Fantasy Faire 2024 – Öndheim

On By altathiemenIn Second Life, SL Events
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.

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