Fantasy Faire: Odyssey sponsored by Fallen Gods

Odyssey is sponsored by Fallen Gods Inc, and was created by Alia Baroque. It contains 19 stores.

“As you set out on your journey to Ithaca, pray that your journey be a long one, filled with adventure, filled with discovery.” Barry B. Powell, Classical Myth Konstantinos Kavafis

A reader named Loretta String contacted me about the quote describing Odyssey, and it's from a longer poem called Ithaka from a famous Greek poet named Konstantinos Kavafis; I'm quoting below from the full poem I was linked to.

As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

The Safe Waters Foundation, which has a booth on Odyssey, had a Deep Open Week before the Faire opened and is trying to raise awareness about saving Second Life's waterways, making them available for all residents.

Kerryth Tarantal, the creator of Spyralle, spoke with Sonya Marmurek about returning to sponsor the Fantasy Faire, themes within her creations, and what she's looking forward to this year.

Alia's heart is solidly with the classics, and that is obvious the moment one steps into Odyssey. I found myself wishing that I could line his Fantasy Faire builds up in some manner, seeing them move from one to the other would be a wonderful opportunity to enjoy what remains consistent in his building style while highlighting the differences between each - a fae can dream, right? Odyssey is all towering plateaus and rounded temples stretching toward the clouds. It is also one of the more balanced of his builds, variation coming mostly in the height of the outcroppings, but at the same time has the widest variety in how the stores are shaped. From large, open halls up a set of stairs, to rows of openings in a rectangular temple, even little things like whether one has two floors or not varies between them. I had a great deal of fun finding the stairs which went up and down and everywhere within the mountainous buildings, and it's those long and narrow stairs which lead to the hidden heights above the group, and the highest temple.

Odyssey also has my favorite store signs - each name in a gray font which looks cut into the stone of the building; the effect was so seamless that it took me a while to realize what he had done! Shortly after I noticed that the Corinthian columns have echoes of their Ionic predecessors using shells in the place of scrolls - a lovely touch. Echoing their narrow lengths are the conifers which sprout up here and there among the stone, offering up a counterpoint of green. The statues in those lovely little circular temples that the Greeks called tholos all contain different statues, except for the single one which has a lovely fire within it for burning offerings. The pediments - triangular reliefs set in the stones over entrances - are different as well, showing a variety of reliefs that seem like they came from history. The chains are delightful fantasy, though, with their glowing orbs hanging down along the marble fronts of buildings; I love the touch of whimsy they give these otherwise severe and formal halls.

Shells, pearls, statues of mermaids, even small fish curling along the top edges of buildings in the form of stone - everywhere there is remembrances of the sea. In the harbor is a combination ship and jailor - a kraken coils long, improbably colored tentacles around the ruins of a boat. At the opposite end of the sim, stones cut into high walls and hanging bridges lead up ever farther upward to a temple high in the sky made out of half-circles of impossibly thin Ionic columns. The swirl of teal and green rising from its heart is echoed in smaller places across the sim, rising from pearls at the hearts of shells. The delicate line of a hanging bridge cuts across the air in a simple, lovely manner and gives a fantastic view of the crashing waves so far below. Everywhere, there are reminders of the sea - of the trappings of the journey of Odysseus himself from far off climes to home - and home this sim seems to be, from the musical edges of statues, to the coiling mermaids, to the heavy beat of waves on marble. Like Persephone, Alia remains constant for us all.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY Cheerful Cyan
Water Settings: Phototools, Breakwave Building Wave

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping