Religion in Larp

Pantheism is my thing, I too was born, raised and confirmed as a Roman Catholic, but I have since explored religions as a hobby of sorts. For a time I practiced Wicca, but one thing I have found is that religions never seem to fill the entire bill by themselves. There are pieces missing in every dogma.

Roman Catholicism for example, gets community and ritual and hits the right notes spiritually. But, for me, it misses on the spontaneous expression of joy of the Divine that some other religions focus on. Even Baptists get it closer. Hinduism hits the notes of ritual, and the spiritual framework is fascinating. Shintoism, combines the natural world with deified spirits, and its stories are fascinating. If we could distill all of the philosophy and history, rites and ceremonies, religious ecstasy and natural experiences into one religion, that would be Truth for me.

In Larp we have a chance to try to combine the best (and worst) of all religions we have experience with, into one package. It must fit the setting of course, but inside that boundary we can create something that honors all of the religious and spiritual beliefs we find fascinating in real life. Larp is at its heart a self exploration and there is nothing more needed to explore than this side of ourselves, the mystical and spiritual.

In KR, we have a classic, Good vs. Evil scenario. The pendulum has swung back and forth in the two decades long history of this game. Currently we are at a point where the pendulum is in center, but with memories of a time when the pendulum swung towards Good. Will it swing towards Evil? That is the Drama of the game, and the Conflict of the two sides pulling the pendulum to their advantage. There seems little room, as it currently stands, for coexistence, though with the addition of Writs, a tense truce has been called. I don't see that lasting, but more from the limitations it places on both sides.

If all Deities were allowed to be worshiped, it may water down the experience. If there were no negative aspects to be a Dark Clergy, that may lose players who have no way then to explore the forbidden? On the other hand, if there were no downsides to being a Dark Clergy, who would want to place themselves under the much more rigorous rules that the Light Clergy must adhere to. The Dark Clergy would go from being a close knit community of rebels to having to deal with a much greater breadth of players, for good and especially for ill. I am not sure the Dark side would be made better for it.

It is a struggle now to get people interested in the Divine roleplay, think of what may happen when the essential struggle between Good and Evil is no longer a thing. I am concerned that Religion would lose its power for drama and conflict and Clergy would become just another casting class.

As someone who is highly interested in religious roleplay, I have to say that I feel as though the harshness of the laws against the worshipers of Dark forces has made me disinterested in the concept of worshiping a Dark god, specifically being a priest of one. If I can't say a prayer without immediately being a criminal, I don't see all too much of a point for myself. That said, I don't know how hard it would be to get a Writ, but I can't imagine it being incredibly easy, especially for a Malycite, and I can't think of many ways to play a Malycite priest without immediately exposing myself (if I wanted the roleplay to be good as a Malycite, I mean). I feel like that option for a character is just completely thrown out the window because he wouldn't be able to do all too much. I wouldn't expect it to be like "Alright, y'all have fun worshiping Malyc and the like, we won't bother ya none", but I feel as though the consequences for even considering to worship a Dark force make it difficult to consider.

On the other hand, my character Ergos is fairly interested in Andorra, and may follow a path to worship her, and from what I've seen of the Light clergy, it sounds pretty awesome to be a part of a religion like that. There, of course, are a number of duties and potentially stifling tenets that come to worshiping a Light force, but if your character is meant for that god, then it turns into a great experience where these duties and tenets add magnificently to the roleplay. I would love to see Dark clergy be able to flourish like Light clergy in this regard; not as to be big, but to be well-off enough so that they wouldn't need a Writ to be able to step into the inn without being attacked.

I would love to see Dark clergy be able to flourish like Light clergy in this regard; not as to be big, but to be well-off enough so that they wouldn't need a Writ to be able to step into the inn without being attacked.

I don't think anyone wants to see the Dark Dieties as accepted. Players who play Dark Clergy, please chime in on that. It also must be said that a certain suspension of disbelief has to occur in Larping, and openly accepting Gods of Evil in polite society might not be able to pass that test. Sure we have magic fireballs being thrown around, but who in their right mind allows someone worshipping disease, corruption and murder to just go walking free in your settlement? (Yes we can argue that the Dark Gods aren't necessarily doing that, but stay on topic. )

The forbidden nature of their worship and secrecy it entails is often part of their allure, in my opinion. The Writs offer a chance to play the Clergy without being hunted down, but it should never be something given out freely. That would water down the edge of playing the character.

Templar Aldric wrote: It is a struggle now to get people interested in the Divine roleplay, think of what may happen when the essential struggle between Good and Evil is no longer a thing. I am concerned that Religion would lose its power for drama and conflict and Clergy would become just another casting class.

This might be a stupid question - but shouldn't the fact that these beings run the universe (or the world, at least) warrant worship in any case - no matter whether they are in a struggle with their evil counterparts or not? To, you know, ask them to make the crops grow, to not die in battle and to find love and all that?

I'm not saying that they should be accepted by any means, and I completely agree with you that worshipers of Dark powers tend not to be the best of people; I'm just saying that if the worshiper of a Dark god isn't bringing any harm to innocents, I feel as though they should not be treated as though they are immediately. Obviously, distrust of people worshiping the acts of aggression and suffering and destruction would be the case, but I feel as though an outright ban on these individuals makes it hard for the pendulum to not swing to the Light side of things. I've met two Galmachians and one Agauran as Ergos, and no worshippers of the Dark gods as Haz Polzin (as far as I know), but everywhere I look I see a member of the Light clergy. I'm not saying its a bad thing to have the Light outweigh the Dark, but I feel it's highly disproportionate at KR. Again, this is just a newer player's outlook so I could be totally off the mark with this information, but I'm one who sees Darkness as an equally important role as Light in a place like Travance, and I personally don't see that happening.

This might be a stupid question - but shouldn't the fact that these beings run the universe (or the world, at least) warrant worship in any case - no matter whether they are in a struggle with their evil counterparts or not? To, you know, ask them to make the crops grow, to not die in battle and to find love and all that?

Its not a stupid question and in the context of KR, deities do warrant worship, though we dont conceive of them as having the effect of making crops grow or all that. The bit I was concerned about is normalizing all religions might take away from the role play. Instead of Black and White everything becomes Grey.