Category: Events

Fantasy Faire: nominations for king, queen and chancellor, and a Quest teaser

Posted on by Inara Pey
via Fantasy Faire

One of the features introduced to Fantasy Faire 2015 was the opportunity to nominate and then vote for the King and Queen of the Fairelands and their (strictly non-human) Chancellor.

Nominations came from across all realms of fantasy, with the top five for the positions of king and queen (human or human-looking nominations only)  and chancellor, went forward for a public vote-off during the course of the Faire.

The very first king, queen and chancellor of the Fairelands were, respectively, Havelock  Vetinari and Granny Weatherwax and Greebo the cat, all of which marked a fitting tribute to the late Sir Terry Pratchett, who passed away in March 2015, just ahead of that year’s Faire.

Havelock  Vetinari, Granny Weatherwax and Greebo the Cat were the first elected king, queen and chancellor of the Fairelands in 2015.

In 2016 came the time to elect a new king, queen and chancellor, with the honours this time going to The Goblin King, October Daye and The Last Unicorn.

Now, a year on, it is time for the royalty of 2016 to put aside their sceptres, and the chancellor his chains of office. As Fantasy Faire 2017 approaches, Fairelands Folk are once again being asked nominate those they feel should be elected king, queen and chancellor for this year’s event.

The Goblin King, October Daye and The Last Unicorn were the elected king, queen and chancellor of the Fairelands in 2016

You can nominate your choices through the form below (or if you prefer, go directly to the same form on the Fantasy Faire website. Any character from the worlds of fantasy is eligible; the only major requirements being that nominations for king and queen must be human (or human-type) characters, whilst nominations for chancellor are restricted to non-human (or non-human type) characters.

Note that a) characters should be chosen from works of fantasy  (including fairy tales, high fantasy, steampunk, urban fantasy, vampire sagas, etc) which can be written or graphical texts or films, TV or radio shows; and b) past winners are not eligible for re-election.

Nominations close at midnight SLT at the end of Saturday, April 22nd.

Get ready for the Fantasy Faire Quest

The Quest: The Bard Queen’s Song

The first teaser for the 2017 Fantasy Faire Quest appeared on Thursday, April 6th. Entitled The Bard Queen’s Song, it sees a little bit of a twist occur with things.

In previous years, a call has gone to Heroes and Heroines to come to the Bard Queen and assist her in righting wrongs. But this year, it is the Bard Queen herself who has seemingly vanished – and that could be very bad news for the Fairelands!

Fortunately (or so it says here in a script handed me by a pair of very small hands) Farion Sunbreeze has realised something is amiss; that while the Bard Queen has been known to skip off out of the Fairelands every once in a while, this time It Is Different and that Something Is Amiss – and he (and The Lads) are going to put matters to rights!

Only problem is, Farion is a pixie (as are The Lads). So, yeaaaaaahhhh – they’re going to need some a lot of help.

So, once again, the call goes out to the heroes and heroines of the Fairelands:  dare you travel you Morbus, where the Unweaver has sought to sew his malice, turning beauty into chaos and nature against itself? Dare you find your way to the Alchemist’s tower, and once there do ….

… Do what, exactly? Well, that would be telling – but keep your eyes on the Fantasy Faire website (and maybe these pages) for future teasers. For the last couple of years, I’ve road-tested the Quest; whether fortune favours me the same privilege this year, I know not – but either way, the Quest is not something to be missed!

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Mystery and magic with a twist of Chekhov at Seanchai Library

Posted on by Inara Pey

It’s time to kick-off another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s Second Life home at Bradley University, unless otherwise indicated.

Monday, April 3rd 19:00: Enemy Mine

Gyro Muggins continues reading Barry B. Longyear’s novella which first appeared in a 1979 issue of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, before becoming the basis of the of the 20th Century Fox film of the same name, starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett, Jr. This led to Longyear producing an expanded version of the story, written with David Gerrold.

In the midst of an interstellar war between humans and Dracs (a race of humanoid reptilians), Willis Davidge, a human fighter pilot, crashes on a hostile planet after a dogfight with a Drac – who is also forced down on the same planet.

The two initially continue their hostilities towards one another. But the planet proves so hostile that Davidge and the Drac, Jeriba Shigan (whom Davidge nicknames “Jerry”), are forced to join forces in order to ensure their survival. Then Davidge learns Jeriba is pregnant – Drac being entirely asexual …

Tuesday, April 4th 19:00: Of Mice and Magic

Faerie Maven-Pralou reads the first in the Ravenspell series by David Farland

More than anything, Benjamin Ravenspell wants a pet. But when he buys a mouse named Amber, he gets more than he bargained for. No sooner does Ben take her home, than Amber turns him into a mouse too.

You see, Amber has magical abilities, and it so happens that Ben is a familiar, a creature that stores magical energy. Together they each form half of a powerful wizard. Alone, they’re just vermin.

Soon Ben and Amber find themselves pitted in an epic battle against a magical enemy who is as crazed as he is evil, and the fate of the world will rest on them learning to work together.

Wednesday, April 5th

13:30: Hypergrid Safari visits EXPLORE Anton Chekhov & the Absurd

A special tour of Seanchai’s Explore the Arts installation focus on Anton Chekhov in Kitely  grid.kitely.com:8002:EXPLORESeanchai).

19:00: The Atrocity Archives Part 2

atrocity-archivesBob Howard is a low-level techie working for The Laundry, a super-secret government agency. While his colleagues are out saving the world, Bob’s under a desk restoring lost data. None of them receive any thanks for the jobs they do, but at least a techie doesn’t risk getting shot or eaten in the line of duty. Bob’s world is dull but safe, and that’s the way it should have stayed; but then he went and got Noticed.

Now, Bob Howard is up to his neck in spycraft, alternative universes, dimension-hopping Nazis, Middle Eastern terrorists, damsels in distress, ancient Lovecraftian horror and the end of the world.

Only one thing is certain: it will take more than control-alt-delete to sort this mess out…

Join Corwyn Allen as he resumes relating stories involving Charles Stross’ unlikely hero, Bob Howard.

Thursday, April 6th

19:00: The X-FILES – Trust No On

With Shandon Loring  and Caledonia Skytower (also presented in Kitely).

21:00 Seanchai Late Night

With Finn Zeddmore.

Please check with the Seanchai Library’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule.

The featured charity for March April is Project Children, building peace in Ireland one child at a time.

Filling the Cauldron opens in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Filling the Cauldron — website — SLurl

Re-printed from the Filling the Cauldron blog.

Filling the Cauldron – our week-long fund-raiser between April 1st and April 9th, aiming to raise money to help Second Life creator Elicio Ember and his family -is NOW OPEN!!

Elicio Ember

Elicio is one of SL’s brilliant creators and a gifted artist. He’s known for his highly imaginative plants and fantasy designs provided through his Cerridwen’s Cauldron brand, and for his generous spirit and his involvement in charitable events such as Fantasy Faire.

Recently, Elicio’s father suffered a major stroke, leaving Elicio and his sisters facing significant and unexpected medical expenses after learning the insurance provided by his father’s employer does not provide cover for the care and rehabilitation he now needs. You can read more on his family’s situation in this letter from him to his friends.

So Filling the Cauldron is our chance to reflect Elicio’s huge heart and generous spirit by raising funds to help meet those medical expenses. We hope you’ll help us by feeding the donation kiosk here and those through the event area, and help to Fill the Cauldron with us!

And don’t forget! As well as the music and entertainment, we have more to see and do: there’s a marketplace with 20 creators, an art display, two auctions with some really fantastic items, a garden display – just follow the signs and use the Teleport HUD available for the givers on either side of this deck and take a look around – and be sure to come back through the week!

So what do we have to offer? A lot! Every day we’re inviting you to:

  • Come browse the marketplace and see what our merchants are offering, including special items with 100% of proceeds going to help Elicio and his family. Catch a list of our merchants.
  • See the silent auction boards and the fabulous items we have up for grabs, donated by some of the top talent in Second Life. See our full auction list.
  • Wander the art displays and revisit Elicio’s builds from the past and enjoy the art of noted Fantasy Faire photographers and our artists.
  • Hop to the Garden Design platform and view the creations by those who entered our Garden Design contest, then cast you vote for your favourite design!
  • Visit Cerridwen’s Corner and grab yourself some of Elicio’s fabulous designs and creations!
  • Join in with the dancing, singing and fun on our entertainment stage – see the day’s schedule below, and check the event calendar for more!

Take a look at the Saturday entertainment line-up

Everything is taking place at Hollykai Park (SLurl), generously donated for the event by Nber Medici and MarkTwain White of Hollywood Real Estate – so if you are looking to own land around the Blake Sea, with loads of opportunities for sailing, boating and flying – look them up!

To help you find your way around Filling the Cauldron, we have a series of teleport station where you can used map-based teleport, or you can claim a Filling the Cauldron telport HUD – which we recommend. The HUD will attach to your screen and ask to take teleport permissions – simply grant this, and then click the numbers on the HUD map to hop around all our locations – and even get to Cerridwen’s Cauldron – Elicio’s main store!

The Filling the Cauldron Teleport Maps – grab the HUD from the vendor under them (arrowed), and get around all the event locations even easier!

Our Merchants have been fabulously generous in providing goods for sale with 100% of proceeds going to the event – just look for the vendors with the FTC logo over them.

The FTC vendors – just look for the logo, and right-click PAY or BUY (depending on your viewer menu)

We’ll be talking more about merchants in the week – as we will about our artists as well, who have pulled together wonderful display of art celebrating Elicio’s work and Fantasy Faire, while John Brianna has generously donated a selection of his outstanding art for sale – all the pieces offered through Filling the Cauldron vendors, so 100% of all sales go to the cause!

There will also be posts about our line-up of entertainment through the week as well, and plenty of new about our auctions, which you are not going to want to miss.

So do drop by the event, keep an eye on this website and blog and do please help us to fill the cauldron for Elicio! Regular update on the amount donated will be given, and we’ll be publishing a breakdown of the totals after we close.

Event SLurls

Holly Kai Park is rated Moderate.

Are you ready to help fill the cauldron in Second Life?

Posted on by Inara Pey
Filling the Cauldron: the Garden Design platform

It’s hard not to miss the fact that I’ve not been blogging as frequently as is usually the case for me over the last couple of weeks. That’s because I’ve been buried in preparations for Filling the Cauldron, a fund-raising event to help Elicio Ember and his family.

As anyone who attends the annual Fantasy Faire event in Second Life, Elicio is frequently one of the world builders for that event. He’s also a fabulous creator, owning Cerridwen’s Cauldron, which is itself a fabulous region build and an iconic store design. He’s also an artist in real life and has built art installation in Second Life as well.

Filling the Cauldron: Art Show

Most importantly of all, however, is Elicio has one of the biggest hearts in Second Life. He is wonderfully supportive of those around him, generous, charitable and kind. So when he does – and with a huge amount of reluctance and personal embarrassment – put out a call for help, you can be sure it is genuine.

Earlier this year, Elicio’s father suffered a serious stroke. Despite being a government employee, Elicio and his family were shocked for find their father was without medical cover, leaving the family with extensive bills to cover. You can read more, in Elicio’s own words in this letter from Elicio.

Filling the Cauldron: Cerridwen’s Corner

While he was never asking for anything more than for people to buy his Second Life creations, those of us who know Elicio were determined to do more – and so Filling the Cauldron was born. Given the urgency of the situation and the mounting bills, we knew we had to move fast – and so this entire event has been put together in just three weeks. Even now, we’re working frantically to get everything in place in time to open the doors on Saturday, April 1st.

We may still have a few rough edges to smooth off when we do – but I hope that they won’t stop you from coming by and spending time with us, and supporting Elicio and his sisters but donating to the cause. We’ve got a lot going on, all things considered:

  • DJs, live performers and dance troupes
  • Two fabulous auctions – a silent auction and a live auction with some amazing items to claim, including original pieces of Elicio’s art
  • A display of photography celebrating Elicio’s creativity in Second Life
  • A photo contest with some great prizes – which you can still enter
  • A garden design contest featuring the talents of nine extraordinary builders in Second Life – and from which we’d like YOU to help select the best build
  • A great market filled with stalls from 20 Second Life creators, all of whom are donating at least one item to be sold with 100% of proceeds going to the fund-raising
  • Cerridwen’s Corner – a miniature version of Elicio’s store where you can buy many of his plants and designs – so if you’d rather give directly to Elicio himself, you can do so through Filling the Cauldron and still enjoy the rest of the event.

So… with our doors opening this weekend, please take time to visit the Filling the Cauldron website – and from Saturday onwards, so please, please come along and join us in celebrating Elicio’s work, raising money for his family and having fun! All of the relevant SLurl will be appearing in these pages as we open the doors, and they’ll all be available on the event’s web pages. You can also catch Filling The Cauldron in the Destination Guide!

Filling the Cauldron: part of the marketplace

Calling All Bloggers!

Yes, we know it is short notice, but we’re looking for bloggers to help spread the word about Filling the Cauldron! We’ve been running around trying to get things in place, this nearly slipped through the cracks BUT!  If you’d like to blog about Filling the Cauldron, we’d like you to! SO… we’re holding two guided tours of the event region to help you get familiar with everything that is going on – hop on over the FTC Blogger Applications page to find out more!

2017 Fantasy Faire: blogger applications open

Posted on by Inara Pey
Via Fantasy Faire

Fantasy Faire, the largest fantasy-related event to take place in Second Life, opens its portals on Thursday, April 20th and runs through until Sunday April 30th, 2017 inclusive. It will bring together everyone with a love of fantasy  – enthusiasts, creators, performers and designers  – for eleven days of commerce, special events, live music concerts and more, all to help raise funds for Relay for Life of Second Life.

On March 23rd, 2017, applications to be a 2017 Fantasy Faire blogger officially opened, with the announcement reading in part:

Do you want to shape your visit, your experiences in the Fairelands into pictures and words to be shared with the rest of the world? Do you want to forward and spread the call, alert people of how fleeting the eleven days of magic are, tell them how much there is to see, feel, live?

If you do, then make sure you complete the blogger application form BUT! – don’t hurry there right away. As with past Faires, there are a few little extras to consider!

Fantays Faire 2013: Titan’s Hollow

As with recent years, bloggers are additionally invited to participate in one or more challenges. These are not obligatory, and anyone  – official blogger or otherwise – is free to participate in them. They are: Faire Folk (create a Fairelands character),  My New Shiny (merchant-focused blogging from a personal perspective), Why I Relay (sharing a personal reason why you Relay), and I Remember (tell about your favourite Fairelands of the past).

Those applying to be an official blogger at this year’s faire can also apply to write for the official Fantasy Faire website. This has no influence on the actual blogger application and should be filled only if you are truly interested. There’s very limited spots for this.

So, if you are interested, make sure you check-out all the information for bloggers and that you complete the application form.

Fantasy Faire 2012: Siren’s Secret

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Wednesday, March 29th: VWBPE 2017 kicks-off

Posted on by Inara Pey
Image courtesy of VWBPE

The 2017  Virtual Worlds Best Practice in Education (VWBPE) conference opens its gates on Wednesday, March 29th and will run through until  Saturday April 1st, 2017 inclusive. A grass-roots community event focusing on education in immersive virtual environments, VWBPE attracts 2200-3500 educational professionals from around the world each year.

2017 is a special year for VWBPE, marking its tenth anniversary. With this in mind, the overarching them for the four days is that of Legacy. Taking place over six regions in Second Life, the conference covers presentations, workshops, demonstrations, and social events with the focus on using virtual environments for education and learning.

You can see the full event schedule at the VWBPE website. However, the keynote presentations will be from (all times SLT), which take place in the VWBPE Main auditorium:

  • Wednesday, March 29th, 2017 17:00:  Dr. Celia Pearce (SL: Artemesia Sandgrain) – The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same: Twenty Years in Virtual Worlds
  • Firday, March 31st, 2017 13:00: Chris Dede (SL: Chris Olejniczak) – How Immersion in Virtual and Augmented Worlds Helps Students in the Real World
  • Saturday, April 1st, 2017 16:00: John Lester (SL: Pathfinder Lester) – Beyond Escapism: Virtual Worlds, Vulnerable Populations and Social Good
VWBPE 2017

In addition, watch out for the following:

  • Thursday, March 30, 2017, 08:00 – The Legacy Panel – the panel will take a look back over the past and forward to the future, not only with virtual conferences, but also with education in virtual environments in general. The discussion will range from challenges to possibilities, the evolution of the conference, and the technology that made it possible.
  • Above the book: two special sessions featuring Ebbe Altberg, Linden Lab’s CEO and video documentarian and roving reporter, Draxtor Despres. These sessions can only be accessed directly by those who submitted questions. However, they will be livestreamed on the VWBPE You Tube channel, and the details are:
    • Wednesday, March 29th, 2017 13:00:  Ebbe Altberg (SL: Ebbe Linden) – A Conversation about Education and Second Life
    • Saturday, April 1st, 2017 15:00: Bernhard Drax (SL: Draxtor Despres) – Will VR Matter in Education? Lessons Learned from a Second Life Documentarian’s 10 Year Life

  • The Quadrivium:  “the four ways”, to the ancient Greeks it combined space, time, harmony, and science to develop applied critical and creative approaches to issues that required innovative thinking, solutions, and practical mechanisms in an ever-changing world. VWBPE’s Quadrivium It provides an opportunity to share and contribute to the scholarly pursuit of knowledge through interaction with a community of peers in order to develop real solutions to real problems. find out more at the VWBPE Quadrivium schedule page.

VWBPE 2017 – part of the undersea social area

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