Lunetta di Sarvos [Empire LARP] : "Losing Faith"

[Josée's Note: This is the second of three planned canon pieces regarding Lunetta and her parents. This takes place just as Lunetta returns from the Summer Solstice (E3 2013) after the deaths of her two companions, Matthias and Reynard.]

Lunetta’s skirts billowed as she walked slowly, purposefully down the road into Sarvos alone. Her head bowed, hands playing on the two rings on her fingers, quietly sobbing, she entered her hometown for the first time in several months. Luckily, in some ways, and unluckily in others, Giorgio, the caretaker of her small church while she was out of Sarvos, was the first to spot her.

“Priestess!” He called, his eyes lighting up as he spied the bright blue of her cloak. “You have returned!” He dashed across to her, and his face fell as he saw her shoulders heaving and her face wet. “Priestess…what has happened? Do you need aid?” She looked over at him, her face tear-stained and spirit broken.

Lunetta di Sarvos [Empire LARP] : Summer Solstice (E3 2013) diary

[Josée's Note: This is Lunetta's diary from her first time at Anvil (and my first time at Empire LARP. As you will see...not all went well.]

Summer 377YE – Anvil : Friday

I’ve never been to Anvil before. Matthias and Reynard have spoken many times of the people they have met and places they have been, but I have yet to travel there myself. I’m not quite sure what to expect when I arrive, but if it is anything like the place Matthias and Reynard speak of, then I am sure to feel at home.

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Lunetta di Sarvos [Empire LARP] : "The Journey Begins"

[Josée's Note: Lunetta's parents were both  Bishops of Loyalty, so I thought I should have a bit of fun and write up their reactions to their Priestess daughter running away with a Free Company of Mercenaries!]

“Mea?” Mea, a woman in her early forties, turned to face the speaker and her eyes lit up.

“Lunetta!” She smiled, “Or is it Bishop Lunetta, now?” She asked, warmly.

“Not quite.” Responded Lunetta, flushing slightly pink. ““Priestess” will do me just fine for now…at least until I’ve proven myself.” She added, with a slight shrug and raise of her eyebrows. “Mea, you wouldn’t happen to have seen my fa…I mean, Bishop Gianfrancisco at all, would you?” She seemed nervy and fidgety.

Lunetta Sanguineo / Lunetta di Sarvos [Empire LARP] : Background

[Josée's Note: Lunetta is my first ever contact LARP character. She was created in May 2013 and first played in July 2013. She is fantastic fun and has had far more chaos in her life than I could ever have anticipated. Expect many more posts about this particular character in future.]

Lunetta was born in Sarvos to a family of priests and bishops. Because of this, the idea of following any other path through life seemed almost idiotic. She was a particular believer in loyalty, and this became the path she dedicated her life to. Over time, she gathered a congregation that continued to grow.

She would often visit other cities within the League when she wasn't preaching to her congregation, and would come across travellers and townsfolk who would come to her for aid or advice, and it was on one of these trips she encountered the Bridgehouse Free Company. Their loyalty to each other, camaraderie and friendship was refreshing for Lunetta to see, and she found herself spending much time with them talking and discussing her pathway, their experiences of war and battle, and many other things.

When the time came for Lunetta and the Company to part ways, Lunetta gathered the courage to ask the Company if she could join them on their way. She had been told that one of their number was fantastic at teaching others to fight and defend. She offered her preaching and abilities to the unit to strengthen their loyalty to one another prior to fighting if they would be willing to teach her some basic fighting skills to enable her to at least protect herself to some extent on the battlefield.

Anita Newbury [Live Vampire: The Masquerade] : "The End"

[Josée's Note: This is the second of Anita's two stories (I did say she was shortlived), which is read as a series of her thoughts leading up to her final death.]

[At Elysium]
I hate being treated like I don't know how to do my job or like I'm not trying to do it hard enough. I work harder than some members of this fief - and I've always tried to make sure that any messes I make are covered up at least enough to give the police something to work on that doesn't involve looking into the Masquerade. Yes I, like others, have screwed up - who hasn't? But at least I can say that I've tried to make amends.

But hey, if it needs to be proven, I'll go and investigate the Abudhemi situation. After all, no-one else seems to really care that he tried to attack one of our newest members. I could take O'Heath with me, but...something tells me that Stone might be more useful. Also, I'd rather not take O'Heath out into the open - our time for bargaining has now ended...and he is now at risk from the wolves. Stone will be fine, I trust in his ability. If he can't deal with the situation, I doubt anyone else could.

Anita Newbury [Live Vampire: the Masquerade] : "An Eventful Evening"

[Josée's Note: Anita was a Ventrue character I created for a Live Vampire: The Masquerade game. She was shortlived but good fun to play, and encountered more than her fair share of werewolves and creatures that wanted to cause her nothing but harm. This is her retelling of one of those encounters.]

Click.

As she heard the latch unlock, Anita heaved a sigh of relief, running a hand through her thoroughly mussed up hair, picking pieces of gravel and tree out as she did so; her already disdainful features made all the more harsh by the severe frown etched across her face. Her other hand held her torn jacket and shirt tightly around her, to minimise the risk of anyone catching sight of the word that had previously been seen carved into her flesh. She turned the doorknob, and waited for her eyes to adjust to the deep darkness within the room.

Closing the door behind her, she began to relax...slightly. Releasing the torn jacket and shirt from her grip, the pieces of fabric hung loosely, their edges frayed and ripped, Anita looked at her reflection. Her face and hair were dirty and covered in leaves and gravel and dirt, as were her clothes. She grimaced as she realised that there wasn’t a patch on her clothing that hadn’t been somehow covered in the grime of the forest.

Sitting on her bed, she began to unbutton her now-destroyed jacket, and she replayed the scene she had found herself in through her mind.

Victrix "Vyx" Dorvillier [Rogue Trader] : Appearance and Canon Piece - "Finding Yourself"

[Josée's Note: Vyx was built for a one-off game for my 21st birthday, so she has very little backstory. However, as you will see, her single game was full of surprises.]

Appearance:

Victrix, without her armour, would be relatively unassuming – a strong but slight woman – were it not for her outward demeanor. She has a half black, half purple mohican which is dyed from halfway down her head. The rest of her head is not shaven, but is cut very short. She has numerous tattoos and markings, some of which have clear prison planet connotations, and a couple of places where skin has obviously been cut away and “replaced”. She has an MI Unit clearly visible in the nape of her neck, and is never, ever seen without her manacles, sword and gun. She takes her job as armsmistress and self-declared “security” on the ship incredibly seriously, and woe betide anyone who gets in her way or disobeys a direct command of hers. (Unless they’re of higher rank on the ship and people are around or they’re likely to get away.)

["Finding Yourself" is after the jump!]

Emily Richards [Live Vampire: the Requiem] : AU "A Nighttime Stroll"

[Josée's Note: On the livegame LiveJournal community, there were often monthly challenges posted up. August 2011's challenge was "Write about your character meeting you." And so I did. Behold Emily meeting 19-year-old Josée. For anyone not in Norfolk, the UEA is the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, which I lived close to and was where our game ran.]

Emily strolled down to the lake at the UEA. She had been told it was particularly quiet and a nice place to reflect. She'd hopped on a bus and had decided to take it easy, wandering around the huge concrete buildings in both awe and slight...disdain? She had to admit, it was truly beautiful over at the lake, the leaves moving in the breeze. She had always loved the evenings...ever since she was a child...and coming to a place like this just reminded her of the beauty she saw back home in Kent.

Her musings were quickly interrupted though.

A rather harrassed young woman, barely older than herself (she guessed), was almost striding along the path, and Emily figured she'd eventually walk into her.

Emily Richards [Live Vampire: the Requiem] : "Invictus?"

[Josée's Note: This was the second part of Emily's pre-game canon, once again posted on the livegame's LiveJournal community originally. This was posted in August 2011, with the subtitle "Emily recovers from her run-in with the "mysterious man"."]

"Invictus."

That was all the knowledge she had been left with - a tiny scrap of paper that the man had thrown behind him as he left her in the street. He hadn't even looked back...hadn't the time nor inclination to take a final glance at the young woman he had left in his wake, the one standing in a torn black jumper, and jeans covered in dirt and mud...her face stony, and body bruised and battered.

"Invictus."

She shoved the scrap into her jeans pocket. What was she meant to do with that? She didn't even know where to start! And even if she had...would she have wanted to? For all she knew, it could be some kind of place used to keep trophies...prizes. Besides...Invictus...didn't that mean "victory" or something in some other language? Was he simply sneering at her...his victory...her loss?

Emily Richards [Live Vampire: the Requiem] : "In Unfamiliar Territory"

[Josée's Note: This was originally posted to the livegame's LiveJournal community in April 2011. These are "Emily's first moments in Norwich".]

In Unfamiliar Territory

Her blue eyes opened and blinked furiously as she tried to get accustomed to the darkness. She became aware of a coldness running down the right hand side of her body, and realised she was laying on the floor...cobblestone, by the looks of it. She tried to push herself up, but something resisted her...she didn't know if it was simply a lack of strength or something more. She tried to stretch, but again, that same force pushed against her movement.

There was a gruff laugh from above her, and it was then that her mind seemed to kickstart.

Emily Richards [Live Vampire: the Requiem] : Backstory

[Josée's Note: Emily Richards was my first livegame character and I was 17 at the time of her creation. This was her background. For those who are interested, Emily was a Ventrue Invictus character.]

Emily was descended on her father’s side from a long line of vampire hunters from Kent, each of her predecessors passing their skills on to their eldest child.  When Emily reached the age of ten, her father began filling her in on stories of the dead not staying dead...the vampires of the horror movies actually existing and the need to protect the innocents from their ways and from potentially being their prey or their childer. Emily always felt both frightened of her father and his job (what if he never returned?) and excited by the way she was one day going to become involved in this whole side of living no-one else really knew existed.

About Me

Hello everyone!

My name is Josée and I have been a roleplayer (forum-based, tabletop, parlour LARP and LARP) since the age of 13. I began on Harry Potter forum roleplay sites, and moved through to Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition tabletop, Live Vampire: The Requiem, tabletop World of Darkness and Fiasco to, most recently, Empire LARP.

I am now 21, studying for a degree in Special Educational Needs, and I have come to realise that I have probably written enough background and canon for the characters I have had over the years to complete my dissertation three or four times over. While most people are probably not interested in the imaginary tales of imaginary people from very specific settings, I feel like it is only right to begin logging as many pieces of my roleplaying history as I am possibly able to, given that over the years changes in computer/lack of backing up data have probably lost me huge amounts of imaginative work and character story that in years to come I will come to remember fondly and not actually remember fully enough to appreciate.

If you do read through any of what follows, I hope you enjoy; or empathise, perhaps, with the less positive stories and pieces from some of my characters' more harrowing times.

Thank you for visiting and taking an interest in the things that let me escape reality and join a new world every so often.

Josée
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