All Hallow's Eve LARP by L'Chaim Games - Meiserich (my ghost OC, yes he was shot in the face)
aka "Ghost Ball! Ghost Ball!", London, 02.12.23
Photos by Astora Photography on FB
My jester took so long to make because I took inspiration from Diana Wynne Jones' 'Howl's Moving Castle' where Sophie cuts up Howl's suit into triangles and then sews it back together, so Meiserich's outer layer is all triangles.
I wanted to make Meiserich out of scraps from previous projects, so virtually all of the cost of the outfit is the time that went into it. I worked on him for six months in virtually any free minute I could find the energy for. But it was worth it.
It's not 100% historically accurate, but this outfit was designed to double as a cosplay for the Fool from Robin Hobb's 'Assassin's Apprentice' and the rest of the Farseer Trilogy. (I still have to read the other books! No spoilers please though I have seen some sneak peeks thanks to fanart <3)
More about Meiserich as a character under the cut!
Meiserich (anglicised pronunciation: My-Zer-Rick) is a colloquial German name for galium odoratum, sweet woodruff. It's a flavour you can get commonly in German desserts and schnapps (Waldmeister), but I've never come across the flavour in the UK.
Meiserich is a jester from the early 1400's and lived in a part of the Holy Roman Empire that is now Germany, namely within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Münster. At the court of Droste zur Aa Meiserich had a close relationship with Lady Klara of the keep. In 1412 this court took part in a knights' jousting tournament in Buda where the future Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund was also in attendance. Whilst there, through social occasions, Lady Klara found out and obtained evidence that Sigismund was the one who poisoned the previous King of Germany, Jobst of Moravia. She confided in Meiserich what had happened.
It comes to light that Lady Klara knows too much, so Sigismund sends soldiers to Münster to besiege the keep. Meiserich encourages his Lady to run and hide with the evidence of the poisoning. As a jester it was also Meiserich's job to act as a messenger and diplomat at times. However, the siege negotiations failed, he was shot dead with an early arquebus design and the castle was fired upon with trebuchets. Lady Klara initially survived in the rubble in an airpocket but ultimately suffocated.
Meiserich usually haunts the ruins of the castle keep he used to live in. It is now a tourist destination and he likes to tease the tourists. He also eavesdrops and through them and the keep staff learns of other things going on in the world. He has not forgotten about Lady Klara and wants to reveal the truth she uncovered to the world.
Please note: The poisoning plot is fictional, Sigismund doing this is something I made up based on some Wikipedia reading I did.
His wish to have fulfilled at the LARP was to have the keep in Münster renovated and restored, revealing the buried corpse of Lady Klara. In her hand are a vial of poison and a letter proving Sigismund was the one who poisoned the previous king of Germany, Jobst of Moravia. It will be a joy for the historians and great to hear the tour guides at the keep bring this up in perpetuity.
And he got his wish fulfilled at the game! I'm so happy. Monsieur Roc Flamboyant (a French noble, 1600's) was touched enough by Meiserich's story and devotion to Lady Klara that he made the wish for Meiserich. I could not have asked for a better end to this game.
Shout out to the podcasts that helped me put together Meiserich as a character:
Gone Medieval by History Hit
We're Not So Different - esp. episode "Medieval Fail Sons: Wenceslas IV & Sigismund"
Weird Medieval Guys - esp. episode "Sieging for Dummies"
The Court Jester by Kleio Pethainou
I'm glad I picked the early 1400's for Meiserich's death, this is still before the Western printing press, Columbus sailing off to the detriment of many, the fall of Constantinople, and the big witch hunting craze, so he died in a bygone world on the cusp of the Early Modern Period.
If I could give him one power like in BBC Ghosts, I'd say that the two bells on his hat are audible to the living.
All Hallow’s Eve LARP by L'Chaim Games - Meiserich (my ghost OC)
London, 02.12.23
Photos by Unai Garcia
Another batch of photos from this fun LARP. What made this LARP so delightful to me was the fact that I had a lot of time to prepare a character and that the character creation was very straightforward.
As a ghost you would have a brief summary of your life and the circumstances of your death which were interesting conversation starters with other characters. In addition to that, by having a wish mechanic in the game your character would also have a goal and by choosing a faction of ghosts to belong to (I was Duty Bound), this gave your character motivation. These things together made an excellent framework in my opinion.
You could pick from any time period before 1948 and any country, so if you already had kit from another game or had an interest in a particular area there was a lot of possibilities.
Additionally, by preparing a few entertaining stories beforehand, Meiserich was really fun to play in a conversation. Some LARPs I have no idea what to say because I don't know what's going on, but here I could just find hooks in conversations during a lull and start telling a fablieau* and be comfortable not knowing everything.
*Kleio Pethainou's podcast 'The Court Jester' was instrumental preparation for this character.
