Date: 2 May 2014 Location: The NeoLondon Cathedral of Air and Darkness [NeoVictoria SIM]
Produced By: Asil Ares
Players: Suzi Yao as Timmon’s Robot, Asil Karu as Cerridwen~in~chains, ValentineAdler Resident as Valentine ‘Val’ Adler, Tarquin Evermore as Samuel Bellamy, LucindaJaneStrathmore Resident as Lucinda Jane Strathmore and Juliana Swordthain as Lady Juliana
Event Description
In NeoLondon [NeoVictoria SIM]. Timmon’s robot is released from the Castle Lab, breaks the wards to a door and enters the Cathedral. The resourceful Sam attempts to stop it, but not before it injects Strand motes into the organ that controls the power center; they begin to interfere with Cerridwen’s ability to feed energy to the City. Lights start to go out, running water ceases to flow.
Cerridwen alerts the Auditor, advising if the power plant in the Cathedral were to go silent, the Empire would send some people in a big hurry. Some very very scary people. Val Adler shares this information with the group and Sam shares what he discovered at the castle the previous evening. They go in search of more clues, leaving Cerridwen in flames, attempting to understand the true nature of the threat.
The roleplay continues in NeoVictoria today … join us at 6:00 PM, SecondLife-time or tune in tomorrow!
As it approaches the door, the air grows still and warm, a heat haze starts to shimmer the closer you get. The door seems to hold a flaming glow, leaving it wonder, “Will you be burnt? Touch the door and it will open; how fares your hand?” Ignoring this emote the robots moves forward to the door and with one large swing of its arm smashes open the door and clambers inside the Cathedral.Making it’s way over towards the organ of the power centre it thrusts a robotic arm into the organ. The Strand motes stream out of it’s arm flooding into the organ’s central force.Golden wings rose from his back as he dove down the spiral staircase to go to the side of his charge. “Cerridwen!!”Her hands and feet begin to glow from white to blue. She sees Valentine hovering before her and her eyes are wide and she holds her hands out for him to see, “Something is affecting me …it is like, … like …” her voice is hollow, never has she sounded more like a machine.Aware of some lowly beings coming towards it, the robot removes it’s construct armature from the control and swings round to face them.Another strike from the first attacker makes the robot swing round at it with the limb that’s left and at the same time sprays motes into it’s face and the celestial’s direction while still screeching at a deafening pitch. Pushes forward once again towards the entrance to the cathedral, it makes its escape.Valentine ‘Val’ Adler fell backwards at the force of Cerridwen’s energy, looking up from behind his shielding arm to peer at the great machine. “Cerridwen.. what.. what has happened to you..? What…”Her voice picks up the pace a bit. “You must learn more about this crude clockwerk; track it down! Take the ones who linger here and hunt that creature down before …the warding that djinn placed on the Queen’s portrait is consumed and we are exposed.Come with me, we must track down that bot!” His voice was determined, his eyes filled with an unusual blackness, “That is, if you value your sanity, and your lives..!The motes from the robot enter one of the secondary systems of the central core, flowing through the aether currents like an invading virus. They hit the central core and she begins to feel her body temperature rise.Her energy bubble begins to glow and she is almost impossible to discern; a ghostly female shape in an inferno of energy.Myomy is sitting at her desk in her office, scrutinizing artwork for the new edition of the society pages when the lights go out. In the sudden dark, she sits bolt upright, listening for sounds that might explain the blackness.
This is your first year sponsoring Fantasy Faire. What made you decide to become a sponsor?
Asil Ares as “The Synthetic” One of the major arcana in the Steampunk Tarot.
Asil Ares: Virtual worlds fascinate me and I find Second Life™ particularly compelling, because its content is created by its players …SL doesn’t have to be a creatively passive user experience. But, the grid is vast and it can be difficult for people to find their niche. Big well-run events, like Fantasy Faire or Burning Man or the Second Life™ Birthday Community Celebrations, are ways to bring like-minded people together and help them find connection.
What makes Fantasy Faire especially compelling is that it is fund-raising for a really important cause: Relay for Life and the fight against cancer. Every year I go to the Faire and every year, it just gets better. Last year was one of the best SL events I’d ever seen; I was determined to get involved. The members of the NeoVictoria Roleplay Group agreed, so we decided to sponsor one of the steampunk fairylands.
How did you begin roleplaying in Second Life? How did NeoVictoria come into existence?
The NeoVictoria Project …a steampunk experiment in machinima and dark roleplay
There are all kinds of roleplay communities in SL, and yes …the ones that get most of the press are salacious. However, the one that first caught my attention was created around a unique post-apocalyptic world replete with demons, angels, vampires and the occasional human. I’m writing about The City of Lost Angels, created by Suzanna Soyinka.
I stumbled upon this immersive storyworld and its addictive combat meter via an article on open sourcing; I loved playing RPGs in school, so decided to check it out. It took about three months to totally reel me in!
“Kwekwe Turned” A machinima by Asil Ares
It amazed me, how much time and energy the residents of these communities invested in their characters and roleplays. As is often the way, I found myself joining several clans (or factions) in different subscribing SIMs. I became very close with some of the players, including my dear roleplay “cousin” Kwekwe Karu, who wrote a wonderful short story about how our characters met. This backstory became the source material for my first serious machinima, “Kwekwe Turned”.
Mask’d Ball at the Castle
After that, it was only a matter of time before I learned I needed the technical control of a full SIM to shoot machinima the way I wanted to make it. And then, the desire to expand that vision into a community began to take hold. That’s how NeoVictoria, as a SL simulation, formed in my mind. I’ve always loved Steampunk, so when I dreamed about creating a world, it was those kinds of images that came to me. And I loved the possibility of a community whose roleplay isn’t lost once the scene is over. The NeoVictoria Project™ is very much a mixing of those themes and desires.
What can we expect of NeoVictoria during the Faire? Will you be roleplaying in Asperatus? Are the visitors welcome to join in or is it more a performance?
Poster for “The Revenge of Professor Timmons”
Visitors can expect some nice gifts to be found in Mrs. Chickenstalker’s Apothecary and Dry Goods Emporium (that’s the name of our store on Asperatus). And they can look forward to some exciting and engaging roleplay, which they are most welcome to join!
The story NeoVictoria will play at the Fantasy Faire is called “The Revenge of Professor Timmons.” In it, the professor has built a treacherous robot, which damages our town’s power center. They then make their escape to Asperatus. We townsfolk chase after these miscreants, so there will be lots of excitement, fighting in the streets, and general mayhem going on. In the end, we will capture the bad guys, and there will be a great big celebration on Friday, 9 May (with Gabrielle Riel of Radio Riel fame as our live DJ). After which, we will return the evil doers to NeoVictoria to receive their just desserts.
For those interested in keeping abreast of developments, or who plan to join us in roleplay, we’ll be posting alerts and daily updates to our page on the Fantasy Faire website.
What calls you to fantasy and steampunk? When was the first time you encountered the genres and realized you enjoyed them?
Asil Karu and Cabbage in Sidhe Park
I fell in love with fantasy when I learned to read. My grandmother had all the Andrew Lang fairy books and one of my earliest memories is turning the pages of those ancient books to wonder at the pictures. As for Steampunk, I think I always was one, though I didn’t really understand it as a movement until I read Bruce Sterling‘s excellent essay, “The User’s Guide to Steampunk“.
Do you have a favorite Faire memory? What are you looking forward to most this year?
I don’t remember what year it was, I just remember it was the first place I saw the work of Elicio Emberand it both amazed and delighted me. As a roleplayer, I’m most looking forward to “The Revenge of Professor Timmons“, but as a visitor, it’s The Faery Court that I plan to see as soon as the gates open.
Lord Coat Hungers
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…a Steampunk adventure in machinima and dark roleplay
