Epos Daimon, the Magic School Where Teens Play Fascists
8 hours ago
- #educational larp
- #youth education
- #anti-fascism
- Epos Daimon is an antifascist educational larp (live action role-playing game) designed for teenagers in Denmark, where players role-play as supporters of a theocratic fascist regime within a magic school setting.
- The larp aims to teach teenagers about the allure and dangers of toxic communities by letting them experience firsthand the sense of belonging, dignity, and purpose these groups offer through rituals, exclusion, and praise from authority figures.
- Designed by Katrine Wind, it is inspired by Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, featuring 'dyadic play' where players are paired as a human and their daemon (soul), enhancing safety and emotional connection.
- Extensive preparation includes months of workshops, character building, and discussions about fascism, using films like The Wave, to ensure students are prepared and the larp avoids glorifying fascism.
- The larp involves 85 students and 25 volunteers over four days in a castle, with structured activities like lessons, rituals, and punishments, emphasizing how easily morality can slip in a conformist environment.
- Debriefing sessions help students reflect on their experiences, discussing the rapid moral compromises and how to recognize and resist toxic communities in real life.
- Katrine Wind's 'river rafting design' philosophy focuses on front-loading emotional impact and creating dense, playable characters to maximize meaningful experiences early in the larp.
- While the larp carries risks of inadvertently making fascism appealing, it is conducted within a supportive school environment with responsible educators to mitigate this.
- The project highlights larp's potential as an educational tool to foster healthy social structures and awareness, with possibilities for adaptation in other contexts.