Otherworldly

Inspired by the Roman Strategy Table from Del-ka Aedilis, I created this scene of a Roman noblewoman seeing the plans laid out by her husband and then praying to their ancestors, perhaps on the eve before he goes into battle. All the decor pieces as well as the house itself are from Del-ka Aedilis Civitas series, which does a wonderful job of capturing various aspects of Roman life. Note that I did size down the house as well as the decor for this photo since my avatar is small by SL standards.

My hairstyle from F&M Oblivion is not Roman, but I thought it could pass well enough for a the style of a Roman matron, at least during some periods. And the robe from the Dreaming Thicket is more Greek than Roman, but one makes do with what one has!

The countryside inn is rustic but reasonably clean, with a more pleasant odour than its city cousins. Even so, the woman in fine linen of bright colours and with her hennaed hair elaborately dressed looks out of place. A high class meretrix, perhaps, meeting with a man where neither of them will be known?

The Civitas series of buildings and decor from Del-ka Aedilis are fantastic for creating Roman or Romanesque locations, whether just for photos or for roleplay. For these photos I have used the Tavern and the Stable, plus the Tavern Table and various decor pieces from the Culina series to fill out the first floor of the tavern further. There’s also a second floor with rooms for travellers wishing to stay. The Stable can accommodate two horses in stalls and a couple tied outside. The build includes three horse props but if you want to use your own horses you could unlink and remove these.

The dress is from the Dreaming Thicket and the hair from F&M Oblivion. It is actually a Game of Thrones-inspired hairstyle but looks remarkably close to some Roman styles; I had never really reflected over the fact that some of the styles featured in GoT drew inspiration from what a Roman woman might wear. But given their (odd) decision to make King’s Landing Mediterranean, I suppose it fits.

The ornate chamber basin from Fantavatar & Moonstruck, with two different washing animations, was the starting point for this scene showing a somewhat voyeuristic glimpse of a lady in her chambers. The “fire eater” fireplace is another great decor item from Fantavatar & Moonstruck. I sized it down somewhat to fit in this room in the Townhouse Cosimo from Del-ka Aedilis and I think it makes for a fantastic centerpiece for the room. The rather sheer gown is an older release from Junbug which sells the idea of a thin undergown very well I think.

A new round of Redeux is opening today and running from June 14th to June 20th. Remember the full Laketown build from Del-ka Aedilis that I showed off a few weeks ago? Now they are starting to release the individual builds from this set and the first one out is the Laketown Tavern and Inn. Available together with it at the event is the Tavern Table Set and the Medieval Dishes Rezzer and all three releases are at 25% off for the duration of this round.

Also shown in this post is the Sam hair from Wasabi, a unisex style that can be worn with and without a cap and that is available at the current round of Anthem.

Night has fallen over the desert. By the fruit trees and date palms of the oasis, a large, striped tent has been erected. There’s no sign of activity outside of the tent, but inside someone waits…

Synergy Lab is currently running an Ice & Fire event, which naturally meant I was over there to check things out as soon as possible. Creators are allowed to use both the books and the show as inspiration. I would have liked to see a few more items that were clearly inspired by either (without infringing on any copyright) rather than being more generic fantasy/medieval, though that is always welcome as well!

Two creators that brought some very nice decor items were Del-ka Aedilis and Fantavatar & Moonstruck. The former has created a set inspired by the furnishings seen in Stannis Baratheon’s study on Dragonstone whereas the latter has made a safe that might even suit the Iron Bank of Braavos!

After the Fantasy Faire, one thing stuck in my head: the dragon (or, more specifically, the wyvern, since we wanted to be able to portray a Targaryen dragon properly) from Prehistorica would be a very neat avatar to have for fantasy photos. But should I wait to see if it would be released as an animesh instead of a bento avatar? I did start with the bento avatar horse from Teegle and I still think it is fantastic, but the animesh horses are easier to use for photos since they do not require me to have an alt on playing the horse. But after inquiring and learning it could be quite a while before any animesh dragons see the light of day, I decided to take the plunge and sent one of Ran’s alts shopping.

For the first outing with our new wyvern, we went to Del-ka Aedilis Laketown build, a whole town in a rezzbox. It is currently available at an introductory promo price for the whole build but the buildings will also be on sale separately soon. I definitely recommend visiting the display build, its beautifully setup. And despite what my pictures might suggest, it escaped the visit by the dragon without any fire damage or crushed roofs.

Tomorrow is your very last chance for this year to visit the wondrous realms of the Fantasy Faire. This may be my last post for the year, unless I manage to squeeze out another one tomorrow, but don’t count on it. For this one, I opted for focusing on a couple of builds available at the Faire to create a Viking homestead.

A fire burns in the middle of the longhall and pots of porridge and stew are cooking above it. Taking advantage of both the warmth and the illumination from the fire, a young woman works at binding baskets from thin reeds.

Roawenwood’s Basketweaver set is out at We Love Role-Play and offers both nice decor pieces in the shape of reeds and finished baskets as well as the chair shown here and mat with poses for doing the actual basketweaving or just sitting around. The style of the set means that it will fit into a variety of settings.

The Longhall Firepit Asgard is from Del-ka Aedilis for the new round of Redeux that opens today. It offers several different looks to the firepit via a menu, such as an empty firepit, a clean setup of a new fire, a burning fire and a variety of different dishes being cooked over the fire. Great for both roleplay and decor.

I had high hopes for the latest Enchantment round with the theme of “Viking Saga”, but I must admit that I found it a little slim on really interesting releases. Probably a good thing for my virtual wallet, all considered. ;) And there definitely were some things that inspired me, such as Roawenwood’s “Runecasters Table”. Decor items/props that also tell a story and can be used for role-play always draw my eye and this was no exception.

For the current round of Redeux (which ends tomorrow), Del-ka Aedilis has released the first building in their new Medici series. As the name suggests, this series will have a Renaissance feel but it will also suit various types of fantasy roleplay. The Townhouse Cosimo is perhaps primarily intended for city builds, but I liked the idea of setting it up as a secluded manor house. Ideally, I would have wanted matching stone walls and a more elaborate garden, but that will have to be for later on. As it is, I think it turned out very romantic, a perfect place for a secret rendezvous.

It is Friday, after all, so how about a bit of spicy romance? Heart-shaped seats and pillows, rose petals on the floor and a hint of dominance & submission. The heart-shaped ottoman and the heart-shaped pillows are recent releases from Roawenwood, whereas the rose petals are from a previous Roawenwood set. There are several texture options for the top of the ottoman and the pillow with the animations and then there are additional decor-only pillows with preset textures. The ottoman has some single poses but is mainly for couple poses, the pillow has only single poses.

Both Ran and I are wearing the latest hair from Wasabi, Asia. It is unrigged and works very well for both male and female avatars. Not shown here is the windblown option of the style.

In just a few days, Dutchie is releasing this great-looking wooden pool table with a choice of five colours for the felt on top. I had the opportunity to take an early look at it to film a short video of the PG version and of course I had to take some photos as well. For that, however, I used the Adult version, which adds several menus of adult animations to the playing, socializing and romancing options in the PG version. Still, the images included are fairly clothed, except for some hints of nipple courtesy of the sexy Izzy robe from Salt & Pepper and some partially obscured naughtiness. There’s definitely much more to be discovered on those menus. ;)

I used a new skybox from Del-ka Aedilis called Christmas in NYC to setup the scene in. Del-ka Aedilis primarily creates builds inspired by various historical eras so this one is a bit of a departure, though a very nice one! Its sleek, modern and spacious and the snowfall outside the windows together with the fireplace makes it feel very cosy.

I also have to highlight the hairpiece & hairbase from EMO-tions. I love these kinds of hairs, they look both fabulous and realistic. Oh, and the fabulous group gift skin from Clef the Peau, here worn on the lovely Lilly, the gift head from LeLutka.

It is only November, but I am starting to crave snow—especially instead of rain, rain and more rain! Right now, I have to settle for the virtual kind, however, so when Del-ka Aedilis sent out a blogger package with a wintry theme, I changed over one of my sky landscapes to match. Fortunately, Studio Skye recently released a 4 Season Bolt-On for the Woodland Path, which came in handy for this scene. The gown from Senzafine may not quite be warm enough on its own, but I rather like it in combination with this cape, an older release from Stitched.

As I promised, I have a lot of things to show you from The Horse Show. This time, I thought I would focus on four new releases from Teegle that enhance your interactions with your Teeglepets, as well as some accessories for prettying up your horses. I am also featuring a new set of riding boots from Eudora 3D.

Now, before you dive into this video, I want to point out a couple of things about the hitching post and the grooming add-on. I attempted to use both of them at the same time but was unsuccessful in doing so. I thought it was because the horse needs to have the hitching post set as an animation partner to use that one and for the grooming to work I needed to be set as the animation partner. However, I was told in chat that it should be possible for a horse to be partnered to two things, so I am not sure if a) these add-ons were not setup to allow that or b) I was doing something wrong. I will update accordingly when I know more.