So that’s it very It’s a lazy spring Sunday morning, and of course, I’m dressed up as a medieval queen and her knights at the LOVE romantic dance club with my main Second Life avatar, Vanity Fair, and my main male SL alternate avatar, Heath Homewood. You know, like someone would do. 😜 Much better than having the radio on while doing laundry! (Hey, don’t judge me. We all have obsessive hobbies that help us maintain our mental health during these difficult times..)
This is my somewhat roundabout way of saying that Fantasy Fair season has begun once again in Second Life. This year, there are over 20 regions, each with their own fantasy theme. Roleplay opportunities abound, with hunting and questing, auctions and shopping, arts and entertainment, literary festivals, film festivals, and magnificent masquerade balls. There is something for everyone! There is even a special radio station!
Fantasy Faire (April 18 – May 7, 2024) is Second Life’s annual fantasy roleplay festival, shopping event, and fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.
Now in its 16th year, Fantasy Faire 2024 is the largest gathering of fantasy designers, enthusiasts, role-players, and performers from virtual worlds, uniting their visions to support the American Cancer Society’s vision of a cancer-free world.
Fantasy Faire is one of the mega events of Second Life’s Relay For Life. SL’s RFL is part of the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life fundraising effort. You can visit the Second Life Teams page to see how much money various SL events raised for Relay For Life this year.
In 2023, Fantasy Faire ranked 12th out of 40,000 Relay For Life teams worldwide in terms of fundraising. Additionally, Second Life’s Relay For Life was the 8th highest fundraising RFL community event in the world.
Participating stores often have special promotions on their merchandise, with proceeds going to the American Cancer Society. For example, Heath’s awesome Caelan armor (with the Tree of Life motif) and chainmail suit are available at the Poet’s Heart store at Fantasy Faire. The Caelan armor comes in 13 colorways, including the green shown below, for $300, while the chainmail comes in 19 colorways for just $100. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of these items during Fantasy Faire go to the American Cancer Society. I don’t know if you’ve ever shopped for armor in SL, but I have. Paying L$400 for a full pack of armor and chainmail was a real deal. special transaction! You can easily spend up to 10 times that amount. one The color of the armor!
The armor and chainmail come in the following male and female sizes and include everything except the helmet and the weapon you choose to wear.
Men’s Mesh Body Size:
- Beauty Jake
- Warrior of Initium
- Meshbody Legacy Male Body
Women’s Mesh Body Size:
- GenX Classic Beauty
- GenX Attractive Beauty
- Maitreya Lara X (However, since you’ll most likely be alpha-outing your entire body under a full-body chainmail anyway, this will likely work for Maitreya Lara 5.3 or earlier as well. But first, get the demo and check it out!)
- Maitreya Lara Petit X (And probably for the same reason it is an older Petite body.)
- Meshbody Legacy Women’s Body
- Messibody legacy perky
- Ibadi Ribbon
Take a closer look at this stunning piece from Vanity Fair.And, I must confess, it was quite daunting!) Costumes:
Madame Noir has a store at Fantasy Faire (SLURL), but you’ll need to go to the main store to purchase this incredibly gorgeous Queen ballgown.The main store is an adults-only store, but as you can guess from this skintight corset dress, they also sell fetish wear!) I think the Madame Noir store is currently undergoing renovations, but trust me, it’s worth a visit! It looks like the owner has put a lot of effort into fitting the new Maitreya LaraX mesh body, and there are so many amazing things to buy there!
Madame Noir offers free group membership, which allows you to get a small discount on your purchases in the store, and there are also various free group gifts.
The Regium crown, matching the Imperium head chainmail, is from Unholy (SLURL). They can be used together or separately. Both the crown (unrigged, resizable) and the chainmail (rigged) come in sizes that fit both male and female avatars, and each has a HUD with lots of options, including 10 different metal textures for the various parts. I decided to go with a silver metallic tone to match the outrageous sleeves and metallic sheen of the collar of the Madame Noir Queen ballgown!
Complete styling notes
Here’s what Vanity Fair wore:
- Hair and Makeup: New LAQ Era2 Female Mesh Head (UltimateHD Version)
- body: New Maitreya LaraX Mesh Body
- skin: Next Level Maitreya body skin matching the LAQ Susanna UltimateHD head skin (Susanna Head Skin Fat Pack is one of the gifts currently available at the Belliceria 5th Anniversary Gift Plaza.)
- crown: Regium Crown of Unholy
- Head Chainmail Armor: Imperium of the Unholy
- outerwear: Madame Noir’s Queen Gown
- Shoes (not shown): Silver Heidi pumps by Garbaggio
Heath Homewood wears:
- head: Cat and Daniel Messi Head
- hair: Boy Next Door from Exile
- body: Beleza Jake Messi Body
- skin: Body skin matching Birth’s Blaze head skin
- helmet: Faraam Helmet from Eleran’s Crafts (part of a full knight outfit)
- The rest of the armor: Caelan Armor and Chainmail from Poet’s Heart
Pro tip: Looking for free weapons? Jomo has a small stone building next to the main store (SLURL to be exact). There you can get dozens of free swords, shields, spears, staffs, axes and other weapons. No group membership required, everything is free!
Please note the following: ~ No It’s a scripted weapon, but you can resize and modify it as you wish. I use it with a very handy HUD I bought from Antaya, the Unisex Roleplay HUD. This HUD provides a variety of static Bento hand and arm poses that can be used with non-scripted accessories like the sword I bought from Jomo. Here’s the exact SLURL where you can find the roleplay HUD in the Antaya store.
Of course, most roleplayers will probably use some sort of system that allows you to draw and sheathe your sword using some sort of scripted weapon attachment, special keystroke, etc. (there are already many such systems well established in Second Life). The Antaya HUD is more used for static items or taking pictures in SL.
Explore the different areas of Fantasy Fair. Some of Second Life’s best landscape designers do their best to surprise visitors each year, and each area has a different fantasy theme. It’s fun even if you don’t buy anything!
Updated April 29, 2024: Ava Bloodrose Delaney informed me that “(Fantasy Faire) has been extended to (May) 7th by Lindens at their Jail & Bail event on the 19th.” Thanks, Ava! I’ve updated the blog post accordingly.
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