THE LAST ARK 

In the summer and autumn of 2020, while the world held it's breath, we explored the future after the end of days on Stora Höggarn, an old marine petrochemical station from the war.

Together with a small number of dedicated co-creators we built a vibrant and strange community on an inhospitable island and against all odds, we thrived. 

Here you can find documentation and reports from the game, as well as announcements about future events on our island of rust and broken dreams. 

You can also support our 2021 events (planning in progress) by buying merch and actual props from the games in our SHOP and read about our endeavors to make Stora Höggarn a centre for participatory arts.

You can also RENT THE AREA for your private event as soon as regulations allow! 

A huge thank you to all co-creators and to Kulturbryggan for their unwavering support of our post-apocalyptic performances.  




 

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introduction

The Last Ark events are co-created and highly physical stand-alone experiences, each with its own unique focus. All events are designed to be accessible to newcomers. They're set in the classic Swedish roleplaying world MUTANT. 

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The events focus on realistic simulation and doing things for real. That means working on your part of the settlement, fishing, cooking over a slow fire, arguing over control or making deals with your enemies for bullets, meeting unexpected beings in the hills, sleeping inside old industrial structures, and having a lukewarm beer while watching the sun set over the formerly-doomed world.

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Together we create a new way of living, where harsh commandments and violence inherited from the dark days of old steadily give way to new closeness and cultural triumphs. Along the way, you might hunt your enemies for sport and pray to greedy rust gods who feast on pain. But hope is never lost.

THE "MUTANT" SETTING

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Mutant was launched in 1984 and has much in common with settings like Fallout, Gamma World and Metro 2033, but is set in Scandinavia. It's darkly humorous post-apocalyptic world,  where the surface of the earth is inhabited by mutated people, monsters and speaking animals. 

You can read more about it here.

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BUILDING THE ARK Settlement

During and between the events, we take apart and re-purpose existing structures, and forgotten island junk to build a real mutant rust town! 

We invite you to take part in this, by working on your own projects around and during the events. That might mean building your own one-Mutant clay sauna, painting a mural or tending to the herb garden. We very much see the island as a communal project - insofar as time, resources and global pandemics will allow it.

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The structures created for the Last Ark series will be allowed to remain permanently on the island and evolve over time.

A dance in the ruins. A new beginning. An escape from our contemporary age to explore future lives in a new dawn.

PLAYING A MUTANT

"You are the spawn of humanity, but not quite human. You are twisted funhouse images, mutated freaks. Your bodies and minds have incredible powers, but you are unstable. Fragile."

Mutants are weird, fucked up, strange and quirky. Even if their mutations are not always visible, they move, speak and behave in unusual ways. This is one of the best things with the Mutant setting - you don’t have to play nice, sexy, polite, well-spoken or clean to fit in. 

For the last few generations, the crew of the Silver Ark and many other mutants have struggled with infertility. It's been decades since a Mutant child was born. As one of the consequences, gender has become highly irrelevant and romantic partnership is considered highly old-fashioned. Intimate bonds are more often built on having mutual enemies, being in the same cult or sharing a secret and comfortable hiding place. There's still prejudice and intolerance in the air, but it's never based on looks or gender.

All events will include workshops to help you find your inner Mutant through movement and mannerisms

mutation Examples 

Resistance to rot (toxins, disease and radiation)

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Direction glands (always knows where North is)

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Pointy ears, coloured (often bluish or greenish) skin or other cosmetic changes that are all interpreted as signs of being Pure in the eyes of the Silverkrist Godhead. 

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PSI mutations, like the power to cause waking nightmares

GEAR

The Arklanders are dressed in the ragged remains of the life-vests, uniforms and civilian clothes worn by the original crew. Rust, dirt, fat and salt stain the fabrics, and clothing is patched, modified, armoured and decorated to suit the needs of the cultures of the ark. The costumes of the zone dwellers are stained with mud, and patched with leather and pieces of rubber, and they often wear metal pieces of armour made from scrap metal and tires.

For inspiration, find our Pinterest here. Watch a few videos by the inimitable Nuclear Snail, the Youtube master of post-apocalypse fashion for the best and most fun methods to build and distress your gear to look awesome. 

ARKLANDERS

Once the Ark sailed the seas of the Österbotten and beyond, holy pirates worshipping the Silver Christ. Now their proud ship has lost it's divine Captain and lies stranded on the shore of a mysterious island in the middle of the deadly Muskö-Zone.

Around the wreck a settlement has sprung up. The Sea-mutants have adapted to the island, serving "The Intelligence", a machine that lives beneath the island.

They call it Esso or ASSA. Or Mother Machine. She gives them medicine and miracles in exchange for obedience. She talks through the screens and radios. Until recently. For two months there has been no signal. No food. No medicine. Only a countdown.

The Zone is creeping closer to the walls, held at bay only by the fires of Celebration and trust in an uncertain future. 

But now the big numbers on her screens are finally approaching 00:00.

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How does one meet the unthinkable?

Stories from the Muskö-Zone often talk about these other gangs of the Zone, collectivley known as Zone Dwellers, they were beaten by the Arklanders in a short but bloody war.

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The Witches of Röya channel the powers of the Motherzone through rites older than the ancients. With painted faces, braided hair, rune-encrusted guns and psionic powers rivalling those of the Nova sect, they see the Arklanders as ignorant children.

The Zone-Ghouls are a close-knit, nomadic and violently xenophobic tribe of nocturnal mutants, clad in masks and ragged dark cloaks to hide their deformities. They are descendants of the humans who survived the Apocalypse, but over the centuries, they have lost all memory of their origin.

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The Nova Sect are a procession of seemingly non-mutated humans in makeshift vessels, clad in long dark robes, and have been slowly making their way across the waters of the zone. Perhaps they are on a pilgrimage. For some reason, they settle on or near the Island. When approached, they treat strangers like they were the ghosts of the dead or spirits of the old age. They have strange powers and understand the Old World in ways that are simultaneously threatening and enticing.  

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The Helldivers of Scrap Island: Wave-stalkers talk about an artificial junk island slowly drifting along the coast. Dangerously close to the Island. Settlements are attacked, boats stolen and mutants captured and sold into slavery to the masters of this terrible floating city of rust and blood. 

Your own group! If you have an idea for a Zone-dweller group, please contact us and we will fit you into the story of the Last Ark.

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Note that it's fine to re-use groups from other events if modified for Mutant.

SAFETY

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All MUTANT events are inclusive and co-created (we help each other both in- and outside of the fiction). 

Please have a look at our adaptations of CRASH to covid circumstances.

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Lend a hand when you can, trust your fellow players to know what they're doing and keep a clear head. 

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Be attentive and never afraid to discreetly check in with other players. It's always cool to break character (by saying "RED") or gently slowing down a scene (by saying “YELLOW”). It's also encouraged to signal that you want fellow players to go harder (by saying “GREEN).

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Since we're on an island, we'll have at least one licensed and trained EMT on site at all times. There will also be a small off-game medbay equipped with first aid-gear and emergency transport on standby for players in need of serious medical care. 

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For comfort and rest breaks, we'll have a small "off-game" area.

PRACTICAL INFO

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Next planned event depends on your support! Make "SEED" Happen in april / may by going to the shop page!

WHEN

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Sometime in spring. Maybe. 

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Each event is a full experience in itself. 

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WHERE

The Last Ark series takes place at Stora Höggarn. This place has been home to a 17th century inn, summerhouses for turn-of-the-century tourists, a massive oil-tanking station used during the war. And now us.

As it isn't possible to access the island without a boat, transport to location from Stockholm will be included in any event ticket. 

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What you get

With any ticket, you get a dry place to sleep, food to eat (vegetarian options will be available) and access to toilets and water. From the beginning of the summer, expect conditions to be primitive. As we expand the settlement, the lives of the settlers will gradually become more comfortable.

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You will provide your own gear and transport to and from the pick-up location in Stockholm. 

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LANGUAGES

The main languages of the Last Ark will be Swedish and English. But the mutants have different forefathers, and you may speak several more languages among each other during the events.

 

TICKETS 

New written character: 1750 sek / 169€

Return character or self-written zone dweller: 1500 sek / 145€

Builder's ticket (help us build for 2-3 days): 500 sek / 46€ 

Larpfund ticket (reduced price): 750 sek / 72€ (Apply here)

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Tickets can be resold and transferred, as long as you let us know. 

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Age requirement: 18+ or 15-17 with written permission from a caregiver.

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The events are financed primarily through a generous arts-grant from Kulturbryggan with support from ticket prices.

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Contact

Reach us at

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Gallery

Unless otherwise mentioned, photographs are from location, illustrations from Mutant - or a combination.

SkärgårdsZonen

Living Arts Island

The structures we build on the island will (we hope) become the foundation of a permanent center of living arts. 

You can rent the area when MUTANT events are not running.  Contact us for more information.

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KEEP ME POSTED