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!

Saturnalia 07 !

The Saturnalia festival is now going on. You can check out some pictures from the events here (including some unexpected beefcake thanks to a few of our Senators!)

Full Schedule:
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Friday, 14th December

11am SLT - Candlelight Procession to the Temple of Jupiter, for the Ritual to Saturn, which starts off the festivities

12pm SLT/1200 hrs - Saturnalia Carnival in the Fort, with games to play and prizes to win.

(Both these events will be repeated later in the day at 5pm SLT/1700 hrs and 6pm SLT/1800 hrs, so you have two chances to attend.)

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Saturday, 15th December

Starting 8am SLT - The Senate will be passing out milk and cookies in the Curia all day. Here's a chance for our Citizens to meet our Senators face to face and get in a little chat wth them. And there are cookies, too!

12pm SLT/1200 hrs - Hot Times at the Baths of Caracalla! Come to the baths for a soak and a chat - it's chilly out there, come in and warm up!

2pm SLT/1400 hrs - A Live Music Event in the Arena in ROMA, with music by Noma Falta.

5pm SLT/1700 hrs - If you are a RL Classical Scholar, or just have a deep interest in ancient history and culture, come to the Odeon of Marcellus, where we'll chat about ancient cultures and how to use ROMA as an educational environment. All welcome.

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Sunday, 16th December

4pm SLT/1600 hrs - Saturnalia Grand Feast, in the Imperator's palace in ROMA. There will be a special TP set up in the Plaza outside the Tavern so Citizens may get to the Palace. There will be drinking, feasting, dancing, and a small gift for all attendees. The Feast will be reigned over by our elected Imperator and Imperatrix of Misrule, and their court, who have the right to ask the crowd to entertain with funny stories, jokes, and dances on a purely voluntary basis. Want an excuse to play the fool? Now's your chance!

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All Festival Long

Ice Skating - The Baths of Caracalla have frozen over! Come ice skate on the frozen pool! If the pool is too cozy for you, check out the frozen ice pond in the Fort, which will be there until Dec. 14th.

ROMA Scavenger Hunt - The Vestalis Maxima has a tear in her purse and has been dropping coins all over ROMA! Find them and click them, and you'll receive a small Saturnalia gift. Collect all 20! They are hidden around ROMA and Ostia in ROMA Transtiberim.

ROMA Saturnalia Gift Exchange - A secret gift exchange for the Citizens! Want to give gifts to your fellow Citizens this holiday season? Go to the holiday tree in the middle of the Forum in ROMA and find out how.

ROMA Charity Drive - ROMA is collecting donations for Relay For Life, an American Cancer Society campaign to raise money for those suffering with cancer. Please donate if you can during this festival.