“As the conquered territories of the Holy Roaman Empire have increased, it has become necessary, for purposes of taxation and military strategy, to conduct a census of the entire Empire. Stations will be established in every major city, including the recently acquired cities of Konstantonoble, Mosscow, Lundun, Gonedoor, and Falton. All peoples in the empire, both indigenous and citizens, are required to travel to the nearest city to be counted upon the 18th of March. All people will be required to present their name, place of birth, race, parent’s names, occupation, education/trade/skill training, titles/guild associations (both current and formerly held), goals and objectives for this fiscal year, and favorite color. Each person who participates fully in the census will be compensated accordingly. Each person who does NOT participate fully in the census may find themselves on the business end of a crossbow.”
– Royal Decree by Octoberus Sesar, in the 11th year of his majesty’s reign
Long live the Emperor!
If you send in your back story, we will pay you gold and post it on the Character Bios page. (Yours is already there Lukos — thank you.) The back stories, and bios, and census are all there to add to the “realism” of the events. Last year we made a push to upgrade our costumes, and everyone has done a WONDERFUL job! For the beginning of 2017, we are pushing for improved in-character role playing. Bringing the characters to “life”, seems to bring the day to life.
So, on March 18th (at the first event of 2017!!!) we have census stations where you can tell your story, or serve as a servant of Roam conducting the census. If you don’t have a story, don’t worry about the “business end of a crossbow” statement — unless, not having a public story IS your story, and you want to confront Roam with your lack of a story — then you better beware! The census is just there to add to the fun. If you have a better way to add to the fun, the story is yours to write…
And let me ramble a little more… I have found it difficult to describe our LARP to people. It is so different from anything most people have experienced, it is difficult to find a common-ground starting place for the description. One way I describe it is that it is an outdoor theatre where the script arrives in the minds of the players. We never know how the day’s story will end!
I describe it as “A bunch of teens and adults running around, playing pretend in a semi-organized fashion. We hit each other with foam swords and shout “Huzzah!” a lot” 🙂
The census will encourage us to continue to develop and share our back stories, and to consider what our character is in Falton to accomplish. Only 11 weeks (and one winter) away!!!
Could we send in our back story ahead of time, and will it still count as part of the census?