Day: March 28, 2023

Fantasy Faire 2023: reminders for merchants/sponsors + bloggers

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Fantasy Faire

Fantasy Faire, the largest fantasy-related event to take place in Second Life, will take place in 2023 from Thursday, April 20th to Sunday May 7th 2023 inclusive. As usual, there will be the expected rich mix of events, activities, stores and regions to explore, and this post is just a quick reminder to people that Merchant & Sponsor applications, together with Blogger applications are currently open – but may not be for much longer, so if you intend to apply for any of these opportunities, now is the time!

The Shopping Regions Teaser

The following are short descriptions to the Fantasy Faire 2023 shopping regions. More complete descriptions can be found in the Store Applications form, linked to below, together with details of those regions still with available store slots.

  • Dingir by Stabitha (What88 Zond): in another existence, just outside our own, is the forgotten city of Dingir, a place of art deco architecture once filled with bright colours and rich materials to symbolise the beginning of a new age of consciousness, but now long neglected.
  • Flambois by Beq Janus and Elizabeth Jarvinen: home to the Faire Lands Academy of Magic, a hidden gem in the heart of the mystical Flambois forest.
  • Frostweald by Searlait Nitschke: in the depths of Winter, the world of Frostweald waits to welcome the Spirits of loved ones as they travel from their world to the next.
  • Fungalmire by DaveOSaurus: a forest steeped in legend and myth, where ancient trees and giant mushrooms tell tales of times past. Winding paths lead to hidden nooks where visitors might stumble upon forgotten artefacts or catch a glimpse of a mystical creature or two.
  • Giggenwhirl by Allie Munro, Krystali Rabeni, Peter Locke and Lunar Tripsa: a bedridden boy dreams of a beautiful world where he can fly high above the ground into the blue beyond on a myriad of strange and magical creatures with hinged wings and propeller appendages.
  • Glimmering Meadows by Julala Demina and Lil Cinnamon: a meandering river makes a path through flower-filled meadows, glimmering light reflecting onto the nomadic tents rising up high into the colourful sky.
  • Isles of Aquarius by Echo (Jessicarubyrabbit) and Liz Corryong: dripping with the life-giving waters of the sea, the stone and glass forged by the commanding currents of the merfolk are illuminated by the hypnotic lights of their Prana, or life-force.
  • Khumbala by Ketsui Naidoo, Robyn (Robynredhead) and Ghost (synthodox): since the dawn of time, this Afrocentric Dreamworld of Memories, has grown and prospered under the rule of five benevolent Gods. Through them, the world was brought the waters, the winds, the very ground we stand, crops that sprout therein and the light that shines above.
  • Nysaris by Kadaj Yoshikawa and Janire Coba: a peaceful polytheist civilisation, the town full of lush vegetation which surrounds the Agora; the Temple dedicated to the Goddess of Hope.
  • Opera by Alia Baroque: baroque decadence, whispering curtains, bucolic debauchery.
  • Safe Haven – The Oasis Of Mana’Olana by Sweetgwendoline Bailey and Mondi Beaumont: a desert landscape with typical buildings, that is obvious at first glance – but a closer look reveals lively greenery in the interior and very unusual flora and fauna in the centre of the land. A realm for inclusivity, equality, and all the good values in life.
  • The Shimmering Fen by Elicio Ember: the air shimmers with magic and the land is lush, a living swamp of towering mushrooms. Meet the graceful elves who call this place home, living in organic structures that flow with the rhythm of nature. Welcome to The Shimmering Fen.
  • Sialdor by Dacien and Marcel Blackwood: a gothic Victorian styled city along the coast. With cobblestone streets and iron street lamps illuminating the foggy roads with glowing magical orbs.
  • Spirits’ Crossing by Marcus Inkpen: twin cities from a forgotten time connected by an ancient bridge where long ago a battle between powerful mages and elder gods tore reality asunder. Now the ruins, twisted trees and ever lingering magic form a misty labyrinth home for the few brave enough to live there.
  • Syzstrum Synod by Walton Wainwright: nestled among the stars, a world where machines left by long-forgotten creators have pried the secrets of the cosmos from the grasp of mystery.
  • The Winding Valley by Eldowyn Inshan: through fog, wild ivy and winding paths, a hidden entrance leads into a valley. Surrounded by high mountains you can see a village in the distance. Lamps shine brightly and chanting can be heard faintly on the wind.
  • WooHoo! Bay by Riven (Lrriven): a tropical paradise done in pastel and a whimsical land where one may complete a quest of self discovery to save the local fire lizards from their volcano god.
Fantasy Faire 2022: Sunken Honey (Lilia Artis and Haveit Neox)

Sponsorship and Store Applications

  • Event Region or Event Sponsorship – L$65,000 (includes a Theme store)
    • Name in Region Title and on Region landmarks.
    • Border Crossing recognition. OR logo placement on corresponding event poster.
    • Sponsor spot on Fantasy Faire Radio to play during the entire month of April.
    • The opportunity for a sponsor’s brand profile on the Fantasy Faire website. Prominent logo placement on the Fantasy Faire website.
  • Shopping Region Sponsorship – ONLY available to Merchants – L$65,000 (includes a Region Sponsor Store with 1600 LI)
    • Can share a store between 2+ merchants.
    • Placement in front of Central Arrival Point.
    • Can have a sky platform for rezzing builds as needed.
    • Name in Region Title and on Region landmarks.
    • Border Crossing recognition.
    • Sponsor spot on Fantasy Faire Radio to play during the entire month of April.
    • The opportunity for a sponsor’s brand profile on the Fantasy Faire website. Prominent logo placement on the Fantasy Faire website.
  • Featured Creator Store + Quest Sponsor – L$35,000 (includes Featured Creator Store with 1000 LI)
    • Can share a store between 2+ merchants.
    • Prominent placement next to Region Sponsor Store.
    • Can have a sky platform for rezzing builds as needed.
    • Advertising on the Quest HUD and on the FF blog.
    • Limited to up to 2 per region (but the organisers will get you onto the region of your choice if the two spots are not yet filled).
  • Featured Creator Store – L$ 8000 (700 LI)
    • Can share a store between 2+ merchants.
    • Prominent placement within a shopping region.
  • Theme Store – L$ 2500 (300 LI)
    • This store type is intended for individual merchants.
    • A second merchant can be added for a surcharge.
  • Quest Sponsor – L$30,000:
    • Does NOT include a store.
    • Logo placement on the Quest HUD and on the Fantasy Faire website.
  • Fantasy Faire Radio Sponsor – L$30,000:
    • Does NOT include a store.
    • Recognition on Fantasy Faire Radio and on the Fantasy Faire website.

Full details on requirements and guidelines for performers can be found on the Fantasy Faire 2023 Store Application form.

Fantasy Faire 2021: Peaville goes Nuts (Sweetgwendoline Bailey and Mondi Beaumont)

Blogger Applications

Applications for those wishing to blog / vlog about Fantasy Faire opened on March 20th. Those wishing to apply can do so via the Fantasy Faire Blogger Application form. However, if you have not blogged / vlogged about Fantasy Faire before, it’s important you not a few things.

Faire blogging should stem from the same sources as the Faire itself – inspiration and imagination; whilst there are no obligatory assignments for blogging, the Faire cannot be written about simply by donning an outfit and writing a few words about it, or by a quick hop to a region and a rapid write. As the Fantasy Faire organisers have previously noted:

We are looking for bloggers that genuinely love the Faire and cherish the fleeting time the Fairelands visit our realm. Since the application is mostly about getting into the early access, we are focusing on bloggers who take pictures in the regions, or of the regions We are also searching for bloggers with strong ties to RFL, who are passionate about the Relay and willing to write about it.

In short, writing about the Faire should come from being immersed within it, participating, having fun and letting your imagination soar on the wings of the Faire! So again, if you are interested, make sure you check-out all the information for bloggers and that you complete the application form.

Fantasy Faire 2020: Lunafae (Sharni Azalee)

Additional Links

Saturated in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Saturated, March 2023 – click any image for full size

Lex Machine (Archetype11 Nova) is back with another visually stunning region / installation which – as with all his designs – is sure to both engage and challenge the eye and mind. Occupying a Full private region utilising the Land Capacity bonus, this is again a build that offers visitors much food for thought: a journey through modern life and the potential for questions who – and where – we are.

Entitled Saturated, the installation involves a flat landscape which – in keeping with the region’s name – is saturated to the point of waterlogging as it sits just above the waters of the surrounding sea. From it springs, apparently at random, figures, statues, objects both familiar and strange, mixed with a scattering of vegetation.

Saturated, March 2023

Mermaids mix with radio / telecommunication towers mix with figures apparently in suspension and towers of static-filled video screens, whilst laptops and old computers lie discarded in powdery piles and figures stand with cameras and screens or radios in place of heads, the body of an automatic handgun points skywards, and more. It all seems so chaotic, so unconnected, so jumbled and surreal; what could be the connections between these disparate elements? Perhaps the easiest way is peek at the region’s About Land description.

Rain, it can bring life. But when the ground has had it’s fill, first comes damage, next destruction. Death is last. Are we saturated?
Are we better off with these constant inputs or was less more? When was the last time we savoured anything?

– Saturated’s About Land description

With these words, we gain a framework of context, one fleshed out by the landscape before us: a statement on life and our ever-increasing reliance on -addiction to – technology (perhaps most aptly defined by the figure “snorting” Facebook and the litter of computers and laptops and cell phones strewn over mounds of a white substance like some form of new cocaine), and the fears (re: the Terminator-style figures leaping out of screens of data) and polarisations it brings to our daily lives.

Saturated, March 2023

The polarisations might be best indicated by the family gathered to the north-east, where mother, father, and child all have heads replaced by screens symbolising the manner in which technology has reduced daily living and personal time to the need for everything in our lives to become a matter of public record with meaning only given through its presence on social media. At the same time, this demand to be publicly accessible contrasts with the ability of technology in enabling us to hide behind masks of anonymity, as represented by the figures wearing / carrying masks, or with Russian doll-like heads. Meanwhile, to the south-east, the figure stabbed with syringes suggests the divide generated by the easy passage technology gives to the passage of misinformation into our lives, warping our common sense against the realities of science and medicine.

Elsewhere the symbolism might be clearer such as the large eyes watching over everything like Big Brother – although whether we see this as the state or in the form of corporate goggling-up of our data (or both) is a matter of personal choice. But really, there is such a richness of metaphor to be found within Saturated, that trying to write about it is no easy matter. From the apple and serpent (our end of innocence? the beginning our our fall simply born by our coming into existence?) through the presence of mermaids and flying fish (the explorations of the unknown? the free flight of the imagination we once had?) to the reimagining of the March of Progress, there is so much to say that is difficult to translate into the written word.

Saturated, March 2023

Simply put, Saturated is – as with all of Lex’s builds – something not to read about, bot to experience for yourself – and I encourage you do do so.

With thanks to Moon Cloud.

SLurl Details