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[ our goal is ] PEACE - Proxima LARP

UNITED NATIONS HERE: STOP OR I FIRE!

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During a peacekeeping operation, a platoon of Blue Helmets will have to fight a war against themselves and their doubts, while a village of civilians and refugees struggle against the horror of civil war. One desperate need: survival.

ABOUT

60 PLAYERS

2 LANGUAGES

2 EXPERIENCES

1 SHARED STORY

An event set in the recent past, which speaks of peacekeeping and dramatic ethical choices in the theatre of a bloody civil war, the Balkans, in a country ravaged by military and religious conflicts and ethnic cleansing. A LARP with two different experiences converging into a common climax.

« The event lived up to expectations, maybe even better. It was a great experience. Thank you all for the quality and the heart you put into this event. You have to try to put yourself in the shoes of another parsona to see different points of view in a war situation. »

Participant Run #01

You will be part of a UN squad composed of a small group of officials escorted by a platoon of blue helmets and war reporters on a patrol mission in an operational zone.

This group will play a three-day event, in which knowledge of the English language is mandated even at low levels. The UN members will have to patrol a wilderness area and set up camp, carrying weapons, tents and equipment throughout the wilderness walk.

The other game experience will be playing one of the civilians living in a remote mountain village, where refugees from nearby destroyed villages have also taken refuge. Civilians will play a two-day, stationary event in which fluent knowledge of the Italian language is mandatory.

Civilians will experience all the terrible conflicts and dilemmas of a population torn apart by hatred, surrounded by external enemies, but with deep divisions within: a people yearning for a longed-for and seemingly unattainable peace.

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PEACE is an event for an adult and aware audience, of action and tragedy, but also reflecting on the role of international organisations and the concept of peace and war.

CORE

01.

PEACE aims to offer the most immersive, all-encompassing and truthful experience possible of some of the historical facts that occurred during the conflict that affected some of the countries of the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, and in particular the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina fought between 1 March 1992 and 14 December 1995, until the Dayton Agreement was signed, which officially ended hostilities. The event also refers to other theatres of conflict at that time, in particular Somalia and Rwanda.

Each participant will tell his or her own story within a realistic framework, like that of a film, experiencing the feelings, aims and ambitions that come with it. Whatever the character decides to do, it will be enough to put it into practice, respecting the basic rules of civilisation, common sense and the safety rules provided by the organisers.
02.

PEACE is intended for an adult audience due to the intense themes it deals with. The violation of human rights, violence, torture, physical and sexual abuse that have historically occurred will only be represented indirectly and narratively, as events that have happened and are narrated, but which may be repeated.

However, we do not want players to directly experience these horrors in a simulated manner during the event, so special techniques and safety measures will be described in the event guide to protect the physical and mental safety of participants. There will also be a safe-room where anyone wishing relief from the pressures of the event can rest and find solace and refreshment.
03.

Violence will not be the focal point of the event and is not meant to be an end in itself, but rather a means to develop the stories that will be lived, to build a social memory by reliving dramatic events that actually happened. Abuse and abuse, both physical and psychological (never sexual), may be present and it is most appropriate to clarify how they should be understood and interpreted: for no reason and under no circumstances will participants be asked to go beyond their limits.

We simply expect common sense and respect from everyone and advise against approaching LARP as a testing ground to test one's own limits and those of others. Safety measures, as well as workshops and debriefings at the end of the LARP, will be developed and described in detail in the Event Guide to be published soon.
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EXPERIENCE

EXPERIENCE

GAME STYLE

« PEACE is an experience full of realism. »
Participant Run #01

01.

[ our goal is ] PEACE deals with events that really happened, but they will be re-proposed in a simplified and partly modified key to make them narratively usable for the participants, without distorting their historical meaning. E’ per questo motivo che i nomi dei PG, dei PNG e delle organizzazioni paramilitari sono diversi da quelli storici a cui sono ispirati.

Each character in PEACE will have his or her own personal history and beliefs that will be intertwined with those of the others, always in line with the historical setting of departure that refers to real places. Il conflitto, tema centrale di questo LARP, è da intendersi non solo come "conflitto armato", ma soprattutto come disaccordo e divergenza, sia con gli altri ma soprattutto con le proprie coscienze.

Regardless of which play group you choose, UN or CIVILIAN, our intention is to place you, through the free interpretation of your character, in front of the dilemmas of conflict to make you reflect on what makes us human in a world where humanity itself seems to be lost.
02.

The use of the three different religions (Orthodox, Muslim and Catholic), refers back to what really happened, allowing the characters to be further characterised and the social divide between them, which occurred during the civil war, to be recreated.

Therefore, religions are treated as pretexts at the basis of the social rift described in the SETTING paragraph, and are thus the apparent cause of the discrimination between characters, pretexts for real ethnic discrimination, used to justify the unacceptable racism at the basis of the conflict, so much so that the three religions could easily be swapped one for the other without any effect on history, demonstrating to all intents and purposes that it is humanity itself that carries within itself self-destruction, without any need for divine intervention. PEACE is therefore in no way intended to be a trial of different beliefs, and we wish to emphasise that the entire staff dissociates itself from any crime perpetrated in the name of one faith rather than another.
03.

The religion of the characters will be made known when the public teasers are released along with gender and trigger words.

This stylistic choice will allow you to feel comfortable, especially emotionally, in the clothes you choose to wear. Characters are divided into male, female and unisex. For plot reasons, the gender of the male and female PGs is fixed, while the unisex can be played indifferently. However, the staff has made provision for cross-gender: a male character, for instance, can be played by a person of any gender as long as it makes him or her a man in the game and vice versa. You will be assigned a character preferably from the shortlist of 8 preferences you submit with the form provided, but we cannot guarantee that this will always happen because if a character has no preference, the algorithm will randomly assign it to a player.
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01.

1990s. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, a state entity of the dissolved Yugoslavia, a civil war has been going on for some time between the three ethnic groups that inhabit it. Religious differences among the three populations were often taken as a mere pretext to cause a civil conflict that has nothing truly religious about it.
02.

The Muslim Bosniaks had always been the largest group, and as such had temporarily taken control of the country, causing the grievances of the two minority groups, the Catholic Croats and the Orthodox Serbs. While the former began to organize themselves into terrorist groups, the latter formed a foreign-backed army that overthrew the government by beginning a systematic ethnic cleansing operation against the Bosnians.
03.

The European powers have been careful not to intervene directly in the conflict, and have favored a peacekeeping intervention by the United Nations. For its part the UN, fresh from some similar disastrous experiences in Africa, has moved without having a clear mandate and with instructions that have severely limited its action, to the point of tolerating as silent witnesses, if not favoring as unwary accomplices, some of the most atrocious violations of civil rights in the country.
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SETTING

SETTING

« PEACE has made me realise that for evil to triumph, it is enough for good people to renounce action. Thank you for this thankless but dutiful task. »

Participant Run #01

INSPIRATIONAL
HISTORICAL EVENTS

Dissolution of the Yugoslav Republic and the balkan war

Srebrenica massacre

Restore Hope mission in Somalia

Genocide in Rwanda

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

« PEACE made me experience a part of history, and those who lived it, that I had previously only read about or heard in the distance. Everyone should ‘experience’ this history. »

Participant Run #01

TWO DIFFERENT
EXPERIENCES

ONU

The experience of the UN Group will also have a physical dimension, so it is advisable to be in good shape: this group will sleep one night in the open and will cover several miles for the first part of the event, with weapons and/or technical equipment and a heavy backpack on their shoulders: they will receive packaged military food (if someone has specific intolerances, they can bring what they can consume from home as long as it is already prepared and packaged). Players will have to bring footwear suitable for an excursion (we recommend amphibians or other mountain shoes) and undergarments to withstand a night in the open.

The UN will not have access to toilets, they will be provided with wet wipes, biodegradable toilet paper and what is necessary to bury their dejections. Soldiers will be issued a blue helmet and operative military uniform, plus blank weapons and ancillary military equipment. Functionaries will receive a UN basque and the media another UN berret plus the necessary equipment. Apart from this equipment, functionaries and media will have to dress in plain clothes (or even with camouflage parts if they wish and/or already possess them).

  • All UN members will be provided with a blue waterproof cape for rain and humidity, and if they do not have one, a backpack to carry the equipment. If players want to carry their own backpacks, they should look like military backpacks, unless they are in the media group.

  • Players will need to bring their own sleeping bag or select the “sleeping bag rental” option if they don’t have one. No mat or mattress is provided. One and a half liters of drinkable water will be provided for each person for 24 hours. If you wish so, you can bring your own trekking water bottles with other additional water.

  • In case of rain, the event will not be canceled and the experience will take place with the existing weather conditions.

  • Knowledge of the ENGLISH language is required, which must be the only language used in conversations.

  • REFUGEE civilians and FILLERS will arrive exhausted, without food, with ragged clothes and in need of comfort and charity from other civilians. They will be provided with essential accommodation (they will only have to bring their own sleeping bags and mattress). They are exhausted and have suffered violence and harassment, so they will come into play after a short walk, accessible to everyone, in precarious psychological conditions.

  • All nights are in game, but civilians, if they wish, will be able to stay overnight in structures outside the field at their care and expense, temporarily leaving the event in the period from midnight to 8 AM, when no significant organized game events will take place. However, we believe that the experience is more engaging by staying overnight in the camp.

CIVILIANS

DISPLACED civilians will have a settled experience, they will have to bring their own tents (if too technical, bring a tarp to cover them) sleeping bag and mat or mattress. We will provide them with material to equip the camp as it might have been organized in the 1990s, electricity, water, gas to heat food, and basic packaged food, but they can, if they wish, bring their own food and drinks from home. 

PLEASE NOTE: Food from home: sparingly. Remember that we are talking about people who are without adequate means of transport and who have long since left their homes. They have not been able to bring with them exorbitant quantities of foodstuffs, both in terms of quantity and variety. Part of what you are going to experience as characters is also about living with food shortages and how this can impact on your behavior and ways of perceiving others and yourself. Therefore, if you want to bring extra food, we advise you to do so sparingly, keeping in mind that this is not about having a Sunday picnic with friends, but about trying to immerse yourself in the shoes of people who have had to leave their homes because of a war.

« PEACE gave me the opportunity to experience a historical event that was so intense, at times, that I felt physical discomfort – but which was worth experiencing. Thank you. »

Participant Run #01

CHARACTERS &
FACTIONS

1118

UNITED NATIONS

The UN Expedition entered the war territory on a specific mission known only to its members. Most of the group is composed of a platoon of BLUE HELMETS, trained soldiers from various countries, escorting and protecting a group of UN OFFICIALS, bureaucrats and leaders of the Organization without any military preparation, each with specific directives from their own Offices. To document the expedition a small group of UN ACCREDITED MEDIA follows the expedition, enjoying the same protection accorded to Officials.

The UN group members speak ENGLISH to each other, and will have to face several hours of walking in a natural forest environment, so we recommend this role to people in good physical shape. 

They will also have to camp and sleep in the open and feed themselves using the food they carry in their rucksacks, and dress themselves in mountain clothing (military/camouflage of any kind for Blue Helmets only), amphibious clothing or boots. They must also bring a sleeping bag. Waterproofs and UN headgear (helmets or hats, depending on role) and weapons for military personnel will be provided by the staff.

  1. Please choose this group only if you’re in good physical shape: we want you to reflect particularly on this point. The route that those who will take on the role of military and civilian representatives of the United Nations will have to follow is tiring and demanding, but nothing that cannot be done by those who are used to trekking. Anyone Who isn’t could experience unpleasant physical and mental exhaustion which would prevent them and the other participants from experiencing the event enjoyably.

     

  2. Backpack weight – The maximum recommended weight per backpack is around 8-10 kg. A larger amount would significantly affect the physical effort required and would also be an unnecessary one. Sleeping a night in the open does not require you to carry huge amounts of equipment/clothing/gear. If you carry backpacks that are too heavy on your shoulders you will tire enormously, much more than you should, and you may have to be helped by other participants if not assisted by staff members.

CIVILIANS

The largest group of civilians is that of the DISPLACED. These are the adult inhabitants of the nearby village of Dijevici, mostly of Christian Orthodox religion, who fled their village to escape the clashes of the civil war, taking refuge in the old mountain summer camps where they used to take their children. The displaced have never been directly involved in the war, and they are a peaceful and organized group that has no interest in moving from their shelter until the unrest ends.

The REFUGEES, on the other hand, come from the main big city of the valley floor, Procevici, a city that has been devastated by tragic events. Many of them have been victims of abuse, they have lost everything, sometimes even their humanity, and fled through woods and cliffs, hiding in the forest, and have finally reached the mountains. Among them there are many many women and few men,because their husbands and sons remained behind or died, mostly of Muslim or Catholic religion, each of them has a terrible story to tell, as witnesses of the worst horrors possible of the civil war.

924

The displaced people play a permanent game, are organized, have camp fires, food, plenty of water, tents. They had the opportunity to bring with them all sorts of comforts from home that they could carry up the mountain paths. It is a game suitable for those who do not want to go into the woods or have a tiring experience. Yet even their innocence is about to be shattered against the advancing war.

Refugees will move in the countryside for a very limited period-about 30 minutes- so they do not need to be so trained in walking the wildland. Their clothes are tattered, their faces dirty, their hair disheveled. They ran away, but not soon enough … They have no food with them, some of them have wounds or ailments from life in the woods as fugitives and they live on the charity of others. Yet their testimony is what they hold in their broken hearts. If you choose these characters, keep in mind that you will be living witnesses of violence suffered and horrors perpetrated, we advise against choosing those characters for people who are easily impressionable or with particular sensitivity towards violent episodes.

NB. The civilians speak the Slavic languages, which in the LARP fiction will be replaced by the ITALIAN language.

DISCLAIMER

« PEACE is a necessary experience. The exposure to the reality actually experienced by other human beings, however mediated by fiction, was powerful and moving. »

Participant Run #01

This event was scheduled by Proxima in 2022 but due to the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine, the staff deemed it appropriate to postpone Run 1 to 2023. Now, seeing the requests of its associates, Proxima has decided to replicate it in Run 2 in June 2024.

For the authors of this larp, ​​among which there are those who personally participated as UN Blue Helmets in some of the events mentioned above, it is right to speak with disenchantment of the intrinsic contradictions of the peacekeeping operations which twenty years ago led the UN to some disastrous military and humanitarian failures. The purpose of this event is to give an important testimony to consider and meditate about the concept of Peace and to understand what one is really willing to do for this great ideal. If even a handful of players will feel the urge to delve into this crucial issue for the future of all peoples, then this event will have been useful.

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PRACTICALS

Where
Ex Polveriera di Rio Gandore – Unnamed Road, 29010, Gazzola (PC)

When
For UN – June 7th 2024 h. 11.00 AM
For Civilians – June 7th 2024 h. 09.00 PM

The end of the event is scheduled for Sunday, June 9th, h 01.00 PM.

Tickets
ONU – 180
CIVILIANS – 90
FILLER (civilians) – 60

Available services – Sleeping bag rental, shuttle service A/R from Linate Airport (LIN), with departure from Linate at 10.30 AM on Friday morning and departure at 2.30 PM, after the end of the event.

NB. In the event of cancellations for UN characters, participants with FILLER tickets will be able to take over by adding a difference of €66 to the FILLER fee previously paid.

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OPINIONS FROM RUN 1

In PEACE I loved the pain, the anger, the frustration, the awareness of being spectators with our hands tied in an unbearable global drama, the sincere desire to be there to do good and the slow awareness of not being able to do it, that the institution you are there for will never let you do it. The stories of refugees and displaced persons, their faces, their interactions made intense and complicated by the linguistic gap. The overall picture, vivid and true and extremely exciting. It was like being there for real. And try everything on your own skin. And take away indelible scars.

- - -

Playing PEACE was heartbreaking, a way to understand an event as close in time and space as it was distant from our idea of that historical period.
With PEACE I got a taste of what it means to no longer have the comforts of everyday civilization. I have experienced firsthand how tribality emerges from anarchy and how empathy flourishes from desperation. Like Vlad I have lost my civil role, trampled by the diatribes of my divided and adrift fellow citizens; I lost the last spark of love, shot by a sniper; I lost my heirs, killed like dogs in front of my impotence; I have lost the role of my wife, with whom there is nothing left to say or share in the absence of our children; I lost hope in my religious community, shattered by the human crisis of my Pope, by my candle extinguished and broken in the rain. Only isolation in God remained, the solitude of a severed soul that silently barricades itself within itself, far from the world. I leave you two short quotes: "Homo homini lupus" (Plautus) and "Power wears out those who don't have it" (G. Andreotti).
"I've seen you break so many times I could only hug you to hold you together." I believe that this phrase, from another player, perfectly conveys the idea of what PEACE is. The topic was approached with great delicacy: I don't think it's easy to approach and make others approach such a dramatic and true topic in a "playful" context, yet this event succeeded.

- - -

The PEACE experience is painful, but important and necessary. The stories and emotions you feel are those of people who really existed, and what follows are strong feelings and a prospective re-evaluation of some pages of history.
I believe that the rawness, harshness and faithfulness to the real history of PEACE were educational and formative. This event had a great sensitizing effect on a raw topic such as that of war experienced by the victims. It's a LARP that needs to be played, but it's not a LARP I would do again or recommend playing twice. A hard, intense event that destroys our comfort zones.

- - -

The PEACE experience was powerful and dramatic. By playing a character in this event, it's as if I've brought a person inside, who isn't me and who I don't want to be forgotten, like millions of others who shared her fate.
The story of PEACE is a story that needed to be told, and it was done well.

- - -

In PEACE I felt the feeling of helplessness, I felt all the weight of wanting to save someone and not being able to save even one.

- - -

In PEACE everything was extremely engaging and moving. I saw first-hand the desperation and the feeling of having no escape.

TEAM

[ our goal is ] PEACE is a larp by Proxima.

Meet the team of organisers, set designers and authors who brought this event to life.

We would like to thank Luca Tenaglia, Francesca R. Cicetti and Camilla Missaglia for the photos of Run 1.

Designed and directed by Digio

Co- Authors
Chiara Bottone, Maria Luisa D’Ambrosio, Luca Fabbricotti, Maurizio Mariani, Mauro Scanagatta, Daniele Cristina, Filippo Santi

Set design, logistics, animation
Federico Ferri, Alessio Santarini, Paolo Brizio, Marcello Ruggeri

Communication
Maria Grazia Ceruso

Field Staff
Valerio Biagini, Fabio Costa, Monica Gardella, Alex Kurbatov, Federico Misirocchi

THEY TELL ABOUT US

Come for the beauty of the larp, stay for the wonderful community.
Proxima for me is a stimulating and positive environment, a place made up of people who really want to do something nice - to entertain and have fun.
Playing with Proxima means being part of a group of friends who are bubbly, ambitious, sweet, kind, brilliant... and a little bit crazy.

WE ARE PROXIMA

Proxima is an association that organises live role-playing events throughout Italy. Come join us for an experience that will leave you breathless and meet a community of over 500 players like you.

CONTACT US

NEWSFEED CHANNEL

linktr.ee/proximalarp
proxima.larps@gmail.com

via Don Italo Dallape’, 28 – 38050 Novaledo (TN) – CF 90018930223

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[ our goal is ] PEACE - Proxima LARP

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