below is Storms report on the LARP, reposted in three parts form Stormboard:

Part 1/3

[Stormboard] Storm's Seven Sins LARP Experiences...

Hi all

Well, what an experience…! That's the least I can say about Jim's and my visit to the Seven Sins LARP in Germany. We had a great time, made some new friends and generally had loads of fun.

We flew out on the Tuesday evening and were met at Bonn/Cologne airport by Ellie and Sven (who `play' Cobweb and Pellaz respectively). Ellie had been driving people around continuously for two days and was absolutely exhausted. Castle Bilstein, where the LARP was held, was pretty much out in the middle of nowhere so quite a few folk needed ferrying to the venue, through thickly falling snow.

The castle overlooks a really picturesque small town, set high on a mountain oozing with ancient vibes. Although the castle has been renovated rather drastically (and sadly, in my opinion) to accommodate a youth hostel, it still retains a lot of its original features, (especially on the outside), and was a very atmospheric venue for the gathering. Jim and I were a bit disconcerted to discover we'd be sleeping in bunk beds, but as we quickly found out the beds were amazingly comfortable, that wasn't too much of a trial. Another thing that shocked us to start with was that there were no locks on the doors. We come from a country where you'd be robbed blind in such circumstances, but there was absolutely no problem with thieving at all – even with 300 people or so at the event.

The LARP wasn't due to start until the next day, so only a few people were around that first night. Wendy had arrived the previous day, so we met up with her and Marja, and the rest of Wraeththu crew in attendance, for a few glasses of wine before bedtime. Marja had a special `corner' in the castle, on one of the landings, which she and her crew had transformed into a kind of Gelaming boudoir, with drapes and cushions and ornaments strewn around.

Wraeththu were to be presented to the LARPing world during the event and - as with the role-playing game that Gab has devised - there was some advance mumblings about this. Some people were intrigued, others somewhat scathing. As usual, it was the gender aspect of Wraeththu that was ruffling a few feathers. It was up to Marja and her crew to persuade everyone that Wraeththu could be a viable part of this form of gaming. And they did an excellent job.

As for the cast, there was Sven (Pellaz), Gerrit (Cal), Ellie (Cobweb), Marja (Snake), Sabine (a Kamagrian called Amina), Venai, (Rarn har Kakkahaar), David (Moon), Ronni (Terez), some guy whose name I can't recall – sorry! – (Swift) and Wendy's friend Caleb who very gamely played the Hegemon Cedony – but more of that later. Jim, Wendy and I were required to have cursory characters, since no one at the LARP could be without one, so I decided to be Malakess har Sulh, Jim was my assistant Huriel, and Wendy was Edrai, who was one of the characters from Breeding Discontent. Not that we got much chance to play because we can't speak German, (although Wendy can a bit), but we sort of lurked around in wigs and make up and tried to understand what we could.

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Part 2/3

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The Seven Sins began properly on the evening of the second day. Everyone gathered in costume in the courtyard while Mercedes, who ran the event, outlined the rules and so on. Everyone then had to traipse into the dark snow-covered forest next to the castle for the game to begin. It was absolutely freezing, but we all huddled together for warmth, and I was able to share Sabine's thick woollen cloak. (Without that, I think I might have succumbed to the weather.) The game idea was that several factions, or races, had been invited to the castle by the ruling family there, a breed of French aristocrats. The language barrier was a bit of problem for me as I tried to suss out the plot, but as far as I could gather, the Seven Sins could affect any player, and if they were caught `sinning', they were awarded a token to indicate this. Occasionally, throughout the game, sinister Shadows appeared, players dressed in black, who attacked all and sundry and were generally to be held at bay. There was more to it than this, and no doubt the plot will be reported more competently elsewhere. Most of the time, Jim and I were virtual spectators hoping that we blended in sufficiently and didn't offend anybody! On the second day, Jim and I discovered the Tavern in the courtyard, and spent most of our time there. It was the best place to meet people and learn about what was going on. We made friends with a knight named Leomer (hope that's the right spelling), who's called Alex in RL, and he helped us a lot. He could speak perfectly fluent English, which was fortunate.

There were some amazing costumes around, not least those created by Sven for the Wraeththu. Sven was a very convincing Tigron – Pellaz at his most autocratic – while Gerrit got into the role of Cal so well, he offended people all over the place. This resulted in his character eventually being unofficially poisoned to death. Gerrit has a great love of the ladies in RL, and this was his undoing. More than that I shall not say!

Anyway, to Caleb's `turn' as Cedony. Jim and I have decided Caleb needs his own TV show. His rendition was fabulously witty and bitchy, like French and Saunders when they did that spoof of Dangerous Liaisons or aristocrats from an Oscar Wilde play. Most of his speeches began with `I do say…' and the best bit for me was when he went into a monologue about the Nectar of the Aghama. (Don't ask!) I so wish I'd taped that. He cornered poor Ellie at one point and said (roughly, can't remember word for word): `Oh Cobweb, I have been meaning to ask you for ages, but what is your opinion of the Varrish *atrocities*? Of course, your erstwhile *consort* was heavily involved in that dreadful breeding programme. You must feel *so* distressed about that…' And so on. I don't think Jim, Wendy and I were supposed to be crying with laughter, as the role playing is taken very seriously by the participants, but we just couldn't help it.

There are too many little anecdotes to relate, but the big finale on New Year's Eve deserves full description. In the afternoon, the English speaking contingent inadvertently wandered into a hideous combat situation, when Shadows swarmed in from all sides and started laying waste to everyone. Burly knights and musketeers fought back and it was complete mayhem. I've never been so scared in my life! It was far too real for comfort. Fortunately, we were protected by a kindly female mage who took pity on us and defended us with her lilac feather fan. This might not sound terribly protective, but seemed to work, as the other players clearly respected her ability to command the elements. However, some of the players decided to test Wraeththu's mettle and thrust Cal and Cedony out to the front line to fight. Both were vanquished instantly of course, but I thought it was very game of Caleb to have a go with a sword, considering he'd never done anything like this in his life before. Wendy, Jim and I cowered behind our protective mage and fled the moment we got the chance.

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Part 3/3

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After dinner, Wendy, Caleb, David, Jim and I strolled up into the forest to perform a short ritual. This was partly to honour the local site guardians at New Year, and partly because Caleb had picked up some strange impressions about a particular spot earlier in the day. David spoke some impromptu words in English, and his accent made it sound more magical somehow. He'd brought his incense and charcoal supplies with him, so we burned some as an offering. It was a nice moment we shared, before heading back to the castle below for the evening's festivities.

Later that evening, Sven performed his now infamous fire dance in the courtyard outside the tavern. I believe there's a link to a short movie of it somewhere on the web, but I'll try and post the snippet Jim videoed with our digital camera in the files area. The dance involves the use of flaming `poi'. These are balls of fire on the end of long cords, which Sven expertly swirls around himself. He also ate some fire and ran flaming brands over his naked torso. His performance was augmented by two fire breathers, so all in all it was a great spectacle. I noticed that even some of the more macho players, who earlier had seemed – at the very least - allergic to the idea of Wraeththu, cheered him on with genuine appreciation.
Shortly afterwards, at midnight, there was free champagne for everyone and a great firework display. The finale of that, with the music to Gladiator ringing out over the mountain forests and the sky full of fountains of light, made my skin prickle and brought tears to my eyes. Just about everyone at the event stayed up partying wildly for the rest of the night, and Sven, Sabine and I were the last of our group to go to bed, somewhere near 6 am. I've a feeling the tavern was still open, even then! It was certainly a great way to spend New Year. Jim and I loved it, not least because we made new friends. We're very grateful to Mercedes, and to Marja, for enabling our visit. I've posted a few pics already, but will sort out a few more. Ours weren't that brilliant, unfortunately, but I know Wendy and Marja have some excellent shots, so no doubt those will appear somewhere on the web in due course.

Oh, one other thing I'd like to mention. Sabine has made some really nice pendants engraved with the symbols of the Wraeththu magical caste system, and some of the dehara. These will be available for sale, and we'll give more details as and when Marja includes an area on her web site for mail order. We'll also most likely take some of Sabine's work with us when we go to conventions to sell on the IP stall.

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fini