Sometimes you meet someone in Second Life, and you know that this could be the start of something special. You might go dancing, or to a club, you might go to one of the famous romantic pplaces such as The Lost Gardens of Apollo … but there comes a time when you want to be alone together. Somewhere private, somewhere beautiful, somewhere rather special.
In real life, this might be the time for a quiet dinner in an intimate restaurant. But, in Second Life, you don’t really need to eat … and sitting on opposite sides of a table seems a slight waste of time. You’d like to go somewhere beautiful, somewhere even, perhaps, spectacular. But somewhere without other people.
Unless you own your own sim, and can shut it down for the duration, you might be floundering a little here. But there is an answer, and it comes in the form of the Lavanya Fantasy Suites. These are a number of skyboxes that can be hired by the hour (or longer), or by the day. Once here, you will have peace and security, but above all, you’ll have surroundings of the utmost beauty.
There are a wide variety of suites to cater for an equally wide variety of fantasies. From palaces to treehouses, from hidden caves behind glittering cascades to ocean going yachts … you should be able to find something that will appeal to your tastes. There are even a few darker simulations for those who like their play to be rather more edgy.
You choose your suite from the array offered in the rental area – I believe there are currently about twenty. And here the quality of Lavanya shows, because the rental area itself is a beautiful space – with lovely cloisters to walk and sit in to one side (complete with a Garden Theatre area) and a mountain lake withglorious views to the other.
You can tour any of the suites that happens to be unoccupied for a five minute taster. Although not long enough to share that great romantic moment, it does give you the chance to check out a variety of suites before making your selection and tp-ing your partner. And once you’ve rented for an hour, you can extend the rental if it seems to be going really well. Alternatively, you can rent by the day.
And, to be honest, even if you aren’t planning on staging that romantic moment, it’s still worth coming along to have a look at the suites, for many of them are exquisite builds. It might even give you Ideas.
I came across the Suites when I was looking for Persian builds, and so I was interested in the one called Persian Empire, and pictured on this page (larger pics to be found here, here, and here). In a relatively small space, the designers have created something really lovely (although, with the elephant sculptures, I’d be inclined to see it as more Mughal than pure Persian – I suppose that the term ‘Persian Empire‘) could charitably be held to extend to the Mughal Empire in India too!).
I was also interested in the way they are run – and built. The core is constructed on (or over) land held by Lavanya Hartnell and her partner Dode Goodliffe by a small team.
But there is also a system of franchising. Partners can supply both land and the design and build of a fantasy suite. The team will then add any small changes or value adds they think will help rent the suite, and create the promotional material. They then supply the security that keeps the suites private for romantic trysts, and handle the commercial side of the operation – promote, rent, and deal with customer services while the owner of the suite takes their share of the rent.
Spellbound Cavern – with its romantic hideaway behind the waterfall (and you really will have to explore that for yourself!) is an example of such a partnership. You can see larger pictures here and here.
Is this just a place for escorts? Frankly, I don’t think so, at all. It’s for anyone at all who wants that really special evening. No matter what the romantic fantasy, Lavanya Fantasy Suites will do their best to make it happen.
Prim Perfect 