Age of dust
Looking forward...
ﾟ･:*｡ Age of Dust ~｡*:･ﾟ
Generations after the eruption of the Volcano, three communities meet around the discovery of a mysterious mineral: the Dust. Essential source of energy, sacred healing powers, geological warning, what messages and hopes does the Dust carry? When different belief systems meet, how to find a common ground? How will their encounter shape the world of tomorrow? The Age of Dust is a transformative journey, in which participants play out social and somatic dynamics to resist conventional narrative tropes and think beyond humans while experimenting with collaborative storytelling.
The Setting
Generations ago an extraordinary eruption of the Volcano destroyed most of life of the world. The Creatures of the Crater survived. They were offsprings of volcanologists and native beings of the Volcano who were able to predict the event by combining their scientific and spiritual knowledge and therefore find refuge in time. They tried to warn others but were ignored. Every month at the new moon when the sky was the darkest, the symbiotic community would come together for a ritual to commemorate all the lives taken by lava and announce their predictions for the new cycle. During the ritual they would enter in communication with the Magma Spirits that inhabit and constitute the Volcano, that could sometimes confirm their predictions. The Magma Spirits were one and multiple, witnesses of deeeeeeep time, they were holding a wonderful power of creation and destruction.
Further away from the Volcano, another community had survived: the Sourcers, survivalist techno witches that had hidden underground in scattered burrows to stay away from doomsday. It was said that some Sourcers were whispered in dreams by Magma Spirits that the eruption was coming. All Sourcers were connected to each other through a technomagical network that allowed them to share information, archive history, and organise their survival although they were not physically together.
After the eruption the landscape was dark and hostile but it soon became the grounds to luscious bushes and strong trees that blossomed flowers and fruits. The Creatures of the Crater reintroduced native species from seeds and cuttings they had preserved. Life started anew around the resting Volcano. But started growing hybrid, as if patch worked of different materials, the ground, trees, plants, stones, would sprout minerals, metals, sometimes gems...
Popping out of the peaceful black ground, some mysterious lava stones were found to be emitting a strange glow in the moonlight. Raising curiosity and wonder, the shining stones would sporadically puff a red powder when the moon was the fullest. The powder was called "the Dust" and it would magically disappear in the air with a sigh of relief, creating a soothing echo around the volcano. Among the Creatures of the Crater, some saw the blasts as messages, omens, or warnings from the underground, and were dedicated to understand them. They developed rituals around it.
On their side of the world, Sourcers also discovered the glowing stones and their Dust but their presence was quite rare around the shelters. Finding a way to capture the Dust before its disappearance, they found it to be a rare and precious resource they could rely on for their survival, an alternative to solar power that was becoming harder to source. They needed the Dust to survive. They needed to find more of it.
Lately the Dust phenomenon has changed behaviour. Bursting more than before, breaking the cycle of the moon, the stones had been springing out, the Dust would not disappear into a shimmery sigh anymore, little piles of Dust would remain on the ground, leaving everyone wondering. It was as if the geological process was broken. The balance had been disturbed.
A group of Sourcers got on its way to the volcano for the first time ever, breaking the perimeter of safety they had been living by for decades.
The Sourcers and the Creatures of the Crater were unaware of each other's existence, but the Magma Spirits could appear to both of them.
The three communities are about to meet and bond around the mysterious Dust and find ways to organize their lives with a resource essential to both for different reasons. Only the Maga Spirits know of the true nature of the Dust and they can only hope everyone will come together to restore balance...
Rules / Disclaimers / Warnings
Gender: in the upcoming story, characters can be human or non human, you can decide for yourself and share what pronouns you would like to go by, by default we will use they/them for anyone whether human or not, unless specified otherwise by a player. Violence/tropes: this moment is thought of as an experience of wishful storytelling, the story can go many ways and we make it together. Avoid bringing violence of any kind into our shared story and resist falling into narrative tropes and archetypes. This is not a hero's journey or a story of good vs. bad, let's instead play as everyone is intrinsically good and everyone fights their tendencies to reproduce violent normative patriarchal systems. Let's practice dismantling! It is important that everyone feels the ownership of their character and the story. The basis of the story will be set and you will be guided through it, but you are welcome and encouraged to make it yours, add to it, invent new parts … You are invited to make this world, expand it together! We are x people, it's fine that things happen in parallel, you can have parallel discussions, and regroup when you need to take decisions as a group Let your mind be wild, you are not expected to do anything, the play adapts to where you are taking the story as it goes. Be mindful of the space you take and leave room for others to express themselves too, in the game we are trying to rehearse mindful and caring ways of behaving let's do that in every thing we do during this time and hopefully after too! It is more important that we all have a great experience than the story making perfect sense. Triggering spot > define altogether
3 types of characters (presented in printed character sheets):
Creatures of the Crater: Community > symbiotic beings - living with and around the Volcano - humans/non humans evolution of volcanologists and native lives Time perception > follow the moon cycles Power > measure things, and see omens in everything: they make predictions Behaviour > communicate with magma spirits at specific times Fate > discover what Dust is Action > can do 2 predictions of their choice (as a group) that must become true in the story Sourcers/Fossorials: Community - solar punk techno witches survivalists - humans/non humans - living underground Time perception> blurred Power > connected with each other through a technomagical network Behaviour > superstitious > DIY > commoning knowledge Fate > survive and maintain their network Action > can use 2 technomagical solutions throughout the game that can solve anything (as a group) Magma Spirits: Community > spirits living in the Volcano - one and multiple - non-physical Time perception > deep - geological Power > channelling/ apparition Behaviour > can deliver cryptic messages to creatures of crater but can only interact at specific times Fate > get physical beings to help them be liberated Action > reveal their secret throughout the game (to be discussed with GM)
The Age of Dust is a world-building workshop and live action role play imagined in the context of Lava Lines, a group exhibition and public program curated by Leila Arenou and Naïmé Perrette at Biblioteka in London, UK. The project evolved in the context of Hackers & Designers 2023 program Hopepunk.
The Age of Dust will be activated during the H&D Summer Camp 2023 at Het Wilde Weg, Sint Oederode. The next iteration will take place at Constant Association of Art and Media in Brussels on September 15, 16, 17 2023. The role playing part is reworked together with Susan Ploetz. The technical part is developed in close collaboration with Loes Bogers (H&D), Heerko van der Kooij (H&D) and Emma Pareschi. https://constantvzw.org/site/Open-call-L-age-de-la-poussiere.html?lang=en https://hackersanddesigners.nl/p/The_Age_of_Dust
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