Oran Store at Fantasy Faire 2011

Fantasy Faire 2011 is open and you can go there – http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fantasy%20Faire%20Central/131/127/24

My assignment has been to the Fantastical and Magical sim –  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fantastical%20and%20Magical/63/129/23

To that end I’ve been introduced to the weird and wonderful creations of the Oran Store and their spokeswoman, Inish Karu, who is absolutely delightful to chat with, there is more than one creator involved in this venture you see and they make trees, benches, thrones and Gnomes …. yes Gnomes!

The Oran store is a family run shop with eight or nine creators and scriptors, Inish Karu tells me, the main builder is Thorno Helionese who has a background in 3D designs and he also built the shop, but like a number of the family he doesn’t like humans, so it’s down to Inish to speak to nosey bloggers like me. Thorne and the team are also looking forward to the introduction of Mesh in Second Life as they feel they’ll be in good position to utilise it well and I think they will.

“I  create the cheap and cheerful stuff and do all the nagging” Inish tells me, she continues “We also spend way too much time in rp and distracting ourselves visiting awsome builds and wondering how the heck they managed that!”

How the heck did they manage that is something I too wondered as I surveyed the Oran Store, the aptly named welcome tree being one creation that I was particularly attracted to:

They also have a Fae throne on display, this comes to my attention because you know, being a Lord I’m a fan of thrones and places where I can sit whilst plotting world domination by my minions. This throne however is for Fae fans, and is very well crafted:

Those woodland folk will also like the trees, which I also like because they look a bit creepy whilst leafless and I can imagine tying people to ….. oops going off on a tangent!

Fantasy Faire 2011 isn’t just about highlighting the wonderful fantasy themes though, it is also a big supporter of the Relay For Life campaign and this is important to Inish Karu: “We relay because i survived cancer, and wow just realised thats is the first time i ever wrote that down .. feels weird to see it in print anyway the rest do it coz i nag them to but biggest reason we relay is because it is so much fun!”

However for me, it’s the Gnomes I notice most, they are a new product line for the Oran Store, they come in a couple of varieties and are animated, there’s a baking Gnome who rolls dough:

However if you want to put your Gnome to work and keep him busy, then you can send him out to cut some wood:

However you won’t see these Gnomes everywhere in Second Life: “We’re limiting the Gmomes to one hundred each” Inish tells me “They’re cute and don’t cause drama.”

There’s much more from Oran Store than I have space to write about, but the store is certainly worth a visit in Fantasy Faire 2011 and if you want to see even more then you can visit their main store inworld:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Blakeley%20Rise/170/32/846

However don’t expect to meet many creators other than Inish, the others hide from humans and you’ll be very lucky if you run into one … or is it unlucky? I don’t know what powers they have!