Conduct

Discrimination

• While fantastical racism relating to genus and world of origin is a permitted subject of roleplay, real world discrimination relating to race, religion, gender, disability or sexuality is not a permitted theme of this LARP. Conflict about the interaction of magic and religion will inevitably be a source of conflict due to the existence of a faction which explicitly blends the two.  Religiously-themed debates should remain focused on the specific subject of how our fictional form of magic might be seen through religious perspectives, rather than getting into religious debates on broader subjects, and slurs based on religious affiliation should be avoided absolutely. Every faction has religious members, some of whom are fervently faithful, and not all of them believe the transformation that has occurred necessarily has religious implications to begin with. If you are ever unsure whether a conversation is close to crossing the line, check with the person you are arguing with out of character.

• Real world bigotry directed at players will never be plot relevant as that is not something any of the crew wish to explore. If you wish to introduce elements of it in your character’s backstory (e.g. you can have been a victim of homophobia) and respond accordingly, that is up to you, but please leave it a matter for “internal roleplay” (ie, something which your character thinks about and shapes their personal motivation, not something they discuss with other characters). We appreciate that 2004 was a rampantly bigoted time but for the sake of our sanity, that can exist either not at all or below the abstraction layer.
• If players begin to introduce aspects of discrimination, whether intentionally or through unconscious bias, then it will be handled in one of two ways. This is not a gender blind setting because Earth is not a gender blind place, if your character feels attacked due to gender (or any other aspect) you may argue back or accuse a character of discrimination. If this becomes an issue that cannot be handled purely IC then the crew will get involved out of character.
• There are certain demographics who find it a lot easier to make their voices heard during meetings. The point of Scribes (and occasionally failing them, an Administrator running a meeting) is to ensure all voices are heard during meetings and to encourage people to speak who feel like they haven’t gotten the chance to yet. If a Scribe or Admin is encouraging someone to talk in a meeting, please respect this and allow that person to speak. If you believe a Scribe or Admin is failing to make space for you to speak in a meeting, please raise it with them or, if you feel unable to do so, raise it with Naomi or Emily

Conflict

• If you intentionally play a character with incendiary ideas (e.g. we should send all the gross vampires to France) be prepared to face increased hostility from large sections of the rest of the player base. Provided that none of these hostilities begin to target real aspects of you the player, the crew will not be interfering on an out of character level.

• Check-ins are mandatory for this Larp. If you know that a conversation will most likely end in an angry argument or something like that, we advise that you check in with the player out of character before you begin roleplay. Obviously it is not always possible to predict where roleplay will end up so we will be using the The OK Check-In system (👌 (ok hand signal) to ask if a person is okay, 👍 (thumbs up) for yes and to continue the scene, 👎 (thumbs down) for no and to stop the scene). We will be adding two symbols; 🫰(finger crossed with thumb) is a request for a quick OOC discussion about a scene currently taking place and holding a hand over your eyes means you are out of character (obviously cannot use the hand in the air one for this).
• We will however remind people that this is a Larp built on philosophical and political conflict, including ethical dilemmas, disputes over access to limited resources, and the potential for these conflicts to spill into widespread violence or for the decisions of the player characters to cause humanitarian disasters. If it would cause you significant out-of-character distress to participate in such conflicts and emotive arguments relating to them, then this may not be the Larp for you.
• While your characters can get into physical conflicts, whether this is in the form of IC staged combat or an ‘off-screen’ conflict resolved through discussion while you visit an out of character area, sexual violence does not exist as a feature of this setting. Do not initiate IC discussions about sexual violence, do not create a character where sexual violence is an intrinsic part of their background you expect to roleplay around, and definitely do not roleplay sexual violence. For the purpose of this LARP, we define sexual violence as any coercive or nonconsensual interaction of a sexual nature and will treat any attempt to introduce the theme to the game as a severe breach of this policy. If you are caught attempting to pressure other players into anything of this nature, you will be ejected from the Larp and asked to leave. If anyone is making you uncomfortable with anything related to this, please do inform Emily or Naomi immediately.

Theft

• Going into people’s out of character bags or any theft in out of character areas is not allowed. It’s just a crime.
• You are not allowed to take or steal from a closed bag in the IC area. However if a bag is left open you may take something from it, similarly with other unattended items. You may NOT pickpocket other characters. Do not snatch things out of other people’s hands. Any physreps taken MUST be returned at the end of the event. Do not take phones, wallets or medical items, these are all automatically out of character items regardless of where they are obtained.
• If you take someone’s entire IC bag (it must be open), you must quickly check for any out of character items and return those as promptly as possible. (within 10 minutes). You may give these items to the crew to have them return them. If no crew is available, you must do it yourself or through another player.
• If theft of out-of-game items occurs and we cannot resolve the matter ourselves, this may result in the involvement of the police at the discretion of the victim.

Complaints

• If you feel that you are being unfairly treated either by crew or by another player, you have a number of options. At the event you can inform either Naomi or Emily. They will handle it to the best of their abilities. Your anonymity will be protected should you make a complaint. We will only mention to someone that they have been the subject of a complaint where it is absolutely necessary to enact actions under this policy, and in that circumstance we will only ever refer to you as ‘a participant’. If you wish to make a complaint after the event you may either submit it in an anonymous complaint form or email the crew. Obviously, if you use the anonymous complaint form, you will likely not receive a direct message on how it is being handled and we will be unable to solicit further clarification from you.
• If your issues are with either Emily or Naomi, please raise these issues with any other crew member so that it can be addressed. We are a small group, we do not have a dedicated conduct individual but we are trying our best.
• The game organisers reserve the right to eject any person from the Larp at any time with no explanation or refund. This is a game and we are allowed to say we don’t want to play with you anymore.