31/07/2023
🌟 LARP Recap & Epilogue - Circle of Shadows 🌟
Step into the shadows of New York's criminal underworld, where 14 daring individuals engaged in Umbra Collective's traditional recruitment game, "Circle of Shadows". For two weeks, the characters navigated a game of three phases - Day, Banishment Ceremony, and Night - in a relentless pursuit to join the ranks of the notorious organization.
During the Day, alliances were forged, and secrets exchanged as they mingled, socialized, and networked. The Banishment Ceremony brought tense moments as they voted to eliminate one person, while the Night was rife with dirty tricks and sabotage, all from the shadows. Unknown to the participants, two hidden Umbra Collective evaluators, "Lobster" Louie Moore and Jimmy O'Brian, were among them, assessing their every move. The Dual Agents, already part of the UC, but on the outs with them due to past mistakes, were given a chance to prove themselves in this game in order to be kept in the family and astounded everyone, by sliding all the way to the finish line of the game successfully.
Winning the game sure was impressive. However, everyone was strongly warned from the beginning that it’s how you play the game that is important, not just winning. The Umbra Collective recruits people with strong personalities who share the same values as them, people who can strive in a criminal life, people who’ll be loyal to the shadows. Ergo, only 4 spots were available, and 12 people fighting tooth and nail for it.
The first one to grab a spot was Harriet “Labblo” Fitzhugh, the Dual Agent who fooled everyone. Nobody even suspected her for a second. Flying under the radar, she was welcomed back home, past mistakes forgotten.
The second, Evander Kiel, who made it head-to-head, last one standing against the Dual Agents, an intellectual beacon who pinned everybody against each other and got off scot-free.
The third, Patrizio Agnello, an Italian fashion headhunter, with a spicy personality. Patrizio always spit fire against the Umbra Collective, fearlessly spoke his truth, confident he can take the consequences. He was right, with a huge connection database throughout New York City, the Umbra Collective decided to welcome him into the family, rather than have him against them.
Last but not least, the 4th spot was taken by Grace Griffin, a woman who swayed everybody with the pureness of her heart. The UC welcomed her, as not everything is sabotage and ruthlessness. Even the most horrendous people need love to survive.
Honorable mentions to those who didn’t make the cut; Jessabelle Knight, the other winning Dual Agent, who spun webs of trust and deception like an artist; Alex Mercer, the slandered history teacher, accused of predatory instincts; Meredith Glass, a classy English woman and a fierce survivor of childhood bullying; Alan Meyers, the mesmerizing hypnotist with powerful crystals and mind-bending skills; Jane Smith, the sharpshooting virtuoso, who gave superficial shots to multiple players, in order to distract them from their game; Anastasia Romanova, a fierce assassin with a silver tongue, the first to be eliminated due to what she believed to be a classic case of racism; Rudolf Steiner, who hacked into the UC servers and blackmailed UC's Executive Recruiter Melissa Kane, with a recording of her revealing confidential information; and Mia Franzoni, who met a gruesome end pursuing her vendetta against UC's leader, Markus Rossi, for the vengeful Blue Fangs.
While everybody tried their best to escape their mundane lives, demons, enemies and chose to chase progress, the family of Umbra Collective had room for only four. The rest, were offered an entire night of bittersweet celebration, in any shape or form, only to be executed with a single bullet to the head, as the sun was slowly rising into a new Monday morning.
In the heart of New York City's darkness, where fear whispers and snow dust settles, Umbra Collective reigns, a force unseen yet ever-present. You’ll never see them, but they will always be right behind you.
We are shadow. We are UMBRA.
Special thanks to all the 14 players, some that were beginners, and some more experienced in LARP. However, this contrast was not visible at any point. Everybody immersed into the narrative, setting and characters in such a beautiful way, it'd bring many to tears. It was a true joy to watch you play. Thank you.
Special thanks to Nausika Foundation for the Erasmus+ Larp Alchemy training course to inspire us to run our first self-designed and written larp!
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