Introducing the Lupanar District!

A great new development has occurred in ROMA!

We conducted a survey regarding the Caligula's Pleasure Palace facility last month. The results were that most agreed 1) it was useful to have such a facility to help keep adult activity in the sim contained, 2) the current facility was too large and did not meet the current needs of the community.

The Emperor has decided to replace the Caligula's Pleasure Palace facility with a new build that is more useful. Introducing the new Lupanar District!

Our City Prefect, Torin, has built a small working-class neighborhood behind the gladiator arena. The ROMA Lupanar Brothel, marked by its distinctive wolf sign, sits at the end of a small plaza. The surface structure is a reconstruction of an ancient Roman brothel from Pompeii. Several signs explain the life of ancient Roman prostitutes. On the upper floor is a gallery space that will now house the "Ars Amatoria: Sex in Ancient Rome" exhibit (formerly in the Capitoline Museum).

If a Citizen touches the wolf sign, they will be transported to a subterranean hallway. Two private rooms can be found down there, each with free sex beds available for use. Every couple animation built into the beds has been given a coy Latin name. How many can you translate? ;) The animations contain heterosexual, boy-boy, and girl-girl menu choices. Please be sure to read the rules down there governing this space.

The Lupanar Brothel will now be the place where all adult activity must be kept in ROMA.

Apart from the Lupanar Brothel, the district also contains two other attractions. The Vulcan Smith shows how the Romans worked metal, and Citizens can try their hand at making a chainmail shirt and their own sword. The Cracked Potters Workshop allows Citizens to make their own pottery (formerly housed in the Baths of Caracalla portico). Other attractions will be added to the district in the future.

The demolition of the Caligula's Pleasure Palace facility will commence in the next few days. The Blue Grotto area will be retained, moved to the cavern under the Forum, and become a non-adult general attraction.

Floralia/Bona Dea Festival Schedule

Floralia Festival -- 17th May

11am - Floralia Ritual and Poetry Picnic
Ritual to honour Floral and celebrate the Floralia, followed by a relaxing picnic and poetry sharing. What is your favourite floral or spring themed poem? Come share it with us!

2pm - Floralia Games @ the Ludus
Come to the Ludus and watch our brave gladiators fight for the honour of ROMA and the Goddess Flora! Free Ludus Bread and wine at the door.

4pm - Flower Making Contest
Are you creative? Come and match your skills against other builders as we strive to create the perfect Floralia Bloom! All skill levels welcome and basic flower building supplies provided. Prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.


Festival of Bona Dea (Faunalia) -- 18th May

10am - Bona Dea Ritual and Maypole Dance
Ritual to honour Fauna and celebrate the Festival of the Bona Dea, followed by the ancient tradition of the Maypole Dance! There will be music, dancing, feasting, and good friends - come join us!

1pm - Faunalia Fishing Contest
As Flora is a Goddess of green, growing things, so Fauna is a goddess of all who sport fur, feathers, or... scales! Come try your luck in the Faunalia Fishing Contest - catch and collect beautiful pets and have a chance at winning prizes!

5pm - The Fauna & Flora Grand Feast
Themed feast to celebrate the end of Festivals - Come dressed as faun, satyr, or other animal (mythologic or not). Or, if you prefer, go with a Floral theme - dress in leaves or flowers! There will be a costume contest and prizes will be given to Best Male & Female costumes.

ROMA Survey

All Citizens are asked to fill out the very short 10 question survey at this link. It is about the Caligula's Palace facility in ROMA and its future. The survey will be active until Monday, so please make your feelings known today. Many thanks!

Em Larsson Opens in New ROMA Gallery

Renowned photoartist Em Larsson has opened the inaugural art show in the new Baths of Caracalla gallery space.

Em's photos in the gallery are of the natural beauty around where she lives in real life. Em says "I capture images of the beauty I find around me and brings them into SL". She exhibits in several places around the grid (see her 'picks' for those locations) and also acts in the SL Shakespeare Company.

The newly rebuilt Baths of Caracalla structure in ROMA now has a meeting room and two gallery spaces on the upper floor. We will be use the space to host and support SL artists from around the grid. Interested artists should contact JT Vale to discuss reservations for upcoming shows.

April Festivals Pictures Posted

Pictures from this past weekend's Veneralia and Cerealia festivals have been posted to our Flickr page. You can find the sets here. Enjoy!

Chariots!

ROMA now has chariots that will ferry you around ROMA's three sims.

Outside the Pompeii Tavern in ROMA you can catch either the 'Subura Loop' chariot that will take you around the outer ring road of the Subura, or the 'Ostia Express' that will take you directly to the Ostia settlement in the northeastern corner of the Transtiberim sim.

Beside the main gate of Ostia, you can catch a chariot that will bring you right back to the plaza before the Pompeii Tavern.

It is possible, once you learn the routes, to hop on a chariot and hop off when you reach the area of ROMA you wish to visit.

It is a new, fun way to move around ROMA. Hope you enjoy it!

Legion Training Video

Thanks to Brodbiz for a peek at Legion training.

New Transtiberim Attractions

Several new attractions are now ready (more or less) in the ROMA Transtiberim sim. All are located in the mountain range in the northern part of the sim:

1. If you begin to climb the mountain path, you will come across a secluded cave entrance halfway up the path. This is the Lupercal Cave where the Lupa lives, the she wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus. If you dig around her bone pile, she may allow you to re-enact the twin's most famous moment.

2. Leave the Lupercal Cave by the back door and you will come across a natural hot spring that the Emperor has converted into a small thermal bath complex. It is a wonderful place to relax and wash away the cares of the day. To sit comfortably in the pools of hot water, touch one of the rocks that sit on the edge of the pool. Watch out for the geyser that erupts every few minutes from one of the pools!

3. Return to the mountain path and climb all the way up to the top of the mountain. You will know you are getting close to the top when you begin to feel the crunch of snow under your sandals. At the very top is the most unusual cave in ROMA. This was the home of the Sibyl long ago, the prophetess of Apollo. She used to live here and give prophesies to anyone who would make the climb to see her. Now all that is left is an empty cave with only a small cracked altar. But some Citizens have left a few offerings here, convinced that the spirit of the Sibyl remains. They claim that if one touches the altar with a pure heart, the Sibyl may yet hear queries and offer her prophesies.

All three of these attractions are now open in the ROMA Transtiberim sim.

Get Well Tullia

Click To Play

The Collegium of ROMA Priests and Priestesses has produced a video for one of their members, Tullia Lanzius, who was recently injured in a RL accident. Noted filmmaker and Senate Princeps JT Vale directed the video.

Get well soon Tullia and hurry back to ROMA! We miss you!

External link for the video page

New Roleplay Rules in ROMA

New year, new rules in ROMA.

All roleplay in the sim will now be regulated by a ROMA group and special laws. You can read about all of the changes on this messageboard post. We know it is a lot of text, but it is absolutely imperative that all Citizens read it and learn the new rules.

We hope this will not only solve some issues roleplay has been having lately in ROMA, but also create wonderful opportunities for Citizens to indulge their imagination and creativity.

Valete omnes!