Work has been hectic lately, and to relax in the evenings, I have been busy styling my small army of Second Life alts, using some wonderful free medieval armour and fantasy outfits I picked up in my travels across the grid, from a couple of stores that were new to me.
TS Creations has two free group gifts of complete fantasy outfits (the store group is free to join)—one for male avatars and the other for the female avatars:
The Battle Legionnaire outfit includes everything you see here, plus a battle axe (it is sized for Signature and Aesthetic mesh bodies, but it should work for just about any male mesh body if you use your alpha HUD to erase any body parts which happen to poke through):
The women’s outfit is this wonderful Royal Duelist costume in red and black (Maitreya Lara size only). The details are magnificent!
But wait, there’s more! Teleport over to Eleran’s Crafts, where they are celebrating their tenth anniversary with a whole room stuffed with dozens of fantasy and medieval outfits for free! (The store group is also free to join, just click on the Join Group sign in-store.)
There are fantasy outfits for male and female avatars, as well as for Kemono avatars! All outfits include accessories, including boots, gloves (Bento in some cases), helmets, and weapons. Note that almost all of these outfits will work for just about any mesh avatar, since most components are adjustable/resizable attachments, and you will be alpha’ing out most of the mesh body underneath using your body’s HUD, anyway.
First up is this black Abyss Watcher outfit for men:
This wonderful Lady Maria costume is perfect for gallivanting around your next historical roleplay sim! Everything you see is included, plus a knife, a single-edged sword, and a double-edged sword (this lady knows how to protect herself!).
Next is this incredibly detailed Abyss Walker knight’s armour in black (it also comes in red, blue and white versions):
This is the Celestial Knight armour in white and gold; the outfit includes wings, which are not shown here. (It also comes in blue and black versions; I swapped out the included boots for a medieval pair I picked up from the Dreamcatcher store.)
The Lady Farangis outfit includes glowing wings which open and flap when you fly! It comes in red, orange, blue and purple versions.
The copper Knight of Elmandria outfit is perfect for historical roleplay (the sword is included; comes in copper as shown, plus silver, white, black, red, and blue versions):
Looking for some women’s armour? Look no further than this Aurora outfit! This detailed armour comes in silver, copper, green, and blue chrome versions.
This Faraam outfit for men is something straight out of Game of Thrones! In addition to the blue shown, it comes in black, white, green, and red:
This Celestial Mage outfit in green includes the glowing staff! (I swapped out the boots with a less ornate pair from the Hilly Haalan freebie store.) It comes in black, blue, copper, green, purple, red, and white.
This is just a small but representative selection from Eleran’s Crafts; there are many, many more to choose from. I don’t know how long these fabulous freebies will be available, so if you’re interested, hurry on down!
This is a blogpost that I have been sitting on for a while, from a tour I took last March, which I only found the time to finish editing this afternoon. It’s a long blogpost, so go get some coffee and settle in!
The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL, a division of the American Library Association) has a Virtual Worlds Interest Group (VWIG) which provides an opportunity for academic librarians with virtual world interests and responsibilities to have a place in ACRL to network, share information, ask questions, and work on special projects and programs relevant to academic libraries. The Interest Group also works to promote the various uses of virtual environments to potential and current academic librarians and to improve information literacy specifically in virtual worlds. The ACRL VWIG sponsors events, programs and meetings held mainly within the virtual world of Second Life and explores other developing Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality environments.
Here’s your taxi to the Info Hub for the sprawling complex of sims that is home to the Library, where there is a panel taking you to six different areas (3 for ancient Egyptian Alexandria, and 3 for ancient Greece):
Or, if you want to travel there directly, here’s the exact SLURL to the Library of Alexandria. (The entire set of sims is well worth a wander, however! Set aside a couple of hours, and if your avatar should need some appropriate historical attire, just scroll down to the end of this blogpost for some freebies for men and women!)
The hypothetical historical recreation of the Library of Alexandria in Second Life
Here’s a bit of background on the library complex and its historical significance (I believe I picked up this notecard at the site of the library in Second Life):
The Musaeum or Mouseion at Alexandria (Ancient Greek: Μουσεῖον τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας), which included the famous Library of Alexandria, was an institution said to have been founded by Ptolemy I Soter. This original Musaeum (“Institution of the Muses”) was the home of music or poetry, a philosophical school and library such as Plato’s Academy, and also a storehouse of texts. It did not have a collection of works of art; rather it was an institution that brought together some of the best scholars of the Hellenistic world, analogous to a modern university. This original Musaeum was the source for the modern usage of the word museum.
The idea of collecting all the past Greek literature at Alexandria had also a very important ideological goal, since it presented the Ptolemaic capital as the legitimate heir of ancient Greece. The Ptolemaic capital emerged as the hub of the latest discoveries in many fields. Ptolemaic patronage was central to the growing prestige of Alexandria in Hellenistic scientific development.
it was most likely founded by Ptolemy I (306–282 bce) (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 5.8.11), and Ptolemy II (282–246 bce) might have developed it further.
The Hellenistic kings also fostered ‘scientific research’, especially the Ptolemies who founded the Museum on the model of the Mouseia of Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Peripatos (Plut. Non posse 1095d). The Ptolemies, were particularly active in promoting scholarship, with the result that scientific and technical knowledge flourished under their rule. They funded research institutions such as the Library, providing scholars with funds and the necessary tools (i.e. books) for carrying out their research (direct patronage). Despite the gaps in our evidence, the Ptolemies seem indeed to stand out for their scientific patronage, both because they were the first to embark on such a project, and because they did so to a far greater extent than the other Hellenistic rulers. It eventually left an enduring legacy in science and scholarship
A second library in the Serapeum, the temple of Serapis, was probably founded by Ptolemy III (246–222 bce). The Royal Library was led by a head librarian, perhaps called προστάτης τῆς βιβλιοθήκης, who was appointed by the king and also served as royal tutor. Ptolemy III had issued an order that all books on ships arriving at Alexandria had to be taken and copied: the originals would be kept in the Library and only the copies returned to the owners.
More than 1,000 scholars lived in the Mouseion at a given time. Staff members and scholars were salaried by the Mouseion and paid no taxes. They also received free meals, free room and board, and free servants. The Mouseion was administered by a priest appointed by the Pharaoh.
The Mouseion’s scholars conducted scientific research, published, lectured, and collected as much literature as possible from the known world. In addition to Greek works, foreign texts were translated from Assyrian, Persian, Jewish, Indian languages, and other sources. The edited versions of the Greek literary canon that we know today, from Homer and Hesiod forward, exist in editions that were collated and corrected by the scholars assembled in the Musaeum at Alexandria.
Here is an edited transcript of our guided library tour, along with some pictures I took. Ellen of Sparta was our tour guide:
Ellen of Sparta: Welcome! Ok… so, lets start. I want to welcome you, to this Tour of the Great Library. This past weekend, in the USA, we set our clocks for spring, by moving one hour ahead, for Daylight Savings Time. And now, since all of you have arrived safely, I will suggest that you move your clocks back by 2063 years, as we live in the year 42 BC. This is an ancient region and the architecture and lifestyles, reflect this time. I would like to make some formal introductions and explain a little about what we do here. We are a region of 3 sims, representing two Kingdoms, Egypt (Alexandreia, where we are now) and Greece (Sparta and Delos, adjacent). We are roleplay sims, dedicated to a realistic recreation of this era of history.
Ryan Schultz: Do we have to take part in the roleplay? Ellen of Sparta: You do not. Ryan Schultz: Or can we just observe? Ellen of Sparta: You can visit. Also we have a mix of activities that complement our roleplay including special events, lectures, armies and tournaments, re-enactments of religious rituals, museums, belly dance every Sunday, and modern club events. The Queen and sim owner of two sims, Alexandreia and Rhakotis (representing Egypt) is a lady who has a passion for this historical era, Queen Kleopatra T. Philopator. It was her vision, that led to the creation of Alexandreia, and this Great Library and these two sims of Egypt. I am Queen and sim owner of Greece (Sparta and Delos) which are adjacent. In my sim are two Greek regions of fame, the city state of Sparta, and the sacred island of Delos, located in the Aegean Sea. I encourage you, in your free time to visit and tour. Valibrarian Gregg: We want to share this space with other educators and librarians Ellen of Sparta: We have 2 groups, one for Egypt, and one for Greece.. I can add anyone to both and, then you see our notices, for all events
Ellen of Sparta: In the plaza below, where you arrived…we have a statue of Plato, an Exhibit Area, & a Classroom. We also have amphitheaters for lectures. This building… we are in is based our Library upon the one from the film 2009 “Agora” (starring Rachel Weisz & directed by Alejandro Amenabar). This was a movie set.. but well done, so our architect, copied it for here. Once the largest library in the ancient world, the Library of Alexandria contained works by the greatest thinkers and writers of antiquity, including Homer, Plato, Socrates and many others. Alexandria was considered the capital of knowledge and learning for several centuries, in part because of this library. Originally, this was called the “Mouseion” named after, the “muses”. Ryan Schultz: Fascinating Ellen of Sparta: And we get the word, museum, from the Muses Ryan Schultz: And of course museums and libraries are still closely linked today in many places Ellen of Sparta: It was actually part of a larger complex, known as the Museum of Alexandria and included rooms for the study of astronomy, anatomy, and even a zoo containing exotic animals. While no one knows for sure, the library may have held from 40,000 to 400,000 to 700,000 papyrus scrolls. It was, in its day, the premier library [in the world].
Ellen of Sparta: So, as you look around… the porch, where you came in, has 4 Caryatids at the entry (draped female figures, inspired by the Erechtheion, the Porch of the Maidens, located in Athens). Within the Library are bookcases filled with Scrolls. On the floor of the Library is a mosaic of a Medusa Head (Roman 2nd-3rd century AD, the original is in the Sousse Archaeological Museum, Tunisia). And on the walls are reproductions of ancient egyptian Heiorglyphs.
Ryan Schultz: I wonder how they kept track of everything here, they must have had some sort of library catalogue Ellen of Sparta: Our growing library contains one of the largest collection of notecards [text files] in Second Life. Yes Ryan, I can answer that. So, there was a Head Librarian appointed by the Pharaoh and, under his authority, he, himself, or, one of his staff, were in charge of cataloguing. Some spent all their time, cataloging the scrolls. Ryan Schultz: I bet…400,000 to 700,000 [scrolls] is a LOT. Ellen of Sparta: With such a large number of scrolls.. yes.. it was a huge task Ryan Schultz: I had heard they even forced ships to deliver all their scrolls here for copying before they were allowed to leave Ellen of Sparta: That is true Masokomi Kiyori: It is thought that approximately 100 people may have worked here. Ellen of Sparta: We are thinking, at any one time, there may have been up to 1000 in the Library and Mousieion (University).So, it was, a campus. It was, in fact, one of the original research universities in the world, and endured hundreds of years, from Ptolemy I until about 400 AD, so a span of roughly 700 years.
Ellen of Sparta: Our growing library contains one of the largest collection of Notecards in Second Life. This is an active library; you can come, and do research. The Library is open to all. No library card is required!!! Ryan Schultz: How did I not know this was here? I’ve been in SL 14 *years* now and this is the first I have heard of it! Valibrarian Gregg: yes Ryan! That is a huge problem! we don’t know about all the great education sims! That is why we formed the Virtual World Education Consortium and I will talk with Ellen later about it- to promote this 🙂 Ellen of Sparta: In front of each bookcase… is a podium, with the topic.” Touch” a bookcase behind one of the subjects displayed (Egypt, Greece, Rome, Ptolemy, Festivals of Egypt, or Alexandria),
Ellen of Sparta: So, did everyone click on a bookcase? So, you should have seen a menu, and each bookcase is a different subject matter. There are hundreds of notecards [text files] here, and a few images, but mostly notecards. So, what we want to do, is replicate the idea , of the original Library of Alexandreia…and that is, to become, the premier storehouse of info, on the ancient world Zoe Foodiboo: I love that this library is beautiful and useful! Ryan Schultz: Yes so do I! Masokomi Kiyori: Does Alexandria accept scrolls from outside parties on related topics? Ellen of Sparta: Yes
Valibrarian Gregg: So happy to have found this amazing simulation! Thank you so much Ellen of Sparta! Ellen of Sparta: You are welcome, Val.
If you wish to pay a visit the Library of Alexandria or other ancient Egyptian historical and roleplay sims in Second Life, you can pick up some free outfits for your trip! Teleport here to the Temple of Nefertari sim, and click on the signs below to pick up some free Egyptian sandals for men and women:
With that group active, on the opposite wall of this room you can pick up three female outfits and one male outfit for free!
The Egyptian Formal ladieswear includes the wrist and ankle cuffs shown, and the package even includes a braided wig to finish off the look! The ornate gold-and-white dress and jeweled collar comes in sizes to fit Maitreya Lara; Slink Physique and Hourglass; Belleza Freya, Venus, and Isis; Tonic Curvy and Fine; eBody; Ocacin; and the Meshbody Classic/TMP mesh bodies, plus five standard sizes. (This avatar is also wearing the free ladies’ sandals I picked up earlier, which come in sizes to fit Belleza, Maitreya, and Slink mesh feet).
The Egyptian Girl outfit consists of a linen skirt and top, and also includes wrist and ankle bands (not shown, they are similar to the previous picture), plus the short black wig shown. This outfit comes in sizes to fit Maitreya Lara; Slink Physique and Hourglass; Belleza Freya, Venus, and Isis; and the Meshbody Classic/TMP bodies.
Note that both the white top and and the white skirt are tintable and texturable, so you can recolour and repattern these pieces for use with other outfits!
Here’s what the free men’s outfit looks like, with the free sandals I mentioned earlier. The tunic comes in five standard sizes, and the sandals come in versions to fit Belleza, Signature, Slink, Adin, Onupup, and Ocacin mesh feet. (I had a bit of trouble getting this tunic to fit right on the shoulder area of this Altamura men’s mesh body, but at least I was able to get a good picture for the blog!)
UPDATE Oct. 13th, 2021: If you are shopping for Egyptian outfits, there’s a new, free group gift over at the Virtual Diva store of this costume (the Virtual Diva group is free to join).
Here’s a closer look at the outfit, which includes the wristband and the helmet (the Egyptian sandals are the freebie ones I picked up at the Temple of Nefertari sim):
Have you joined the RyanSchultz.com Steals, Deals & Freebies group yet? I will be posting EVEN MORE news and tips on finding fabulous freebies and bargains in Second Life than I post here on the blog! More information on this brand new SL group here.
Bray’s Place Blues Club and social community is celebrating its third anniversary on February 21st, 2021, and the theme is steampunk, that is, a genre of science fiction that has a historical setting and typically features steam-powered machinery rather than advanced technology.
Steampunk clothing features a style of design and fashion that combines historical elements with anachronistic technological features inspired by science fiction. So yesterday evening, I began to rummage through Vanity Fair’s overflowing inventory of over 236,000 items collected over 13 years, to find something suitable to wear to this event!
Most of the steampunk outfits I had were of the old system-layers-and-flexiprims variety, but I wanted a more modern, mesh outfit. I was so pleased with what I came up with (and how I did it so inexpensively), that I wanted to share my results with you!
Vanity Fair is wearing:
Hat, Hair, and Monocle: Mono by EMO-tions (I picked this up for free from their group gifts area sometime last year or the year before, I believe, and while I could not find this gift again at their new store location, I was able to find it on the SL Marketplace for only L$5 for a complete fatpack of colours; there are options for you to wear just the hair, just the hat, or just the wonderful steampunk monocle, the hair with the hat only, or the hair with the monocle only.)
Steampunk Necklace: I picked this up as a freebie years ago from a store called Newtique, but I’m afraid it’s no longer available! Any steampunk necklace should work well with this outfit, I think.
Peplum Jacket: Now, this part gets somewhat complicated, so please pay attention! This jacket is based on the steampunk peplum jacket by Meli Imako; this is the full-perms version (L$150 on the SL Marketplace), which you can texture and colour it as you please! You can also pick up one of 41 different full-perms textures for this jacket for only L$1 each from Amazing Creations on the SL Marketplace. Please note that in the original version of this blogpost, I had mistakenly assumed that the Amazing Creations Marketplace listings were for the complete jacket, and not just the textures! So be careful to check what you are buying. To add even more to the confusion, at the Amazing Creations discount sales wall you can buy outfits containing various pre-textured versions of this peplum jacket for only L$2 each, if you join the Amazing Creations group for free. So I suggest that you buy the Meli Imako jacket only if you really want to customize it; otherwise, head to the discount wall at the Amazing Creations store in Second Life (here’s the exact SLURL; please save the SLURL to your inventory, then right click on it, select Show on Map, and just follow the red arrow to find it). Got all that? Whew! Nobody said being a freebie fashionista was always going to be easy!
Long Skirt: This delightful boho skirt, with a triangular floral inset at the bottom hem, is a free group gift from a tiny, obscure little store called all…About on the Second Life grid (here’s the SLURL, just click the Join Group sign to join the group for free, then click on the gift panel as shown in the picture below.)
MY TOTAL COST FOR THIS ENTIRE STEAMPUNK LOOK: Only 7 Linden dollars! (If you choose the Meli Imako full-perms version of the jacket, the cost goes up to a still-reasonable L$155.) So, as you can see, you don’t need to break the bank to get a polished steampunk look, suitable for wandering around the Caledon or New Babbage sims!
If green is not your colour, there are eight other versions of this long skirt for sale for only L$90 each in the all…About store (and, at the time of this writing, the brown skirt is on a Super Sales Weekend promotion for only L$50!).
Please don’t forget to come to the steampunk-themed 3rd birthday party at Bray’s Place on Sunday, February 21st, 2021, with a wide variety of deejays and live musical performers happening all day between noon and midnight Second Life Time/Pacific Time. In 14 years of traversing the grid, I have rarely come across as warm and welcoming a community as I have at Bray’s Place! And you’re cordially invited to join us as we celebrate three years of great music and amazing community! If you don’t have a suitable steampunk outfit, please do come anyway, but please note that there is a “clean and classy” dress code in place. Bray’s is also LGBTQ and furry friendly!
We’d love to have you join us. Mark your calendars!
Everybody is familiar by now with the Elizabeth businesswoman avatar, one of Linden Lab’s selection of starter avatars for newbies:
Well, today I decided to give Elizabeth one of my patented fifteen-minute avatar makeovers, and take her to a role-play hotel operating in Second Life for a business meeting! The Essencia Hotel (website; SLURL) is a hotel and convention centre, staffed by both NPCs and role-playing avatars (you can even apply to work here).
To book a room, you just click on one of the kiosks in the hotel foyer, which takes you to a website. Rates range from L$150 a night for a standard twin single, up to L$500 a night for the premium suite!
If you join the Essencia Hotel group for free, you can even pick up a free gift: some luggage!
Here’s what Elizabeth looks like after her head-to-toe makeover. And, like any savvy businesswoman, she knows the value of a dollar. Everything you see here was free! (In some cases I joined a group when they had a free group join period.)
Elizabeth is wearing:
Mesh Head and Body: the free Kalhene Ariadna female mesh body (which, unfortunately, has been pulled from the SL Marketplace because of a DMCA complaint; more details here; I hope that this is resolved soon, but as Elizabeth the businesswoman well knows, legal matters over intellectual property can take time to resolve!).
Skin: Creamy in the milk skin tone from WOW Skins (a free system skin from the gift box of all the previous group gifts, located next to the panel with this month’s group gift; I joined the WOW Skins group when they had a free group join period a while back; Creamy is an older system skin, to which I added the Bakes on Mesh finger fix gloves which are part of a full package of BoM feet and finger fixes for Wow skins, tucked away on a shelf on the second floor of the new location of the Wow Skins store, located at this exact SLURL (click Show on Map and follow the red arrow).
Dress: Office dress in black from Kaithleen’s (I picked this up for free using the gift card that was a Christmas group gift from the store last December).
Shoes: I have been meaning to blog about this fabulous freebie for a while now! These are the sixtynine pumps in black, a free group gift from the KOKOIA shoe store (the KOKOIA group is free to join). These lovely free pumps come in six different neutral colours to go with just about any outfit!
Briefcase: I picked up this freebie from the SpotCat booth at a past Man Cave shopping event. It comes with the Bento hold post shown, and I think it’s the perfect finishing touch for this professional look! (Note: if you go to the SpotCat store in-world and join their store group for L$100, among the group gifts is a set of three of these briefcases for men or women, in white, brown, and black.)
