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There will be a big League festival at the upcoming event.  Rick Jackson has asked me to put out the following call for help/ideas.  I'm a bit reluctant to post Rick's email here, so if you need his info to get in touch, please PM me.

Rick says:

Please all have a read of the attached and if this is something you would be interested in getting involved in organising with drop me a line saying what aspects interest you. If you’d rather just contribute ideas then feel free to message me with them or even better contribute them into the discussion on the Facebook group. If you’d prefer to just participate on the event no problems, we hope the festival will enhance your enjoyment and that you can join in with aspects of it, hopefully with this notice you’ll be as prepared as you like/can be for the activities.

The Masquerade of the Reaper

An event celebrating League culture at Winter 2014:1 (E5)

Caveats:

·         This is a draft document for discussion. It lays out ideas, concepts and initial plans - everything is subject to change and new ideas at this point!

·         This is a bit of a collation and brain dump – it includes ideas chipped in by various League contributors via Facebook – sorry I haven’t been able to acknowledge people

·         In some places I may be suggesting duties or responsibilities for roles/ people or suggesting ideas that may accidently disrupt other people’s plans – feel free to contribute and comment.

·         We will be running this past PD and seek to coordinate with the main PD event itself, in particular around timings as well as with regards to plot and concepts.

Key Principles:

·         This is about the League pulling together for cultural activities – we want things that will engage people regardless of power or status

·         The festival is role playing focused (rather than about gathering power, skills or wealth or ‘winning’).

·         Whilst the League Egregore (played by Rick Jackson) will be coordinating the event IC (and Rick OOC) the objective is to involve as many League (and wider) people as possible - both in organising and participating.

·         The Festival in general may span over the whole course of the event (Fri-Mon) however its activities will need to be complementary to the main PD event (e.g. elections, battles etc.).

·         The focus of the event will be in defined periods e.g. on Saturday evening but there should/may be ongoing themes and ideas.

·         We are looking for people across the League to organise activities, small and grand, to build the festival – this document initially may be dominated by detail on certain aspects however that is just because these are the things I (Rick) am able to commit to. We want lots of people to get involved, suggest ideas/amendments and organise things themselves within the overall concept.

Key Themes Throughout

·         This is all about old traditions, strengthening  hearth magic, remembering League culture. Here are a few ideas for the festival to focus on:

Ø  Death

Remembering those that have passed, saluting the Reaper as both an ending of suffering and a time of renewal.

Ø  Gift giving

Simple gifts (e.g. biscuits) to guests, more personal gifts, with great meaning, to loved ones.

Ø  Renewals of Vows

With the turning of the seasons and the start of a new year this is a common time for the renewal of vows – in particular the giving of Rings.

Key Strands

1.    The actual Masquerade

The Egregore is volunteering to lead on this.

·         Saturday night between 5pm and 9pm (to be discussed/coordinated with PD)

Themes:

·         This should be a time of festivity, music, drinking and fun, building up to a large communal gathering/party.

·         Everyone in the League camp will be expected to wear a mask whilst on the streets or in public areas (the Egregore will supply a pile of spares for guests)

·         This is a time for high jinks with people in ‘disguise’ - do we want some game/ceremony with masks to run through the evening?

·         The Masquerade of the Reaper is an ancient festival (originating in Sarvos). 

·         The masquerade will be divided into three rough sections as detailed below.

a.              Hearth time                    (5pm – 7pm)

Time for groups to focus on their families/units/guilds /gather in their camps whilst the Egregore dons the mask of the Reaper and walks the streets of the League.

·         Gift giving

The Reaper stops at each ‘home’ (camp), chooses an individual and gives them a gift – this is considered to be very lucky. The camp gives the Reaper a gift in return and it is traditional that this thing has some meaning (which may be explained or not).

·         Souls’ return

At each camp it may be that there is a particular person who has passed away that the group still has unfinished business with (this is usually, but not exclusively, a loved one). A member of that camp will dress, act and speak like that individual. Such is the atmosphere of this night that to many it will seem as if they were actually there, giving time for one last evening with them. The Souls may be gathered at the start and accompany the Reaper on his walk?

As the Reaper travels around the camp more people will join the throng slowly heading their way to the League communal space.

b.             Plaza time                        (7pm – 7:30pm)

Everyone gathers together in a central space. There are speeches (short!), honours and awards.

·           Key League dignitaries (Senators, Cardinals, the General plus others?) may be offered time for a short speech (2 mins max and expected not to be boring) 

·           The Reaper/ Egregore gives out a few Winter honours

c.              Street time                      (7:30pm – 9pm)

There is a (short) procession around Anvil returning back to the plaza for a party.

·           Food, beer, music, entertainment

·           Including the Voice of a thousand drums (tbc?)

Everyone who can brings a drum (or two) and we see if we can coordinate some noise! (We are looking for someone who might be able to conduct this into some semblance of order and coordinate a sound!)

2.    Festival of theatre and music

We are looking for volunteers to ensure over that over the course of the weekend we have a suitable menu of theatre, music and cultural performance – a group of people are discussing the provision of a tented space for use as a theatre – and we’ll update as that resolves.

3.    National Ritual

Camilla and Theodorus of the Imperial Trading guild have volunteered to lead on trying to pull together a spectacular national Ritual using the 100+ people we hope to have in masks during the Masquerade – if you are a ritualist please get involved.

4.    Bridge Fighting

We are looking for volunteers to organise this. The basic concept is that it is based on a tradition where individuals would claim a bridge, plaza or patch of ground and challenge all comers to fight them for it. We need some rules/etiquette and perhaps some sort of championship?

5.    The Quest of Ambition (a scavenger type hunt for all ages to take place over Fri-Sun)

The Egregore will organise this and may throw it open to other nations.

6.    Something to do with the Virtues

We are looking for volunteers to organise this. To be honest we are looking for someone to come up with a good idea as well!

Underpinning/ supporting ideas:

7.    A National space for gathering, theatre, entertainment, food and beer/drinks

I am discussing options with various people – any ideas how we make this happen please throw them in.

Simon Doidge is in charge of the overall camp layout.

8.    Hearth Magic as a theme throughout