Tonight, at the House Absolute

The infamous Dr. Talos will present his play Eschaton & Genesis for the first time in two decades - the cast drawn from his audience of exultants, armigers, and servants of the Autarch. The Old Sun has set, and may not rise again. Based on The Book of the New Sun.

Long Description

The Old Sun dies, huge and red, amid the blue-black of the sky. The people of Urth once traveled to the stars, reshaped mountain and river, and produced technological marvels beyond compare. No longer. The world has been exhausted for countless chiliads, her people indolent and debauched, her end approaching. Each encarnadine sunset auditions to be the last. Humanity slouches towards the executioner’s block. Therefore, distraction and celebration need no particular justification, and when you were invited (or compelled) to a grand gala and thiasus, you welcomed it. There will be a play: The infamous Dr. Talos will direct Eschaton & Genesis, a masque not performed since the time of the previous Autarch. In this theater beneath the gardens of the House Absolute, you will intrigue, romance, attend and perform, duel and confess: anything to while away the long defeat.

Tonight, at the House Absolute is a LARP for 16 players, set in the world of Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun, a science-fantasy novel of redemption, cruelty, and the dying Earth. The players will play the attendees and performers (one and the same, as Dr. Talos has been given leave to recruit, and has no company of players prepared) - citizens of the Commonwealth of Urth, comprising members of the various classes of this stagnant society. Whether exultant or servant of the Autarch, every partygoer has secrets and ambitions; whether optimate or armiger, every performer will take their part in the play.

This is a setting-heavy dramatic game of personal revelations, intrigues and ambitions, posthistorical dramaturgy, and wondering if the sun will rise tomorrow.

Players do not need to have read The Book of the New Sun, though a small number of characters benefit from having done so. The script of the play, Eschaton & Genesis, will be provided for performance interludes, but no memorization or rehearsal is expected before the LARP begins.

That we can be only what we are remains our unforgivable sin - The Autarch Severian, in The Book of the New Sun