Albigensians

This is a new larp, which has already existed for some time. Unfortunately all the previous instances were colliding with other parts of my schedule. Finally for this, fifth time I was able to meet the organizers’ request and document the event. Because it was already a fifth instance of the larp I wasn’t that afraid to experiment a little by using a camera I’d never used before. It goes without question that I had my regular equipment as well, but I aimed to use the borrowed X-T2 and I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

The camera coped with the low light dispositions much better than I’d expected. Sure, there were some complication with the controls and settings, but we managed. It’s true, that I didn’t manage to take good pictures of some of the moments – the controls weren’t intuitive and familiar enough for me to change the settings in time and I just missed for scenes. However, even with all of the complications, I’m very happy with this experiment and its results (even when I was forced to change some parts of my post-processing workflow).

The larp itself took place at the castle Lipnice and it was cold… very cold – many faces on the photographs are covered with little clouds of mist that came out of the players mouths and noses. But we were all warned about the cold in advance and I hope that everyone was prepared enough. Lipnice is a very complex space, and it was a perfect stage for the French Quillan where the story took place.

So the game is set into Quillan in 1262, to the times of the Templar Knights. The main plot is twisted around the Church hunt for Cathars. It isn’t the only plot there, but it is the main one; from the rest I should mention some weddings, duels, pacts, tricks… well, general larping stuff.

The experience was a build on ambiance, glued together from the costumes (provided by the game) and the intricate floor plan of the castle. But the biggest part of the experience goes to the players and their ability to step into the characters. And they were really good at it – I must say. Yes, there we some anachronisms in the behavior between nobility and subjects – but that’s to be expected, we’re all guided by society to equality of race, gender, social status… No wonder it’s hard to be a disdainful noble woman who doesn’t care about the needs or opinions of your subject – who is actually your friend, with whom you’ve been spending time over beer for the last fifteen years.
Nevertheless, I must say that we’ve been getting better at playing social classes over the last nineteen years I’ve been larping. And even though today’s society doesn’t support anything like that, we’re learning how deepen the experience of the game even by this aspect.

As far as I’m aware, there are plans for two more instances of this game, and I also know that the organizers are planning another game a thousand years after this story, at an old and deserted missile base Bratronice.