Characters

.

What can I play?

The majority of the players will play old gods from different mythologies and pantheons. In addition there is a limited possibility to play other mythological creatures like angels, demons, nornir, sphinxes etc. Even the odd human might have stumbled in. Furthermore, all characters who appear in the Sandman-universe are in theory playable, including some of the Endless as well as the gods and beings which exist in the novel/series American Gods.

 

The existence of the gods

There is no absolute truth to the following text and if it goes completely against your personal view of gods you can choose to completely ignore it.

Gods and other mythological creatures are born from the dreams, hopes, fears and despair of humans (and other organisms), and feed on their worship and belief. People’s belief is the building blocks of a god, but not the driving force. Gods are independent creatures with incredible power to influence humanity and their surroundings. The power of a god is directly connected to how many worshippers they have. Every prayer and story told about them is a source of power; this also means some gods are more powerful than others.

All gods are proud, however, pride can take different forms. Many gods would never break a promise, while it is merely the nature of others. Bets are common. The stakes are often high, the bet extraordinary and the consequences can be long-standing. On top of this, most gods are sore losers and will often seek revenge to restore their honor. A direct showdown between two gods is incredibly rare; instead conflicts are resolved through trials of wisdom, intelligence, courage or other virtues.

A god exists on a different plane than humans, but can also choose to walk among mortals. Humans who dabble in the occult can sometimes manage to cross the barriers between the different planes and perhaps even manipulate a god according to their own will. Gods can choose their appearance and can exist both in humanoid form and e.g. as a cosmic cloud of thunder and lightning.

The gods are no longer as powerful as they once were. A lucky few still have a small number of worshippers, while others have to be satisfied with adorning souvenir-plates from Rhodos. Then there are those who already have ceased to exist as the ancient religions are forgotten. It is a constant struggle for survival and many gods have tried to “renew” themselves. There is talk of goddesses of fertility entertaining at nightclubs, gods of the sun opening travelling agencies and gods of war abandoning all honour to thrive on mindless slaughter. Due to its prominence in people’s imaginations Hell is one of the most powerful realms in the Universe, and ruling over Hell would provide a powerful and secure existence.

At the same time, as humanity’s attention, hopes and dreams turn in new directions, new gods emerge . Among the greatest of them are Mr. World, Media and Technoboy, but why not also Capitalism, Terrorism or Cheezburger.

 

The Endless

In the Sandman-universe there are also seven entities called “The Endless”. These are personifications of universal concepts and the primordial pillars of Creation. Most gods have great respect for the Endless, and especially for Dream, Morpheus, who is the king of all dreams and thus, in a way, the creator of all gods. While the Endless stand above the gods and in many ways are more detached and narrow-minded, from time to time they display surprisingly human traits and emotions, like love, hate and happiness. The Endless consist of:

 

Destiny
 Death *
Dream
Destruction
 Desire *
Despair *
Delirium *

 

It is possible to play as the Endless marked with a star (*). Playing as an Endless means having a greater responsibility for creating gameplay for your fellow larpers. The Endless do not lay any claim on the key to Hell, but they have their own opinions as to who should have it. Those present will, together with Dream, decide who the new ruler of Hell will be.

 

Noteworthy

In addition to choosing a character that feels inspiring for you to play, you should also think about their motivations: Why have they come to the Dreaming? Do they want the key for themselves? Do they want to support a colleague, or stop a rival from getting the key? Do they perhaps want to enjoy the spectacle, or do they have completely different reasons for being there?

Take into consideration how your character would work in the larp. E.g. the god of butterflies might not have as much of a reason to be there as the god of the local underworld.

It might be fun to larp in a pantheon, i.e. a group of gods from the same mythology. However, the gamemaster recommends a pantheon of maximum 5 gods. If a group turns out to consist of more than 5 players, it might be an idea to divide yourselves into smaller groups rivalling about the key.

You can of course also come to the larp “alone”, as you absolutely will have relations with gods from other pantheons.

The participant’s gender, age, or body, do in in no way limit which  god or being they can play.

Don’t know what you want to play? – Contact the gamemaster! He will have ideas and suggestions!

 

Assigning characters

When you sign up you should give two suggestions for what you want to play. The gamemaster will always try to satisfy the players’ first preference, but a good balance in the character gallery is necessary for a good larp. Not everyone can play as Endless, humans or new gods, and the gamemaster reserves the right to say no to some character-ideas for the good of the larp. Disappointment can hopefully be avoided if players early on (already before sign-up opens) contact the gamemaster to discuss ideas!

Assigning of characters will occur in two rounds:
Everyone who signed up during the first week (8th-14th of October) will be part of the first round and be assigned a character shortly thereafter. Everyone who signs up after the 14th of October will be assigned their character after that. At the bottom of this page you can see which characters have already been assigned to players.

 

Writing your character

Participants write their characters from start to finish, including all relations and intrigues! Beginners can however get assistance from a larp guide : ) You will receive writing instructions from the gamemaster when you get your assigned character. The gamemaster, as well as an assisting character coordinator, will be there to help and to suggest juicy intrigues and relationships. The work with writing characters will be coordinated via Google Drive.

 

How do I sign up?

SIGN UP VIA THIS FORM

… after having read all information on the website! ; )

 

~ READ MORE™ ~

 


 

Assigned characters

The following characters have already been assigned.
Last updated 16.10.2018.

 

AESIR
Freja
Loke

 

DEMONS AND DARKNESS
“Fallen ängel”
“Fallen ängel”
Krigets ryttare
Mammon

 

CREATURES OF THE DREAMING
Lucien (SL)

 

ENDLESS
Death
Dream

 

GREEK DEITIES
Apollon
Artemis

 

JAPANESE DEITIES
Izanami

 

KALEVALA
Ilmatar
Tapio
Tuonetar
Väinämöinen

 

CELTIC DEITIES
Badb

 

HUMANS
Constantine
Hob Gadling
Nikola Tessla

 

NEW GODS
Media
The Idol