Stargate SGC: Labyrinth
MACE 2007, LARP
Background:
Sometime ago, an Atlantis mission discovered a world called Plyomus where a system lord named Hades once ruled and apparently due to actions of the mission, brought him back from “somewhere”. In the end, Hades was killed trying to return to power.
Several artifacts were found belonging to Hades, including the Box containing the Cryptex. The symbols on the Cryptex were not recognized by the initial team. It is an obscure dialect. The symbol on the end of it is recognized as the traditional symbol of labyrinth.
This artifact was stored away at Area 51 after being transported to Earth. It lay forgotten until they found P4X-867. The labyrinth symbol seems to be predominant in the culture. They do not know it but the Temple of Persephone has the same labyrinth symbol on the floor. The Church of the Unified Clans also called the Church of the Holy Goddess uses the symbol as one of their holy symbols.
{Possible Time saver: A previous team was sent to investigate the culture and establish relations. Once relations were established, permission had to be obtained to send a team to investigate the Temple. This took considerable diplomacy but permission was gained to send a single research team to the Temple site. They gave the SGC the exact time for the team to be there.}
First Mission: The SGC sent the first team in after long negotiations with the High Council of the United Clans, to investigate the temple with all the labyrinth symbols. They did not have the cryptex. They were an initial fact finding mission. That team went in but never reported back. The clans are not saying what happened other than they went into the temple and never came out.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? – Because the church is secretly in control of the teleport, they set up the whole disappearance, at the encouragement of the other clans. The Church set up a “terrorist attack” and the “terrorists” forced the SG team into the temple. The Church ten activated the teleport. They will do the same thing with the second team. On the Prison Ship – The first team was immediately attacked by the minotaur and half the team is killed. Eventually, the other half is captured by different tribes after being separated.
Second Mission: The SGC intended on sending a second mission with the cryptex and a few scientists to investigate the temple further. With the lack of cooperation of the clans and the high council, the SGC has requested that the SG secretly investigate into the disappearance of the other team.
Fiestos
Lush green world with moderate to cool temperatures. Population: 250,000 or so. It has 4 major continents with many islands. Only 3 of the continents have significant populations. The wars forced the clans to spread out instead of staying close to the Gate. The Holy City was built near the Gate.
The people of Fiestos were divided into clans and there was considerable inter-clan fighting through out their history. Their system lords let the wars happen, as it was entertainment to them. The Feistonians were once an extremely matriarchal society. The females of the society ruled strongly and in some cases enslaved the men. Over time, the males gained more power and in some cases equality.
Technology of Fiestos
Because the system lords left the planet to fend for itself after the fall of Hades and the disappearance of Persephone, the people of Feistos was able to advance some technologies, primary of which were warfare technologies. By the time SG teams start arriving at Feistos, they are at a tech level roughly the time of the American Civil War – muskets and canons, iron clads and steam engines.
There are some technologies mixed in passed down from Daedalus in Persephone’s moments of generosity, making it have a slight steampunk feel. There are ornothopter-like flying vessels running on steam. They use a power source found only on this world that Daedalus invented – a sort of cold-fusion.
The Clans of Fiestos
The clans were finally united after centuries of war (partially instigated by the system lord Hades). The clans still exist but they have all joined together under one “nation”. The “last two” dominant clans rule over the past defeated clans, although all keep their identity in some fashion or another.
Thelexi: Considered the most powerful clan, they are mountain dwellers, tend to be strong and burley, great smiths and weapons makers. Their warriors are called the Thelexi berserkers and they descend from the Germanic clans brought here. This clan was the least matriarchal historically, but because the system lords imposed a goddess-based religion, the females were never subjugated or discriminated. They were treated as equals.
Molepi: Second most powerful clan, they were on the verge of winning the “Last War” when they chose to surrender and make peace instead of defeating Thelexi ultimately. Even though Thelexi had the numbers, Molepi had the tactical advantage. But instead, the clan elders called for peace right at their moment of glory. No one knows why and many of the commoners resent their leaders for that. Molepi are a philosophical people that live on the river. They are fisher men and farmers. They also have a dark underbelly of a people that were most “friendly” to their system overlords and many see them as traitors.
Aglaopi: The Aglaopi are the third most powerful faction on Fiestos. They are nomadic horseman, bred on the plains. They have a strict honor code and are a very matriarchic society. They were an ally of the Molepi before they surrendered to the Thelexi. They consider themselves alone now, and only participate in the High Council when they need to.
Parthenope: The Parth are island dwelling people who are expert seafarers and mariners. They were an ally of the Thelexi, but were once allied with the Molepi. In a complex power play, the Molepi betrayed the Parth (which the Molepi deny and write it off as a misunderstanding with the less-educated seafarers) and forced the Parth to ally with the Thelexi.
Ligeia: The Ligeia are warrior woman of the south continent, who once enslaved their men. They are the anti-thesis to the Thelexi and have a racial hatred of them that runs very deep. Despite that, a peace was garnered once their allies, the Molepi surrendered. They play the political game very well, however and continue to wage war on those venues, using whatever assets they have. Men in their society are still subservient but have gained many freedoms over the years since the Last Clan War. The influence of the other clans has affected the Ligeia considerably
Lucosia: The Lucosia are one of the smaller clans, however it was once the ruling clan. The Lucosia Dynasty lasted for several centuries in the name of Hades. They were the closest allies to the Lost God and when he left, all their power fell when the other clans overthrew them, lead by Thelexi. They still long for Hades return, but most of those who believed that would happen have been sacrificed as Enemies of Persephone. They were allies with Molepi and were in on the final surrender at the Last War. The Lucosia reside now on a small island continent east of the primary continent and have a few colonies on the eastern coast of the primary continent.
Teles: The Teles are the mysterious and quiet clan that has been given the responsibility to reside of the Holy City. They are particularly religious and “knowledgeable’ of their gods, both Hades and Persephone. They are a secretly divided clan. The Telesiri are the majority subgroup and worship Persephone. They honor her and the life they delivered to their people, freeing them of Hades’ tyranny. But there are others – the Telesori – a minority group that still hang on to the “grace” of Hades. They are a fanatical group that use terrorist tactics regularly to ensure people do not forget Hades. They secretly work with the Lucosia to subvert the Thelexi and the Ruling Council.
Religion
The Feistonians last system lord was the Goddess Persephone. Consequently, they worship mostly female gods. Persephone was many things to many people and these interpretations were what lead to the clans.
The Goddess is what she is referenced to. She is an honored god and not a feared one. She took over when Hades disappeared, and compared to his rule, hers was a blessing to the people of Feistos.
The Temple of Persoph
A small room with an ornate symbol on the floor (the Labyrinth). This Temple is located in what is now considered the Holy City of Agios, where it is said the Holy Goddess of Fiestos was last seen leaving the world. It was also the site that they commonly saw Hades men took slaves and prisoners. This is evidenced by the paintings on the wall from millennia ago.
The temple looks like an ornate stone structure built onto the side of a mountain. There are two sections to the temple. The Receiving Hall is the area built after Persephone left, to mark the holy place. It is a large ornate structure that leads into an otherwise unremarkable place.
Persephone’s Sanctuary is beyond the Receiving Hall and is simply a cave in the side of the mountain. The cave is decorated with artifacts and wall drawings/hieroglyphs through out. The floor is smoothed over and a stonework Labyrinth symbol has been put into the floor.
The wall writings and drawings depict the story of Feistos before and after Hades. It also tells the story of Persephone and Daedalus. The picture depicts a figure similar to an Asgard but they can not tell if the Asgard is helping or a prisoner. But the prisoners in the other pictures might lead one to believe he too is a prisoner. And of course, there is nothing in mythology connecting Persephone and Daedalus.
There are idols of the serpent goddess, the Phaistos Disk mounted on the wall but it is broken, and a few other artifacts.
Regularly, the Labyrinth ship will enter orbit and activate its teleport. Anything standing on the Labyrinth symbol in the main temple is then teleported to the ship **perhaps the teleport is painful**.
In reality, the Church of the Holy Goddess is very much aware of the nature of the temple and is in fact in control of the teleport. They keep that secret even the other calns, claiming the teleport comes at the Will of the Goddess. So they ask for regular sacrifices to the Goddess, sometimes food, sometimes wealth (which they take before the teleport) and sometimes people. The leaders of the other clans secretly bribe the church to allow them to use the temple to “sacrifice” political enemies and criminals.
The Church is in possession of the equipment that (1) tells them when the Vessel of the Goddess is in orbit and (2) controls the teleport. So when the time comes of the Vesse;’s arrival, they have ceremonies and events surrounding the sacrifice. The Arrival occurs regularly every few years or so.
The Prison Ship
Multi-level ship with a bridge, engineering, crews quarters, and then the Labyrinth – the winding halls of cells and stasis pods.
Q: Why have a Prison? Wouldn’t a system lord destroy any threat rather than capture it?
The Prison is a collection of the last surviving members of defeated races from through out galaxy. Even though they defeated many, the more formidable ones were kept imprisoned in Hades labyrinth ship. There were human slaves to help with maintenance and serve Hades and Persephone, but all the prisoners are the last survivors of some of the most tenacious enemies the System Lords had to face through the millennia.
Q: Why the Labyrinth if all the prisoners are in stasis?
Secondary security in case of prison break. They wanted to make it hard to wake up their worst enemies. The system lords did not trust each other, so the Labyrinth was created to prevent any system lord from gaining access their worst enemies. Hades was entrusted to watch over it and knew that if he decided to take advantage of it, all System Lords would come down on him. Unfortunately that’s exactly what happened.
Persephone and Daedalus: Persephone was Hades’ Queen. She ruled over his kingdom while he was away, but was unable to hold on to it. As it collapsed, she hid in the prison ship to escape Hades’ enemies. She used the prison ship as her Palace towards the end because it was so easy to hide in. She brought along her lover, Daedalus, a young Go’auld subservient to Persephone with his own plans.
Random Jumps: The ship travels on what seems to be a series of random jumps from world to world. Daedalus set the ship to do this to escape Persephone’s enemies. But over time, it has been damaged by attacks from random raiders, other system lords that might have stumbled on it. So now the pattern Daedalus has set up is random and stuck. It must be repaired and the ship stabilized.
The ship makes regular stops to pick up “prisoners” – the teleport run – and pick up supplies – teleport water and food stuffs from preprogrammed worlds Daedalus found rich of those resources.
The Tribes on the Ship: The Clans sent their worst political enemies, the strongest opponents to uninifcation, and their war criminals to the Labyrinth ship. They have also sent their harshest criminals and insane. All the clans believed that the sentence was worse then death and had no idea the truth behind the Temple of Persephone. There is a sampling of all the clans on the ship, surviving on the hydroponics bays they were able to acquire throughout the ship.
Thelexi: The Thelexi sent their criminals and political opponents to unity to the Labyrinth. Their ancestors of those sent up have united under their clan banner. Most today seek to regain their honor with their home clan and return to Feistos somehow. Over the centuries, this clan maintained the hope through strict honor code and belief there was a way home.
Molepi: There are several Molepi on the Labyrinth Prison Ship are the adamant opponents of the unification. They were betrayed by unification proponents within their own clan. Their descendents are filled with their ancestral need for revenge to the point of near religious fanaticism.
Aglaopi: The Aglaopi sent to the prison ship are a lost tribe without their horses and the open plains. They just barely exist on the ship, and are slaves to the Molepi. They consider themselves less than human, so they willingly remain subservient. It is a sharp contrast to the proud plainsmen of Feistos.
Parthenope: The Parth on the prison ship work hard to survive by serving both of the major rival tribes (Thelexi and Molepi). They work as farmers and irrigators of the Labyrinth, connecting all the hydroponics bays together to produce the food to keep the clans alive. They have remained neutral through out the battles and also hold many secrets of the Labyrinth that the others do not know. One of the key secrets they hold is the location of Daedalus’ pod.
Ligeia: The Warrior women of Ligeia adhere to the old ways of their people and treat men like slaves. They are also even more savage and cruel then their planet bound sisters were. They are independent and ally with no one. They are the tribe that worship at Persephone’s pod and keep its location secret from everyone else. They in fact have found her and several of her Jaffa.
Lucosia: Many of the Lucosia were sent up here once the other clans overthrew them. The stories of the overthrowing and the uprising lead by Thelexi are still told and hatred of the other clans is strong.
Teles: Most of the Teles sent up are terrorist from the Telesori fanatics. Their ancestors still hold true to the fanaticism of their planet bound brothers and sisters, but they have taken it to a new extreme. They ally with no one and seek to destroy all “unworthies” in the Labyrinth. They actually worship and “serve” the “minotaur” that wanders the halls of the Labyrinth.
The Dionites: This is the blanket term given to those that wonder the halls of the Labyrinth. Legends say they are cannibalistic madmen with no affiliation to any clan. They suffer from any range of psychoses.
The Crafts
For this LARP, I put together a computer console for the bridge, on which the PC would be running a Flash presentation that represented the bridge controls. There was also the teleportation stand inspired by the Phaistos Discs. Along with that, inspired by the Davinci Code, I made a codex to act as a decoder/prison key to the prison ship, allowing only guards to teleport throughout the ship.
The Halloween masks and plastic weapons were all bought at a post-Halloween sale to add to the LARP. I wanted some random alien encounters and these acted as good props. That’s my 3 year old daughter holding them.
The drawings are my initial concept art for the prison ship. These were used to create the flash.
The Game
