Story & Setting

The Premise

Set in the modern world, with memories of Arthurian past lives. The Arthurian literary tradition is a collection of stories written across several countries and languages over the course of centuries, centered on the chivalric court of King Arthur of the Britons, the quests of various knights, and its eventual tragic ending.

Characters have received an invitation to a seminar to aid with their disruptive, confusing past life experiences. Most of them do not have all or even most of their past life memories. They experience the Arthurian lifetime via intrusive urges, nightmares, dreams, longings, hallucinations, and impulses. This has interfered with their modern lives in often upsetting ways; most characters do not know their Arthurian identity at the beginning of the larp.

Characters may be aware of Arthurian stories as depicted in modern media (e.g. Monty Python and the Holy Grail, BBC Merlin, The Sword in the Stone, etc). They may have subconscious feelings about those stories being wrong, or seeming familiar-but-not-quite-accurate. Characters have not read the medieval literature - at the very most, they may have read an abridged, modernized version of Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte dArthur.

The Arthurian past life was not entirely of this reality or this world. Think of it like souls crossing a multiverse, or perhaps drifting from a faerie-like realm that is thinly veiled away from the modern world that the characters now live within. The exact mechanics and nature of this existence are beyond human comprehension and not a focus of the larp.

Please note:

• There are no happy, untraumatized characters by the end of the source material. All characters will have at least some element of tragedy, angst, or trauma in their backstory.

• The larp is likely to end in a bittersweet way. Even if your character has a happy ending, other characters around you may have tragic endings, and their fates may be out of your control.

• Almost all Arthurian romantic relationships involve some element of: infidelity, tragedy, love triangles/webs, abuse, or unrequited love.

• If you’re not familiar with Arthurian literature pre-Le Morte d'Arthur (Sir Thomas Malory), please know that it is far more queer and gender non-conforming than you might expect.

• The Arthurian literary tradition is a giant collection of retellings and additions, written over the course of centuries across an array of cultures. Characterization of Arthurian past lives in game may differ from the legends you’re familiar with due to the many different versions of the character in the literature.

Arthurian Landscape

Women in Arthuriana

Women wield a large amount of power in Arthurian literature. They played chess, weighed in on political discussions, were asked for their advice on major political decisions, managed treasuries, ruled baronies, practiced magic, and wielded favor like a social weapon. 

In the Logres of the Vulgate Cycle, they could travel alone with little fear of being bothered, and frequently did. If a woman traveled with a knight, the custom was that another knight on the road could duel to win the lady away from her escort. This was risky, because if the lady loved her escort and he was wounded or killed by her captor, she might later escape to King Arthur’s court and demand that someone avenge her love. A knight of the Round Table would be oath-bound to meet her request. (This happened all the time.)  

She also might show up to Arthur’s court to ask for vengeance or aid because someone stole her hunting dog, the stag she was hunting with her hunting dogs, her servant, or simply insulted her. 

Women in the Vulgate Cycle also managed much of the household and cultural affairs of the castle whenever the lord was away, and often even when he was at home. They wielded a great deal of soft power and political influence. 

Very rarely was a maiden a “damsel in distress” - usually she was calling for vengeance due to the distress of her lover rather than her own distress. (Mothers were frequently “damsel’d,” on the other hand.) Much more often, it was a maiden who took pity on an imprisoned, tortured knight in their father or lord or uncle’s tower/dungeon and then helped free the knight through her own cleverness. (Knights got “damsel’d” all the time. Lancelot practically spent more time in towers and dungeons than he did on quests.) 

And of course, women made up the priesthood of Avalon, that otherworldly island ruled by nine sorceress sisters. Women were the most common users of magic and enchantments; only rarely do we see male sorcerers (Merlin and one or two occasional side characters).  

Magic and Religion

Christianity looked very different in Arthurian medieval literature than even modern Catholicism. The Grail-related portions particularly lean into the Christian mysticism of the time. Scholars theorize that Cistercian mysticism (a branch of the Benedictine church) heavily influenced the Vulgate Cycle's Quest for the Holy Grail.

Magic was a skill. It wasn’t anathema to the Christianity of the Arthurian stories. It wasn’t forbidden, taboo, or illegal. Sometimes convents and abbeys even taught sorcery! Just as you could be a Christian knight or a Pagan knight, so too could you be a Christian sorceress or a Pagan sorceress. The religion was far more of a concern than the magic itself.

In fact, magic was often used for the “greater good” or in God’s name. Merlin once ensorcelled Lancelot’s father, King Ban, into sleeping with a woman because that would lead to the birth of a powerful knight who was destined to be "very righteous" and "a boon for Christendom," according to Merlin’s prophecies, and therefore Merlin justified it as a righteous act (despite the abhorrence of it).

Most magic was subtle rather than flashy. One category was influencing the mind - such as putting someone in a stupor, confusing them, or inflaming them with lust. Another major category was illusions - either upon a person or upon a whole land. More rarely, there were incidents of shapeshifting oneself or curses that changed someone else's shape. 

Customs of Camelot

Wonders before feasting

King Arthur founded a custom early in his reign: “I swear to God that I will not sit down to eat before news of some adventure comes from wherever it may have happened, provided that it is a fair adventure and one to make the knights of my court go after it—knights who would win glory and honor and be my friends, my companions, and my kinsmen.” 

Kay the Seneschal made sure to hold him to it whenever it slipped his mind.  

Adjuration

In a tense moment, someone might compel another to tell them their name, or stop and speak, or some other seemingly minor demand. The other person will obey, reluctant and perhaps also resentful or distressed, but only because they were adjured in the name of something important to them (e.g.: the name of thing they love most in the world, the brotherhood between them and the person adjuring them,  the loyalty they have for their liege lord, etc). 

1. Gawain: My lord Galeholt, this peace between you and my lord the king, in the name of the person you love most, by whom was it brought about?
   Galeholt: Truly, you have so adjured me that I’ll tell no lie: a knight accomplished this. 

2. Then Hector adjured them, by the faith they owed the king, to tell him, if it was appropriate to do so, why they had laughed, and they said they were laughing because a knight at that spring had unhorsed four of King Arthur’s companions.

3. Lionel: My lord, by the faith you owe the creature you love the most in this world, don’t ask me again, since the only answer you’ll get is no answer!
   Galeholt: You’ve convinced me not to ask you again, but, by God, you’re not going very far! 

4. Seraide: I forbid you by the one you love most in the world to go any farther without speaking to me!
   And Lancelot stopped and looked at her, and when he recognized her, he told her that she was welcome there. 

5. Percival asked Galahad, in the name of their friendship and the loyalty they shared, to explain why he asked for such a thing.
   Galahad: I will gladly tell you. 

6. Morgan: Sir knight, you won’t tell me your name?
   Lancelot: Truly I won’t, my lady.
   Morgan: Now I pray you, in the name of whomever you love most in this world, to remove your helmet so I can see your face plainly.
   When Lancelot heard these words, he was sadder than words can express, but removed his helmet. As soon as Morgan saw him, she recognized him.

Heraldry and anonymity

A knight in full armor was identifiable only by the arms he bore, the colors and patterns on his shield. Sometimes knights chose to appear anonymously, either by carrying blank arms (a completely white or black or red shield - Lancelot made a frequent habit of this), or by carrying another knight’s arms, or even trading arms with a fellow knight.

Anonymity on the tournament field or battlefield or while traveling led to a lot of knights fighting their own kinsfolk or beloved companions, sometimes injuring each other grievously, and then being distraught when they learned each other’s true identity. No one ever seemed to learn anything from this: anonymity continued to be a popular practice throughout the entirety of Arthur’s reign.

Very occasionally, someone who knew a knight’s fighting very well might recognize his horse, specific armor, or combat  style, even though he didn’t bear his usual heraldry. Gawain and Galeholt have each recognized an anonymous Lancelot before, for example.  

Tournaments

Holding tournaments was a way to share largess, celebrate, gather allies and rivals together for fellowship, and have a somewhat less deadly substitute for battle. Tournaments happened in every kingdom, and knights traveled to take part in any tournament they heard about, fighting for honor, renown, and the glory of representing their liege and their chosen lady-love (if they had one). 

One-on-one jousts did happen at tournaments, but just as often they focused on large-scale battles with blunted weapons (wood or blunt metal). Plenty of people still got injured and even died at tournaments, but that was generally frowned upon and grieved by all parties. 

Knighthood

“From now on you must love one another and hold one another as dear as brothers, for from the love and sweetness of this table where you will be seated there will be born in your hearts such a great joy and friendship that you will leave your wives and children to be with one another and to spend your youth together.” 

- Merlin to the knights, Arthur included among them, at the establishment of the Round Table  

Knights in Arthurian literature would often forgo marriage and even put off their inheritance for the sake of fealty and adventures, as the duties of state and family would make it hard to go questing (e.g. Queen Morgause remained the ruler of Orkney and Lothian long after her husband’s death in large part because none of her sons wanted to stop questing in order to take their father’s throne).  

They also loved one another deeply, and they expressed that love readily. There wasn’t a verbal differentiation between platonic, familial, and romantic love; the knights simply expressed deep affection, love, and care for one another. They wept when a beloved companion was wounded, imprisoned, lost, rescued, or returned; they fainted from grief; they swooned from the shock of bad news about the well-being of a fellow knight who was their particularly close friend. 

They kissed each other’s cheeks in greeting, they embraced one another, they were free with physical and verbal affection. It was considered normal and even honorable to sleep in one another’s tents or to share a bed, and sharing a bed didn’t automatically lead to rumors that they were lovers (though certainly those hints are there, in more than one case).   

In other words, masculinity in Arthurian literature can be emotional, passionate, expressive, vulnerable, and physically affectionate.  

Oaths of the Round Table

• Whenever a maiden in need comes to King Arthur’s court seeking help or assistance that can be carried out by one single knight fighting against another, one will willingly go to help her out of trouble wherever she may wish to take him, and he will strive until he has righted all the wrongs that have been done to her. 

• The knight shall never hear of an adventure without going out to seek it. 

• The knight shall strive to bring the right news about his adventures back to court. 

• Any knight who was a companion of the Round Table should not lay hand on a knight who had given him his sword, however much he had wronged him.  

For the king’s part, at his coronation, Arthur was charged to "safeguard the rights of Holy Church, keep lawful order and peace in the land, give help to the defenseless as best you can, and uphold all rights, feudal obligations, and lawful rule."

Oaths of the Queen's Knights

• All who come among us seeking help or assistance in fighting against a knight will have it, one knight against another, man to man, and they will take him wherever they wish, no matter how far away.  

• And if it should happen that he does not come back within the month, then we will all go looking for him, each one by himself, and the quest should last a year and a day without coming back to court, unless he brings back the truthful news that he is alive or dead.  

• And when they are all back in court, they will each tell, one after the other, about the adventures that have happened to them, whether they are good or bad, and they will swear on the saints that they will lie about nothing in their going out or coming back.  

• And this is the will of all of us. 

Chivalry

Knights were expected to be always chivalrous. This included: 

Duties to countrymen and fellow Christians
Warrior Chivalry: The aspects of this branch of chivalry include mercy, courage, valour, fairness, protection of the weak and the poor, and the servant-hood of the knight to his lord. This also includes being willing to give one's life for another's; whether for a poor man or his lord. 

• The knight who focuses on warrior chivalry has loyalty and service to his liege lord as his chief duty (Kay and Bedivere to Arthur).  

Duties to God
Religious Chivalry: This branch of chivalry includes being faithful to God, protecting the innocent, being faithful to the church, being the champion of good against evil, being generous, and obeying God above the feudal lord. (Weirdly, magic was not seen as a sin against God, or un-Christian.) 

• The knight who focuses on religious chivalry has service to God, protection of the innocent, and protection of the Church as his chief duty (the Grail Knight, Galahad, is the canonical example of this). 

• The quest for the Holy Grail is an example of duties to God. 

• Not all knights of the Round Table were Christian. Palamedes of the Moors was a Pagan knight, and it was a surprise to everyone that he was one of the most chivalrous knights in all the land without being Christian, because there was a widely held belief that only Christians could be chivalrous. 

Duties to women
Courtly Love Chivalry: This centers on courtly love—the idea that the knight is to serve a lady, and after her all other ladies—and a general gentleness and graciousness to all women. 

• The knight who focuses on courtly love has his duty to his own lady as his chief duty (Lancelot for Guinevere, Palamedes and Tristan for Isolde). 

• Courtly love was not considered infidelity. A lady was not expected to receive passionate romantic love from her husband; marriage was a business arrangement. Courtly love was an opportunity for romantic courtship and emotional intensity, even publicly known and admired - so long as it never became sexual. 

• “Amour courtois was an idolization and ennobling discipline. The lover (idolizer) accepts the independence of his mistress and tries to make himself worthy of her by acting bravely and honorably (nobly) and by doing whatever deeds she might desire, subjecting himself to a series of tests (ordeals) to prove to her his ardor and commitment.” - Gaston Paris, Études sur les romans de la Table Ronde: Lancelot du Lac, II: Le conte de la charrette (1883) 

Locations & Groups

• Avalon: An otherworldly isle cloaked in mist, ruled over by nine sorceress sisters leading a mystical priesthood. The priesthood also includes Seraide, Morgan le Fay, Ganieda, Laudine, Ragnelle, and Vivienne (the Lady of the Lake). Arthur was supposedly brought to Avalon on his deathbed.

• Court of Camelot: The core court members of Camelot who are heavily involved in governance, castle affairs, organization, or castle culture. King Arthur Pendragon rules over all of Logres, with his wife Queen Guinevere at his side; as a wedding gift, he gave Guinevere the ownership (and management) of the treasury. It’s a responsibility she shares with Arthur’s foster-brother, Kay the Seneschal. Guinevere is aided by her lady-in-waiting, companion, and confidant, Lady Eglante of Malehaut. Their spirits are lightened by the court jester, Dagonet the Fool, who has in a crisis helped with Kay’s work in Guinevere’s absence. Bedivere the Marshal manages the military and teaches knights to fight together as a unified group. As a close friend of Arthur and Guinevere and the betrothed of Eglante, Lancelot’s companion King Galeholt of Sorelois is also frequently seen in the midst of this company.

• Grail Companions: Those who went on the Grail Quest are many, but those who successfully achieved the Grail are few: Galahad of Corbenic (son of Lancelot du Lac), Percival of Listenoise, and Bors de Ganis. They were aided in their Quest by Lady Dindrane of Listenoise, Percival’s sister, who gave her life in the process.

• Knights of the Round Table: An elite company of knights sworn to King Arthur's service, whose names appeared on their magically assigned seats at the Round Table, given to Arthur by Guinevere's father along with its initial roster of knights. In the early days of Arthur's reign, there was a fierce rivalry between the Round Table and the Queen's Knights, but that subsided over time. Round Table Companions at various points in time included Aglovale, Agravain, Bedivere the Marshal, Bors de Ganis, Dinadan, Galahad, Gawain, Gaheris, Gareth, Kahedin, Kay the Seneschal, Lamorak, Lancelot du Lac, Lionel de Ganis, Mordred, Palamedes, Percival, Sagramore, Tor, Tristan, and Yvain.

• The Lake: An enchanted lake near Benoic (in what is now France), actually a rich otherworldly realm with an illusion of a lake for an entrance. It was ruled by Vivienne, the Lady of the Lake; she adopted Lancelot du Lac when he was an infant on her Lake’s shore, and sent her right hand woman Seraide to procure Lionel and his younger brother Bors from Ganis where King Claudas the usurper held them prisoner. Lancelot, Lionel, and Bors are also sometimes referred to as the kinsmen of King Ban or the Lake Fosterlings. Ragnelle and Laudine also have ties to the Lake as cousins of Vivienne.

• Listenoise: A midland kingdom ruled by King Pellinore, who had several children (sons Aglovale, Drian, Lamorak, Percival, and Tor, and daughter Dindrane the Grail Heroine). He killed King Lot in battle, setting off a blood feud with the Orkneys. Sir Gawain of Orkney killed King Pellinore and several of his sons.

• Orkney: An island kingdom north of what is now Scotland. The sons of King Lot and Queen Morgause (Gawain, Agravain, Gareth, Gaheris, Mordred) are referred to as the Orkney brothers. The Orkneys are in blood-feud with the Listenoise family.

• Pendragon: The ruling family of Logres. King Uther Pendragon united much of Logres with the guidance of the sorcerer Merlin. He went to war with his vassal, Duke Gorlois of Tintagel, and married the duke’s wife Igraine after Gorlois died in battle. The son of Uther and Igraine, Arthur Pendragon, had been raised by Ector as the brother of Ector’s son Kay. Arthur became king by drawing a sword out of a bespelled anvil after Uther’s death, and later married Guinevere of Camelliard.

• The Queen’s Knights: A company of knights sworn to the personal service of Queen Guinevere. These are often younger knights who have not yet been appointed to the Round Table, though sometimes they maintain their position among the Queen’s Knights even after they’ve joined the Table Round. Gawain is the first of the Queen’s Knights, which also includes Kay, Agravain, Gareth, Gaheris, Bors, Lancelot, Lionel, Sagremore, and Yvain.

• Tintagel: The castle of Tintagel belonged once to the kingdom of Cornwall before it became part of Logres, where it was ruled by Duke Gorlois, liegeman to King Uther Pendragon. Gorlois and his wife Duchess Igraine had three daughters: Morgause, Morgan, and Blasine. When King Mark of Cornwall joined Uther in fighting against Gorlois, Uther gave Tintagel back to Cornwall as a reward. Uther took Igraine as wife for his own prize; he gave Morgause to his ally King Lot as Lot’s reward; he put Morgan into a nunnery until she came of age to marry King Urien of Gorre as his reward (and Morgan and Urien had a son, Yvain, before Urien died suddenly of unknown causes); and Blasine joined Morgan in the nunnery until Blasine came of age to marry King Neutres of Garlot.

Pronunciation Guide

Recommended Resources

• O&FC Playlist on YouTube for video resources particularly relevant to the larp.

• The Arthurian Preservation Project: Extensive archive of Arthurian literature and media, everything from medieval to modern literature, films, and TV shows.

  • Vulgate navigation guide: Getting started with the Vulgate Cycle (the primary source material for The Once & Future Court).

  • Hi-Lo Arthuriana: "A collection of adapted or abridged books to help ease you into the literary tradition. This list is ordered from simplest to most complex, beginning with picture books and ending with "translations" of Middle English texts into modern English or abridged versions of longer texts such as the Vulgate."

  • Beginner's Guide to Medieval Arthuriana at the Arthurian Preservation Project, with direct links to the medieval texts mentioned. 

  • Arthurian Quick Bites: Shorter reads in 200 pages or less.

  • Media Recommendations: Sorted by character, groups of characters, and story elements.

• The Arthurian Theatre discord server for a font of resources, memes, entertainment, and deep discussions of characters and themes in Arthuriana.

• Timeless Myths - Camelot: Articles on Arthurian characters and concepts. Contains excellent character genealogies. 

• The Camelot Project: Essays and media of Arthurian characters, locations, and themes.