Tracing the Threads of History and Fantasy

Banshee

January 26, 2025

The Banshee set from deviousMind for the Wild Haunt event caught my eye right away as it really captured something of what a darker fae or fairie might dress in with its blend of ragged furs and jewels. This particular lady of the fae also sports a set of impressive horns and long, slender ears courtesy of Petrichor’s Ostrae set, which of course comes with a multitude of texture and configuration options such as optional decorations and optional strands of hair woven around the horns (a separate HUD with hair textures is also included). The Noelle hair from Magika, a loose braid with soft wisps and optional bangs around the face, worked very well together with the horns.

A fae, of course, needs no saddle or bridle to gallop through the enchanted woods and her bold steed is not entirely mortal either.

In Gothic Solitude

January 23, 2025

Welcome back to Otherworldly, now finally on its own domain that I have been sitting on for years. And to celebrate that, a new and more modern web design, a collaboration between myself and a very helpful fellow called ChatGPT. There are a few little tweaks left here and there, but I am amazed how smooth the process was and I am excited to get back to blogging in fresh, new surroundings. Of course, I may be slightly distracted by an urge to also redesign my other two sites…

Anyways! Since I finally had some time to play around in SL again, I went over to the Midnight Order event and had to resist the urge to buy every other item on sale. It really is one of the best of the currently active events, drawing in some top notch creators who always deliver interesting designs.  Lore, for example, has two beautiful skyboxes at the event, one dark (that would be the one I am using here) and one light. I can see plenty of use for both of them, they have a versatile layout and I really like that the scale is quite reasonable for SL. They are also very beautifully textured with PBR textures and projectors; the stained glass windows look amazing.

The chairs, the table and the rug you might glimpse in the first shot are all by Libertine and available at Midnight Order as well, the rug being a special gift. The gothic Canterbury Chairs are available in two versions, one that sits a single person and one that also includes Moderate and Adult couple poses. Each version offers four beautiful PBR-compatible wood textures.

My outfit is not new, but I actually failed to show off the beautiful Dyanna dress from Old Treasures when I first bought it some months back. Its a fantastic fantasy/period gown and the Mathilde choker, also from Old Treasures, is a perfect accessory for it. And the hair, Magika’s Four of Swords, is a favourite I am happy to return to again.

Brooding in Solitude

December 16, 2024

A lonely keep sits deep in the woods, hard to reach in the summer and nigh impossible during the winter when, as now, the snow blankets everything. Within, a solitary occupant who seems to prefer the isolation that his home provides.

We Love Role-Play usually has quite a few finds for male as well as female avatars. For this round, Stitched has released a nice outfit with a tunic and pants. There are two versions of both: a regular fit and a sash-fit of the tunic and a regular fit and a boot-fit of the pants. You can also turn off parts of the tunic, such as collar and sleeves. The supported bodies are Belleza Jake and Legacy Male.

The keep itself, of which you’re just seeing part of the interior, is from Nocturna Deed. It is built on quite a large scale, so I feel a little small next to the windows. However, the fireplace from Angelicus fits in quite well. The mirror from Constraint looks a little small viewed right next to the windows, but its all about the angles you choose to use for photos.

Oh, and the head and the skin? From LeLutka’s 12 Days of Christmas giveaway, which has become quite the thing to look forward to each December.

Timeless Reflections

November 10, 2024

I am mixing my time periods wildly here with several new releases from the November round of We Love Role-Play, but I love the end result. In the pre-furnished Shadow Mansion from Death Row Designs, I setup the Tudor Wall Table Set from Simply Shelby. It has a really fantastic reflection cube and great dusty textures for the mirrors, making for lovely reflections with a really old-timey look to them.

The dress is by Senzafine, very gothic in its style and beautifully textured. The Zelda pumps by Grasshopper Street are a little late in style, but suited the look nicely even so. And the final touch from WLRP is the very cool Mechanism Hand by lassitude & ennui, a delicate Steampunk-styled replacement hand that comes in four different textures and can be used on both hands at the same time or just on one. Very ladylike and elegant.