One of the events held at Fantasy Faire is the Silent Auction, which sees a wide range of exclusive items auctioned quietly to bidders. This year is no exception and bidding is open to all.
Fairelanda Junction: the teleport roundel with the auction wall beyond
This year creators have donated over 70 unique items including one-off avatar skins, gowns, accessories, landscape enhancements, avatars, flora, and much more – up to and including the entire range of Refined Wild creations.
The auction wall
To participate in the auction, you’ll have to hop over to Fairelands Junction (be warned, the Fairelands Junction Saga is also in progress, making the sim very popular). Instructions on how to bid are there – be aware that it is a silent auction, so you’ll need to keep track of those items you’re bidding on!
Some of the items in the auction
The Fantasy Faire website is providing a full on-line listing of all items in the auction, so you can also take a look at items there (the items are being added daily, so again, you should keep checking back).
The Nu Orne lighthouse by Elicio Ember: a feature of the Nu Orne build and part of the Silent Auction
The Ruins of Nu Orne is an amazing build by Elicio Ember. It draws on a range of influences – from Tolkien though exotic rain forest-like environs to the tropical mysteries of Thailand and beyond the Earth itself to imagined alien worlds – to create a magnificent venue in which to explore and visit the stores supporting the Faire. As with the other regions for the Faire, there is much to see here, both down on the ground and up in the air among the tree-tops. For me, and while the mix of influences are broad, the region resonates most strongly with my memories and impressions of visits to Sri Lanka. Why this is so I can’t explain: Nu Orne has very little in common with Sri Lanka, other than the verdant greens of the jungle when seen under Windlight Dynamic Richness; but the echoes are there for me, all the same.
Here you’ll find a wide range of stores, from Zachh Barkley’s Arcannum, the sim’s sponsor, featuring everything for the Magi and acolyte through to Caverna Obscura, Ari’s Neko retreat and Luminous Designs through to Elicio’s own Cerridwen’s Cauldron. You can climb the stairs to the top of the crystal-powered lighthouse and admire the floating island hovering over the landscape or wander among tall trees, surround by the splash and roll of free-flowing water.
To find out more about this remarkable build, and Sirens Secret, also be Elicio Ember, you can read an interview with him on the Fantasy Faire website.
Nu Orne – above the treesThe teleport point in the mist…Nu OrneAncient buildingsWater and stoneHigh above
Meandervale is definitely one of the more whimsical regions in this year’s Fantasy Faire. With butterfly-sailed windmills rotating serenely in the breeze and Charlar-like trees, laden with butterflies of their own providing the shade on row boats, you know you’re definitely not in Kansas any more as you wander through the sun-gold grass and past fruit as big as an avatar.
The region has been created by Marcus Inkpen and Sharni Azalee, who together run The Looking Glass located on Horizon Dream, a sim I reviewed last year as a part of my ongoing virtual destinations pieces.
Here you will find works by the likes of Material Squirrel Wings, Fantavatar & Moonstruck, The Elegant Goth, the appropriately named Grim Bros, Mystic Sky, and of course, Looking Glass’ own store as well as a host of other stores, in a rustic-style house complete with thatched roof. Wander at your leisure and enjoy.
The Teleport arrival point, with the Looking Glass store beyondWhimsical windmillsLittle Me receives two little visitors…Looking down the street
Update April 27th: there is now an interview with Shadow’s Claw builder Laufey Markstein available on the Fantasy Faire website.
Shadow’s Claw is a marvellous build by Laufey Markstein, proprietor of Trident. It’s a build that harks back to when great longships plied the seas, bringing with the trade – and sometimes terror.
The theme is that of a small town, presided over by a great stone keep atop a rugged hill, where fir trees grow in abundance and the locals use wood for many uses: building, heat, for the curved hulls of their ships and for carving huge statues of their heroes – or gods.
In keeping with the theme of the region, you’ll find demons and satyrs rubbing shoulders with angels within the stores; gowns and lace mix freely with leather and tattoos. You can even acquire a wyrm or two!
Shadow’s Claw is a wonderful evocative environment – one that lends itself to role-play and as such (as with the other builds at this year’s Faire) truly deserves a life of its own beyond the Faire.There’s a marvellous attention to detail wherever you look, and wandering through the sim is a genuine treat for the eye.
The gateway into Shadow’s ClawTeleport arrival point from Fairelands Junction, with the sponsor’s store beyond……and looking the other way, towards the stone keep (Shadow’s Claw naturally lends itself to night-time pictures)One of the great wood carvingsBrowse the storesWhy we visit
“The Tides (by Alia Baroque) – the silent stones of a society who harnessed the power of the strong and heavy sea and ruled across the waves.”
The Tides is one of two ocean-themed region in this year’s Fantasy Faire. It is sponsored by Fallen Gods Inc, and the build is by Fallen Gods proprietor, Alia Baroque and features works by SL sculptor Amael Juran as part of its set-piece. I’ve previously visited Alia’s builds and Annon, Athan and Selidor, which I found enchanting.
I confess to also loving The Tides; not only is the build stunning and the attention to detail superb, the build contains powerful echoes of ancient civilisations and – Greek, Minoan, and so on – and also ancient legends, notably that of Atlantis.
Here are some highlights of this superb build (as always, click any to enlarge).
The TidesHeroic: two of the bronze sculptures that adorn The Tides teleport pointWhat lies beneath: the detail isn’t limited to the raised walkways and piered buildings……although even beautiful builds can have a dark side: a watery prison, perhaps to hold those awaiting their turn in the Jail and Bail fundraiser?!Macmoragh & Muse: one of the Featured Stores at The TidesAlien orrery: inside Macmoragh & Muse
This weekend sees the start of Fantasy Faire 2012, in aid of Relay for Life. From Saturday April 21 to Sunday April 29, 2012, thousands of Second Life residents and creators will come together to support the global fight for a world without cancer. In all, nine sims have been transformed into a mix of fantasy themes, with eight regions providing worlds of content to explore, shops to peruse and events to enjoy, with the ninth acting as a gateway and event point.
More than 130 of SL’s fantasy creators have come together to support this year’s event, with a huge range of creations on offer through stores, and special limited-edition items and other goodies to be auctioned-off as a part of the ongoing events.
The sims themselves are all magnificent builds, richly diverse and beautifully put together to present unique and eye-catching environments to explore.
The Fairelands Junction – where your journey can begin
When the Faire opens on the 21st, you can start your journey from the Fairelands Junction. Here you’ll find the auction wall and the main teleport hub to the other sims of the faire, each represented by its own alcoved fresco within the central round structure on the sim.
The teleports – touch a fresco to teleport to a simThe eight main regions of Fantasy Faire 2012
Where you go from here is up to you. I’ve had the good fortune to take a tour of the sims ahead of the opening, so hope to provide a quick tour here – click on the name of each region for details on the stores you’ll find there.
Deep in the jungle lies the mystical ruins of Nu Orne, where temple-like structures sit amidst the encroaching trees and undergrowth as the sun filters through the rising mists overhead.
As with all the sims, the teleport will deliver you to an arrival point directly outside the main sponsor’s store. From here, wander the walkways between the ancient buildings, explore the stores and keep an eye on things – there is much more going on with the builds in each of these sims than at first meets the eye.
Nu Orne – where trees encroach and mysteries may lie hidden…Ancient temples…?
From the rain forest-like enclave of Nu Orne, one passes to the verdant richness of Jungle Bungle.
Jungle bungle
Despite the name, Jungle Bungle is more open than one might imagine, and watched over by huge wood carvings made from living trees – are these the Children of the Forest from legend?
Who are the great wood carvings?
This is part of the attraction with this years’ Faire and it’s theme: The story starts with you – because you get to make up stories as to how each sim arose.
A great attraction with each is that as well as the shops and event areas, there are also places to meet and chat with friends and strangers – a camp fire here, a cauldron of bubbling soup (?) there – all inviting one to stay, sit and linger a while as the world turns and people come and go.
From jungle-y themes to the whimsical fancy of Meandervale, with its charming windmills with butterfly sails and (for me) memories of Charlar Linden, as trees row their little boats along the meandering waterways.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 