Setting information

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The island Noiris

Just outside the empire Cendara you can find the island Noiris. Different families have been living here together for generations. All are of the human race and there are currently about 400 inhabitants.

The island has rich agricultural soil, meadows, small farms, a lot of trees, rock formations and small beaches. Because of their abundant harvests, all the inhabitants live in prosperity.

They have a small group of traders who handle all trade on behalf of the island of Noiris. Those sail to the island of Wokai and use it as a trade hub to arrange their trade contracts or ship supplies from there.

The inhabitants of Noiris, except the few traders, never leave the island of Noiris. They live in a closed community with strict rules and age-old traditions. There is a strict hierarchy:

1. The head priestess of Noirith
2. The priestesses of Noirith (five at the moment)
3. The Council (three people)
4. The head of the family (there are 54 families at the moment)
5. Heir apparent of the family
6. Rest of the family

Men and women hold equal regard in the community and can hold any of these positions, with the exception of the priestesses.

The Goddess Noirith

Almost all the daily activities, traditions and celebrations on Noiris are for the goddess Noirith. She is believed to live on the island Noiris and feeds herself on misery, pain and fear. If you please her enough, she grants you protection, healing, food and prosperity.

Only the priestesses know how to communicate with her and they translate her wishes to the inhabitants of Noiris. They are the confidantes on the island, the guides and the example of how someone should behave. If an inhabitant wants to know how they can best worship Noirith, the priestesses can advise them. The inhabitants are encouraged by the priestesses to make the sacrifices as intense as possible. If necessary the priestesses will offer themselves to pay for the islanders' missteps. Thanks to them the balance is maintained between Noirith and the islanders.

The family unit plays an important role in the society, therefore many worships towards Noirith are performed within the family. This has been the case for many generations and so a lot of the family rituals have been deeply ingrained into tradition. As a result they are often very structured, symbolic and well practiced. An example of a familial tradition is the Meal thanking: before each meal, Noirith is thanked for the food. The head of the family designates a family member to receive the honor and hands him or her a straw. This family member then bows to whom he or she is going to hit. Then, without saying a word, this designated family member holds out a hand which is struck three times. The harder the strikes, the better the meal will taste.

Besides the daily traditions, the islanders have several festivals and celebrations at Noiris, all to please the goddess Noirith. Like the Festival of First Seeds; a festival where the people of Noiris commemorate their first wish being granted by Noirith. When the first inhabitants arrived on a rocky island, agriculture was impossible. By listening to Noirith's dark wishes, the islanders were rewarded with the germination of their first seeds. This important moment was when the people of Noiris realised that they could have anything they wanted if they learned to live in harmony with Noirith. The island Noiris was born along with a new way of living.

Situation during the larp

Although the goddess Noirith grants almost all their wishes, the islanders have missed something important for more than twenty years now; newly born children. Since they don't want to allow foreigners on their island, this is becoming a serious problem. The islanders tried almost everything and begged the goddess Noirith for new children. It seems that their desire for children is greater than what they offer Noirith, according to their priestesses.

As a desperate attempt to please their goddess more, they have now even asked foreigners for help. Firstly by having the traders seek the aid of foreign healers during their trade missions. Two foreign healers had come to Noiris, but these healers haven't found a solution yet.

The inhabitants are now desperately awaiting their most important festival: Festival of first Seeds. The Trials of Torment are part of this festival and during these Trials the goddess grants a special wish if she is sufficiently pleased. The inhabitants want to prove to Noirith that they are worthy of seeing their greatest wish come true; newly born children. They realized that they will have to sacrifice more to Noirith than they ever have before. That is why for the first time in their entire history, they have invited foreigners. The foreigners can lay claim to the special wish as much as they do, should the foreigners win. In this way, the islanders hope to challenge themselves even more in hopes of proving to Noirith that they can serve her better than anyone else. They hope the arrival of the foreigners challenges them to new impulses and inspires them to new forms of pain, fear and misery.