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Curious Pastimes
Curious Pastimes (sometimes abbreviated to CP) is an organisation that runs one of the best-known Describes Curious Pastimes as one of the “most well known” providers. live action role-playing campaigns in the UK. CP is a private, profit-making company headquartered in Moreton in the Wirral in Northern England. Lists CP as a local business. The company was formed in 1995, as a break away group from the Lorien Trust. Curious Pastimes’ ongoing LARP campaign is called ''Renewal.''. The campaign uses its own set of LARP rules, adapted from the Lorien Trust Rules System. Renewal is a "Fest" Game, in which large numbers (typically hundreds) of players interact with one another and with a small number of briefed non-player characters, climaxing in pre-arranged mass battles between roughly even numbers at the two longer events. These battles represent one of the major variations from the ''Gathering'' parent-game, being exclusively Player-versus-Monster battles (the ''Gathering's'' ...
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High Fantasy
High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, Plymouth. 2005. The term "high fantasy" was coined by Lloyd Alexander in a 1971 essay, "High Fantasy and Heroic Romance", which was originally given at the New England Round Table of Children's Librarians in October 1969. Characteristics High fantasy is set in an alternative, fictional ("secondary") world, rather than the "real" or "primary" world. This secondary world is usually internally consistent, but its rules differ from those of the primary world. By contrast, low fantasy is characterized by being set on Earth, the primary or real world, or a rational and familiar fictional world with the inclusion of magical elements. The romances of William Morris, such as ''The Well at the World's End'', set in an imaginary medieval world, are ...
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Leek, Staffordshire
Leek is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the county of Staffordshire, England, on the River Churnet. It is situated about north east of Stoke-on-Trent. It is an ancient borough and was granted its royal charter in 1214. It is the administrative centre for the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council. John of England, King John granted Ranulph de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, the right to hold a weekly Wednesday market and an annual seven-day fair in Leek in 1207. Leek's coat of arms is made up of a saltire shield. On the top is the Stafford knot, either side is the Leek double sunset and below a gold garb. The crest is a mural crown with three mulberry leaves on a mount of heather on top of which a Red grouse, moorcock is resting his claw on a small-weave shuttle. The motto translates to: Our skill assisting us, we have no cause for despair. Economy The town had a regular cattle market for hundreds of years, reflecting its role as a centre of ...
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Orcs
An Orc (or Ork) is a fictional humanoid monster like a goblin. Orcs were brought into modern usage by the fantasy writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially ''The Lord of the Rings''. In Tolkien's works, Orcs are a brutish, aggressive, ugly, and malevolent race of monsters, contrasting with the benevolent Elves. There is a suggestion, among several somewhat contradictory origin stories, that they are a corrupted race of elves. Mythological monsters with names similar to "orc" can be found in the Old English poem ''Beowulf'', in Early Modern poetry, and in Northern European folk tales and fairy tales. Tolkien stated that he took the name from ''Beowulf''. The orc appears on lists of imaginary creatures in two of Charles Kingsley's mid-1860s novels. Tolkien's concept of orcs has been adapted into the fantasy fiction of other authors, and into games of many different genres such as ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Magic: The Gathering'', and ''Warcraft''. Etymology Old English ...
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Dwarf (mythology)
A dwarf () is a type of supernatural being in Germanic folklore, including mythology. Accounts of dwarfs vary significantly throughout history however they are commonly, but not exclusively, presented as living in mountains or stones and being skilled craftsmen. In early literary sources, only males are explicitly referred to as dwarfs, although they are described as having sisters and daughters, while both male and female dwarfs feature in later saga literature and folklore. Dwarfs are sometimes described as short, however, scholars have noted that this is neither explicit nor of relevance to their roles in the earliest sources. Dwarfs continue to feature in modern popular culture such as in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Terry Pratchett, where they are often, but not exclusively, presented as distinct from elves. Etymology The modern English noun ''dwarf'' descends from ang, dweorg. It has a variety of cognates in other Germanic languages, including non, dvergr and goh, tw ...
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Elves
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "light elves" and "dark elves". The dark elves create new blond hair for Thor's wife Sif after Loki had shorn off Sif's long hair. In medieval Germanic-speaking cultures, elves generally seem to have been thought of as beings with magical powers and supernatural beauty, ambivalent towards everyday people and capable of either helping or hindering them. However, the details of these beliefs have varied considerably over time and space and have flourished in both pre-Christian and Christian cultures. Sometimes elves are, like dwarfs, associated with craftmanship. Wayland the Smith embodies this feature. He is known under many names, depending on the language in which the stories were distributed. The names include ''Völund'' in Old Norse, ''W ...
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Race (fantasy)
Fantasy tropes are a specific type of literary tropes (recurring themes) that occur in fantasy fiction. Worldbuilding, plot, and characterization have many common conventions, many of them having ultimately originated in myth and folklore. J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium (and in particular, ''The Lord of the Rings'') for example, was inspired from a variety of different sources including Germanic, Finnish, Greek, Celtic and Slavic myths. Literary fantasy works operate using these tropes, while others use them in a revisionist manner, making the tropes over for various reasons such as for comic effect, and to create something fresh (a method that often generates new clichés). Good vs. evil The conflict of good against evil is a theme in the many popular forms of fantasy; normally, evil characters invade and disrupt the good characters' lands. J. R. R. Tolkien delved into the nature of good and evil in ''The Lord of the Rings'', but many of those who followed him use the co ...
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Humanoid
A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and ''-oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. The earliest recorded use of the term, in 1870, referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it is now considered rare. More generally, the term can refer to anything with distinctly human characteristics or adaptations, such as possessing opposable anterior forelimb- appendages (i.e. thumbs), visible spectrum-binocular vision (i.e. having two eyes), or biomechanic plantigrade-bipedalism (i.e. the ability to walk on heels and metatarsals in an upright position). Science fiction media frequently present sentient extraterrestrial lifeforms as humanoid as a byproduct of convergent evolution. In theoretical convergent evolu ...
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Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago and the Russian Far East to the east. The continental landmass is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and Africa to the west, the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and by Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Indian Ocean to the south. The division between Europe and Asia as two continents is a historical social construct, as many of their borders are over land; thus, in some parts of the world, Eurasia is recognized as the largest of the six, five, or four continents on Earth. In geology, Eurasia is often considered as a single rigid megablock. However, the rigidity of Eurasia is debated based on paleomagnetic data. Eurasia covers around , or around 36.2% of the Earth's total land area. It is also home to the largest ...
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Subarctic
The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Generally, subarctic regions fall between 50°N and 70°N latitude, depending on local climates. Precipitation is usually low, and vegetation is characteristic of the taiga. Daylight at these latitudes is quite extreme between summer and winter due to its high latitude. Near the summer solstice for instance, subarctic regions can experience an all-night period of either civil, nautical, or astronomical twilight (or in the northern reaches full daylight), but without true night, since the sun never dips more than 18 degrees below the horizon. Noctilucent clouds are best observed within this range of latitude. Climate and soils Subarctic temperatures are above for at least one and at most three months of the year. Precipitation tends to be low du ...
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Temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout the year and more distinct seasonal changes compared to tropical climates, where such variations are often small and usually only have precipitation changes. In temperate climates, not only do latitudinal positions influence temperature changes, but sea currents, prevailing wind direction, continentality (how large a landmass is) and altitude also shape temperate climates. The Köppen climate classification defines a climate as "temperate" C, when the mean temperature is above but below in the coldest month to account for the persistency of frost. However, other climate classifications set the minimum at . Zones and climates The north temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Cancer (approximately 23.5° north latitude) to the Arctic ...
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Player Characters
A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not controlled by a player are called non-player characters (NPCs). The actions of non-player characters are typically handled by the game itself in video games, or according to rules followed by a gamemaster refereeing tabletop role-playing games. The player character functions as a fictional, alternate body for the player controlling the character. Video games typically have one player character for each person playing the game. Some games, such as multiplayer online battle arena, hero shooter, and fighting games, offer a group of player characters for the player to choose from, allowing the player to control one of them at a time. Where more than one player character is available, the characters may have distinctive abilities and differing styles ...
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Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a new town, it has existed since the 8th century and was granted its town charter by Henry VIII in 1539. Nearby towns are Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. History Origin of the name The settlement was called by the name Henamsted or Hean-Hempsted in Anglo-Saxon times and in William the Conqueror's time by the name of Hemel-Amstede. The name is referred to in the Domesday Book as Hamelamestede, but in later centuries it became Hamelhamsted, and, possibly, Hemlamstede. In Old English, ''-stead'' or ''-stede'' simply meant "place" (reflected in German ''Stadt'' and Dutch ''stede'' or ''stad'', meaning "city" or "town"), such as the site of a building or pasture, as in clearing in the woods, and this suffix is used in the names of other E ...
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