Newbie Makeover!

So last night an RL friend of mine from up-state New York finally joined Second Life. He's been trying to find an MMO to RP in for a while now after leaving EverQuest II, and I sent him the information about Cyria and its RP. He's really good at dark or evil nobility and dark/evil in general, so his interest was definately perked by the traditional gothic romance novel style of Cyria.


I didn't snag a before picture, but he was your standard preppy blonde male that I believe is the most yuppy looking duck walker in the bunch you can select at creation. Wiegraf didn't get to spend a whole hell of a lot of time in the newbie area, mostly because we teleported him straight away. After making him a temporary shape so he didn't look quite so newbish, Beetle, Aradia and I took him out for an actual make over.


First stop was to get a better skin, as we don't have a whole lot in the way of male skins since we three are female. Splitting half the cost with Aradia, Wiegraf got to select a skin from The Abyss. For those who live under a rock, the male skins are absolutely fantastic even though they are quite a bit more than what I'm used to for skins. Definately worth it.


Wiegraf got Scorpio Dystopia C4, which has scarring over the one eye. A bit of pop eye adjusting will probably make that look like his eye was clawed out, but I didn't really get into much advanced customization just yet. The skin itself is quite pale compared to the other types available, though its not drop dead Goth white.


After that, we went through a couple of hair shops because Wiegraf wasn't finding anything that really fit with what he was going for. He found something that suited him at Sirena's, selecting the Dante style in white tips, which also includes a black with white tips version. All of Sirena's hair styles have built in face lights, which I often forget about since I have a number of styles by her - take them off, and the world goes a bit darker, and I never remember to re-equip my other face lights.


The next stop soaked up the majority of our time during the trip, due to render times and sheer amount of products to go through. One of the best ways to help a newbie look fantastic is a trip to Bare Rose's HQ, which is also a great place to pick up a newbie's first AO since they have a basic male and female freebie available.


Its always at least mildly busy at Bare Rose, to the point of where the sim has shut down scripts even though a few scripted items are available there. Even though it was a bit later at night, the place was still quite packed so the rez times ran a bit long; Wiegraf and Beetle didn't even render for me until after we'd walked over and got the little newblet his first AO. Needless to say, it was tough to advise Wiegraf of anything quickly due to the fact I couldn't see anything but blurs for products.


After a small obsession with some of the newer armours available, Wiegraf got the Noble of Dawn set. There are actually several versions of one outfit in each set, typically containing what seems to be the default colour scheme of black, pink, red, green and blue in some form or black and white/light and dark variations. Noble of Dawn is one of the later, even though there later was a Noble of the Dusk added to the menswear, which was more like the former colour scheme mentioned.


Yes, that's a spinal column in the background and yes, that's sinewed tendons sticking up out of that lava. This image was taken when all was said and done, and we were down in the Cyrian dungeons watching Lucia work her magic on the latest addition to the castle. Every dark, creepy castle has an ominous dungeon, and Cyria is no exception...well, aside from the fact ours has a comfortable observation platform...with fluffy pillows...


The second outfit that Wiegraf selected was the Ethereal New Heaven outfit for the male avatar. I've been wanting to see this set on someone for some time, however it wasn't quite fitting for Masi or even Tobin to get, so I was quite content that someone finally will be wearing it around me. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to mention to Wiegraf that sometimes you have to manually unequip something, so he's still got a bit of the collar from NoD on.


This was taken in Shapes by Zada's main store, where we got Wiegraf a pair of Eyefidelity Realeyes in Mahogany. Ignore the rainbow in the background...it totally throws off the dark evil lord look that the black version of ENH is going for!


This also comes in white with the same golden accents on it, for a good noble/bad noble combination. I'm curious as to what it would look like if one mixed the two schemes together, but didn't want to overload Weigraf's brain at that point.


Today we went back to Bare Rose to get him some armour. He was torn between three different sets, but I like the look of the Lord Black Bizard the best, plus it comes with three different coloured of cloaks. I'm note sure how the set looks outside of Windlight, but damn it's shiny!


Its kinda creepy how his hair seems to be part of the helmet until you get to the white tips, and realise its actually part of his hair. Now all he needs is some sort of fancy sword to look incredibly knightly, though I'm not quite sure if I want to go into the whole scripted vs. non-scripted weapon talk just yet.


The cape is fairly simple, and of a thinner variety than what most of the capes in Bare Rose sets are. It comes in red, blue and I think the other colour was green but I may be wrong about that. Honestly, I like it more than I've liked the fuller Bare Rose capes, it just seems a little bit more natural in the way it moves than the others have.


I suppose its more than late to mention that the Cyrian setting is sort of medival feudal, hence the lordly sort of formal clothing we were looking into for Wiegraf, and armour. Depending upon what role he takes, he may also be getting a sort of rogue set of outfits as well...trip to Fairy Grove Creations, yay!


Last night I also finally settled on a basic look for my Passion Crystal Hunter style. It's got pieces from several different sets I've bought over the past few weeks, and I may be adding some sort of stockings to it once I decide which ones I like best with it, if any at all.



Starting at the top, the hair is Style 2 in Red with Black Tips by Wrong. I don't really think the hairstyle is going to be a super set thing, mostly because I have a ton of different hairstyles, especially after buying up a bunch during Wrong's Easter sale. >.>



The shirt is from the new Bare Rose Scout set, as are the gloves and the nifty skirted utility belt. I didn't really dig the pants from the set for my costume, so I am using the Crimson Hunter Armour panty by DeFleur...not that it is visible.



I'm using the *Hexed* Gothica boots here, though I may be purchasing the Leather Cavalier Boots from *~* Illusions *~* for this costume. I've not decided yet. It will probably depend on whether or not I use a pair of stockings or not.



The cloak is the small black cloak from the Crimson Hunter Armour set, and its actually semi-sheer. Along the back attaching it to the Scout armour are little gemstones, so its still quite pretty and feminine. I tried the longer one but with where the attach point looked best, it was way too long and I didn't feel like modding it much.



I got a Yuffie costume at some point, but I forget where it is from. I plan on making my own weapon of a similar style, mostly because I've always liked her little, okay massive ninja star thing. I may also figure out a way to use the staff I have and the cape, but it might take a bit if attachment re-ordering...



So my newbie make over was successful, for what it was for, and I have my own costume finished now. Rather constructive day!