Hi all, me and my husband are planning on attending our first Empire (and first LARP) event in April. We have some stuff already due to cosplay etc but I’m struggling to find where my character might fit in.
I’m planning a dual sword wielder with light leather armour (kind of rouge-y) so most of my clothing is black/brown. I was originally looking at Navaar but not sure if the black wouldn’ work, or if it would work better in one of the the other nations.
I have my char semi-planned out and researched the best way to make it work, just stuck n the nation I would fit in with.
ANy help greatly appreciated. Thank you.
In my opinion that sounds like a great fit for Navarr, but I’m also not sure about black. What sort of personality traits do you want your character to have? Of course your nation has little bearing on that but it can help you find out where you’d fit best (e.g. Dawn for a glorious dual-wielder who never backs down, The League for a mercantile rogue who will fight for others for a price)
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Hmm I hadn’t sorted out personality traits as yet, I was put off Dawn due to the brighter colours (I have always preferred wearing darker colours anyway). I do want to get involved with the combat but as a newbie very scared of dying XD
Welcome to Empire and the forums, pg050189!
Your outfit sounds like it would visually fit with Highguard’s Unconquered archetype. Whether that archetype and the Highguard brief fits with your character and appeals to you is at least as important though.
Black armour/clothes don’t rule you out of Navarr (and brown kit will help) but you’ll better fit the costume brief and be more recognisably Navarri by wearing more appropriate layers over top. A green thigh- or knee-length vest belted at the waist, for example and a tattoo painted on your face ought to make it clear what nation you belong to. If your belt has several pouches attached and/or you wear a hooded mantle or cloak in green or brown then all the better.
Empire being an aspirational game, you aren’t expected to turn up 100% on-brief right from the start. The approach is that we all use what we have and improve from there. So whatever nation you were to pick, if you have access to black leather armour/clothing but it isn’t in the brief then wear that until you can buy/borrow/make something to fit the aesthetic, and minimise it’s visual impact where you can. But if buying/making new, do all you reasonably can to meet the brief.
Your character will get at most two hours on the battlefield one morning, unless you join in with the skirmishes which tend to be more intense in their combat. So it’s worth having some goals for the rest of the time when you’re at Anvil. The April event will have a coronation, which ought to be easy to find. You could set targets to buy food/drink in every national camp, see a ritual at the Imperial Regio, watch a session of the senate, find some combat training with another character, things like that. There’s a fair chance something/someone interesting will happen near you that your character can get involved with too, so you don’t need to come up with loads of ideas in advance.
Going to battle isn’t mandatory, except that if you do fight as your character then you are required to play a monster/enemy of the Empire for the other one. Nothing stops you from monstering for both battles and that’s just what my friends and I did at our first event, rather than risk our characters straight away.
Has your husband settled on a nation? If you’re undecided on nation then it might be worth joining the same one for this first event. Some plot and other events run along national lines so it’s easier to get involved in the same things if you’re both part of the same nation. And if it isn’t the right fit for what you want to do then you have the option to create a new character in the nation you prefer, ask Profound Decisions to change the character’s nationality (they’re very good about new players rewriting a character if choices don’t play out as you expect) or to play through the story of the character making that change in-world and joining a new nation.
Otherwise, to run through the nations in terms of colour:
- The Brass Coast is the only nation for whom bright colours are the norm; black and white are both frowned on in their culture. Dressing in one indicates poverty while the other represents death and I can’t remember which way round it is.
- Urizen dress in pale/pastel tones from what I see in the field. That said, their Sentinels tend to wear leather armour might dress like rogues.
- Dawn does tend toward bright heraldic colours but primarily their culture is about being big, bold and dramatic. There are some houses who dress in darker colours and one of the forum mods plays a Dawnish bard-type who wears mostly black with decoration in strong colours that stand out.
- The Imperial Orcs I see tend towards black, brown or tan clothing. Your willingness/ability to wear a latex mask for hours would perhaps be the biggest consideration.
- Highguard dress in black and white, with an added jewel colour that helps to distinguish between the chapters. They also have the Unconquered I mentioned before. April events feature their festival for the dead, big hoods are very much encouraged.
- Most Varushkans I recall wear dark-to-mid tones with splashes of brighter colours, often in their hats or clothing trim. But dark practical clothing would make absolute sense for their road wardens and the Varushkan mage who approached me in the pub dressed all in black robes and carrying a skull was superbly unsettling and forever inked into my memory.
- The League is the most urban in style and outlook, a good place for a city-rogue to hail from. Dark clothes would probably benefit from a splash of dramatic colour or a distinctive signature item to help create a reputation. For the April event, a League character needs a mask or risks supernatural attention during the Festival of the Reaper.
- Wintermark consists of three sub-cultures, two of which (Steinr and Kallavesi) better suit dark colours than the third (Suaq). A rogue style character might better suit the Kallavesi tradition in my mind but I’d be envisaging a wilderness-rogue or ranger from the marshes rather than a city dweller.
- The Marches have rather realistic medieval clothing style and I don’t recall seeing any in mostly black. Dark browns, greens, blues and reds are plentiful though. The Beater archetype could be a good fit for the sort of skirmish combat you mention but are thief-takers rather than your classic rogue.
- Navarr is the best nation, or so my character tells me. You’ve already looked at us so this entry is just for completeness. Greens and browns with dark red or yellow as optional accents. Cunning and sneakiness are valued but only employed against our enemies. More ranger than rogue again.
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Thank you so much for writing this all out it is fantastic information.
Yes ideally my husband and I would like to join the same nation, although he has gone for a vastly different look and wants to use axe and shield as weapons which I think is best suited to Wintermark, but he can get away with Navarr as well which was why we were looking at that one more. I think I have ruled out Brass Coast, Urizen and Dawn due to the colours, I’m allerguc to latex and not sure how I would cope with prolonged time in a full face mask so ruled out Orcs (and honestly didn’t even look at them as an option).
I had narrowed it down to Navarr, Wintermark and Highguard.
It’s good to know that we can potentially have the option to switch should we not be suited it really takes the pressure off a bit. It’s a lot of information.
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Welcome along (a bit belatedly)!
Good advice from Unslain there. As noted, costume can be fairly generic and simple, and you can get a lot of mileage out of accessories (a belt, a sash, some badges, necklaces, whatever…).
A lot of useful pieces are sold at the event, so you can likely tweak your (plural) costumes a little on site, of not before.
Have a look through your Nation shortlist on the wiki, maybe join their Facebook groups, and see what grabs you.
Don’t get too stressed about getting it right first time, it’s a big game and finding where you fit can be tricky. 
I am happy to answer further questions, including re combat and costume.
Thank you so much. I think we have settled on Highguard Unconquered as we like the idea of the scouting aspect and suits the outfits we already have quite well, just need to do a few tweaks but I’m sure we’ll figure out as we get there.
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I always love seeing more Unconquered on the field. All those flashy Cataphracts keep stealing our thunder. 
Hi! If you’re looking for contacts, I play Barachel of Adina’s Charge, who was until very recently General of our Unconquered army: The Seventh Wave. We’ve had a lovely past year rooting out Grendel spies from Necropolis, and have recently launched a counter-offensive which will soon be detailed in the Winds of War. (These are put out before every event so we know what’s been happening. It is not mandatory to read any/all of them, I do because I’m a massive keener playing an intelligence analyst.)
Look for the chapter with the navy blue with silver highlights, and a spiral wave in a shield symbol. We’ll see what we can do to make sure you have a good time at Anvil.
Ooo thank you so much. I intend to at least skim the winds of war before coming. Working through lore now to try and establish a back story.
As general advice. Keep your backstory vague/light touch because you’ll find characters evolve so much the more you get comfortable with the setting…and that includes your background
As long as you know where they’re from, if they’re from a large/small group, and a single significant event (trauma is common, but I know a handful of folks who went big happy significant for character)… you’re cooking with gas.
(Said as someone who, two full years into play…and five years of having their character generated, only just knows some more specifics of their character childhood)
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Thank you this is very helpful, i’ve been struggling with an idea for backstory
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On the Background page of the wiki (down in the What to Avoid section) there is mention of 2 years of military service earning a citizen a plot of land, which is a simple way of justifying how you came by your choice of a character’s personal resource.
Especially playing Unconquered, you could pick a Highguard army to have been part of and read up on what it’s been doing the last two years (or more) and there’s your recent backstory. Making up one or two personal war-stories from among those events that you can tell if asked would likely be enough - your character’s backstory is primarily for use by you to give motivation. If you the player want to do something because it sounds fun then you add a reason to the character’s backstory that makes them want to be involved. And you can add to it unofficially as you go, amending your official background by emailing PD with things you think might be interesting for wider plot.
For example, you can decide during play that your character has always had an interest in ritual magic, but not the opportunity to study, without PD needing to know. But if after later reading you decide that your family/chapter relocated when Llofir (big king mushroom from the Spring Realm) claimed a region in Reikos, that’d be worth amending your formal background in my opinion, just in case something comes up later. Or maybe you supported Yael in her heresy back in 381 - I’ve no idea if the repercussions of that are still echoing around the Highguard camp but it could be of use to plot writers down the road. Again, just examples.
It’s often recommended to find something in the Winds of War or Winds of Fortune that can be the reason your character has come to an Anvil summit for the first time. At this Winter Solstice/Event 1 there will (should?) be the coronation of the new Empress, so that could be all the reason you need. Maybe you’ve just finished your tour(s) of service and are coming to Anvil for the coronation and also looking for what to do next in your lives.
Thats so helpful thank you!! I had read about the 2 years service but not the individual armies so will definitely get that looked into. Another completely newbie question so i know my recent history, what year will be during the e1 event??
Winter 385YE at E1
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