Conquering the Grid

Roleplay. It’s about time it gets a bigger spotlight on it in Second Life. To me it is what the grid should be about, with all the means to make impossible possible, to turn any vision in your head into reality, to share any flight of fancy you might entertain with others. No definitions but your own.

To me roleplay is more than just swords and spells, to me all the models, children, pageants, even the majority of the people who claim not to roleplay at all still do: it does not have to be an elf or a dragon to count as roleplay. Please do not take this as an accusation of being insincere, take it as an inclusion, a praise of being able to weave around your personality and expand on it, to enjoy parts of yourself that might not get focus in the life behind the screen. We all do this. We all enjoy this. Let’s respect each other for it.

In some ways, the masks we wear might be more true to ourselves, to our spirits, than the mundane details. Where better to let them shine than in the world where anything is possible? I say it’s time to conquer the grid back for roleplay, one prim, pixel and avatar at a time.

If you recognize any of this in yourself, if you feel like taking a step to more traditionally defined roleplay, there is a completely new monthly event called We Love Role-play that has just opened its doors. The shop list is impressive, so I encourage all of you to go and have a look!

The Fire and Blood outfit by The Muses, the Jaw Breaker sword by [EZ] Weaponry and the Unseelie mask by *~*Illusions*~* can all be found in the We Love Role-play event. The Disna hair by Alice Project is available in the current round of FaMESHed.

Scene: Surroundings: *~by Nacht – The Cloisters* | Fountain: Trident – “Crimson Fields” Fountain (KoH hunt, not available anymore)

Body: Skin: Glam Affair – Mia Fairy Tales 2012 03 A | Eyes: IKON – Utopia Eyes Dark Red | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Liner: Pin Me Down – Liner 6* | Hair: Alice Project – Disna*

Outfit: Armored Dress: The Muses – Rainha* | Mask: *~*Illusions*~* Unseelie Mask & Headpiece | Sword: [EZ] Weaponry – Jaw Breaker*

Poses: aDORKable Poses – 19 of 25 2012 | Poise – GA 3*

The Silence of Yuale Nura

Its frozen, wintry beauty is breathtaking. Or breath-freezing, as winters tend to be. The elven enclave in the treetops of Evensong Woods glows softly in the night of blues and purples, silent and peaceful.

That peace is carefully guarded by the local wood elves, who keep a close watch on any visitors to see how they behave. Perhaps they simply want to make certain no one falls off the bridges or disturbs a hibernating bear with shouting, but perhaps there is something bigger slumbering in the cold.

Whatever the reason for the maintained frozen silence, the elves will never tell. The only response you’ll get is a small smile and a nod of acknowledgement before the polite encouragement to keep your voice down.

One thing elves do not have to worry about at the moment is gear. Fantasy Faire provides all the things an elf could want, for example: The elven Rochon robe by FATEwear is available in Titan’s Hollow, both the Edenion boots by lassitude & ennui and the Deliverance necklace by House of Rain can be found in Crimson Fields, the Faded Warpaint face tattoo by Pin Me Down can be found in Lotus Valley Dream and the elven ears by *~*Illusions*~* are fittingly located in Evensong Woods.

Scene: Evensong Woods

Body: Skin: League – Sia Fair Bloom | Hair: Wasabi Pills – Hawk2 Night Shadow | Eyes: Poetic Colors – Poison Ivy | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Makeup: Pin Me Down – Faded Warpaint 2* | Hands: Slink – Mesh Hands (av) Casual | Ears: *~*Illusions*~* Seelie Ears*

Outfit: Robe: FATEwear – Rochon Emerald* | Necklace: House of Rain – Deliverance Black Cord* | Boots: lassitude & ennui – Edenion Boots grey/gold*

Pose: Poise – Vogue 9

Forest Dragon

Not all dragons are roaring flames and burninating the countryside (sorry, I could not help myself). Nor are they dark menace made out of greed and tyranny. Some of them are protective, nourishing forces of nature.

Forest dragons must prefer shapechanging for practical reasons, not much left of the forest if you stomp through them as a dragon. It is also easier to aid other creatures when they are not expecting you to snack on them any given moment.

If you lack the ability to shapechange or help with magic, there is an excellent opportunity to do so with a much more mundane means: money. Isle of Wyrms is holding a spring festival that will benefit St. Tiggywinkes Animal Hospital in the UK. You can find many a wondrous thing on their marketplace, for example this Draco Laguna skin by Fallen Gods Inc. Half of the price will go to the charity while the festival is going on (skins available afterwards in the main store). The festival will end tomorrow (April 14th), so fly over to shop while you still can!

Scene: Forest: Studio Skye – Enchanted Woods | Arch: Coco Creations – Regal Arch (Pose Fair until April 14th)

Body: Skin: Fallen Gods Inc. – Draco Laguna Scaled Marks Dormient | Hair: Alice Project – Heather* | Eyes: Repulse – Cyborg v3 Eyes Red 

Outfit: Mask: *~*Illusions*~* Unseelie Mask & Headpiece

Poses: Part of the arch.

Vietella

In a world where the dark elves were created by the dragon god of tyranny and all the pale elves were simply mutations of them, adjusted by the other gods, the draconic elves lived on the desert continent of Qalia.

Their society was strictly hierarchical with a great emphasis on the legion and the ranks within it. Their leader was a queen, although otherwise they had gender equality: too busy to rank their citizens based on the purity of the blood to worry about genders. The respect that the strength of dragon-blood in one’s veins carried and the scandal for its thinness or lack was an elemental part of the culture.

Vietella Varayel was born and raised as the heiress of a noble house. She was taken care of and taught by slaves, her noble mother seeing her once a year, her esteemed father evaluating her worthiness and value when she turned ten and assigning a psionicist teacher to her at that point. Her talents in mindreading magic were only one part of her education though: there was history, tactics, diplomacy, plotting, scheming, etiquette, seduction and the fine art of smiling while backstabbing your enemies. True draconic virtues.

Her life took a sharp turn when her House was betrayed — another true draconic tradition — and destroyed by their rivals. The only reason why she managed to escape was that the leader of the mercenary House overseeing that no one escapes knew her and had a weakness for her. He hid her and in time introduced her as his sister. She put her talents in use to raise this fledgling House to power to one day claim her revenge.

That is how it started. After that it was roleplaying and co-leading a guild in a mmorpg called Vanguard. Vietella was a wonderful character to roleplay and I enjoyed the game immensely. The reason why I’m blogging about her suddenly is that Pancake from Renoobed set a blogger challenge about roleplay-characters: make one (old or new) and write a biography. In Vie’s case the problem was that there’s no way I can fill even basic information in this tiny space nor even dream of touching any of the actual roleplay that went on, but I had to try. So much nostalgia.

Scene: Garden of Dreams – The Desert & The Bedoin Tent*

Body: Skin: Glam Affair – Roza The Arcade Gacha Events 05 | Eyes: NoirOptix – Pale Violet Eyes Large | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hair: Tekeli-li – Wyrmling Silver | Ears: *~*Illusions*~* Seelie Ears*

Outfit: Dress & Choker: eXxEsS – Nocturna Blue | Gloves: Blacklace – Black Satin Gloves | Dragon: Isle of Wyrms – Shadow Dragon Familiar | Particle Magic: Fallen Gods Inc. – Ring Particle Makers (edited to purple)

Poses: Exposeur – Advent Gift 17 | Amacci – Male Stand11b | Amato – pose play 04

Curiata Curliques

There’s something irresistibly alluring about masks: temptation of the unknown, promise of adventure, theatrical illusion, the base premise of being something or someone else than you are.

Perhaps it’s that combination of unknown and adventure that also makes them so sensual. Especially when so intricate and covered in decadent curliques as this Curiata mask by Illusions. The equally sensual lingerie set by SAKIDE can be found in Perfect Wardrobe until February 9th.

There had to be gold in the look: rich, luxurious hues of it. Like in these Bali earrings by Bilo, for example. Or in the Timea ankle boots by lassitude & ennui, both new releases. Something about the way the closures of the shoes twisted made them a natural companion for the mask.

As for the furniture, going for the Marquis set by ~Libertine~ was an obvious choice. If you’re going to be draped in decadent curliques, might as well lounge in an area to match the mood.

Scene: Furniture: ~Libertine~ Marquis Full Set*

Body: Skin: League – Sia Fair Bloom | Eyes: Poetic Colors – Summer Wheat | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Eyeshadow: Beautiful Freak – Flamina Sunset* | Lipstick: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Crema Lipcolor Sanguine | Hair: D!va – Asami Type A | Hands: Slink – Mesh Hands Casual

Outfit: Mask: *~*Illusions*~* Curiata Mask | Lingerie: SAKIDE – Glitter Love Lingerie Black* | Shoes: lassitude & ennui – Timea ankle boots black/gold* | Earrings: Bilo – Bali Earrings Warm Reds*

Poses: D.Luxx – Secrets 03 | Part of the furniture.

Queen Mab

No, not the Shakespearean one, but much more primal creature of the wilds. The name is really a play on the body tattoo Warrior Queen by Mabinogion, because really, it’s not like she’s wearing much else.

I did dress her in leather bikini by Sn@tch and gave her a Raven Sage Staff (old hunt gift by Bad Juju) to complete the look, but there’s really no need to dress up at all in the Hidden Cove. The location is actually a dream scene by Garden of Dreams, consisting of 270 prims worth of cuddles, poses, more intimate couple animations and sounds to match the waves.

When you remove the few scanty leather bits, she’s still almost as dressed as she was with them and ready to step into the jungle, perfectly camouflaged and gorgeous.

Scene: Garden of Dreams – The Hidden Cove*

Body: Skin: The Plastik – Aleria Nightbringer’s Breath Stained | Body Tattoo: Mabinogion – Warrior Queen Tattoo* | Hair: LeLutka – Inverted Hair (CoalMine) | Eyes: IKON – Horizon Eyes v2 Dark Turquoise | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Ears: ~Illusions~ Seelie Ears*

Outfit: Bikini: Sn@tch – Leather Bikini (brown)* | Staff: Bad Juju – The Raven Sage Staff

Poses: aDORKable Poses – Confident Leo 1 & Olive Juice – Sassy 4

Fancy Chair

There’s been plenty of swooning about this Men Sitting in Fancy Chairs tumblr lately and for a good reason! It’s like pin-ups for the geek girls: no mindless muscle-men, but men of class, intelligence and charisma. Seated comfortably in the symbol of power, the descendant of throne, the fancy chair. Ely started a blogger challenge about it, complete with a Flickr group, so of course I had to play with this. Even when my chair did not come with a David Tennant, alas. I’d accept a clone, I’m not (that) picky!

As is obvious, I entertained myself a lot with filters. I wanted to try and match the mood of the picture to the fedora-and-pinstripe class of a slightly wicked variety. Speaking of pinstripe, there should be more of that in SL: it’s super fun material that looks good on either gender. I was delighted to find it as an option in these new mesh boots by Dilly Dolls and built the look around them. By the way, this fancy chair is a gift in the LAQ Decor subscribo, in case you want one of your own.

Credits – Scene: Chair: LAQ Decor - Basic Mesh Lounge Chair – Grey – subscribo gift | Room: Glitterati – Blind. | Pose: Olive Juice – Kaira

Credits – Body: Skin: League – Sia Fair Bloom | Makeup: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics - Ginger Chocolate Makeover | Hair: lamb. – Bang Bang – Ink 

Credits – Outfit: Top: VC Designs – Pinstripe Doll Corset Top | Pants: Doppelganger Inc. – Woodcutter’s Overalls Charcoal | Boots: Dilly Dolls – Lani Pinstripe Boots Dark Black | Hat: *~*Illusions*~* Carmen Fedora Hat | Ring: Maxi Gossamer – Silver Drop with Jet (large) | Tie: Miel – Re Tie for girls

52 Colours: Rust

Miss Rust was originally meant to be a rusting robot of some sort, but since the colour is actually all perky near-orange instead of a darker rustier tone, I went with something cuter and just explored a slightly darker sim.

The sim is A Rusted Development and it’s both breathtaking and intriguing to explore. There’s surprises and walkways and hidden areas all around.

Miss Rust is accompanied by her pet urpy, one of the creatures by Booshies. This one is so friendly that it likes to curl around your shoulders and mimic a stole. Perfect solution: pet and fashion!

The lament for lack of robotics aside, the vibe of slight insanity accompanied by nostalgic tones of decaying machinery cityscape fit the character perfectly. Who knows why she dances, but dance she will~

Credits: Dress: Frick – Alice in Pumpkin | Stole Creature: Booshies – Urpy Neck Warmer* | Hat: ~Illusions~ Gaslight Top Hat (tinted) | Shoes: lassitude & ennui – Miss Dandy Bronze Gears (tinted) | Skin: Mother Goose’s – Trudy-III(tan)LB | Makeup: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Ginger Chocolate Makeover & Opal Lipcolor Mocha | Hair: Exile – Josie (Rust) | Poses: LAP – TC-Timid Girl PR4 / aDORKable Poses – Love Gun Stand 2 / WetCat – F4

52 Colours: Pistachio

Miss Pistachio was super fun to do! All thanks goes to Nicole Twigvald of Smileyorc fame, who sent her friends random orc skins with ‘Be an orc!’ message. So now I am! I can’t pull off her effortless elegance in a green skin, but I refused to go to stereotypical loincloth + bones category, either. Therefore Miss Pistachio is a post-apocalyptic skater orc!

The skater outfit is an old hunt gift by +DV8+. I’ve been meaning to bring up the fact that they are having a closing sale for a while now, and this was the perfect time for it. Truly post-apocalyptic, an end of an era, all that stuff.

The vehicle by Michigan’s Shack, hair by Discord Designs, eyes by Mayfly and lashes by Miamai are all from the Mesh Around hunt. Slurls, hints and preview pictures can be found here. The mesh seelie ears by *~*Illusions*~* are probably more meant for elves, but post-apocalyptic orcs can have as big-and-pretty ears as they want, says I.

Most other things are old subscribo gifts like the jewelry by Finesmith, old hunt gifts like the body tattoo by YaYo or old hunt props like the crowbar from ^Re.Birth^. I think the baseball bat with poses by Diesel Works is still out as a freebie, though. She had to have one, some sophistication in clubbing, see!

Mesh Around Hunt: Hair: Discord Designs – Clint (Pillarbox Red) | Eyes: Mayfly – Liquid Light Mesh Eyes (Early Autumn Shadow w1) | Lashes: Miamai – Catwalk Lashes Orange Explosion | Vehicle: Michigan’s Shack – Rough N Ready Buggy

Other Credits: Outfit: +DV8+ – CyberJammer (Ashes) | Ears: *~*Illusions*~* Seelie Ears* | Skin: Nicole Twigwald – Be an Orc! 3 Olive | Jewelry: Finesmith – Shukran Set | Eyebrows: ^Re.Birth^- Eyebrows Dark | Makeup: M.O.C.K. Cosmetics – Paradiso Makeover (eye/lip) | Tattoo: YaYo – War Paint Black Full Body | Bat with pose: Diesel Works: Bat (Female) Rezz n Sit | Poses: Del May – Unseelie Greed / LAP – RCD-Feisty PR4

52 Colours: Pueblo

This week I didn’t even try to find the colour in my inventory. You all know that anything I have in brown is steampunk-related and I felt that I’ve taken that route for all the browns too often. So I went my other default brown way and made a faun. A modern faun, bored in the forest.

There’s nothing boring in the Misty Mountains, though, and I warmly recommend visiting. The city faun just looked very out of place there. I got her outfit from the current sale in Mimikri. The sweater had the right tone and was so outrageous and funny with the huge poofy sleeves that it passed the ‘meh-casuals’ attitude I tend to have and sailed right into ‘nifty twist’ territory.

The city faun gave me an excuse to grab the latest shiny by Mandala. I know you all have it, too, no point in denying. The delicate lady-like horns are by *~*Illusions*~* and the cutesy faun skin by Pink Fuel.

These hooves by [Gauze] are probably the prettiest ones I’ve seen in SL. Perfectly shaped, realistic, almost delicate for a faun girl to step with. The tufts of fluff add a cute touch to them. As for where the faun girl ended up? That’s Coyote with thematically appropriate pueblos, shopping and art gallery.

Skin: Pink Fuel - Basil <Cocoa> – Sweet Fawn – no nose | Eyes: Insufferable Dastard – Colors of Fall Brown | Lashes: Redgrave – 39 – Luscious | Hair: Waka & Yuki – Model Hair 14 Gift | Hairbase: Amacci – Hairbase Tattoo Black Coal | Horns: *~*Illusions*~* Cernwn Horns | Sweater: Mimikri – Piz Sweater Cumin | Skirt: Mimikri – Tahnee Suede Mini Black | Necklace: Mandala – Omochi Necklace Red | Hooves: [Gauze] – Faun Legs Naturals Black | Poses: D.Luxx – Secrets 03 / aDORKable Poses – 17 of 25 / aDORKable Poses – 8 of 25