Stolen from the Navarr board, who stole it from other boards…
Trying to avoid the “5 things” on the Varushka Wiki page, what 3 things would you want to tell new Varushkan players? Either about the nation, or useful advice for IC and/or OC.
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Congratulations! You picked a really good Nation; I’m still gutted my Varushkan character died as quickly as she did, and “go back to Varuskha again” is possibly top of my plans if anything happens to my current one. Why? Because it feels like a Family. Everyone is lovely. Attending my own funeral (as a corpse, with tears streaming down my face through the eulogies) is still up there as one of my top rp moments from Empire because of the atmosphere
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Find one of the two egregores (or, if my experience is anything to go by, one of them will find you pretty quickly; see point 1 about everyone being lovely and welcoming) and let them know what your character can do and what bits of the game you’re interested in being part of, and they’ll point you towards sensible avenues to explore. Which, in a game as big and potentially-overwhelming as Empire, makes all the difference
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Wisdom-the-virtue and wisdom-the-important-part-of-the-brief are not quite the same thing; it’s okay for your character to favour another Virtue (mine was all about the Vigilance), Likewise, it’s okay not to have all the answers / to have to ask about things; being ‘wise’ doesn’t mean you need an encylopaedic memory of all aspects of the gameworld
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Stories: the nations is all about the dark fairy tale. The kinds of stories that influence it have certain themes and motifs: difficult choices that have to be made; rules that must be followed to avoid catastrophe (learn them); things being not quite as they seem; respecting the wisdom that comes with age and sacrifice; monsters – often that you must learn how to live with rather than defeat (much like the snows). So the advice I would give is to be aware of and use these elements in the way you play and the way you develop your character. Learn some stories to tell.
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Loneliness, distance, community, place: Varushka is a nation that builds on the idea of small, insular, and suspicious, communities separated by geography, the elements, and history. Often the monsters are tied to place, and require specific practices to placate – these practices become traditions that further separate people and groups. Because things aren’t ways as they seem, people must be careful who trust, so there are rules (see above) of hospitality and the like to govern interactions. People have to rely upon one another to survive however, so once trust is earned people stick together. Don’t imagine a single unified nation just because everyone camps in the same place: resources are scarce, hard choices must be made, conflict occurs. However, at the same time – when it’s time to relax (always be on your guard), or if it’s a time of plenty (remember to keep some back for the winter), people will be generous and party hard.
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History and culture: Don’t think that you have to read the brief for the whole of the Empire, but do absorb Varushkan section of the wiki as well as you can. I’ve found that the Varushkan themes can often be amplified and enjoyed more if you come to the game knowing little of the history and ways of outsiders, and that’s easier to enact if you don’t bother learning it OOC.
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OOC - we are in the bottom right of the field, follow the ‘road’ and once it starts to veer left, you’re here! It’s a good spot, drains well so long as you dont camp too close to the bottom, as this did form a small lake one year! We have the only toilet blocks with hot water and suitably IC designed. Big bonus plus there is accessible loos here with ramps
There are a lot of families within the nation and usually an assortment of kids and occasionally small pets around the place
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Varushka is a hard land to live in. The forests are full of horrible beasties that go thump in the night (and then eat you and regurgitate your bones). Varushkan winters are legendarily nasty. The reason Varushka has a higher concentration of Draughir is because of famines. It’s a hard land that forges hard people. We are the iron quarried from the mountains, forged in fire til only steel remains. Your hometown is probably small and isolated and whenever you go anywhere you stay to the path and you follow the rules and listen to your elders because doing otherwise gets you killed.
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Varushka is a family. Varushka is probably one of the most supportive nations out there. The Egregores and fellow Varushkan players do an excellent job of welcoming new players and looking after each other. If you want to find out more about something Varushkan, pop around the camp and ask if anyone can tell you more about it. More often than not you’ll be invited in and offered food and drink (We Varushkans are famed for our hospitality after all). If you want to get involved in missions or rituals or religion or politics, ask around. We may look scary but we’ll usually go out of our way to help other Varushkans get stuck in. We look after each other, and we respect what we have to say, if you’re a priest and it’s your first time in Anvil you’ll sit in the Varushkan Assembly meeting with the same right to speak as those of us who seem to know what we’re doing (we probably don’t, by the way, but taking notes goes a long way towards looking like we do).
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Varushka is Proud. The Varushkan brief is a strong one, and it resonates through our people. Varushkan clothing is quite iconic, with fluffy hats (My character almost died to recover his hat), fancy trimmed tunics and coats, and enormously baggy trousers with boots or legwraps. We exude Varushkan-ness. We survive through terrible winters, travel through haunted forests, work haunted mines and strike bargains with terrible Sovereigns… because it’s what we do as Varushkans. We have our customs and we stick to them. We have our odd customs, festivals, and traditions, and we do them loudly, to scare away the darkness. We may not be the largest nation, or the wealthiest, but you can usually hear us coming a mile off and by the virtues we’re Varushkan.
And a piece of OC advice: Varushkan kit has essentially no upper ceiling for how fancy it can get, but you don’t have to splash out on fancy bling and embroidery to begin with. As a new player it’s understandable how a brief like Varushka’s can be daunting, but attending one or two events in more basic kit (as long as it fits) lets you get a feel for how the nation looks in the field before you spend too much cash, and lets you get more of an idea of how you want to progress your personal kit, with more influences from the rest of the nation around you. The most iconic pieces of kit that make you stand out (to me at least) are the baggy Rus pants and the hats. We do like our hats.
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To echo what many have already said
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Varushka is family - I often say this myself. It also helps that if you can’t remember someone’s name you can totally get away with “Cousin” or “Grandmother/Grandfather”
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It’s all about the trim - you can make almost any outfit look Varushkan by the addition of a bit of trim. Our kit ranges from simple and plain with trim to impressive with trim.
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Don’t be afraid to ask - we are a very friendly nation and are all happy to provide help, advice or even a crash space to chill out if necessary.
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All of the above +
1. Use existing resources to fire your imagination For example, I look at and store Slavic and Rus costumes for reference (http://pin.it/UzEDNoA & http://pin.it/9VlH4k7 shameless self-promotion).
2. Take part in the Warding of the Camp The camp is warded when the sun goes down to provide some protection against the creatures of the night. Being part of it gives you a sense of belonging, where grudges between vales are suspended, so that everyone acts to the greater good of the camp. Once that is done, we lighten up and present a different facet, more relaxed (but at the same time also wary.
3. Providing hospitality also provides protection Monsters can be trapped if you provide hospitality to them, and don’t mistreat them. They are forced to be a willing guest and can’t harm the family that provides it to them. Public health warning: this may not apply to all monsters so safety is not guaranteed.
Honestly, as a 2nd year player, the advice from the Egregores, hospitality, and the sense of belonging really made my introduction to the game as seemless as it could be. Enjoy!!
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Beware, if you call someone grandfather/grandmother or cousin because you’ve forgotten their name, you are also conveying a certain level of respect - those titles mean something in a land where age and family matter so much.
https://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire-wiki/Varushka_culture_and_customs
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Aaaaand another thing. Family is really important in Varushka, but that doesn’t mean Varushka is a family. We are all friendly OOC, but IC it’s important to keep in mind that the insular nature of vales means that whilst we all trust our family, your family could easily not be what it seems and might be filled with monsters. We let our guard down a little at summits, but that doesn’t mean Varushka is one happy commune. For all I know, that other vale camped next to me might be a bunch of Mora that some mugs let through the warding - I’ll be hospitable in the hope of binding them, but I’m going to be wary nevertheless.
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Varushka has survived for two reasons: compromise and wariness. They can of course make snap judgements but they will be aware they are doing so, and will not assume that all is what it seems. Be a many-layered onion, have secrets (but don’t keep them so secret you never get to tell anyone, that would ruin the fun!), enjoy building up trust relationships where you take the risk to let people in.
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Don’t mistake their daytime dourness and reservedness for a lack of interest. The nation survives through sheer force of determination and will, and their passion for life keeps them going through anything. Be passionate, about anything.
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Help ward the camp at sundown. I missed this constantly in the first few events but at my final event with my Varushkan character I led a handful of hardy souls through the thick mud because it was This Darn Important to her that it got done and it was the most Varushkan she had ever felt. It’s an event that brings the nation together, reminds them of the dangers that they face every moment of the day, and also gives them a safe space to finally relax and let down the facade for a few hours.
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True.
Invest in a good set of tent pegs and plenty of them. The ground tends to be intermittently soft and hard at sites and a solid set of pegs will be able to deal with both these conditions.
If you have forgotten something ask around the camp as people sometimes have spare kit or equipment. Also finding a member of crew and asking for crew welfare means they might be able to help. People may also be willing to do shop runs.
If you are having any issues whatsoever talk to someone about it, they may be able to help.
Keep an eye out for wooden spoons and pictures of spoons outside tents, badges/pins of spoons on people and so on. These are signs that these tents are available for disabled or just extremely frazzled larpers and that the people displaying spoons are willing to help if you have a problem.
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I didn’t know that about the spoons at LARP - that’s a great idea!
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There is a Facebook forum dedicated to it: Spoonie and Disabled Empire Larpers Spoonie and Disabled Empire Larpers
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