Granland

Granland
English name	Granland
Genre	Low-fantasy war-larp
Style	Immersive narrativism with gamistic elements
Founding location	Sweden
First larp	Granland (2008)
Website	granland.se

Granland (Swedish: Granland or literally "Land of Pines") or Granlandskampanjen (Swedish: The Granland Campaign) - is an immersion-style Swedish soldier LARP campaign created in 2008 by Stockholm-based organizers Hampus Ahlbom and Felix Antman Debels as a spin-off from the game "Uvudden" organized in 2007 by Matilda Utbult. Though parts of the fiction was originally developed for Uvudden, the spin-off gained a much larger following and crowd, organizing at its peak 5-6 games a year. The campaign takes place in a fictional medieval world with the same attributes as the real world - placing Granland in the "low-fantasy" or "no-fantasy"-category depending on preference. Granland was one of Swedens most active larp-campaigns between 2008 and 2014, with about 3-4 games per year in average, but has since declined in activity after both main organizers decided to move on and work with other projects. The campaign has been described as highly ambitious and well organized with focus on realistic immersion, social realism, high-quality equipment, role-playing and character creation. The campaign also involves elements of war, which are used as a catalyst for creating and improving the mutual immersion. The main focus of the campaign is the cultural conflict between the progressive nationalist nation of Granland, and the traditional and deeply religious organisation known has Heliga Armén (Swedish: The Holy Army).

Cultural expressions

Måslänningar, one of the cultures of the campaign. Photo: Björn Kalander

Granland does not limit itself to only making larps, but also involves many types of cultural expressions with a base in the fictional world known as Ordavesvärlden (Swedish: The world of Ordaves). Participants and organizers regularly create works of music, art and literature inspired by or taking place in the fictional world portrayed in the larps.

Several types of media have been professionally produced for the Granland Campaign, including but not limited to;

* A book describing the fiction of the Granland Campaign, published by Ersatz 
* A strategy board game known as "Granlandsspelet" (Swedish: The Granland game) by Olof Blomqvist
* A short film produced by GeddaFors Film *http://vimeo.com/87213028
* Several songs by Patriarkus *http://patriarkus.se/
* A small LARP-convention known as GranCon, being hosted June each year in Stockholm since 2010.

Participatory culture

Depending on the game, participants may create their own characters and plots within the fictional shell provided by the organizers of the game - or be given a pre-written character from the organizers. Almost all of the fiction is provided by the organizers for each game, the participants are instead free to choose between a finite amount of character-concepts. Most players will portray a squad of soldiers who are part of one of the two armies, often making their personal expression in regards to equipment and character background somewhat limited. However, the games often allows for many types of characters within the provided fiction and Granland has become known for having a good balance between a common fictional ground and personal expression through character creation.

Granland has become famous for hosting games that places a lot of focus on getting players involved in the making of the game - and thus generally having players with much better understanding of the concept and feeling of the game than other Swedish larps. This was accomplished by having a very large amount of pregame activities, often involving weekly social meet-ups, parties, workshops for character-creation, practical workshops for creating equipment and a large convention being hosted each year since 2010 known as GranCon.

The fiction

Civilian being murdered by a soldier from the Holy Army. Photo: Torbjörn Walberg

The Granland fiction is based on Medieval Europe and the Middle-East, but using large amounts of inspiration from different historical eras; primarily the 17th and 18th century and Ancient Rome. The world has the same attributes as the real world, thus excluding classical fantasy themes such as for example non-human races and magic.

The main plot in the campaign is the ongoing war between the Holy Army and Granland. A in many ways pointless war which began with a land-dispute over a border-territory between the two nations of Ala Rike (controlled by the Holy Army) and Granland. The war this far has resulted in the creation of the Holy Army and the rise of the Penitent belief (a fundamentalist sub-category of the religion Ordaves) as well as a Coup d'état in Granland by the liberal and capitalistic elite. These two extremist organisations are so devoted to hatred and fear of one another that peace will only come by the complete annihilation of one of them.

Factions

The following factions are the ones most commonly portrayed in the fiction and at the larps. In addition to these, many sub-categories and minor factions exist.

• Granland: An authoritarian, militaristic and patriotic nation inspired by the early liberal ideas of 18th and 19th century Europe.
• Heliga Armén: A fundamentalist and theocratic army inspired by the medieval crusades and the Catholic Revival of the 16th century.
• Måslänningarna: An oppressed people who are waging a guerrilla war with the hope of creating their own country.
• Vita Vingarna: A deeply religious and land-less order inspired by the Crusader Knights and the Free-masons.

External links

• Main webpage
• Granland - Ingen ära i krig. A short-film produced by GeddaFors film
• Föreningen Granland - Discussion group on Facebook