Category: Relay For Life

If you are just after links and Surls, click here to jump to them! The largest fantasy-related event to take place in Second Life, Fantasy Faire 2025, opened its gates to Fairelanders at 12:00 SLT on Thursday, April 17th, 2025. It will remain open through until Sunday May 4th, 2025 inclusive, once again raising money for Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) efforts to bring about a World Without Cancer.

Table of Contents If You Are New to the Faire and Other Notes Enjoying a Better Experience / Performance Shopping Parties, Entertainment and Performances The Fairechyldye: DJ Parties Live Performances The Fairelands Masked Ball Events and Activities Highlights Literature and Film Festivals 2025 Roleplay Events and Activities Fantasy Faire Quest: The Dreamcaster’s Cauldron Links and Region SLurls

As with previous years, 2025 will see a wide range of activities and events taking place at the Faire, with role-play, parties, Jail & Bail, the LitFest, live performances, auctions, and more, together with the using multiple opportunities for fantasy- focused shopping.

The notes below are intended to get Fairelanders old and new up-to-speed with a one-page look at the event as it opens.

If You Are New to the Faire and Other Notes

If you are new to Fantasy Faire, the many regions it encompasses can be overwhelming to the point where you might fill panicked into trying to see everything at once.. But – the Fire is here for two weeks, so you have lots of time to visit, and remember: shopping and sightseeing can be much easier once all the initial rush is over!

The best place to start a first-time visit is Fairelands Junction. From here you can reach all of the regions via the teleport portals, so it makes a good hub for exploring. You can also grab a Fantasy Faire teleport HUD from here (or at the region landing points).

Also:

• Keep up-to-date with the Faire and all that is going on through the official Fantasy Faire website.
• The Fairelands have their own mythology and history. If fantasy is your thing, be sure to read about the History of the Fairelands.

Enjoying a Better Experience / Performance

• For the best visual experience:
  • Make sure your viewer is set to Use Shared Environment (World → Environment) as the regions all have their own environment settings, and several have dedicated day / night cycles.
  • Try to travel light! Remove heavily scripted attachments you do not require for visiting the Fairelands – including any HUDs you don’t need while visiting (thus reducing things like the texture footprint they take up on your computer and the resources they might claim on the simulator, making the latter a little better for everyone).
  • Please don’t use particle-generating attachments / effects, they may look pretty on you, but they can really impact performance.
  • If you use them, turn off Shadows rendering.
  • When there is no Linden Water visible, set Water reflections to None: Opaque.
  • Reduce your Draw Distance to lighten loading.
  • If you’re familiar with it, use the Improve Graphics Speed floater to adjust your viewer’s rendering and performance on-the-fly.
• Regions can be busy! So if you teleport into one, be sure to move a little way from the landing point as soon as you can to avoid becoming part of an avatar tower!
• And, despite the comments about HUDs above, don’t forget to pick up the Fantasy Faire Teleport HUD for quick and easy access to all the regions!

Shopping

Fantasy Faire is very much about shopping. Merchants from across SL can be found in the shopping regions, all of whom offer some of their items through official RFL of SL vendors, so that proceeds of sales go to RFL / ACS.

• The best way to find out about participating merchants and shopping is via the Fantasy Faire Shopping Catalogue and list of participating merchants.
• The Fantasy Faire website also offers updates and news on special galleries, and this will be updated throughout the Faire, so be sure to keep an eye on it!

Parties, Entertainment and Performances

The Fairechylde: DJ Events

The Fairechylde will once again be docked at the Faire, spending her time within The Golden Hour region, hosting DJ parties to keep Fairelanders entertained. These parties – live or via Fantasy Faire Radio – will be running right throughout the Faire.

• The Party Schedule for the Fairechylde. .
• Biographies of those performing at the the Fairchylde.

Live Performances

Throughout the run of the Faire will be live performances by musicians, singers, dance troupes and more from across Second Life. Performances will be hosted on the Arts and Performance region of Pixieland.

• Fantasy Faire 2025 – Performance Schedule.

The Fairelands Masked Ball

Fancy a more formal soiree where tuxedoes and gowns are encouraged and an air of mystery is added with eyes behind masks? Then head for the Fantasy Faire Masked Ball. This will be hosted on The Golden Hour on two dates, so as to suit multiple time zones:

• Saturday, April 26th – Noon through 14:00 SLT.
• Friday, May 2nd – 18:00 through 20:00 SLT.

Events and Activities Highlights

Literature, Theatre and Film Festivals 2025

Now in its 11th year, the Fantasy Faire Literary Festival is  being hosted at The Golden Hour, and brings with it a celebration of fantasy in the form of story. The LitFest offers many ways to experience the stories of the Faire and inspire your own tales of journeys, wonders, and adventures.

Once again, the Festival will include a special Guest of Honour, English author Genevieve Cogman, and include the region tours to encourage the inner writer / poet.

The Theatre Festival is a new event for Fantasy Faire. It will feature Talks, Practical Sessions and Rehearsals all focused on stage productions in Second Life, and will include the premiere of a new play, 310788, at the end of the Faire!

The Film Festival is returning for its fourth year at Fantasy Faire. Led by Chantal Harvey and Saffia Widdershins, there will be an almost daily event at 11:00, including talks, discussions and retrospectives of the works of different machinematographers.

• The Golden Hour – venue for the LitFest, Film Fest and Theatre Fest.
• LitFest:
  • LitFest Page.
  • LitFest Guest of honour: Genevieve Cogman.
  • Region tours schedule – region tours are held on most days of the Faire at 13:00 and / or 17:00 SLT, offering the chance to explore the Fairelands and seeking the stories they have to tell as well as their special secret places and details.
• Theatre Festival Page.
• Film Festival page.
• The full LitFest, Theatre Fest and Film Fest Calendar provides a run-down of activities.

Role-Play Activites and Classes

Role-play lead by  Astrium will be taking place between April 19th and 22nd. In The Echowrite Quill, travellers venturing into Obsidian Sanctum, under the watch of the Dragon Council, they may find a gate that is not locked. Whilst they may enter expecting to find treasure, they may instead find themselves entrusted with a wondrous, and terrifying, secret.

Lost to time and swallowed by the stars, a quill drifts between forgotten realms and the world of now. It is no ordinary instrument, but a relic of boundless creation—capable of scripting entire realities into existence with a mere flick of its tip. For centuries, the dragons of Obsidian Sanctum have guarded this quill in secret, watching and waiting. Only one deemed truly worthy may claim it. But first, they must solve three ancient puzzles… and restore the Ink of Forever.

– from The Echowrite Quill

Find out more via these links:

• • Obsidian Sanctum – the role-play region.
  • The Echowrite Quill.
  • Role-Play Classes and Schedule.

Fantasy Faire Quest: The Dreamcaster’s Cauldron

This year’s chapter of the Fantasy Faire adventure quest series is The Dreamcaster’s Cauldron. Once again the Bard Queen will call upon adventurers bold of heart to purchaser a Quest HUD (also proceeds to RFL / ACS) and follow the clues in a quest of two parts.

You don’t have to join the Quest as soon as it opens; the prizes are for everyone who completes the adventure, and the Quest will be open right through until the end of the Faire.

• Full details on the quest via the Fantasy Faire Quest page.
• Isle of Dreams – Fairelands Quest region.

And There’s More

Don’t forget, all the staples of Fantasy Faire will again be available, including the live auction, the silent auction and jail and bail – see the Fantasy Faire website for details on these .

Links and Region SLurls

Website Links	Event Region SLurls	Shopping Region SLurls
Website Home Page Shopping Guide Special Sopping Galleries Party Schedule Live Performance Schedule LitFest Information Theatre Fest Information Film Fest Information Role-play Classes Quest page 2025 Sponsors Social Media Twitter Plurk Pinterest Discord Meta	Fairelands Junction Arts and Performance Fairchylde Parties, Literary, Theatre and Film Festivals Fairelands Quest Role-play region	Galerie Gaillard Gwath Harmonious Glade Holi Izumo Lavendell Mire of Whispers Misplaced Melody Nox Aeterna Scrunkle Gulch The Wraithwoods Xalren Yuum Baalal Grotto

The 15th Fantasy Faire in Second Life brings forth many things for lovers of fantasy and residents of Second Life to enjoy – entertainments, shopping, role-play, auctions, literary and film festivals – and, of course a celebration of the arts in Second Life. From 2D art through to live music performances, dance productions and theatrical presentations. As I’ve already previewed the event as a whole, together with the Literary and Film Festivals, for this article, I’ll be looking at the Arts regions within the Faire.

For 2023, the arts at Fantasy faire are located on two Full regions directly accessible from the party / DJ events region of Sipla, whilst also offering an gateway into (and under) the shopping region Isle of Aquarius. Together, the three regions – Sambeaubee, Giraphoria and Sipla – form an almost contiguous setting, with the landscaping a joint design by Gidgette Adagio (Sipla, Sambeaubee) and Lilia Artis and Haveit Neox (Sambeaubee, Giraphoria).

All three regions have their own dedicated landing points, per the links in this article; however, I would recommend that when touring them, you consider starting at Sipla and then progressing onwards through Sambeaubee to Giraphoria.

Sipla sits as a ancient and magical garden; a place where tress stand guard around and upon rugged hills, aged steps offer paths up and down slopes to climb hillocks where aged arches and stone pavilions stand, and paved terraces sit within encroaching moss and grass. This is a place where aquamarine pools feed the lush ferns, grasses, plants and trees; pools themselves fed by waters which flow down in crystal curtains from islands floating in the sky, defying the demands of gravity.

A haven of piece, Sipla is also the home of the Faire’s DJ parties and entertainment (so the media stream can be raucous!), with the nucleus of these events – the legendary Fairechylde – lying before the rocky curtain and hills at the region’s western extreme, the landing point for the region sitting just below her, the paths through the gardens flowing down from these highlands much as the waters fall from the islands above, pointing the way eastwards towards Sambeaubee.

For its part, Sambeaubee forms a coastal causeway, arcing around a shallow bay to the south and open waters to the north. The land along this broad causeway in more open and less rugged than is the case with Sipla, but the architecture of stone towers, tall arches and glass-topped pavilions continues, marking the way east.

Giraffes roam the grasslands here and feed from the tall trees, while the land is in part split in two by a long, tall curving wall interspersed with arches and paths leading down to the bay. This wall stands as a celebration of past Fantasy Faire events and the Quests which have formed a part of many of them, whilst the bay beyond features a trio of small islands watched over by a pair of boats and the Cheshire Cat as he lies within the branches of a floating tree. I confess to being uncertain as to the function (if any) of these islands, with their Asian-inspired towers and buildings, but I did note they offer seating, as do the boats circling two of them).

At its western end, Sambeaubee is home to a large, open-air ballroom space, mirrored in neighbouring Giraphoria, which will be the location for the Masked Ball events at the Faire, with the region also hosting the Silent Auction (yet to open at the time of writing) and some of the Jail and Bail events. Overlooks a deep gorge cutting into the landscape, the ballroom offers one of two routes into Giraphoria, the primary home of arts and visual / live music performances at the Faire.

Here the land takes on something of a desert-like tone and a rugged, rocky look. Arms to the north and south are homes to, respectively, the second half of the ballroom and the arts display. Between them, they hold within their arms a further inlet, deep-cut and itself home to a large island. Reach via two bridges, this island in both the location of an impressive sculpture of giraffes raising themselves pyramid-like to the sky and surrounded by butterflies, and the access point to the seating area for liver performances which take place on a stage area which can be brought into being over the open waters, courtesy of a multi-scene rezzer.

Offered as a piece of art honouring the giraffes that wander both it and Sambeaubee and which continues the butterfly theme found within Sipla, Giraphoria may be for some the first hint that there is more to these regions that meets the eye. As well as being connected to the rest of the Fairelands by the two bridges leading down to it, the seat area for live performances also has a third ramp, one that dips down beneath the waters. It leads down to an underwater gallery overlooking a deep ravine the floor of which offers scattered glowing plants, whilst a narrow cleft offers a suggestion that there is more to be found in this underwater world – but how is it to be reached?

Well, one way is to simply walk through the balustrade of this raise balcony-alcove and drop down to the sea floor. Another – and my preferred route – is to return to Sipla, then find your way to the archway connecting the gardens there with the Isle of Aquarius. Whilst this tall arch leads down to path leading out over the water to the neighbouring region, a second tall arch sits at the water’s edge, looking out towards the walls of Isle of Aquarius – and this in fact a gateway to the underwater realms which extend out under the shops and precincts of Aquarius as they sit on the waters, and beck unto Sambeaubee and Giraphoria.

The path down to the sea floor is steep, but marked by further archways. Turn left as you reach it, and a path of lighter hue compared to the rest of the sea floor well lead you west towards a huge basalt formation and undersea sculpture. However, just before this formation, a second path branches away to the north and under a further stone arch. This is the entrance to the underwater walk.

Here, set within a deep ravine, area gardens rich a corals, anemone, sea grass and more, where fish swim and play, while drowned gardens, sculptures and temples await discovery. Following the very edge of Sambeaubee, this path and its gardens eventually bring visitors to the bowl beneath the waters of Giraphoria, where further tunnels are home to art both framed and painted onto the rock, as they lead to the Octopus’ cave and gardens.

Richly diverse, home to much that makes Fantasy Faire special, and visually engaging in their own right, the Arts regions of the Fairelands should not be missed.

SLurl Details

All regions rated Moderate

• Sipla
• Sambeaubee
• Giraphoria