Summit

Saint Louis Lore Summit 

Note: This is a live-action role playing event hosted by a collaboration of One World By Night chronicles: Shadows of St. Louis, Caught in the Eternal Twilight, Mage: Age of Great Enlightenment, and Changeling: Gateway of Dreams.

Welcome to the third annual Saint Louis Lore Summit. The Summit is a gathering of scholars, scientists, and lore masters on a variety of strange, rare, and wondrous topics ranging from mythic history to cryptozoology. The Summit is hosted by the Virtual Alexandria Project, an initiative that is committed building the greatest library in history through the collection, curation, protection, and mindful dissemination of knowledge.

The Summit will be held on the evening of May 18 and 19, 2018, in St Louis, MO. More specific time and location details to be announced.

Please direct questions to Alex at virtual.alexandria.project@gmail.com. OOC: Please CC st.by.night@gmail.com

Summit Format 
The Summit will have two tracks: Topic Panels and Occult Issues.

Topic Panels
These panels will feature presentations and discussions on various topics from top experts in various lores and hidden knowledge. Panels will begin with a presentation from each expert, followed by Q&A by the audience.

Occult Issues
These sessions will take up issues central to the politics of the occult community. Session provide an opportunity for members from different sects and allegiances to openly discuss issues relevant to their communities.

Registration 

The Library of Alexandria is hosting the event, but is asking for nominal registration fee to help cover costs. Presenters and summit organizers can attend the summit without a fee, though donations are appreciated. Non-presenters have a registration fee of $30,000 or three quintessence (dross, gnosis, etc). Attendees who are unable to pay are encouraged to present. However, new members of the lore community can apply for a scholarship to waive the registration fee.

Mutual Commitment to Ethical Participation 

Full participation in the Summit depends on a collective commitment to a set of ethical guidelines. These principles include academic integrity, respectful discourse, information security, nonviolence, and voluntary influence.

Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is the ethical policy of academia. This includes values such as avoidance of plagiarism; maintenance of academic standards; honesty and rigor in research and publishing. Presenters commit to fairly representing their research process and sources.

Respectful Discourse
A cornerstone of the Summit is the inclusion of diverse viewpoints. While the subjects of the world's shrouded mysteries often contested realities, participants commit to engaging in respectful discourse.

Information Security
If everyone had access to it, it wouldn't be the occult. The Summit adopts the privacy standards of the Virtual Alexandria Project. The VAP holds that the content creator, in this case the presenter, holds the right to restrict access to the content they create. Of course, more open access enables greater innovation, however, we are respectful of the mandates of various traditions and believe in protecting that which must remain secret.

Nonviolence 
The history (and in some cases, present) of the occult world is marked by inter-sect violence. The spirit of free discourse relies on a noncombative atmosphere. Attendees of the Summit commit to doing no harm to other attendees.

Voluntary Influence
Practitioners of the occult can often interfere with others in detrimental ways that aren't exactly violent, but still violate the independence of the other. Attendees of the Summit commit to gaining clear consent before influencing the minds, emotions, spirits, destinies, etc. of the other.

Violation of the principles of mutual commitment will be enforced by the nonviolent removal of that particular person from the event.

OOC: The Occult Summit’s Presiding ST staff can be reached by emailing st.by.night@gmail.com