Year: 2016

Fantasy Faire is one of the most popular large-scale events in Second Life. It is something looked forward to with huge anticipation by all those who participate and visit, not only because of its underpinning aim – to support cancer research and the care of cancer victims – but because it has such a unique atmosphere. The Faire is not so much an event, rich in activities and places to visit; it is a world within a world; a series of realms through which we are invited to travel and explore, where we can discover new things and make new friends.

A large part of this does come down to the regions themselves. Each year we area treated to the most incredible, region-wide themed builds, each joined one to the next to create a series of realms, contiguous to themselves through which we can travel as visitors, adventurers, the curious or the amazed.

But every so often a Fantasy Faire brings forth builds that are just that little bit extra special; and for me, 2016 is one of those years. Each of the regions has its own unique look and feel – as they always do; yet at the same time, there is something that resonates as we walk through them, a faint feeling of deja-vu; a feeling that while nothing quite like them has been seen here before, so to are these places someone connected to Fairelands of the past.

Kilik Lekvodas’ Bright Haven, for example, carries an echo of Kayle Matzerah’s Lumenaria from 2013 through its colours and broad streets, while Kayle’s build for Breeze carries a similar whimsy to that found in his 2014 Wiggenstead Mooring, albeit it with a little hint of Hobbiton thrown in! Meanwhile, in Kaelis Ember’s Serenity, one can also hear the elven songs once sung in Rynn Verwood’s Medhir Woods from 2014. Even dark Malfience in some ways carries echoes of 2013’s Valley of Ish’Nar.

Which is not to say that any of this year’s builds are in any way copied from the builds of the past – far from it; they are all truly unique. Rather, these echoes and hints help give us a feeling that not only do they form a world of their own, they are also part of a larger whole.

It’s not hard to imagine, for example, that if we could just continue a little further south from Mayah Parx’s Tinker’s Hollow, so might we come to her 2013 realm of Ravenshard, before travelling onwards from there to that year’s Blackwater Glenn, by Marcus Inkpen and Sharni Azalee, and from there travel back to  Lokii Violet’s Blackmoor to continue our journey owards through this year’s realms. Or that by travelling north from Elicio Ember’s Otherworld, we might once again tarry in his Faery Court from 2014. whilst west of Twilight’s Illusion, by Sweetgwendoline Bailey and Eldowyn Inshan, there waits the winter city of Aurora, designed by Beq Janus.

Such echoes are strong throughout many of the Faireland regions this year, greatly adding to the sense of returning to much-loved and familiar lands, even while the regions themselves are unique.And where the echoes may be less clear, we have the magnificence of builds which may well resonate into the future – The Golden Delta, by Alia Baroque, or Loki Eliot’s norse masterpiece of Echtra, the Sapphire Mirror Lake, Dangarnon, Lucentia.

It is in exploring the regions at each year’s Faire they I find my greatest pleasure; allowing my imagination free rein to concoct stories about each of them while seeing if memories of past realms and places seep through and alter my imaginings. Of course, your memories of Fairelands past as reflected in Fairelands present most likely differ from mine. Nevertheless, they are still link us, one to another, as citizens of these realms, and of those which have come before them, and which are never truly lost to the mists of time.

If you haven’t yet visited the Fairelands this year, there is a still time – follow the links below!

Fairelands Junction	Blackmoor
Breeze	Bright Haven
Dangarnon	Echtra
The Golden Delta	Lucentia
Malfience	OtherWorld
Sapphire Mirror Lake	Serenity
Tinkers Hollow	Twilight Illusion

This post can also be found on the Fantasy Faire website.

Once again, visitors to Fantasy Faire are being offered the opportunity to vote for the King and Queen of the Fairelands and their (strictly non-human) Chancellor.  The winners will be crowned at the Fantasy Faire Masquerade Ball, which will also see their Chancellor announced.

Since the Faire opened, residents have been invited to nominate their favourite characters from the worlds of fantasy whom they would like to see crowned king and queen, or appointed to the role of Chancellor (a role for strictly non-human characters).

The nominations have now closed, and voting for the  top five nominees in each category (King, Queen and Chancellor) is open!

And the Nominees for King of the Faire are:

The Goblin King (Labyrinth)	The Mad Hatter (Lewis Caroll’s Alice books)		Severus Snape (J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series)
Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)		Tirion Lannister (G.R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire)

Another interesting bunch, although I’m a little surprised not to see the likes of Aragorn among the candidates – or at least someone from Tolkien’s realms, but there you go. It’s certainly good to see Tirion Lannister back again. He had my vote in 2015, and he gets it again this year, for pretty much the same reason – you’ll always know where you stand with Tirion Lannister. And who doesn’t like an honourable rogue anyway?

Nevertheless, I rather suspect that voting could be a close-run thing between the Goblin King and Severus Snape this years, given the sad loss of the lights who brought them both so wonderfully to life.

So, on to the nominees for Queen of the Faire:

Firiona Vie (EverQuest)	Galadriel (J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth)		October Daye (from the books by Seanan McGuire)
Maleficent (from the film of the same name)		Titania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)

Once again Galadriel and Maleficent make a return as two of the Final Five for Queen. Again, while my love of Tolkien should see me leaning toward Galadriel, But again, as I noted last year, my bias for Tolkien might take the lead were it Arwen Undómiel or Lúthien Tinuviel on the ballot papers. As it is, and having no real feel for Firiona Vie or October Daye and not being particularly fond of Titania (mush as I enjoy the play!) – my vote is sticking with Maleficent.

And to whom might I give my vote for Chancellor?

Mrs. Norris (J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series)	Krosp I ( Phil and Kaja Foglio’s Girl Genius series )		Cheshire Cat (Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)
K9 (Doctor Who)		The Last Unicorn (from the book of the same name by Peter S. Beagle)

I have to confess to being a little surprised by K9’s presence, as he’s less a figure of fantasy and more a figure from science fiction. However, three cats more than make up for this 🙂 . My mind isn’t totally made up as yet, but I admit to leaning towards Krosp; even if it is a bit of a come-down for him from the status of Emperor of Cats.

To vote for your favourites, visit the kiosks located on the magnificent Sapphire Mirror Lake, the home of much of the entertainment at this year’s Faire. To place you vote, simply make a donation against those for who you wish to vote – this is most definitely an election which can be bought!

Voting  will remain open until 17:00 SLT, on Sunday 1st May, and the results will b announced at the end of this year’s Fantasy Faire Masquerade Ball.