[OOC] Moisant's Carnival and You

[Astaire_Quatrevaux]

So I wanted to run an event that would echo Mardi Gras in New Orleans. This has to do with my characters’ storylines as well as my own personal sentiment: I currently (as of this posting) live in New Orleans, and have lived here for more than 12 years; but in a couple of weeks I’ll be moving to a different state, and the homesickness is hitting me already.

But, as many of y’all will know, Mardi Gras/Carnival happens over the course of several weeks. How would it be possible to make a weeks-long event in EVE?

That’s where you come in, my friends.

I’d like to open this idea up to everyone, so that anyone can use it as a backdrop for character stories. Does your character want to go on vacation? Are they interested in checking out different cultures? Do they want to assist with the recovery of Octanneve V (or Vevelonel V)? Or might they be interested in the mysterious Karaya-Ya Circle or Blackguard? Or do you just want an excuse for Character Development™? If any of these and more apply, then please feel free to use this event in your storytelling.

Astaire provides a pretty solid background explainer in his IC post, but if you need more details, then you can look to Mardi Gras in New Orleans IRL as a template. Everything is pretty much the same: there are parades, balls, and lots of drinking. Moisant is still recovering from its own hurricanes, so much of the city will still be under repair.

There are a few differences. Unlike real life, Moisant’s Carnival is not tied to religion. (Though there might be artifacts of religion in it, considering that Clan Licei is descended from former slaves in the Empire.) Their Carnival is instead a celebration of a spiritual event that’s particular to their belief system.

Now there does have to be a code of conduct for this thing.

For one, please don’t harm any other capsuleers without OOC asking them first.

For another, if you want to plan some kind of big negative action–something that would bring harm to multiple capsuleers, local baseliners, or much of Moisant and Octanneve V–then ask me about it first. If you don’t, your big action will be ignored.

If you do write any stories, threads, gossip posts, and so on, I’d prefer that they be public so that I can link to them as a semi-shared story. But if you’re doing a private RP, that’s totally fine as well.

If you have any questions about anything Mardi Gras- or otherwise story-related, feel free to ping me on Discord anytime.

And of course, have fun!

Some notes

• Most places that celebrate this occasion refer to the entire event as “Carnival” (or “Carnaval”, etc), with “Mardi Gras” being only the last day of that celebration (it’s French for “Fat Tuesday”). In New Orleans, we call the entire event “Mardi Gras”. Don’t ask me why. We just do. But if you do any reading up on Carnival/Mardi Gras, you’ll notice this discrepancy.
• Please don’t use any names of real-life krewes/parades in your writing. The krewe names exist in a sketchy copyright area. Instead, if there’s interest, I’ll come up with some fake krewes.
• Also don’t use Mardi Gras Indians as IC costumes.
• If Carnival/Mardi Gras has been used in PF or player lore before, then this celebration is not related to those.

[Astaire_Quatrevaux]

Okay, here are some OOC-ish links for those of y’all who (like me) appreciate getting a bit of a head-start setting-wise. Characters researching Moisant’s Carnival would find holos and resources very similar to these, but they would be tailored more toward EVE’s actual futuristic setting. (Think hover-floats instead of tractors.)

Parades:

Here is a video with highlights from the 2016 Endymion parade, including floats, bands, and other performers. The parade, which is one of New Orleans’s most popular ones, is put on by the Krewe of Endymion; for our fictional purposes, the storyline’s parade is run by Krewe Pay-per-view.

The parade will not be a ripoff of the Endymion one. (And I really imagine Krewe Pay-per-view to be more like the satirical Krewe d’Etat or Krewe du Vieux at any rate, but I couldn’t find any good recent videos of their parades.) But lots of things will be similar. Note the informality of folks greeting each other on the parade route; the elaborate costumes and masks; the way the crowds are bunched up on either side of the street; the general atmosphere of the parade.

I’ll also link another video of the bands themselves, here. This video was taken “Under da Bridge” at last year’s Krewe of Muses parade. In New Orleans, all of the Uptown parades go under this particular overpass, and it’s tradition for every marching band and other performing group (dancers, Baby Dolls, roller skaters, etc) to stop and perform here. I’ve made the same true in the story: in Moisant it’s tradition for these groups to stop and perform in front of the hotel, Bohio Cibucan. So characters will get to watch this sort of stuff from the balcony, or from the street if they like.

I recommend watching at least the first 7 minutes of the second video. You won’t regret it. (Okay, maybe you will.)

(Edit: The name “Krewe Pay-per-view” is meant to be satirical in itself. It’s not really pay-per-view. No fees. )