Groups: Etosphere • Nadir • Green Block
“The road to extinction is paved with good intentions”
— Artifishal
The East is set in modern-day Italy, specifically in a small mountain valley in the north. The contemporary and seemingly provincial setting does not mean that we will be living an everyday life story, on the contrary, this larp will transport us to the cinematic and TV show atmospheres where twists and turns and special effects are the order of the day.
We live in an interconnected world, and that is why at the center of The East is a small community immersed in the woods and far from the frenetic life of the city, physically isolated but also deeply connected to the rest of the world, philosophically but also digitally.
In Nadir, it seems that time has stopped and life flows peacefully, slowly, and freely, in harmony with the environment, where nature is respected and the shallow and corrupt consumerist society, rotten more than the food they are wasting by the ton every day, is completely rejected
The rejection of the modern lifestyle and society, and their choice to isolate themselves from it, should not be misleading: its inhabitants are more than aware of the issues that plague the frantic world around them. The ever-pressing problems of Planet Earth, the human greed that threatens its destiny, and the little time left for humanity to save itself and its home are major concerns in their lives.
These are the reasons that drove them to an isolated and sustainable lifestyle, in which the deep rejection of a harmful and toxic way of life became a community, spiritual experience, and political cause. A family, they say; a sect, others would call them if they only knew of their existence.
Isolated, but somehow connected to the ever-growing legion of people who share fear and anger over the future of the planet, Nadir has recently expanded: two other ideologically related groups have joined their ranks for a grand joint project.
Amidst the old stones that smell of freshly baked bread, on the tortuous footpaths in the shade of the chestnut trees and along the banks of the creek, words of condemnation, songs of hope, and whispers of subversion mingle with the sound of the wind, a sudden and impetuous wind that blows from the east, and which will change everything!
GROUPS
In The East, characters belong to three environmental associations with quite different backgrounds, beliefs, and approaches to activism. The members of each organization share a common background of struggle, ideals, and practices of concrete environmentalism, but within each group, individuals may agree or disagree on goals and practical methods to achieve them.
The description that follows is very brief and vague, only participants playing a character in each group will receive, in private, more information about it and their views on the movement they are part of.
“There's an east wind coming all the same…and a cleaner, better stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared”
— Arthur Conan Doyle
ETOSPHERE
It is a recently founded international movement, mostly spread across Europe, practicing activism and civil disobedience to counter the climate and ecological crisis. Born as part of a broader environmental platform, in recent years they have merged into a smaller, cross-border collective and have organized protests, rallies, and demonstrative events with media impact to put pressure on politicians and private companies, as well as to raise awareness among ordinary people. Young, concerned, and angry, this group opposes the impending climate catastrophe and fights incisively, but non-violently, to secure a future for the Earth and the species that inhabit it.
Inspirations, a concrete example of the kind of community, environmental awareness and concrete actions of this group: The Last Generation, Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil, Fridays for Future, roadblocks, demonstrations, non-violent demonstrative provocations
Nadir
It is an isolated community, organised as a large family and a safe haven where many different aspects of environmentalism and activism coexist peacefully. Their ranks include idealists who have removed themselves from a society that concerns and repels them. Some of them are activists who participate in person or remotely in forms of protest and boycotts, but also radical activists with a troublesome past who need to lay low. For the world Nadir does not exist, this place, which is also the embodiment of an ideology, lies off the radar, yet it is also connected with many other organizations and groups sharing political ideals and struggles.
Inspirations, a concrete example of the kind of community, environmental awareness and concrete actions of this group: Movimento No Tav, cyber attacks, NIMBY, sabotage, exposing secrets
Green Block
They are veterans of environmentalism and eco-activism who fight the overexploitation and poisoning of our Planet by all legal and illegal means. Not all organizations acting for the good of the Earth have colorful websites and fancy marketing campaigns; some groups of individuals act in spite of legal consequences and risk their own safety to change things. Lobbying and peaceful protest do not fix problems and do not scare anyone, neither the public nor the real perpetrators of environmental disasters, only radical resistance can achieve results.
Inspirations, a concrete example of the kind of community, environmental awareness and concrete actions of this group: Sea Shepherd, Earth Liberation Front, Earth First!, Animal Liberation Front, PETA, sabotages, Federazione Anarchica Informale
