of the waters that give life to their world.”

So, I’ll come back and sit here from time to time and give some thought to the Fae, and their charge of protecting the nature of Silevea.

Fantasy Faire 2024 – Öndheim

On By altathiemenIn Second Life, SL EventsLeave a comment
A woman with long white hair stands at the left of the image in a greenish mist. Thick shrubs fill the view from left to right behind her. A large stone building rises in the middle distance behind. Just right of center, the small form of a distant glowing spirit can be seen through a gap in the hedge.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ondheim/122/125/84
Sponsor: Harshlands & Belle Epoque
Designer: Kadaj Yoshikawa & Janire Coba

Shops

  • EXiA
  • UZME Poses
  • Angelicus Collection
  • Endless Pain Tattoos
  • Kaidesign
  • The Olde Attic
  • Rakshasa
  • NeonSheep
  • RiG!
  • Laminak
  • Harshlands
  • Belle Epoque
  • Cerridwen’s Cauldron
  • Swank & Co.
  • Ashbourne & Burleigh Couturier
  • Rubble
  • Tamiron Forge
  • Wicked Made
  • Spells & Charms to go
  • Lore
  • Aelithe
  • Viki

I’m continuing my exploration of Fantasy Faire 2024, and I’m only a quarter of the way through!

If you’ve not heard of Fantasy Faire (!), it’s an annual Relay for Life fundraiser centered around “The Fairelands.” This year, that’s twenty regions in Second Life each one of which has been designed by an amazingly talented builder. Donation kiosks are dotted about. Most of the regions contain shops all of which have at least one, usually more, special event items proceeds from which go to the cause.

It’s an astonishingly successful fundraising event. As of this writing, they have brought in some L$10,689,689. In RL, I believe the the FF team is amongst the top 15 overall!

A huge, irregular rock face rises above a stone square. Square towers are perched on several shoulders of the rock while viaducts supported by arches lead from the towers, often to nowhere. On the front of the face, dark windows open to unknown rooms within the stone face.

Entering from the Hopes Wish gate, my first impressions were misty, chilly; the architecture imposing, monumental, stark, slightly otherworldly. Maybe a slightly sinister feel to it. This is all perhaps not to be wondered at. According to its lore, Öndheim is a between realm where the veil between the living and the dead grows thin. (Click the stack of books near the landing point for a brief account of the lore of Öndheim.)

Entering from the Hopes Wish gate, my first impressions were misty, chilly; the architecture imposing, monumental, stark, slightly otherworldly. Maybe a slightly sinister feel to it. This is all perhaps not to be wondered at. According to its lore, Öndheim is a between realm where the veil between the living and the dead grows thin. (Click the stack of books near the landing point for a brief account of Öndheim’s lore.)

A cold sun hangs low in the north and mist clings persistently to the ground, sometimes rising amongst the trees and shrubs, expressing in eerie colours. Glowing spirits of the departed stand (and even in one instance dance) about. One begins to wonder if the living are really meant to be here.

Two men in Norse battle gear stand on a green lawn before a tremendous bell supported by two tall stone pylons. The bells is swinging toward the viewer. Groves of trees bracket the pylons. A glowing ball surrounded by luminous spirits with antlers sits between the men and the bell tower. The sky above is stark gray with angular slashes of white clouds.

Crossing over the square between the landing area and the flagship shops, and trying not to be intimidated by the dark stone towers and windows into unknown rooms dotting the massive rock face that looms over the whole region, I come to the next batch of shops.

Follow the main path and you’ll go by the rest of the shops and then turn right into Whispering Pages. Don’t do that yet! Bear left into the wide lawn behind the main landing area.

An ancient hardwood tree spreads its heavily leaved branches widely over a lawn of tall grass. A glowing spirit figure of a woman with antlers dances beneath its boughs. On the left behind her, a large luminous crystal juts out of the earth.

This may be the heart of the city. On one side is the Bell of Doom, or judgement. It tolls when a departed spirit is called to pass on.

A number of spirits can be found around the wide lawn. One is even dancing.

Other wonders dot the lawn. Levitating stones above a fountain drift about each other is slow orbits. What do they mean? What is their purpose?

Turn away from the bell and make your way into the hall underneath the landing area. There you’ll find two Titans who maintain the beating heart of Öndheim as they hammer on a giant anvil. Somewhere in this hall is a hidden shrine to some of the departed. (It’s not that hidden. I’m sure you can find it.) Stop in and think quietly of those we’ve lost.

Fantasy Faire 2024 – Samsara

On By altathiemenIn Second Life, SL EventsLeave a comment
A huge, perhaps 20 foot tall, head of an ancient Asian statue lies at an angle in the center of the frame. The head is partly covered in green moss. Jungle plants grow all around it. To the right, the tiny figure of a woman with long white hair can be seen looking at the fallen head.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/FF%20Samsara/132/165/81
Sponsor: Petrichor
Designer: DaveOSaurus

Shops

  • Second Moon
  • Xena’s Spark
  • Psyche’s Pstyles
  • Ciapapuer
  • Sigma
  • Ecru Couture
  • United Inshcon
  • Petrichor
  • Crocodoggle
  • Les Encantades
  • Drunken Brokkr
  • 1313 Mockingbird Lane
  • Roped Passions
A jungle landscape. The view is from 10-15 feet above the ground. Broad tropical leaves recede from the viewer in the foreground while in the middle distance, spiky palms can be seen in the center. Dense foliage fills the left of the image. In between, a rough path can be made out winding away toward more jungle forrest.

Entering from the Sunstone Oasis side. What a contrast! Have I just walked into the Triassic? This is a lush, verdant tropical landscape. A wide variety of plants from tall trees to dense undergrowth is all around. (Last year, DaveOSaurus brought us Fungalmire. It appears that less than arid landscapes are his forte!) A few fallen columns and tumbled blocks appear to have come from Sunstone.

Just a few steps in, there is a circular arch on the left. Pass through that and you’ll see a ruined temple with some seats by it. The locals refer to it as the Meadow Ruins. There’s a small pond (look for the frog!) just past the seats making it an ideal sitting/relaxing/conversation spot.

Back to the path, if you turn away from the arch and pass by the standing stone on the right side instead… after stumbling over some worn paving, you’ll see a heavy stone archway in the hillside. Pass through the arch and you are in a cool grotto containing a shallow pool of water. It feels like a sacred space. I’m told that it is the most ancient spot in the region. Why is it sacred? What caused the people to make the effort of building the arch to get here? Anybody who can tell us was lost long ago.

Back to the path, which is very rough and choked with trees and roots occasionally. It climbs steadily up until, passing by the LitFest Tours bus stop on the left, it makes a turn and… finally! The shops begin.

A broad path covered in partly ruined paving stone, descends into the distance. At the bottom, surrounded by and overgrown with tall trees, a ruined, domed temple stands. Damaged, but mostly in tact. Large natural rocks form a border for the path. In the distance on the right, a waterfall can be glimpsed.

A short walk along the first block of shops brings us to the main landing area and Petricor’s shop. The structures seem in good shape for all the occasional signs of slow ruin. Trees grow over the large building that overlooks the landing area. They seem almost to have grown out of the stone of the building.

One of the themes of this year’s faire is “Lost Worlds”, places lost to civilization that have just come to light. Think some of the places Indiana Jones turned up in Raiders of the Lost Arc. Nothing better fills that niche than the Temple Theater at the heart of Samsara.

To get to the theater, turn off the shops’ path, pass between the elephant guardians, and wander down the hill. It’s housed in a tremendous, overgrown temple. Tress grow over it. Vines pour from it’s upper windows. Though dim and cool under it’s enormous, intact dome, it’s not dark. Light streams in through great upper windows just below the dome.

A view from inside a vast, circular stone temple. Sunlight streams in through two of the large round windows just below the bottom of the dome. More jungle can be seen through two more windows. Below, a round archway leads to the broken paving of the plaza outside.

The whole region does give the feel of a place that was suddenly abandoned. Why, we do not know. Everything is mostly intact, only moderate weathering and damage. But the civilization that once thrived here is gone. The jungle has begun to reclaim the land.

To complete my tour of Samsara, I climbed back up the hill and turned left, back onto the shops’ path. After browsing through a handful of shops, the path takes a sharp turn to the left and heads back downhill again.

A woman with long white hair tied in pigtails stands on a broad, flat stone in the foreground. She is wearing a black and gold, long skirted belly dancer's outfit. Just behind her is a grassy bank before a large lake. In the distance, on the far side of the lake, half a dozen water falls spill into the lake in two step cascades.

Walk between the massive stone hands fallen from some massive ancient statue and bear to the left. Here is a wide plaza over looked by the fallen head, probably from the same statue. By the plaza is a lake which is fed by a broad cataract of six waterfalls. There are places to sit and relax or dance here.

Now it’s time to leave the lost world of Samsara and move on to the next region.

Fantasy Faire 2024 – Miralume

On By altathiemenIn Second Life, SL EventsLeave a comment
A woman with long white hair, tied into pigtails, looks out from the right edge of the image toward the left. In the background is a collection of fantasy buildings, porticos, and arches. Plants climb down from a wall toward the left while brightly coloured plants line the edge of a narrow gorge that runs off behind a tower just behind her.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Miralume/117/125/87
Sponsor: Scarlet Fey & Jeanette’s Joint
Designers: Amethyst Ytelde & Scarlet Fey

Shops

  • Punkin Blend
  • Tonkati Head
  • Lunaria
  • Lantian/Flox
  • Schelm
  • Whymsical Marketplace
  • Fae Fantasy Creations
  • Grasshopper St. Atelier
  • Noble Creations
  • Scarlet Fey
  • Hawkers House
  • Myth Maker
  • Old World Fantasy
  • Kitty Creations
  • Blue Blood
  • Lily of the Sea
  • JADHE
  • Ye Olde Panda
  • Flying Horse Head Studios
  • SR Design

I’m starting my walk through Miralume at the entrance from The Last Stop. The first thing I notice is that the architecture is almost too perfect; must be elven, high elven. The second thing I notice is that the region is bathed in what feels like a late autumn afternoon light. This seems perpetual. Twilight of the elves?

This more than an idle question. During the LitFest tour on Saturday, we learned that where Harvest Home is a place that has settled into tranquility after ancient troubles, Miralume exists in a moment of peace before the coming of “turbulent times.” There are hints of faction and dissention. Never the less, right at this moment, there is no better place to visit that Miralume, even if the feeling of unsettling change hangs in the air.

Under a dark orange sky that fades nearly to black, and in which stars can be seen, a pair of buildings that could only have been built by high elves stand beside a stone path. Arches stand in the distance toward the hidden sun. In the foreground on the left branches and leaves from multi-coloured trees obscure the view.

As you near the flagship shops at the top, there’s a turning to the right which leads to a quiet quay. There’s a bench where you can sit and look toward The Last Stop. It’s well off the beaten path and provides a great spot to relax and contemplate the community of Miralume and its fate.

A woman with long white hair in pigtails sits on a white stone bench, facing away from the viewer. She is looking out at a body of water and a wide stone arch that spans it in the distance. Both the stone arch and the quay on which the bench sits are dark brown. The moon floats over and to the right of the arch. The water reflects an orange-pinkish light.

Off to the north from the quay a little ways is a tall standing stone carved in glowing purple lines. Was it made by the denizens of Miralume? Or is it much much older? What is its purpose? One can only guess.

A long gallery roofed with fan traced arches is enclosed by a sequence of beautiful stained glass windows. The window to the right, in the foreground, depicts a tall elven woman in a flowing dress wearing a blue stole. A little further away is another window that presents the face of a different elven woman.

Of special note of are the fabulous stained glass windows that enclose the bridge between the main landing area and the peak of the shops area. Each window depicts a character of some importance to Miralume’s story. Just what role they play can perhaps be learned in The Archives.

Oh yes, don’t neglect The Archives. To get there, head back across the bridge and turn left. Go down the ramp and past the reflecting pool. (What is that swirly ball of energy floating over the pool? Excellent question!) Bear right before the last shop and you’ll find the entrance to The Archives.

A woman stands before a pillar in a large hall. Stained glass windows fill the windows on the left side of the hall while their shadow images fall on the opposite side. A lamp creates a splash of illumination on the pillar and a plinth before it. In front of the woman, who is facing away from us, is a volume of writing which she appears to be reading.

In The Archives you can find a number of artifacts as well as some writings about the region itself. It’s worth spending a little time browsing. Another nice quiet place to unwind.

Talking of which, as I got back on the path and looked in at the rest of the shops, I found the route from the top of the path the Avalon gate is littered with little nooks and side journeys. There’s a small plaza with a tall, flower shaped obelisk off to the right of the path. A little further on the left is a fountain being enjoyed by a small bird.

Very near the Avalon gate, there’s a turning that leads to the white tower. The path, a zigzagging series of steps, leads to the entrance. Walk into the moon to be transported to the top of the tower. The view is worth it. And there might be other rewards 😉.

Fantasy Faire 2024 – Wistlyn Shallows

On By altathiemenIn Second Life, SL EventsLeave a comment
A ruined temple with headless, leaning columns fills the center of the image. Dense forest can be seen behind a rock bluff in the background. At the right edge of the image, a woman with long white hair looks thoughtfully in to the distance toward the left. She holds both hands loosely to her head just below her ears.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wistlyn%20Shallows/62/106/93
Sponsor: Star Mesh Body
Designer: Lrriven

Shops

  • Lulu
  • r+nr
  • archduchess
  • Ari-Pari
  • Tanaka
  • Postive Wavelength
  • Raindale
  • Unstable
  • Dawn Kingdoms
  • FantaSea
  • Star Mesh Body
  • Rivendale
  • Grumble
  • Sounds Great
  • So Silly
  • RVi Design
  • Harvest Moon
  • Chouko Rosa
  • Mystic Fox
  • Mors Ad Normalem
  • FAS
  • Titans

I went through the Fairlands Junction gate to get to Harvest Home. It popped me in at about 4000m! That first step was a doozy. So, to explore Wistlyn Shallows, I took the SLURL from the website! From the landing point, I jumped down to just inside the Flamenca entrance.

A Jupiter like planet rises behind two giant flower bud like shop buildings. Massive plant stalks rise in the foreground and background. One curls around a glowing orb.
Jupiter? rises over Wistlyn Shallows

The first thing you notice on entering Wistlyn Shallows is that scale is different here. Either you’ve become very small, or everything else has grown very large. Lotuses rise a hundred feet overhead. Blades of grass soar over the path like trees. If you explore off the path, you’ll find more and more indicators that you are no longer the giant striding amongst the tiny creatures below, quite the opposite.

You also notice that we’re not in Kansas anymore, or even on earth. A huge Jupiter like planet rises in the east, illuminated by a star that has set. We’re on a moon of this giant planet? (It was hinted that this planet provides ‘dust’ crucial to the region.)

The designer, who brought us WooHoo! Bay last year, clearly wants a change of perspective (and gets it!) “You are tiny, insignificant, and possibly lost.”

Beautiful paths inset with coloured mosaics, made (I’m told) from glass recycled from the occasional bottle the big people have discarded in the shallows, guide the visitor through the tamer parts of the region. Follow the paved route and you’ll find all the shops! In fact the route the paths take through the shop buildings brings your almost into each one.

The low angle, cool light from the planet casts dramatic shadows across the path and brings out the relief in the mosaic covered path and lotus flower like structures that house the shops.

Almost lost in the middle foreground, a woman with long white hair wearing a brown belly dancer's costume stands looking at floating steaks of luminescence and levitating eggs containing tadpoles, each the size of a football. Behind and around her, lotus flowers and seed heads rise dozens of feet above. Just behind and in front of her, a blade of grass soars to unguessed height.
The Hatchery

Near the entrance from The Last Stop, you can take a turning off the main path down to The Hatchery. This is the heart of the region, where new life comes from. Hints have been dropped that this special place will be an important part of a region quest to be released Monday the 22nd. Look for notices to appear in the region announcing the quest.

A view below the water's surface, a giant film canister and discarded trainer rest on the muddy bottom of the shallows.
Discarded items rest on the bottom of the shallows

More than in most Fantasy Faire regions, there’s much more to see if you step off the main route. If you dive into the water surrounding The Hatchery, or just fail to stay on the path, you’ll find yourself in an underwater world of frogs, turtles, and objects carelessly discarded by the big people. A giant film canister, an old trainer, a lost golf ball “decorate” the bottom along with other lost and thrown away items. I’m told that these accidental inputs are important to the region as well.

A plaza sized spider web spreads from a high branch. In the midst of its luminous threads sits a spider that's easily 30 feet across. Standing on a slender thread before the spider is the tiny figure of a lone woman. In the distance, a Jupiter like planet rises above the sea.

And don’t just dive into the water, fly well above the paved way. Up in the high branches you can find cow sized tree frogs and birds twice your own height. A spider, tens of feet from leg to leg, lurks in a web spun from the tip of one of the highest branches. Fortunately, they all seem well fed and uninterested in bothering visitors.

There’s a great deal of mystery here to explore and explain. I gather that much will be revealed to those who complete the region quest which starts on Monday. We’ll see if I can fit that into my busy faire schedule!