Bast's Bikini


Bast's Bikini in Red modeled by our own dear Inga
SimsHost Subscribers can click on the image to download from The Pearl. 64K. (Small download.)
To accommodate Inga's propensity for exhibitionism, the archive includes both a normal version (shown above) and a topless version.
This outfit will show up as a swimsuit for adult female sims.
Unzip the archive and 'psafswimbast3.zip' and put the .package files in your Downloads or SavedSims folder.
Warning: The topless version is topless. If you don't want your sim to show off her rack, don't install that version. (OK, that's obvious, but I still thought I should post a warning.)
Inga's skin tone is available in the topics about Fun With Tan Lines and The Return of Tan Lines.


Why Bast?

The inspiration for this strings-and-rings bikini came from Clyde Caldwell's cover art for There Will Be Dragons by John Ringo.


Bast from There Will Be Dragons Cover Art by Clyde Caldwell
Image courtesy of Baen Books. Used by permission.

I've long been intrigued by the character, Bast, and Clyde Caldwell did a fantastic job of portraying her exactly the way John Ringo described her. (I only found one tiny nit: The inside of the bracer on her left arm should be smooth. The way it is, it would catch her bowstring.)

I thought it would be fun to see if I could build Bast as a character in The Sims 2. I doubt that I'll ever get a new 3D mesh done for the rest of her costume, but making her bikini work on the standard swimsuit model was fun. FWIW, the texture, alpha channel, and normal map are all original.

Yeah, I know that Bast's bikini is green and this one is red. I was using red overlay for tuning the alpha and Z channels, and I liked it so much that I decided to go with it. I'll add a green version when I get it done. Bast is a wood elf so she really needs a green bikini. Camouflage, y'know. Yeah, that's it.

I tried to use the alpha channel to show off Bast's cleavage, but there isn't enough resolution for it come come out right. So to really represent Bast's figure I'll need to work on a new mesh. Darn. Don't wait up for it.

Bast is also an Egyptian Goddess, most commonly associated with cats >^..^<

and I can in fact see Her wearing just such a bathing suit!!! Well done!!!

Aha! I'd forgotten about THAT Bast! Considering John Ringo's penchant for history I would not be at all surprised if we learned that the idea for Bast's name came from the Egyptian goddess, although I do not remember any mention of cats in the story.

Even Clyde Caldwell (the artist) might have been inspired by the Egyptian goddess. His depiction of the wood elf does have a slight Egyptian flavor to her features. Or maybe he was just trying to depict an pretty lady with the competence of a superhero, which I'd say he did with fantastic success!

There's one feature that doesn't come out well in the picture: the elven Bast is only about 4 and half feet tall. But then, you also don't realize from the cover art that this is a very high-tech science fiction story. With dragons.

yep. whenever I hear Bast I think of the cat-headed goddess

Nowadays, we'd use one of Warlokk's bigger bosomed ladies for "enhanced cleavage."

We can also use the stretch skeleton cheat (or the associated SimPE technique that makes the "cheat" permanent) to give her the right height.