The Lorien Trust
The Lorien Trust Limited was formed in late 1991 by attendees of SummerFest '91 as a non-profit making charity with original directors, Andy King, Rob Donaldson, Steve Turnbull, Laurence Hawkins and somebody else. Andy King was to take over the Trust as Managing Director and restructured it as a profit focused company in 1995 as Merlinroute Ltd T/A Lorien Trust. That same year a group broke away from the Lorien Trust due to an internal schism. They created the company Curious Pastimes, which runs the larp Renewal. This continues to run every year with its main event attracting hundreds of players.
Lorien Trust ran its first Gathering event in 1992 at the Drum Hill site in Derbyshire, effectively taking over where SummerFest left off, and has done so every year since on the August bank holiday although the location changed to Locko Park in Spondon, Derbyshire. The Gathering is still probably the largest larp event in the UK and attracts over 1000 players every year from the UK and Europe. The Lorien Trust is generally known as the 'LT' to its players and in addition to the Gathering it runs two Moots (Spring Moot and Summer Moot) as well as GEF (Great Erdrejan Fayre) the renamed Heartland Games.
The LT relies heavily on the goodwill of unpaid volunteers to handle event administration, set-up and take-down, security, Refereeing and the running of the Factions and Guilds. There is also a reliance on the players themselves to take time out to Monster but are rewarded with a choice of OSP tokens or IC money. The site is generally split into faction camps, a marketplace of traders and food stands, The Guilds area, Games Control, a set-piece area with a ritual circle and a Battlefield.
Lorien Trust Mainline Events
The LT run 4 mainline events per year, starting with the Spring Moot, followed by the Great Erdrejan Fayre, Summer Moot and with the final Event of the season being The Gathering.
Lorien Trust Sanctioned Faction Events
The Factions themselves run a number of rules and plot sanctioned events each year generally with 60-100 players at sites up and down the country.
Gameworld
The game is set on the High Fantasy world of Erdreja. Erdreja is the egg of a Cosmic Dragon. There is a world plot which most people more or less interact with depending on their outlook and the Factions themselves have their own plot which is tailored to their player base.
The Factions
- The Harts Faction
- The Lions Faction
- The Wolves Faction
- The Unicorns Faction
- The Gryphons Faction
- The Tarantulas Faction
- The Vipers Faction
- The Bears Faction
- The Dragons Faction
- The Jackals Faction
The Guilds
- The Mages Guild
- The Armourers Guild
- The Alchemists Guild
- The Militia Guild
- The Bards Guild
- The Scouts Guild
- The Archers Guild
- The Healers Guild
- The Bank of Erdreja
- The Incantors Guild
