Third Contact

“The Cassowarr fought for reasons we could understand: for planets, for resources, for pride and honor. Far as I could tell, the Voque only sought to kill us.” - General Voices-Maybe-Just-Fairly, of the Empyrean

Amidst an uneasy truce with the enigmatic Voque, enemies and allies come together to try to establish a lasting peace that can prevent the quadrant slipping into a never-ending war. Third Contact is a sci-fi LARP of negotiation, politics, miscommunication, and the resulting drama and loss, featuring secrets and a few powers. Inspired by the “lesbian space atrocities” genre, especially Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch.

Long Description

“The Cassowarr fought for reasons we could understand: for planets, for resources, for pride and honor. Far as I could tell, the Voque only sought to kill us.”- General Voices-Maybe-Just-Fairly, of the Empyrean

“When those Voque “Diplomats” entered the room? I think that’s the first time anyone’s seen an Empyrean politico express a genuine emotion!” - 2011c5.7-Sealand Purifier, Historian, Nu-Punt

“Meeting the people you have read about since you were a crawling babe, since your ancestor’s ancestors were crawling babes, is not an experience I would recommend.” - Jane, Executrix of House September, of Nox

—

When they appeared in the midst of the Empyrean-Cassowarr conflict, the Voque attacked without mercy or explanation. In their wake they left lifeless ships, the hulls barely damaged but the occupants picked apart like study-cadavers. Their desires unknown, their technology superior, their violence unabated, and their numbers seemingly endless, the Voque threat offered the fractious quadrant a choice: unite or die.

As suddenly as they appeared, the Voque ceased their attacks and requested a convention to discuss terms and “end the needless destruction of flesh”. To the convention they have sent “Diplomats” – creatures human in appearance, but utterly alien in behavior – to negotiate with the best, brightest, and most influential representatives the quadrant can offer.

Though the Empyrean would gladly represent the Grand Alliance, other powers within the quadrant have sent their own representatives, including the station-collective of New Punt, the Long-Hauler’s Union, the outcast Helix Sovereignty, even the reclusive FTL engineers of Nox, and the Empyrean’s non-human territorial rivals: the militaristic Cassowarr Stratocracy. Deals will be made, old enmities renewed, strange alliances forged, and more than a few secrets will come to light… but will the quadrant find peace, or descend into a war from which no winners can emerge?

—

Third Contact is a sci-fi LARP focused on politics, negotiation, miscommunications, inter-character drama, secrets, and a few powers. Inspiration for the LARP comes from works in the “lesbian space atrocities” genre and adjacent works, such as Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch, Arkady Martine’s Teixcalaan, Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries, Tamsyn Muir’s Locked Tomb, and others. The LARP (and specifically, the Voque Diplomats) arose from the question of: “what were the first meetings between the Radchaii and the Presger Translators like?” That said, no knowledge of any of the listed inspirations is required to play this game, which uses its own original setting. Players should expect a lot of intercultural and inter-species weirdness, especially from the Voque Diplomats and the Cassowarr.

Costuming is highly encouraged (but not required), and many characters will have detailed costuming cues, especially the bird-like Cassowarr characters. Each star-nation is meant to have a distinct “look and feel”, expressed both through clothing and through cultural hints and unique patterns of speech or behavior.

Regarding character gender: Most characters, due to reasons of language, culture, or species, translate their gender pronouns to our real-world singular "they". A small number of characters have a specific binary gender, decided by the player, and a tiny number of characters have a pre-assigned binary gender. We can guarantee players will not be assigned binary genders they opt out of during the survey, however, all players must be willing to play characters who do not use a binary gender pronoun, as these represent the majority of characters in the game.