Blood, Love and Rhetoric

Blood, Love and Rhetoric is a 3-day “secrets and powers”-style LARP of political negotiation, parliamentary voting, personal relationships, loyalties and principles. It was inspired by the musical 1776 about the Continental Congress deciding to secede from Great Britain and writing the Declaration of Independence. Originally written and run in 1999 for the MIT Assassins’ Guild, the LARP has been substantially revised.

Long Description

Long ago, humankind had built a great civilization based on vast and wonderful knowledge that it had acquired over the centuries. But humankind’s moral development was not as great as its technological development. The Golden Civilisation collapsed utterly. The few people who survived the Fall banded together in small groups and worked together to survive, eventually forming the nation of Scarmeadow.

Scarmeadow is run on the principle of sharing among the community, governed by an elected legislature composed of representatives from each district. The Church collects, guards, and regulates potentially-dangerous knowledge, guiding humanity towards salvation and away from sin and a second Fall. But as explorers pushed the nation’s borders outwards, the newer frontier districts clashed with the older ones over fundamental principles of government. When attempts to broker compromise failed, the frontier districts seceded, launching a civil war.

Now, a truce has been called and representatives from the districts on both sides, as well as the Church, are meeting to negotiate a lasting peace and reunification. Political agendas and personal relationships are entangled in this small community of legislators who are also friends, enemies, rivals, family, and lovers past and future. Delegates will vote on modifications to Scarmeadow’s constitution, hoping to reach a compromise that will satisfy all the districts. Will the people of Scarmeadow rejoin as one nation, or separate forever into two?

Blood, Love and Rhetoric is a 3-day “secrets and powers”-style LARP of political negotiation, parliamentary voting, personal relationships, loyalties and principles. It was inspired by the musical 1776 about the Continental Congress deciding to secede from Great Britain and writing the Declaration of Independence. Originally written and run in 1999 for the MIT Assassins’ Guild, the LARP has been substantially revised.