SIF Games

Faith

A full-immersion content larp for 12 players

Characters

Although there are various relationships between the different groups, group members are very close with each other even when not explicitly stated: priestesses collectively hold high and slightly separate social status and are responsible for key community activities, men work and socialize together, women socialize and raise their children together, youths have grown up together and (in this game) are all in their baptismal year (on the verge of formal adulthood).

Everyone in the game is directly involved with the Festival: priestesses conduct the ceremony, men and women are sponsoring the youths as their parents or surrogates, and the youths are the real subjects of the entire event.

Priestesses

Priestesses are adult women inducted into the priesthood; they are responsible for

Comforting their community members and providing advice, support, and direction
Managing the community as leaders and judges in case of disputes
Managing religious functions: they prepare for the Festival, they induct new priestesses, they perform marriages and baptisms, they serve as the direct link between the divine and laypersons

They interact with other priestesses as colleagues and men, women, and youths as highly respected authorities, spiritual and secular leaders.

There are three priestesses in the game.

Head Priestess Theodora (55 F)

A central authority and religious figure well-respected by the community

The experienced Head Priestess, Theodora is known for a keen sense of judgment and moderate counsel. Her personal wants have been subsumed by her devotion: the baptism of all youths, community unity, and respect of the Faith are her priorities. She is a realistic person and keen to observe rather than integrate with the community in order to offer more objective and righteous judgment and advice.

Theodora is especially concerned with the shrinking size of the priesthood and the newest addition, Ada, taking a long time to come into her own. She is fully expecting Iris to join at the Festival and hopes they will help one another along the road while supporting her judgments, especially in the face of Lucia. Indeed, Lucia’s continuing descent into hardline religious fervor is starting to cause Theodora concern, and she isn’t quite sure what, if anything, needs to be done about it at this point.

Very devout Leader / Moderate / Believer

Priestess Lucia (37 F)

A rigid religious figure

After watching her parents’ public humiliation for repeated offenses against the community, young Lucia turned to the Faith early with the help of Head Priestess Theodora. After heartbreak at only 17 when her favorite lover married someone else, she dedicated herself to the priesthood. Over time, she became known for taking the most conservative and hardline stances in judgments and her advice and counseling generally aligned with the concept of “tough love”. She is the most vocal of the clergy and always holds the most unyielding position.

When not tending to her duties or working alongside the other priestesses (Theodora, who she respects, and Ada, who she does not), she is often to be found counseling Agi on his marriage or socialising with Agnes, with whom she usually agrees on matters of the Faith. Recently, though, she seems to be keeping a secret; she performs the Ritual less and less often, but has become even more sensitive to perceived impiety.

Evangelical Firebrand / Highly Religious / Guilt

Priestess Ada (19 F)

Respected by layman although seen as young and inexperienced, especially by the other priestesses

Ada is the youngest and least experienced of the priestesses, only a year in the role. She is close to her brother, Tadeas, and his wife, Maria, and aches along with their struggles to conceive and grow their small family. She is also particularly close to Iris and very encouraging of her friend to join the priesthood – but are her motivations purely selfish, driven by loneliness and uncertainty in the clergy? Thanks to Head Priestess Theodora, she is growing more comfortable with interacting with her friends and neighbors now as a priestess and her familiarity with various ceremonies has become more than sufficient – but she has yet to perform a Ritual. Between that simple fact and Priestess Lucia’s acid goads, Ada is beginning to get nervous that perhaps she is undeserving or not pious enough to be a vessel of Mother’s love.

Devout Novice / Uncertainty / Inexperience

Men

Men are adult males, recognized as such only after baptism whereupon they may be employed, marry, and be acknowledged as a parent; they are responsible for

Their households and families, for which they are the sole authority after the priestesses
Maintaining general order per instruction by priestesses

They interact with priestesses as supplicants, other men as friends and colleagues, women as spouses, and youths as parents or parental figures.

There are three men in the game.

Tadeas (25 M)

Well-liked with a visibly strong marriage that remains childless

Tadeas is a successful and well-liked young man with good community ties, including his little sister, Priestess Ada, with whom he is particularly close. Tadeas also works closely with Bruno in spite of their differences regarding the Faith: the elder man’s family had taken Tadeas and Ada in after the death of their parents when they were only teenagers and Bruno remained a trusted and respected business partner for Tadeas. This was no doubt why Tadeas also took on surrogacy for Philo at the Festival: he felt a kinship with the boy, isolated from his parents through neglect rather than death but without someone to stand for him at this important event nonetheless.

Tadeas is probably best known, though, for his close and happy marriage with the lovely Maria. It seemed like everyone knew they would end up together except for Tadeas, so focused on looking after his sister until she joined the priesthood and running the business that used to belong to his father. Since finally receiving the prompting he needed, though, he has been devoted to her. The only struggle he has experienced since then has been with infertility: it took months of trying before Maria became pregnant, only for the baby to be lost – twice – and for no apparent reason.

Devout Loving / Miscarriage and Infertility / Crisis of Faith

Agi (42 M)

In an unhappy marriage and generally made angry by most other people; it's noticeable that he does not practice what he preaches

Agi has always been an aggressively religious person and seems to take offense to any perceived threat to the Faith, even though others may wonder how much he actually adheres to its tenets. As he aged, he grew more and more disillusioned with and irritated by the meekness of his wife, Ravit, and found refuge in the Faith. He turned to his childhood friend and lover from his bachelor days, Priestess Lucia and the two are often to be found rabidly agreeing with one another on the more conservative aspects of the Faith.

There have always been rumors that Agi is a violent man, not helped by his habit of drinking late and starting fights especially with the impious Bruno or his angry rants that he was forced to marry his wife. He seems not to respect many people outside the priesthood, but he sees that Tadeas is both a hard worker and a good (and devout) man.

Evangelical Aggression / Religious Righteousness / Fear

Bruno (39 M)

Cynical against the Faith (but not too loudly) but accepted by the community nonetheless, although they notice... and talk

Everybody knows that Bruno’s family was sick and twisted, eventually leading to the excommunication and disappearance of both of his parents. Perhaps that is why he is never seen at the temple and only begrudgingly attends the annual Festival with his family. Despite his clear unease with the trappings of the Faith, Bruno dotes on his pious wife Agnes and their children, the eldest of which is the beautiful Iris.

Bruno is a pillar of the community, partnered with Tadeas at the head of a successful business and also taking on a fatherly role for many others in the village: first Tadeas and Ada after their family died of a savage fever and, more recently, young Philo. The youth’s motivation and initiative greatly impressed Bruno and he was proud to offer Philo a job, certain that after his baptism he will only flourish as a businessman and husband.

Not Devout Struggle against Religion / Parental Concern / Cynicism

Women

Women are adult females, recognized as such only after baptism whereupon they may marry or join the priesthood; they are responsible for

Household tasks like cleaning and cooking
Producing and raising children with their husbands
The spiritual bond of the family to the Faith
The happiness of their husbands

They interact with priestesses as supplicants, men as subordinate spouses, other women as friends, and youths as parents or parental figures.

There are three women in the game.

Maria (23 F)

Well-liked with a visibly strong marriage that remains childless, she often discusses her infertility with the other women and priestesses

Perhaps the most pious outside of the clergy, Maria represents the opposite side of the spectrum from fiery dogma: calm, kind, and empathetic, she is loved by neighbors and doted on by her husband Tadeas, with whom she has built a happy marriage over the past three years. Clearly in love, she is also close to his sister, Priestess Ada, and the other women, especially Ravit. While Theodora may be said to be the head of the community, Maria is clearly its heart. That is no more evident than by her role in this year’s Festival, serving as a surrogate mother to young Philo together with her husband.

Nonetheless, she (among others) is starting to wonder why her visibly happy marriage, piety, and her husband’s regular temple visits are going unrewarded with children. Is she or her husband sick or otherwise somehow… unable? Is Mother displeased with her? Why are others blessed when they are not? Two miscarriages have taken their toll and she begins to be exhausted by her failure to produce a healthy child.

Devout Loving / Pious / Miscarriage and Infertility

Ravit (40 F)

Generally quiet and submissive to her husband and others

When Ravit met Agi, it was with excitement for her life to begin; she imagined her marriage modeled on her parents’ happy one and was filled with joy when they wed. If Agi was a little rougher than she had expected (both in bed as well as outside of it), Ravit considered that she was also imperfect. While nobody could call him a doting husband, he provided for the quiet Ravit and their three beautiful children.

Over the years, he would come home later and later, drunk and angry, but Ravit vowed she only needed to be a better wife. The small cuts and bruises that sometimes sprang up on her face and arms were noticed but never mentioned by the other women, not even when she started approaching the much younger Maria for advice on a happy marriage, but enraged her youngest daughter, Unna. Even as Agi spends less and less time at home, Ravit is dedicated to being the model wife and serving her family not because the Faith demands it, but simply because it is right.

Semi-devout Meek / Depressed / Domestic Abuse

Agnes (37 F)

Respected by layman although seen as young and inexperienced, especially by the other priestesses

No one quite understands how a woman like Agnes can bear to be married to such an impious man as Bruno, but their family has enjoyed such obvious blessings that the question is only rarely raised openly. Agnes is the epitome of a pious wife: she lives for the health and happiness of her husband and children, even fostering Tadeas and Ada in addition after their parents were taken in a nasty bout of sickness a few years ago. Her children are gradually old enough to care for themselves and her first daughter Iris approaches her baptismal festival, leaving Agnes considerable time to dedicate to socializing with the other women.

Agnes is not, however, a weak-willed or simple woman: she is a competent lay judge of morals and ethics within the Faith and does not necessarily support firebrand religion, considered yet firm – even when this puts her at odds with other vocal proponents of the Faith.

Devout Strong / Religious / Guilt

Youths

The youths in this game are unbaptized, adult-age males and females, responsible for

Any tasks given to them by an adult
Appropriate social behavior as directed by adults

They also enjoy looser social and romantic restrictions than adults who must be married before being intimate.

They interact with priestesses indirectly as supplicants via their parents, men and women as children or helpers, and other youths as friends and lovers.

All youths in the game are in their 18th year and have their first opportunity to become baptized at the upcoming Festival and become adults. Upon becoming adults, they may then choose to join the priesthood (women only) or marry. Society firmly expects youths to become baptized and marry/join the priesthood as soon as possible thereafter, ideally immediately: while a year late is tolerated, "old youths" and persistently unmarried adults do not fit well into society.

There are three youths in the game.

Iris (18 F)

Pious, pretty, and well-liked by all, the apple of her father's eye

The eldest daughter of Bruno and Agnes, Iris has a very positive and close relationship with both parents and respects them for their convictions (divergent as they are about the Faith). She is pretty and popular with almost everyone and seems happy with a bright future ahead of her. She is particularly close to her childhood friend Priestess Ada and often spends a lot of her time visiting her at the Temple, which has clearly had an effect: Iris recently announced to her parents her intention to join the priesthood. Her pious mother was overjoyed and very supportive and arranged for Iris to spend lengthy periods with Head Priestess Theodora to encourage her. Meanwhile, the news was met with great dismay from her father and Bruno’s attempts to convince her otherwise have made their previously excellent relationship slightly strained.

But then maybe it would be for the best, after all, for Iris to become a priestess: although well-liked, Iris never seems to initiate flirtations with the village boys and their interest soon wanes… for all except Philo, no matter how Iris seems to find excuses to avoid him. Nobody has any doubt that she could have her pick of the boys if she only snapped her fingers in their direction, though.

Devout Believer / Unwanted Love / Femininity

Unna (18 F)

Known for her unpopular opinions about the Faith, perhaps the only person to remain uncharmed by Iris

With her elder siblings out of the house and obnoxious father, Agi, growing ever more violent with age (and her meek mother, Ravit, suffering from his behavior), Unna has had to grow up quickly. She loves and cares for her mother deeply even though she is frustrated by her continued loyalty to Agi even in the face of her horrible treatment at his brutal hands; she recently discovered something she thinks can turn the tide against him and get her mother to choose her own well-being over the man she married. Her father’s cruelty towards her mother has made Unna lose a considerable amount of Faith, although she’s still looking forward to the rights that come with adulthood – especially marriage. She holds out hope for her friend Philo to lose interest in the beautiful Iris and choose their close bond over a pretty face.

Not Devout Angry / Jealous / Protective

Philo (18 M)

A relatively well-liked, hard-working youth without close ties to his family

Philo is an impatient youth: all he needs is another few days to fulfill all his dreams. He is eager to prove his worth to the world and, if not particularly pious, looks forward to his baptism as the next step in doing so. Once this happens he will be a man and able to leave his boring family home to work and marry. Although this Festival is his chance to finally leave his family home, a place where he was always overlooked and lost in the bustle of too many children, his parents still made excuses for why they could not attend. Luckily, Tadeas and Maria were able and willing to step in as surrogates, no doubt as a favor to Bruno.

He even has a plan already for the moment he becomes a man: a job lined up with Bruno he can start immediately, and he’s in love with the beautiful Iris, his almost-employer’s daughter. Everything is set for his success and he is convinced that the heartbreak he suffered a year ago would never be repeated — no, he would not let it be repeated.

Devout Obsession / Unrequited Love / Adulthood