So, it’s a very lazy springtime Sunday morning, and of course, I have my main Second Life avatar, Vanity Fair, slow dancing with my main male SL alt, Heath Homewood, at the LOVE romantic dance club, dressed up as a medieval queen and her knight—you know, as one does. 😜 It sure beats just turning on the radio while you’re doing laundry! (Hey, don’t judge me; we all have our obsessive little hobbies to help keep us sane in these trying times.)
This is my rather roundabout way of saying that it’s Fantasy Faire season once again in Second Life, and this year there are no less than 20 regions, each with its own unique fantasy theme. Roleplay opportunities abound, as well as hunts and quests, auctions and shopping, arts and entertainment, a literary festival, a film festival, and a grand masked ball. Something for everyone! There’s even a special radio station!
Fantasy Faire (running from April 18th to May 7th, 2024) is Second Life’s annual fantasy roleplay festival and shopping event, and a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society:
Celebrating its sixteenth year, Fantasy Faire 2024 is the largest gathering of fantasy designers, enthusiasts, roleplayers and performers in the virtual world, bringing their own visions together to support the American Cancer Society’s vision of a world without cancer.
Fantasy Faire is one of the megaevents of Relay For Life of Second Life. RFL of SL is a part of American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life fundraising. You can visit their page of the Second Life Teams to see how much various SL events have earned for Relay For Life during the year.
In 2023 Fantasy Faire ranked 12th out of 40,000 Relay For Life Teams worldwide in terms of money-raised. In addition, Relay For Life of Second Life was the 8th highest RFL fundraising community event worldwide.
Participating stores usually have several special offers on merchandise, with the proceeds going towards the American Cancer Society. For example, Heath’s wonderful Caelan armour (with its Tree of Life motif) and chain mail suit are available at the Poet’s Heart store at Fantasy Faire. The Caelan armour is L$300 for a fatpack of 13 different colours, including the green shown below, and the chainmail is only L$100 for a fatpack of 19 different colours. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of these items during Fantasy Faire goes to the American Cancer Society. I don’t know if you’ve ever been shopping for armour in SL, but I have, and I can tell you that L$400 for a full fatpack of armour and chain mail, is an exceptional deal! You can easily spend up to ten times that amount, on just one colour of armour!
The armour and chain mail comes in the following male and female sizes, and includes everything except the helmet and whatever weapons you choose to carry:
Sizes for Male Mesh Bodies:
- Belleza Jake
- Inithium Kario
- Meshbody Legacy male body
Sizes for Female Mesh Bodies:
- Belleza GenX Classic
- Belleza GenX Curvy
- Maitreya LaraX (but since you are probably going to alpha out your entire body underneath the full-body chain mail anyway, this would likely fit Maitreya Lara 5.3 or earlier versions as well; please get a demo and check first, though!)
- Maitreya Lara PetiteX (and probably older Petite bodies, for the same reason)
- Meshbody Legacy female body
- Meshbody Legacy Perky
- eBody Reborn
Here’s a closer look at Vanity Fair’s magnificent (and, I must confess, rather intimidating!) outfit:
Madame Noir has a store at Fantasy Faire (SLURL), but you’ll have to go to their mainstore location to pick up this gloriously over-the-top Queen ballgown (please note that the main store location is rated Adult, as it also stocks festishwear, as you might have guessed from this tightly-corseted gown!). I believe the Madame Noir store is currently undergoing a renovation at the moment, but trust me, it’s worth a visit! The proprietor seems to have gone of her way to rig for the new Maitreya LaraX mesh body, and I see so many amazing things that I want to buy there!
Madame Noir has a free group join, that gives you a bit of a discount on your in-store purchases, as well as a lovely selection of free group gifts:
The Imperium head chainmail and the matching Regium crown are from Unholy (SLURL). They can be used together or separately, Both the crown (unrigged; resizable) and the chain mail (rigged) come in sizes to fit male and female avatars, and each has a HUD with many options, including ten different metal textures for various parts of each item. I decided to choose a silver metal tone to match the metallic sheen of the outrageous sleeves and collar of the Madame Noir Queen ballgown!
Complete Styling Notes
Vanity Fair is wearing:
- Head and Makeup: the new LAQ Era2 female mesh head (UltimateHD version)
- Body: the new Maitreya LaraX mesh body
- Skin: LAQ Susanna UltimateHD head skin and matching Next Level Maitreya body skin (the Susanna head skin fatpack is currently one of the gifts at the Bellisseria 5th Anniversary Gift Plaza)
- Crown: Regium crown by Unholy
- Head Chainmail: Imperium by Unholy
- Gown: the Queen gown by Madame Noir
- Shoes (not shown): silver Heidi pumps by Garbaggio
Heath Homewood is wearing:
- Head: Catwa Daniel mesh head
- Hair: Boy Next Door by Exile
- Body: Belleza Jake mesh body
- Skin: Blaze head skin and matching body skin by Birth
- Helmet: Faraam helmet (part of a complete knight’s outfit) by Eleran’s Crafts
- Rest of Armour: Caelan armour and chain mail by Poet’s Heart
PRO TIP: Looking for free weapons? Jomo has a small stone building next to its main store (exact SLURL), where you can pick up dozens of free swords, shields, spears, staves, axes, and other weapons. No group join is required, and everything is free!
Please note that these are not scripted weapons, but they can be resized and modified as you wish. I use them with a very handy HUD I purchased from Antaya, called the Unisex Roleplay HUD, which offers a variety of static Bento hand and arm poses for use with unscripted accessories such as the sword I picked up from Jomo. Here’s the exact SLURL to find the roleplay HUD at the Antaya store.
Of course, most roleplayers would probably use some sort of scripted weapon attachment, part of a system which allows you to draw and sheath a sword using special keystrokes, etc. (there are many such systems already well-established in Second Life). The Antaya HUD is used more for static items, or for photography in SL.
Be sure to explore the many different regions of Fantasy Faire; some of the best landscape designers in Second Life work their hardest each year to wow visitors, and each region has a different fantasy theme. Even if you don’t buy a single thing, it’s great fun!
UPDATE April 29th, 2024: Ava Bloodrose Delaney has informed me, “[Fantasy Faire] got extended to [May] 7th by the Lindens at the Jail & Bail event on the 19th.” Thanks, Ava! I have updated my blogpost accordingly.
