Characters

At Nocturne you can play in one of four groups – kitchen, sex workers, army and townsmen. These are also split into smaller sub-groups. These in turn belong to one of three groups – brothel, army and townspeople.

In-game, these characters are gendered, but your off-game gender identity doesn’t affect which groups you can play in.

Brothel

Satin Dreams is the fictional brothel where the events of the larp take place. At the brothel there are different hierarchies in play. We have the kitchen, who do not sell sex and who are usually protected from customers but instead earn far less money than the rest of the women. We have the sex workers, of varying status, who compete with each other for clients and favours, but who are also working together to stay as safe as possible, and we have the laundry maid and the scullery maid who are respectable women with proper families who only come during the day (more on them under Townspeople). Though Satin Dreams is a female zone, the brothel is not a safe space, it is simply safer than the outside world would be for many of its inhabitants. In the group there is fighting, rivalries and backstabbing, and many of the bubbling conflicts between the characters may have dire consequences as the truth emerges – that the soldiers are there to look for spies and that they won’t leave until they find them.

High-Status Sex Workers

The women at the top of the hierarchy. These women have carved out a place for themselves at Satin Dreams. They may be involved in the power struggle over who will succeed the Madame, or content in the place they are right now. In general these are the older and more experienced, and those who might be able to steer what kind of clients they usually see.

Low-Status Sex Workers

These girls are generally newer and younger. They are the ones who haven’t traveled or seen the world, who don’t understand how things work and lack the power to affect their own situation. They are the bottom of the hierarchy, and are fighting to stay at the brothel, and to stay away from any diseases that might put a stop to their job. They don’t have anywhere to go or enough money saved up to live a life outside the brothel. At least not yet.

Kitchen

The girls working in the kitchen are led by the cook. The kitchen is a man-free zone, a refuge from handsy villagers and a safe place within the brothel. The girls who work here earn money for their families and may still be living in the village and keeping up with their childhood friends and acquaintances. However, those who have worked there for a while know the system by now – when young girls are brought in they are often being groomed to go into sex work. 

The cook, the scullery maid and the laundry maid will be played by helpers/organisers. The rest of the kitchen staff will be regular characters, but with off-game responsibilities. Playing in the kitchen staff differs from the other groups because you will also be doing work that is off-game important, but you will still get a fleshed-out character with plots and relations, and be able to larp both in and outside the kitchen area.

The Maids

Two villagers who work at Satin Dreams during the daytime as a laundry maid and a scullery maid. They are still respectable women who have families to go home to, and who will be stuck in the brothel when the soldiers come. They try to make sure they are treated differently to those living in the brothel, and try to play by the rules of polite society rather than the brothel’s internal hierarchy.

These characters will be played by kitchen helpers.

Army

The Colonel’s regiment marches on New Hampshire to weed out spies. For most of the characters this is not something that is known. Instead they have just gotten their marching orders after the Battle of White Plains and will now stop at the brothel. Playing in the solder group means being a part of an extremely macho camaraderie with a clear hierarchy. It’s about being oppressed but then oppressing others in much worse ways. It’s about dehumanisation of women and Patriots, as well as the in-group dynamics.

Commissioned Officers

The people at the top of the hierarchy. These officers come from wealthy families with a lot of influence in the outside world and have made an active choice to fight for their king and country. They have purchased a commission in the army, giving them the right to command men under them and with the possibility of reaching the highest ranks. They live a better and more comfortable life than the other soldiers and are used to high society, and getting what they want.

One of these will be a soldier helper who is part of the crew.

Non-Commissioned Officers

These soldiers have not purchased a rank, but instead enlisted in the army and in some cases advanced within the ranks. They often come from poorer families, or middle class ones. Some of them have seen a lot of action, while some of them haven’t even been in battle yet. Here we also have a group of local soldiers who have joined the British army, despite New Hampshire being a patriot state.

One of the soldiers will be a helper who is part of the crew.

Camp Followers

Two female characters that will arrive with the soldiers. One of them is the former mistress of one of the officers, and the other is an older woman who has been a camp follower for years. 

Townsmen

Three local tradesmen are joining the soldiers in order to assist with the mission of capturing spies in New Hampshire. They are essentially spies for the British, who will begin to show their true faces, but they are not a part of the army and therefore are civilians. They are respectable people who have families and connections outside of the brothel.

The townsmen will be considered the lesser evil when the soldiers occupy the brothel, as they are the ones not wearing a uniform who remind the women what the clientele is usually like.