Fashion Plate (Or, What Has Cristalle Been Up To These Last Months)

Roleplaying in SL is fraught with obstacles.  Primarily, the problem is human beings and our failure to communicate.  I don't claim to be perfect in this regard, but I try - and malice is something that I don't really get into.

I like to look at people's hearts and their intent, rather than focusing on their actions and how their actions hurt me.  People who do things thoughtlessly or with innocent intent can be forgiven fairly easily, especially if it's the latter.  But unfortunately, not everyone can do that and some people have to be right and remain a victim rather than choosing to be happy.

So, another rp sim that I was in but didn't blog about closed.  Too bad, because it had a lot of potential, but a lot of human drama closed it.  I am not going to get into any details here, it's not worth writing about - but it's a shame because I had some really meaty stories going on.  As an aside, maybe one day I'll transcribe the logs and bring them here.  The bigger shame, though, was in losing someone I thought was a friend, but I guess we were not truly so in the end.  There was a miscommunication on my part, that I will own up to upon rereading logs - but a strange unwillingness to forgive was the death of the relationship.  That's all I will say about that, publicly.

Myriah Nymeros Martell, one of my favorite characters to play, wearing LOGO Alex.

In the meanwhile, I've taken a break from rp and got back to my roots - building and sailing.  But I have also been on a mad quest to modernize my avatar, getting rid of a lot of old clothing.  Now that there are more clothing choices for the Maitreya body, I've blown a lot of Linden dollars getting mesh clothing (and some appliers, but mostly mesh) that fits my curves.  It's still a challenge sometimes as some designers still design for skinnier bodies and it shows, but some people are bang-on with the design and it just fits, even with my avatar's generous bosom.  I get a serious thrill to find those pieces, because that means that I don't have to compromise my shape in any way to please anyone else's aesthetic of what they think a body ought to look like.  

The New Me: Lelutka Karin with DeetaleZ Ana Lucia head applier.

Granted, my look is still (at least in my opinion) well within the bounds of normal.  There are some people who prefer to make some very extreme shapes and it's still shocking to see it.  Ugly is the new pretty, so they say, but ugly is very subjective.  But it's still their second life, they ought to do whatever pleases them.  Live and let live.  We cannot please all the people all the time, and all that really matters in this medium is ourselves and those closest to us. 

A fun shot with the Eve'Olution head from Eve (Absolut Creations) and Pink Fuel Morgana head applier

I've had some fun, as I have gotten on board with mesh heads.  The technology is still young, and there are changes coming in the near future that will make heads more customizable, hopefully.  It would be lovely to be able to change more than just the general roundness or ovalness of the head and adjust bone structure a bit.  We'll see if that happens.  

My daily driver for "me" is from Lelutka, the Karin head.  But I have Stella as well for rp and several appliers that really make it beautiful.  I just got the new one from Pink Fuel, Vera, that was designed for the Lelutka Simone head but looks fabulous on all of them. I also have LOGO Alex and the Eve'Olution head from Eve (Absolut Creations).  I am not yet ready to expend more cash to get the Catwa head.  It looks good but that magic combination of head and skin hasn't come up yet that makes me say I have to have it.  Still, Catwa is the gold standard when it comes to features.  Maybe someday soon I'll add that to my collection.  It's gotten a lot of traction  among the popular skinmakers, very quickly, and it's a game changer that has made other makers scurry to keep up or open up their systems to third party support. 

Lelutka Stella with Pink Fuel Vera applier, for my next character :)

This pic above is probably going to be the face of my next rp character.  I can't wait for that one.  I am not telling anything about her here, nyah nyah.  :)

I've enjoyed this time off, upgrading my look without any human drama hanging over head.  But I'm itching to get back, a bit.  We'll see what happens.

Boardwalk City

Boardwalk City is an amazing place, crafted by the amazing Uri Jefferson.  Uri was the owner of and builder for Wystenra, the historical sim that I still love and miss.

Inspired by American Horror Story, it is chock full of disturbing imagery.  It is not an rp sim per se, although some people rp there.  There are no rules, no applications.

You arrive on a boardwalk in front of a huge ferris wheel.

There are actual rides and attractions, including a merry-go-round and bumper cars.

There is an authentic urban feel to it, with its seedy underside.

But the crowning feature is the sideshow.

It's a smorgasbord of freakishness, and it's a tough call to say which freak is the freakiest.

Either way, you lose, lol.  But this is an amazing spectacle, and I have to give credit where it is due.  Go visit.

Love, Henry

Love, Henry - a beautiful build by Tahiti Rae that asks the question, "What if Henry VIII never executed Anne Boleyn?"



Sadly, I think his desire for a new wife thoroughly overcame whatever love he had, and he thoroughly hated her by the time he had Anne killed. I took a break from roleplaying for once and went exploring, inspired by a photo I saw on Flickr and took my own set. It's builds like these, so lovingly detailed, that make me feel so inferior and wish that I had the time and talent to create such things.



See my Flickr to see the entire album.

Visit: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA8/193/142/2501

End of an Era

Era of Conquest closed a couple of weeks ago. Many of the usual reasons: rl, mainly. Stress can be a terrible thing. I wish Sash and Oconnell the best.

The Era of Conquest

So I found a very beautiful Game of Thrones sim called Era of Conquest.  I was very impressed with how it was built and how it was set up.  For the most part, it's done right, although it's not perfect.  I've made some friends there and have had a lot of fun writing myself and my family's history into the lore.

I play Calysta Velaryon, from a banner house to the Targaryens.   I didn't know much about Game of Thrones until I started playing but I am very much into it now, and reading the original books.  It's such a detailed world, although I think GRRM could have spared us a few plotlines and several hundred pages.

It's a relatively new sim, so I'm giving it a shot.  So far I've enjoyed myself but it's got growing pains like Lightbridge did. People are always seeking instant gratification and few people care enough to try to grow the sim.  I try not to think about that too much as it makes me a little angry.

I'll save my rant about roleplay in SL for another day.

Leveling Up

Last week's flop has yielded so much fruit, I declare that I have officially "leveled up" in my sailing.

It's amazing, really.  So much so that I decided to take a chance and abandon the traditional HUD and only run with the infoHUD.  The impetus for using the infoHUD was the hot crashy mess that I was during Monday's Topless Sailing cruise.  I got thrown so many times, my head is still spinning... 

So, yeah, that made me reeeeally wish that I could sail with the stripped down HUD to reduce lag, and ya know what, I did it!  I took the time to fix up some old sailing gestures I had languishing in a folder to fix the winds and boat commands so that they were quick and easy, some of the commands being similar to the commands in BWind based boats like the Loonetta.  I also added a bunch of gestures.  I had to compensate for the loss of a quick click means of hiking, and for certain boats, reefing.  Also for gybing / goosewinging the jib or spinnaker.  There is more, of course, and some of it is boat specific, but I'm not going to bore you!  

I do miss the wind/boat speed/direction meter, though.  If there was a slightly scaled up infoHUD that had that visual info on it it would be wonderful.  But I'll do well even without it, I think I have the hang of it now.  Besides, the luffing feature helps me to know when I'm too far out of trim anyhow.  For the most part, I'm sailing by the senses and not the numbers, and that's an amazing thing.

Going Topless

I joined the Topless Sailing group.  It's a pretty diverse and fun group, they sail topless cruises and in most cases, bottomless is also allowed.  It's not a sexual thing, it's more of a naturist thing.  Men and women can join, and everyone I've met has been very nice so far.  Especially considering my lag disasters.  I managed to make the cruise today and for crying out loud, I think I got thrown off my boat at least 7 times.  Fortunately I had a nice crewmate who was able to teleport me back to the boat!

The cruises are nice, long courses that can be a little challenging sometimes.  After the cruises they have a nice dance party with a DJ.  They do this twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays at 1pm SLT.

It seems it's very Euro-centric, as many of the people I've seen on the cruises are European.  That's not a bad thing, but it would be nice to have some American-primetime-friendly cruises.  I suppose I'll have to volunteer or some shiz like that, lol.  In the meanwhile, I hope I can make it more often.

Flop

I have, thankfully, no pictures of today's debacle where I totally embarrassed myself. I will spare myself the pain of recounting all the details. What I will say, is that I ultimately learned a lot more about sailing one of my boats - Frivolity, my Francois Jacques.

In a way, it's a very good thing that this shameful thing happened because I don't think I'd have learned otherwise just how much power I was dealing with and how much restraint is needed sometimes in controlling it. Normally when I sail, I don't bother to change the SL wind. My approach has been to deal with it as it comes, and just tack and tack as necessary to go upwind. What I never normally experience is a gale force wind.

Well, stupid me didn't realize that the recommended wind for the day's event was a gale force wind. And the FJ loves to heel, something else I'd forgotten in almost three years of hardly sailing because of getting deep into medieval roleplay. Well, disaster first came when I couldn't even get started. I chose the wrong boat for the recommended wind; I probably should have stuck with Twinkle, my T12. I didn't want to use Twister, the 12 Metre, because I already saw several of them being used. And I wanted one of the big pretty boats, just not the same as everyone else. Vanity... so, out came Frivolity. But -sploosh- I went as soon as the sails went up. I was capsizing, something that has never happened to me before, and I had no idea why. I managed to right myself, but then I hit a horrible spot and I was capsizing again. I didn't know why, until I went back later at night to try the FJ out again, and also consulted dear Jane Fossett's invaluable blog for the scoop on the FJ.

Herp derp, I had a sense that I needed to do the counter-intuitive thing and let the sail out, but it felt like the HUD wasn't responding and I couldn't let it out enough. Well, that's intentional. Had I known my boat better, I'd have known that the recommended 18m/s wind speed was too much for the FJ with the mainsails up. As it was, I'd have needed a crew of burly musclemen to stop the heeling, and even then it might not have been enough to keep from tipping over.

What I should have done was drop the mainsails and just sail with the jib/stay/jib topsail, or vice versa and drop the jib/stay/jib topsail and sailed with just the mainsails. There is just too much sheet open to the wind with both sets of sails up at that speed, and it will blow you over unless you can start running downwind. My instinct was right in letting the wind spill, but with the pressure to try to keep up with other cruisers, who remembers these things? People with more experience, that's who.

So, lesson learned - stop being a permanoob, and know what the hell it is you're actually driving.  I know that my instincts are underdeveloped, partly because I don't sail in real life and partly because I hadn't done it enough in Second Life.

Although I am still ashamed at the flop, I am proud that I actually learned something from this, and I am already a more confident sailor.

eta: it wasn't a gale force wind but Trudeau doesn't use knots... oops.

Twisting in the Wind

Welcome Twister, my new Trudeau 12 Metre!


The 12 Metre represents a return to the big boats, another America's Cup racer that lasts well into the 1980s, after the J-Class.  It's a lovely yacht and it has fantastic lines - literally.  Watching the ropes move and slide along the pulleys as the sail swings is fascinating to watch.  I can understand why it took so long, I think, for Jackie to come out with a new yacht.

So I took a spin in the Fruit Islands, as my original trek starting at the Leviathan didn't go so well.  A few sims away and then I was left behind.  I still don't know where the boat is...

But hey, can't complain about sailing around in paradise.



I've yet to really put it through its paces, with a full crew. I'm not a racer anyway, but still, it would be nice to see how it handles with a full crew to stop the heeling. My first impression is that this thing can really pick up some decent speed very quickly. But it can, through cap'n's ineptitude, come to a dead halt quickly too. This yacht is soooo not meant for shallow water. Try not to cut it too close by sailing too close to shore.  I think I've already scratched up my keel...

Change Keeps Coming

So, after some consideration I closed the sim for Lightbridge.  The most important thing is to maintain balance, and the stress of trying to grow it was not something I could really endure - I had to be honest with myself.

There are a lot of maybes of things that I could have done differently, but the bottom line is that it wasn't growing anymore.  It felt like I hit a limit and what I had wasn't satisfactory.  I had a profound sense of waste, being the only one in the sim and hearing again and again how it was just too hard to get into the rp.  I thought differently, but that's not something you can just change people's minds about.

So upon suggestion from a friend, instead of closing completely, I downsized and moved - there is a village but it's atop my new home on a half homestead, instead of having a full homestead and only a closet's worth of prims for a home away from the rp.  And I love my home:



Life rebalances itself, and in the end, I always come back to the water.

Still Sailing

I'm on a roll, but I'll never make up for losing almost two years of blogging.

So I added a couple more boats to my collection: The T-12, finally, from Trudeau Classic Yachts. I don't know why I missed that one but it's a perfect small boat for skimming mainland waters, or just going out with one friend. Yeah, it holds more than one, but I like it for smaller groups. I got the party boat (the New York 30) for that reason - partying with lots of friends.

I've also added a Loonetta, finally. I'd been eyeing that boat for some time and it's just a marvelous bit of engineering. So many places to sit and so many animations! I love the steering animations when you stand at the helm. It's just a quality machine.


It's a different experience from sailing a Trudeau and honestly, I prefer Jackie's method for sailing when in control of the ship. Maybe I just need more practice but it's not something I'm used to and I think the sail luffing looks better on the Trudeaus. The Loonetta is a perfect boat for cheating easy sailing, though, with the motor. My life is stressful enough, sometimes you just need to chill.

 

Pics are from a casual cruise around Corsica and over to Gaeta.  I started off at Tradewinds, but I really want to comment on Danshire Yacht Club, over in my old nemesis, Knaptrackicon.



Quite the difference from this 2009 photo:



My thoughts at the time:

Lovely sim, eh? Well this bitch is nigh impassable. These folks have access to 2 protected Linden ocean sims, north and south. But they apparently don't like seeing all the pretty sailboats come through, because they haven't bothered to leave enough open land to let that happen. There is a very narrow strip in the west that I had to edit myself through, because not only is it shallow, there are things there that obstruct passage. I need to double check that, but it was pretty convincing to me when I couldn't pass this one particular papyrus that the plant was solid. I'll try again in the Leetle Cat, because the Ketch has a pretty deep keel. Overall, it's just a DICK MOVE.

Change can be very, very good.

To Recap...

It's been a long time since I've written anything.

I know I needed to, but I've just been mentally preoccupied even when nothing was going on.  It's just a block, it happens.


So in the past almost two years, I'd finished playing at Mystara and joined a new historical sim.  I had replaced Cristalle with a lovely Avariel named Liriel, of whom I have some great pictures.


Liriel was supposed to take Cristalle's place as Tyaro/Diplomat, but that plan changed when she applied to own the Vanya Sulie and she became the Keeper instead.  I stuck that out for almost a year, but then I began playing in Wystenra, a historical sim set in a fictional country on the European continent.


I found a love for all things not magical, as I felt like magic was being abused to keep people alive when they probably should have died.  I understand that people get attached to their characters, but I'm more attached to stories and magic as the constant means to evade death became a turnoff to me.  I'm not singling anyone out, a ton of people do it, and I find it more than a little lame.  The amount of fruit that Cristalle's death bore was amazing to me, and even just a few haunting scenes were enough to make those of us involved teary eyed and runny nosed.  There is power in consequences, and yet that power is often abdicated.

Unfortunately, Wystenra also closed near the end of 2014 due to some unfortunate rl circumstances with the sim owner.  But it was a great time, with many wonderful stories and a few friendships to come out of it, some of them very special to me.


After 6 months of ambiguity in Wystenra, I decided it was time to commit to working on something that came to me over the summer, an idea that began to grow.  That has resulted in me now running my own rp sim, Lightbridge, also historical but in a different place and time from Wystenra and with very different rules. In a way it's more rigid about the realism, as the thing I want to capture is that consequences matter and the choices we make in rp matter over time.  But upon further introspection, I realize that maybe I take the difficulty of the character generation process for granted, and I am mulling over some ways to make that easier for people to just get in and play.


Running your own sim is difficult, and you need good help.  That isn't easy to find, and sometimes even if you have good help you just need more.  It's rewarding but also a source of stress.  I'm very proud of the build I put together for Lightbridge, as it is on a homestead and the prim limits are very tight.  It's months of work and love and that's before you even let anyone else in.


So that brings me to the announcement that Mystara is closing, which makes me sad.  Few sims could ever match it in its beauty and all current pretenders to the throne pale in comparison.  This is not to denigrate anyone's hard work, but Mystara is a visually stunning sim that is currently unparalleled and it is a shame to see it broken up and sold off.  You couldn't ask for a better physical environment in which to roleplay.


That's the one constant feature of Second Life, though: change.  Everything eventually goes away, and something new comes to take its place sometimes.  Some things and sometimes some people are lost forever, as they are irreplaceable.  We take things for granted in our youth but even youth fades and life can be taken from us while we are still young. I wish Annie well and I expect that in time Mystara will be back in some shape or form.

So now, on to Lightbridge... and yes, I'm still sailing.

Treaties, Plague, Famine and Death. Oh My!

It's been a busy couple of months.  The following is a brief overview, and each will get their own post in their own right with their own pictures.

In a very brief nutshell:  Cristalle was promoted to Cora Soumia, along with Idril.  Cristalle handled the ambassadorial work and Idril collected intelligence.  She managed to arrange a summit for the three races (Dragons, Mer and Elves) which was a great success, a happy occasion.

Unfortunately, not long after that, a magically induced plague and famine hit Mystara, and there was much suffering.  Cristalle was attacked in her shop by the plague vulture carrying a bunch of plague infested rats, and was near death for about 2 weeks, also having lost her eye to the vulture.  Fortunately for her, she received great care at the healer's temple, from the Infirmary Staff, and from the Tari, Tyl'rathia, and Doki.  They also managed to regrow her eye.  Amazing!

But near the end of April, Cristalle died in battle outside of Ered Eithel.  Morgana, her old nemesis, had been executed for her involvement with the death of Sophie Du Pont, but was resurrected and became a demon.  She finished Cristalle after Cristalle had a lengthy fight with the Drow outside the city.  She had a touching funeral and her body was sent to the stars.  Her spirit did a little haunting but it has gone to find the summerlands.

Cristalle is dead; long live Cristalle!

Still Here

I got upset about something and overreacted.  These things happen, although not often to me.  But things worked out.  Thank God for people who are willing to forgive.  I still have some big things in the works.

Viva Ered Eithel & Long Live Taure Rhun!

Ered Eithel at nighttime.  The Dragon Temple can be seen in the distance.

The Elves of Mystara rebuilt their home after the destruction of Taure Rhun, with the aid of several other nations.  Aid came primarily from the Dragonkin, and with a significant assist by the Mer and the Humans.  The new city has been named Ered Eithel - which means 'mountain wellspring' in Elvish.

Unlike the very cozy and bohemian treetop buildings of Taure Rhun, Ered Eithel is made of stone, built to last centuries, like the Dragon Temple seen in the background above.  I was instrumental in obtaining that help, and as my reward I was invited to join the Tyaro - the diplomatic corps of the Elves, even though I am human.

Not a meeting in the Ladies' Room... a meeting in the Dragons' Lair!

As Sha'Quessir, an ally of the Elves, I have been welcomed and have been able to contribute to the reconstruction effort.  I was given responsibility over procuring supplies, and with that came the idea to seek the Dragons' aid.  The Da'Ariv, or the Queen of the Dragons, Vanthadriel Tobor Ma'Jakar, was gracious and I would say even eager to help.  As a result of this cooperation, the Elves formally gained another ally in the Dragonkin.

Vanthadriel, the Da'Ariv of the Dragons

The construction was rapid, as aid came in from many sides.  Queen Nna of the Mer and King Declan of the Humans pledged significant amounts of help with supplies.  Absalon's traders also helped, sending a few of their men to help with construction.  Even the fat bastard that told me to piss off when I went to order the supplies...!  Anyhow, it finished quickly and the finished product is simply breathtaking.

Ered Eithel at nighttime, the palace and the temple are shown, as is the guard house and the entrance.

The effort by all was incredible.  Not long after the destruction, the mages started terraforming the land, raising it up to the mountain upon which the city currently sits, creating mystical waterfalls that lend to the city's name.  The Great Tree was also moved back to its place at the center of the city, the key vestige to the heritage of the Elves.

The Great Tree sits in the center of the square.

A few structures are very noticeable in town - the Temple, which was absent before, has been given a prominent place.  Also new is the foundry, so that the Elves can now make their own special weapons.  The library got a significant upgrade, with much more space.  The most noticeable and enjoyable difference is the Vanya Sulie, which is enormous and rivals the Royal Oak for space, but is unmatched in beauty.  The Vanya Sulie has an enormous balcony facing the eastern waters, large enough to support a dragon or two in their full form.

The Vanya Sulie, center.  In the distance, Wolf Mountain, the Healer's Temple and the Kokarri Enclave.

It is all breathtakingly beautiful, isn't it?  I will get some daytime pictures to show off here and there.  It is sad that the old village, with its quaint bohemian charms, was destroyed.  But like a phoenix, the Elves have arisen from the ashes... stronger, with new, powerful allies and an appropriate home to match.

Frolicking on Frivolity

Two posts in a month?  Heavens!

Well, there will actually be another.  But you'll have to wait for that one...

But yes, this is my second post, dedicated to my other new sweet ride, which I have christened with the name Frivolity.  It's just a fun little F name that follows my alliteration scheme.  It means the state of being frivolous... in the sense of playfulness, that is - not anything derogatory.

The Francoise Jacques model from Trudeau is truly glorious, much like its inspiration, Gloriana, a racer from 1891.  It has such elegant lines, and those five sails make me want to bite my hand, they are so pretty.  I really couldn't resist her.  I had to have her!  Which is why I ended up buying not one, but two boats, the other being Namaarie, my Trudeau New York 30.

It's been a pleasure to be back out on the water.  I promise I won't be away for so long.  Now that I have these two beautiful new yachts, it's unlikely I will be gone so long.

It's Up To You, New York

Here's something I haven't actually written about in a while: Sailing.

This blog used to be dedicated to sailing and exploration, but then that darned roleplay bug bit me HARD and I've been lost in Mystara ever since. But what a glorious time I've had!

Well, that put me behind the times when it comes to my fleet of yachts. I decided to check out the latest from Trudeau, and sure enough there are new things abounding. Now, I don't own every single one of Jackie's yachts. But I do have quite a few, and it saddened me to see that many if not most of them are now considered obsolete, and their only hope of seeing sales is through a redesign. It tempts me to box them up, but I can't bring myself to do that yet.

What I could bring myself to do was buy something new. I had a dilemma: get the party boat or the pretty boat? The party boat is actually the New York 30. The pretty boat (as if they aren't all pretty, but this one is very very pretty) is the Francois Jacques, named after a beloved SL sailor who recently passed away.

There are distinct benefits to both; New York has a crew of 4, and also sleeps 4 in the cabin. The FJ is a more intimate experience, with a crew of two, sleep space for two, and its five sails are a glory to behold.

Which one to choose? Great googly moogly!

Well, I resolved my dilemma the easy way. I got both! Muhahaha.

Please welcome Namaarie, my lovely new New York 30. The name means 'farewell' in Elvish. Fitting, I guess, considering what I've been up to for the last few months. It also continues my trend of naming boats using some form of alliteration.

It's a wonderful ride, and the crew positions are great. I christened it with a couple of friends, and we had a grand old time. It really is great for a party boat, having 4 of my friends along for the ride, it will be so much fun. My only complaint was the motor, being really slow. I may sail lazy sometimes, but not THAT lazy!

I couldn't be more pleased with Namaarie. It's beautiful and I love love love the size of the crew. I definitely intend to have more parties.

The Great Elven/Greenskin War

Had a fantastic weekend full of combat, heroics and pathos.
Cristalle went to live with the Elves several months ago, when the corruption in Stromness reached a frenzied boiling point. Although she still owns the general store, she has been happy to be living among the Elves.
This weekend, however, war came to Taure Rhun and it was destroyed by the Orcs and the Kokarri.

It was a surprise attack, and even though there had been rumors of it, it was still a surprise when it occurred. They brought a troll, which destroyed all the buildings, as well as their artillery.

Cristalle actually got a nasty burn on her arm thanks to a Kokarri witch, Calida. There were some small victories, though. Daewin has two of them on his belt:

And we did manage to save the Great Tree - through massive magic to move it.
But for now, the Elves are scattered and largely homeless. They have set up camp, though around the Great Tree.

The process of rebuilding is starting. We are getting help from the dragons. The humans... well, that's a long story in and of itself. We are not asking for it and we do not need it. And they will be amazed. In the meanwhile, we heal...