Otherworldly

Need props for Medieval scenes? Then Del-ka Aedilis should be among your first stops. The latest addition to their range of Medieval decor is a dovecote set that includes both a wall-mounted and a free-standing dovecote as well as palisade fencing if you were to build it up outside. The pieces also include versions with snow on. But I opted for using just the two dovecote versions and placing them on the top level of Fanatik’s Chillon Tower, which conveniently has openings all around for birds to fly out and in.

The Del-ka Aedilis set is available at the current round of We Love Role-Play and so is the outfit I am wearing, Rakshasa’s Callan set and the matching boots. It has a bit of an elvish feel to it, though done up in red and black (the fatpack has quite the spread of textures to choose from) I suppose it feels rather Targaryen. Especially since I have a habit of giving myself pale hair when using a male body.

There are amazing treats on offer at the current round of Midnight Order for those with a taste for knights and armor. And who doesn’t have a taste for that? Static completes their gorgeous Order series with the Crowned Coif, adding to the previous releases of Chainmail Cuirass, Sabatons and Gauntlets, all with both male and female fits included. And as a perfect match for that set, Teegle has released a fantastic new armour set for all their Teeglepets. I had a hard time deciding which horse to get it for, but the Pegasus won out in the end as it makes for such a great baroque horse when you remove or hide the wings. I then opted for the darkest version of the Static set and a black and red mix for the horse armour, so that I could appear at the gates of my winter village as a foreboding black knight.

It would not be the Dog & Pony Show without new releases from Teegle and this year they’ve got a massive lineup of news: two new horses, three new dogs, resized versions of the first three dogs released and also dog collars and leashes. And that is not even all, there’s more to come in a few days!

The new horses are a “Jewel” the Percheron and “Spice” the draft foal. The Percheron is a draft breed from France which descends from the medieval warhorses. It is not generally as tall as Belgians or Clydesdales, but it is quite solidly built while still being agile. In France, only black and grey Percherons can be registered, but the US registry allows additional colours. The default coat for the Teegle Percheron is a beautiful grey, but I have some new coats from the Dog & Pony Show to share with you as well so I applied the lovely dappled Poe coat from Royal’s Customs. As you can see, it includes some very nice materials as well. Royal’s Customs has several more gorgeous coats at the event.

The demonic steed, eyes glowing, raced along the narrow gorge, past thick, thorny brambles that seemed to reach for both it and the carriage that it pulled. Suddenly, it reared up, neighing shrilly, as it found the path blocked by a massive tangle of brambles.

Seydr and En Pointe welcome you aboard a collaboration truly fit for the spookiest of all months.  The Midnight Ride carriage, available at the Engine Room, and the matching Midnight Rider harness from the Dog & Pony Show, will let you hitch up a Teeglepet and go for a wild ride. Add in the Theia Eye System from Seydr to make your steed look demonic enough for the role and pick up a suitable coat, such as the Draconic from Nocturne Skies, and your wild ride will be ready.

The Dog & Pony Show is now open, so if you haven’t checked it out yet, what are you waiting for? There are some great new pets from Teegle—both horses and dogs—which I will take a look at soon, but in this post I am continuing with a mix of landscaping and some new coats. I am thinking I might setup a permanent horse farm on one of my sky landscapes. It is a bit tricky doing trails when you’re working with just mesh landscapes, but we’ll see where it lands.

Ever since the Teeglepets were introduced, I have wanted a nice-looking riding outfit in Second Life.  There have been some out there, but nothing has quite caught my eye. Now, however, there’s a very nice casual riding set out from Cheval D’or. Alana is a full outfit with a sun shirt, shirt, breeches (boot cut and regular), socks and jodphurs. The set comes fitted for Maitreya, Legacy and Reborn and includes a texture hud for lots of different colour combinations. It is perfect both for chores around the barn and for riding in.  As such, it was just the right thing for showing off some more PLAZA goodies, this time centered around Teegle and also Splintered Creations, the creators of the lovely welcome sign shown in the first image.

The Fantasy Faire closed yesterday, but thankfully bloggers had a chance to wander the sims a final time today. I took the opportunity to ride through some of the sims on one of my trusty Teegle steeds and take a few last photos. I hope everyone has enjoyed the Faire and done lots of shopping and exploring. Until next year!

The April round of We Love Role-Play opens today and you can whet your appetite with the Shopping Guide as well as with the blog posts that are starting to crop up. Such as this one!

For this post, I am mixing up the releases from lassitude & ennui, Moth & Moon and Misteria, the result being a fae who rides in the Wild Hunt, here on the prowl on her on with her black steed. The soft green skin from Moth & Moon blends nicely with the Dryad gloves from Misteria (BOM layers and appliers included), and the Wild Hunt shoulder piece from lassitude & ennui adds a touch of menace. This is not a fae you want to meet in the woods on the wrong night.

I am also using a new release that isn’t from WLRP but which deserves a special mention because I find it so neat. RVN Store is a new-to-me store which I came across at the Level event and they have several different add-on deformers for mesh heads. Now, I have seen deformers for mesh bodies before, which allow you to achieve shape variations that the sliders can’t do. But with such body alterations you run the risk of clothing not fitting, so I haven’t found them that interesting. But face deformers? I had not seen those before and I am excited. The set that I am using pieces from here is called Chic Cheeks and it alters your upper and lower cheekbones. Perfect if you like sharper cheekbones. I am also really intrigued by their nose deformers since I am a sucker for strong noses, so I may have to give those a try too.

Today is the last day of the 12th SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair and I’ve let the mustangs out to run wild in the snow. These horses were made with the Teeglepet Fjord Horse and then I applied the new Mustang shape deformer from Mythril. It is available at the Breedables Fair as a donation item for the American Cancer Society and I am really happy with the resulting shape. It gives you a sturdy little horse that looks strong and rugged.

The two horses in front also have coats from the Breedables Fair, from Run for the Roses, and both Santa’s Cookies & Cream and Rustic Pinto are limited editions and donation items. I am afraid I don’t recall what the other three coats are, I didn’t note it down when I set the horses up. (That is probably my number one wish for the Teeglepets, a way to see what applier is being worn.) But I’ll let that slip for this time, since the focusing is on the Expo anyway.

I did warn that there would be more videos for the 2022 Horse Show and here we go. With cool new idles for the horses and a fancy new cloak for myself, a video was definitely needed. Plus, it made it easier to offer a good look at the three different Dragonkin tack/mod sets from Idunn’s Clutch. I go through all the new items in the video, but for a quick and easy overview of the credits, scroll to the end of this post. On the way, you’ll pass a few photos; I am particularly pleased with the first one but the rest are pretty cool looks at the horses too.

It is much easier to shop for a female avatar than a male one, but now and then something shows up for just male avatars that I just have to have even if it means slipping on a male shape for a while. The Montague Doublet from Old Treasures is one such item; I’d love to see it for female avatars too, but I am perfectly happy to admire it on myself in male form as well. ;) But while I have a lot of great hairs for male avatars (meaning longer styles that work on men, since that’s my preference) such as this Ash style from Wasabi, I’ll definitely have to expand my collection of heads and skins if I am going to make this a habit.

He laboured long and hard, employing both muscle and magic to forge a wondrous horse like no one had ever seen before. When he finally finished, wheels turned within it and a strange flow of red energy flowed amongst its iron limbs, bringing it to life.

One of the best parts of Fantasy Faire for the last few years has been the reveal of the new Teeglepet. I love my “mortal” pixel horses, but the fantastical ones are extra special. This year is no exception as Teegle brings us Aurum, the Mech horse. I love the way this one is put together, with glowing tubes and spinning cog wheels. Depending on the texture and accent colours you pick, you can capture Steampunk, Cyberpunk, etc. The skin I am showing is not the default but a really cool aged metal skin from Mythril which also happens to be an RFL donation item. The poses I am using for the horse are also by Mythril.

Aurum is also equipped with a new beta Teeglepet update that contains quite a few fixes and addons, two of which I really like the sound of:

—Horses can now have a hovertext name shorter than their object name by using “double quotes”: for example, a horse named “Tapple Gao” Patchy Blue (Shetland Stripped 2.6.69) will have name hovertext of “Tapple Gao”.

—Added driver permission mode “Group”. Only allows people wearing the right group tag to ride the horse.

Verdandi is the “middle sister” of the Norns in Norse mythology, her domain is the present and her name essentially means “that which is happening/becoming”. It is also the name of the beautiful makeup set from Seydr for the Fantasy Faire that I am wearing for this post. There’s no Norse-inspired Faireland this year, but between that makeup and the Norse Warrior tack set from Cheval D’or, a Vikingesque post was inevitable. Fortunately, I have a beautiful snowy landscape all of my own. By no means as spectacular as a Faireland, but I think it served these photos well.

Meet Noah and Noa, Vista Animations latest AO which comes in a male (Noah) and female (Noa) version. If your preferences run to an elegant AO for women which is neither overly sexy, girly or fidgety, I think Noa would fit the bill very well. The female AO includes two versions, regular and curvy. If you have a male avatar, Noah would fit the somewhat more feminine man, perhaps a stylish dandy in a suit. I’ve done a video to show both versions which I hope will give a good sense of their vibe. Details on both outfits can be found below. The poses shown in the two photos are not from the AO but instead from Mythril’s Elegant Pose Pack, available at the Engine Room. Very classy male poses that also work well for a lady in a suit/coat.

Be My Mannequin has released three single poses meant for gazing up at the sky; a stand, a sit and a lay. I loved the mood of them but struggled with finding the right setting. That is, until I recalled the Utaraa set from deviousMind for We Love Role-Play. These faceted crystals made me think of reflections and so I went and setup the lay pose, Vastness, in the water and started playing around with the EEP settings for both the sky and the water.  I am very happy with the final result, I think it conveys the sense of Vastness very well, almost letting water and sky merge into one.