Aniara is a larp about normal people onboard a spaceship that several years ago got out of its course on its way to Mars. Since then the spaceship has been going off into space without hope of returning. How does that affect the refugees onboard? How have they handled it in the past, and how are they handling it after being in space for a number of years? How are normal people affected by being stuck on a spaceship for years, while everything gets worse? We want to explore those questions.
As shown throughout history in different times and places, when people are faced with a catastrophe or their world is turned upside down, many resort to religion. In this larp we want to explore what function (fictional) religion and spirituality can have for people in a hopeless situation. How does religion help people cope or find meaning?
We also want to explore existential questions linked to humanity’s need for meaning and purpose. What is the meaning of life when you have no future?
An important theme at this larp is loss. Loss of friends and family, loss of previous life and future. Loss is also an important design feature of the larp. During the course of the larp stimuli will disappear: food choices will get scarcer, music will become more monotonous, lights will be duller. We hope this will strengthen the theme of loss and raise questions about who we are when all external distractions have been lost and we only have each other.
Focus of the larp is spirituality and existentialism, relationships, emotions and past trauma.
The larp is slow paced with no pre-planned events that will happen during runtime, and characters being bored is part of the larp. We will put a lot of trust in the players of this larp, and trust that you will create play for you that you find interesting. We will provide you with a well written character with focus on relationships and time to talk to your relations during workshops. We also expect our players to take care of their own wellbeing during the larp, both physically (eat and sleep when you need to) and mentally/emotionally (take breaks and talk to someone if you need to).
(Present in all characters, or major themes of the larp. If you are not comfortable playing on these themes, this larp is not for you)
This larp is set on a spaceship where time completely has lost its meaning, and where lack of things we take for granted is ever present. We want to create an atmosphere at the game of floating in space, and having been doing so for so long that days, nights, months, years blur together and where life conditions constantly get worse. To create this we have made decisions that will affect your physical comfort during the game. Be sure to read the following text carefully and consider whether this larp is for you or not.
The spaceship Aniara has been drifting towards the Lyre constellation for years by now, and the night and stars outside are never changing. Day and night have long ago lost their meaning. We will create this feeling by removing all markers of time. There will be no clocks available during the game, and we strongly encourage you to not use watches or phones to check what time it is. There will be in-game markers to signal that the larp is about to end, and to help you pace your game. All windows will be blocked, so no sunlight will help you tell if it's day or night. During runtime we encourage you to not go outside, to keep you in the Aniara-atmosphere.
Because we want to remove all markers of time there won't be any mealtimes. You can go and eat whenever you want to. Same with sleep. Take a nap, or a longer sleep, if you are tired.
In the sign up we will ask you if you have medical conditions that require you to take medicine regularly or at certain times during the day. If you get a spot we will contact you to see how we can come up with a suitable solution for you.
We want the food to help create feelings of lacking and that everything slowly gets worse, but we know that hungry larpers are unhappy larpers, and we don't want unhappy larpers. The food will be colorless, bland, and there won't be a lot of variation. But it won't taste bad. You will also be able to get food whenever you want to. Therefore the food during runtime will mostly consist of powders you mix with water and then eat or drink. There will always be powders for you to eat, and through the powders you will be able to get all the nutrients, energy and caffeine you need to function. But because the powders are prefabricated we have very little ability to accommodate allergies or dietary needs in regards to the powders. We may not be able to find an in-game food solution for you depending on allergies or diets, but there will always be food in the kitchen. Overall the food will be vegetarian, but include nuts and have traces of gluten. Contact us before signing up if you have any questions regarding your dietary needs.
A meal will be provided before the larp starts, and after the larp dinner will be served.
Alcohol, drugs and nicotine have all long ago run out on Aniara, which means there will be no alcohol or drugs in-game.
We know we can't ask smokers to quit smoking for a game, but we invite you to try to not go outside to smoke during runtime. Instead we encourage you to use nicotine products that don't smell, like nicotine patches.
This is a nap larp. If you are tired, take a nap. Or sleep for longer if you need to. Whenever you are tired, you can just sleep. We don't want you to pressure yourself by not sleeping, instead we want you to listen to your body and sleep when you are tired. And sleep as much or as little as you need to. Our hope is that by halfway through the larp there will always be people sleeping, and there will always be enough players awake for everyone to have meaningful play. With this design we hope to increase the feelings of time having lost all meaning, since we hope there will always be people sleeping and others awake.
Sleeping will be done in-game. There will be a dormitory for sleeping, but you are free to nap or sleep wherever you want to at the location. Mattresses and similar will be provided. For hygiene and design reasons you need to bring your own sleeping gear; we suggest a sleeping bag and pillow. You are allowed to bring your own mattress and more amenities if you want to. There will also exist rooms for sleeping off game.
This is not a hard sci-fi larp. By that we mean that the aesthetic of the larp, and its themes, are not what is usually associated with science fiction.
The larp-site will not look like a 360 spaceship, instead we will have a more theatrical, or blackbox, aesthetic with a focus on lightning instead of props. We hope this will enhance the atmosphere and the themes of the larp. There will be dimly lit areas in different colors, cozy corners to have intimate discussions in, walls to write poems about your agony on, better lit areas for eating, open spaces for rituals, a 24/7 dance floor with electronic music to dance your sorrows away on.
Before the larp starts we will have a workshop to inspire how to move, act and larp on the dance floor. The design intent is that off-game dance experience should not affect your ability to include it in your game. We will also workshop what else you can do on the dance floor besides dancing, in order for everyone to feel comfortable and have fun and meaningful play there.
When leaving earth your characters packed a bag with clothes to last the three week trip to Mars. The clothes people brought with them for the trip are the only clothes that have been available on Aniara for all the years. We want this to show. When the clothes your character brought with them were completely worn out they got the clothes from someone who's died. And they probably didn't fit. We want this to show too.
The larp will be played indoors at all times, so shoes are not allowed.
