Here you will find an explanation of the in-game events which comprise the game.
The university staff is currently preparing for the Great Literature and Humanities Conference Helsinki 2013 that will start on Sunday at 14:00. A very important guest, the Jordanian Minister of Culture, Shafeeq Ahmad A-Najati has been invited to attend the Conference. The Minister is a great patron of literature and arts, and he has promised to donate large funds to the Faculty of Humanities. These are much needed, since the faculty is struggling with economic problems, and many departments are under the threat of being closed down due to lack of money.
The Minister is a long-time supporter of Uralia. Just last week, he gave a statement to the BBC saying that the land area of the historical Grand Duchy of Finland was “an ancient Ugric homeland”, that Uralia is “a small country surrounded by hostile Nordic states” and that one must remember that “there is only one Ugric country in the world, while there are several countries for the Nordics in Northern parts of Europe”. To make matters worse, Minister Al-Najati has characterized the works of the British author J.R.R. Tolkien, beloved by the academic Finns, as “superficial fantasy kitsch”.
These statements have made many Finns angry. There is turmoil at the university. Many think a guest like Minister Al-Najati should not be allowed at the conference. It is expected that students will stage protests and pressure the conference participants to boycott the event. The fact that elections for the Student Council Chairperson will be held on Sunday at 10:00-11:00 makes things even more heated.
Most of the faculty staff is going to speak at the Conference. The Media Studies Professor, Ghannam, will act as the master of ceremonies. Many of the students opposed to the conference have taken pressuring Ghannam as their main strategy.
Moreover, some outstanding students have been invited to give talks at the Conference. Eeva Havu, the pride of the whole university, a chemistry student with a superb academic record, will give a greeting to the Minister, representing all students from Helsinki University. Outstanding humanities students are giving presentations on their own fields. These include the literature majors M. Paalanen and Veera Leino, the English major Kari Korpi and the Tolkien Studies major Hannele Kivi. On the Conference Dinner on Sunday, the university Folk Dance Group is going to perform. The students opposed to the conference see it as their duty to talk these people into not participating.
In addition to Minister Al-Najati, there is also another important guest attending the conference – the distinguished professor and novelist Rahal from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. The professor is a leading light of the Modern Arabic Realist Movement. The most acclaimed of Rahal’s novels is The Just Marriage, translated to 27 languages.
General Schedule
Saturday
10:00 – 11:00 walking through the checkpoint to enter the university and the game.
11:15 – 12:00 Lecture on Tolkien Studies by Prof. Valve. All students will be present. The characters who will not be here (university staff, journalists, etc) are given another event in their character briefs.
15:00 – 16:00 Elections panel for the student council head, chaired by Prof. Valve. Before the panel starts, the Finnish national anthem Maamme (Vårt land) is sung. All the characters will be present at this event. Don’t just sit there – express your opinions on the candidates’ statements by applauding and booing! In Occupied Finland, student elections are highly politicized.
Sunday
10:00-11:00 The student elections.
11:00-12:00 Vote count.
12:00 Elections winner is announced.
14:00 The Literature and Humanities Conference starts. All characters will be present at this event. First, the Dean gives her opening speech. Then, Eeva Havu gives a greeting as the representative of the students of the whole university.