Tracing the Threads of History and Fantasy

The Baron’s House

September 30, 2024

Yesterday, I turned myself into a man for the day and took a walk around the SL Renaissance Festival. Across the sims dedicated to the event, there are some beautifully atmospheric areas. This one uses custom builds by Harshlands which also are available for purchase in their store at the festival. The one I’ve focused on in the second image is called Baron and is a donation item where the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society.

The top half of my outfit is also from the festival, a very elegant long coat from Noble Creations. A shirt peeks out from under it as well and it fitted very nicely over the trousers from ContraptioN.

Golden Rogue

September 19, 2024

We Love Role-Play meets the Dog & Pony Show in today’s post, which dresses up the Teeglepet Akhal Teke with the brand-new Regalia tack set from Cheval D’or (which includes both PBR and fallback textures) and the Akhal Teke Gold applier from the Texture Barn. On this handsome eastern steed, a rogue rides into a medieval city, wearing a PBR-textured outfit from Project and a very fancy bejewelled eyepatch from Pendulum, both from WLRP.

The Teeglepet we’ve already looked at in a prior post, though I think I forgot to mention that the default texture is a PBR-texture, just like on the Marwari.  The Regalia set, like the Dune Lord set, draws inspiration from traditional Marwari tack, but it has been made available for the Akhal Teke as well and looks fabulous on it. And of course it offers a number of texturing options for all the different pieces. The applier from the Texture Barn is a classic Akhal Teke colour, a burnished gold, which also shows off how lean and thin-skinned these horses tend to be, by including detailed muscles and veining.

The outfit from Project includes shirt, breeches and boots and very extensive texturing options for all pieces, including the ability to separate out buttons and different parts of the boots. The PBR textures look amazing on the boots in particular, but it is tougher to get non-shiny surfaces like the shirt to be completely realistic. However, this is definitely a brand to keep an eye on if they plan to keep making such nicely texture role-play outfits for men. Finally, we have the eyepatch from Pendulum, which comes in a left eye and a right eye version and includes both PBR and fallback textures on the HUD. I would have liked the design to include how it is supposed to be fastened, I admit, even if it is obviously designed for the visual impact rather than being at all functional.

Oh, and I lied, I did have one more thing to mention. The Courney hair from Magika is a new release that is out at Access and I do love that she keeps including male sizes on all her hairs.

Fantasy Faire 2024: Walk the Plank

April 25, 2024

Adventure calls at Plankbarrow Harbor, where many broken ships have come to rest and a twisted array of ropes and planks shaped into a town of sorts. A hideout for pirates and treasure seekers, with dangers lurking both on the rickety wooden piers and below the waves. If you plan on visiting, you had better keep your wits about you and a trusty dagger at hand. Not all encounters will be friendly, especially after dusk.

The Muses Wanderer outfit almost looks made for the Atriane Gloves from Senzafine, or vice versa. A great base for a pirate look, with the ostentatious hat by Attitude is an Artform adding a lot of flair (and sitting nicely on the curly hairstyle by Analog Dog). The necklace from Portal is rather understated but has an interesting design and the obsidian dagger from Oblivis Solem looks appropriately menacing.

I am late to report this, but LL has allowed the Faire two extra days before the Fairelands fade away, which means you will be able to explore, shop and raise money for RLF until the 7th of May!

Waiting for a Bird

February 15, 2024

Need props for Medieval scenes? Then Del-ka Aedilis should be among your first stops. The latest addition to their range of Medieval decor is a dovecote set that includes both a wall-mounted and a free-standing dovecote as well as palisade fencing if you were to build it up outside. The pieces also include versions with snow on. But I opted for using just the two dovecote versions and placing them on the top level of Fanatik’s Chillon Tower, which conveniently has openings all around for birds to fly out and in.

The Del-ka Aedilis set is available at the current round of We Love Role-Play and so is the outfit I am wearing, Rakshasa’s Callan set and the matching boots. It has a bit of an elvish feel to it, though done up in red and black (the fatpack has quite the spread of textures to choose from) I suppose it feels rather Targaryen. Especially since I have a habit of giving myself pale hair when using a male body.