In real life, Samantha Clarke is a flight attendant for a major airline. But at DrachenFest, she’s a deity.
As the leader of Silver Camp, one of five tent villages at the live action role playing (LARP) event being staged east of Bendigo this week, Clarke wears an ornate headpiece and elaborate costume including a sceptre and shoulder piece and flowing gown. She is part medieval monarch, part divine being.
Her subjects refer to her as “my lady”, listen reverently to her speeches and are willing to go into battle for her.
For the 550 players in this medieval-style fantasy world, it’s all in the name of fun and escapism. Following intricate plot lines as warriors and courtiers, there are musicians, shopkeepers, wizards, elves and people dressed as cats.
When LARPers arrive, DrachenFest plot co-ordinator Mhairi McIntyre explains, players are assigned to one of five camps. Each camp has a leader, known as a dragon avatar (which Clarke is for the Silver Camp).
Each camp tries to win the most dragon eggs (points) by either invading other camps and seizing their flags or by completing quests such as creating an order of knights, fighting an enemy, or staging a ritual.
When it comes to modern conveniences, the LARPers can choose their level of commitment. Some cook stews over fires, others use camp stoves or drive to the nearest town of Elmore for a sausage roll. The use of mobile phones is also allowed, so long as it’s away from public sight.
As Clarke says, “We’re all just adults playing make believe.”
The champions, who will be announced after the final battle on Saturday, won’t win any cash prizes or trophies. McIntyre says players’ reward is “all the role-playing friends they made along the way”. As well as the friendships, the winning dragon rules the fantasy world for a year until the next festival.
Miguela Martin, of Carnegie, is playing an alchemist. Resplendent in pink robes and with blue hair, she makes potions, edits an alchemist journal and displays a [fake] carnivorous plant that eats enemies.
“It’s a good break from everyday life,” she said, describing DrachenFest as “a wonderful community” where she’s been able to make new friends.
While this is only the third time the festival has been staged in Australia, and the first in Australia, the tradition goes back 20 years.
DrachenFest, a German term for “dragon festival” began more than 20 years ago in Germany. Held in the small town of Waldeck, in the Hesse region, this year’s event attracted more than 5000 players, who were then split across 13 camps.
The Elmore venue is a former scout camp at Mafeking, north-east of Melbourne. The camp burnt down in a bushfire last summer, and Nathan Bowes, co-owner of Elmore Bakery, said the festival and the LARPers could benefit the town.
“Elmore’s a small community, so any event at the Events Centre that brings hundreds, or thousands, of people to the town is fantastic for everyone,” Bowes said.