This year marked the 35th Landstuhl City Festival – but it was the first time we officially took part with our own booth. There, we handed out quest assignments, had plenty of great conversations, collected donations for cats, and presented the historical reconstruction of Castle Nanstein. We’ve gathered all the highlights for you here in written form.

For three days, this year’s Landstuhl City Festival once again brought the town to life. From September 12th to 14th, you could find us at our booth on the Old Market Square.

It was our first time properly introducing Silberheim to the city — handing out free goodies like maps of Isdraia and postcards featuring Silberheim illustrations, offering a quest (some called it a “treasure hunt”), collecting donations for Stubentiger in Not e.V., answering countless questions, enjoying delicious sandwiches to keep us going, setting up, decorating, tearing down, packing up, hauling boxes (full of greenskins), unpacking, preparing, hanging canvases, running a raffle, handing out vouchers — and, we’ll admit it, we’re a little relieved that it’s finally over… and that we survived!

So we look back on the past few days with both a smile and a tear. Today, we want to focus on our personal highlights and share a few stories from the weekend in more detail.

If all of this sounds a bit too fast-paced and you’re not entirely sure what we were actually up to at the festival, we recommend starting with our City Festival announcement post. There, we explain everything you should know about our booth, the quest, the donation campaign, and more in advance.

But for now — let’s dive right into the festival weekend!

Friday marked the beginning of our latest adventure at the Landstuhl City Festival. Around 2 p.m., we were officially allowed to start setting up our booth. So we packed our — well, not seven, but closer to seven hundred — belongings and set off.

Upon arriving at our spot, two immediate challenges awaited us: first, assembling a pavilion using an “instruction manual” that was about as helpful as a parachute in a car crash; and second, preparing and testing our quest.

Our IT experts quickly switched fields from information technology to structural engineering, tackling the pavilion setup, while our marketing and communications team set off on analog delivery runs to hang the quest posters at their designated locations.

Of course, our IT team eventually managed to conquer the pavilion and set it up in all its glory. That meant it was finally time to fill the empty, lifeless tent with something a little more exciting — decoration!

With great gratitude, we were allowed to raid the prop storage of the Nanstein Castle Players. (We’ll get back to Nanstein later.) This gave us the opportunity to decorate our nine square meters of festival space with all kinds of medieval — and occasionally not so medieval — elements.

And, of course, one very special new colleague couldn’t be missing. One way or another, he now goes by the name Herbert — although, technically speaking, he can’t hear a thing. (Yo-ho-ho!)

Herbert’s presence at our booth actually had a rather unfortunate reason. He served as the stand-in for the dead messenger — a central figure in the quest that played a key role in our city festival adventure…

… Our messenger is dead, the letters are torn apart, and we have no idea who they were addressed to. Help us find the missing letter fragments that reveal the names of the recipients!

That was roughly the quest description we announced to the brave adventurers who visited our booth. In total, 49 of them set out to help us on our mission. Clues were hidden in specific locations — and some could even be found in the form of mysterious QR codes.

There were a total of five different letters to identify, each belonging to one of five recipients. A roll of the dice determined which letter each participant received — one lost per faction, purely by chance. The dice ended up providing an impressively balanced distribution among our quest participants: Streamrunner, Skuhuks, and the Warrior Elite were each represented eleven times, Trandar’s Basin nine times, and the Fenn came in last with seven. Still, every single adventurer managed to find the correct recipient.

Upon their successful return, participants received their quest reward: a few printed Silberheim maps, a faction-specific token, and an activation code redeemable in the full Silberheim Evolving Card Game after release — unlocking a city festival exclusive card. The reward bundle was rounded off with some Silberheim tote bags.

By Saturday, we were practically halfway through the festival. After the official opening on the previous evening at 6:30 p.m., the event was now truly gaining momentum.

Some of our booth visitors that day were particularly memorable — including quest participants who dashed through the streets of Landstuhl at near light speed, and three guests who had traveled hundreds of kilometers just to visit us for the weekend. We were genuinely honored by their dedication.

On Saturday evening, a few young gentlemen stopped by our booth — who, of course, were absolutely not under the influence of any intoxicating substances while taking part in our quest. No, no — their athletic excellence was performed entirely outside the realm of any mind-altering or consciousness-limiting influences. In their impressively sober state, they were clearly ready for a special kind of mission.

“You won’t beat the record,” Manu told them, fully aware of the exceptional mental clarity of the four heroes before him.

Such mockery, delivered at the peak of their cognitive and physical abilities, could not go unanswered. There was only one rational conclusion to draw from this provocation: Attack.

“Where’s the record at?” they asked, enunciating every word perfectly while standing straight and balanced as true paragons of composure.

“Eleven minutes,” replied Manu — a record that, if we’re honest, might have existed only in his imagination. Some say it never existed at all.

And thus it began. Anyone who believes they understand the limits of human speed is a fool until they’ve witnessed this phenomenon firsthand.

Far off in the distance, at the end of the street, a figure appeared. It wasn’t just a sprint — it was something greater. A manifestation of ambition, perseverance, and sheer willpower. Riches, glory, and eternal fame sparkled in his eyes as he crossed the invisible finish line.

Johannes returned after 9 minutes and 38 seconds. “I’m impressed,” said Manu, studying the exhausted champion with reverence. Johannes was panting heavily, and for a moment Manu feared he might collapse.

“Did I do it?” he gasped. Manu nodded.

Johannes probably said something along the lines of:

“I achieved this record for the city of Landstuhl! I love Silberheim and will forever be a loyal fan! Tomorrow I shall sacrifice my hamster at Castle Nanstein for the glory of Isdraia! And when I die, I’ll bequeath my stamp collection to Beyond Worlds!”

We’re not entirely sure, though — between the gasping for air and the effort of not dying, it was a bit hard to understand him.

But amid all the joy, we also mourned a bitter loss. He and two of his friends returned — but the fourth member of their group was never seen again. Well… a little attrition is to be expected, we suppose. Still, sending our best regards to you wherever you are!

Three more of our booth visitors didn’t stand out for their speed - but for their incredible endurance. They covered such astonishing distances that it’s almost hard to believe - both in time and in kilometers.

Tom - aka Panthetom or Waizenoverlord — traveled over 10 hours from Lower Saxony using a Germany ticket! #HDGB

Nathalie - aka Sunny — and her boyfriend Cale journeyed more than 600 kilometers all the way from Hamburg to see us!

That’s truly amazing. We want to express our heartfelt thanks for coming all that way - we’re genuinely honored that you made the trip just for us. We hope you had a great time and don’t regret it — or at least only a little. Wink.

The Sunday of the city festival not only marked the end of the event but also brought along some exciting program highlights - two of them, to be precise. At 4 p.m., visitors were treated to a special Nanstein surprise, and later, at 6 p.m., we held a raffle at our booth for all quest participants.

As already hinted a few paragraphs ago, Castle Nanstein also played a major role in our appearance at the city festival. We’ll be preparing a full, detailed story about everything that happened - but here’s a short version for now.

There’s a Hofbräuhaus in Munich - and in Landstuhl, there’s a castle. You won’t find a brewery up there, though (well, except maybe Felix - looking quite happy). The ruins of Burg Nanstein have stood above what is now Landstuhl since the 12th century. It is best known for its connection to Franz von Sickingen, who fell alongside the fortress in 1523. Since then, the castle has been rebuilt and destroyed several times. Today, it mainly serves as a local attraction and hosts the annual Burgspiele (castle plays). One can only imagine how imposing the Nanstein must have once been - at least, until now.

Then we came along — or more precisely, our Art Director, Hakim! Those who have taken a very close look at our Isdraia map may have noticed a location in the southeast that, by pure coincidence, also bears the name Nanstein. While the Isdraia Nanstein differs from the real one, the inspiration is quite obvious.

For that reason, Hakim set out to recreate Castle Nanstein as it stood before its destruction in 1523 - for the first time, in a truly historically accurate way. After extensive research, countless sources, and even a visit to the Sickingen Museum in the Zehntenscheune in Landstuhl, Hakim began his work. The result: a historically accurate illustration of Castle Nanstein.

But back to the city festival: on Sunday around 4 p.m., Hakim and his artwork finally took the stage. Displayed on a large canvas, we presented the reconstructed Nanstein to the city of Landstuhl — represented by Mayor Mattia De Fazio — as a gift.

Afterwards, we offered posters and postcards of the artwork at our festival booth. These can now also be found in a few local shops around Landstuhl, where they’re available as souvenirs.

In addition to that highlight, Sunday at the city festival featured another special moment: As part of our quest, ten prizes were raffled among all participants. The raffle took place on Sunday at 6 p.m., right at our booth.

The prizes included four €50 vouchers for local businesses — Bookstore Stützel, Good Old Soap Shop, Wine shop Dösami, and Pizzeria Salento. We also gave away six canvases featuring Silberheim artwork.

With Karl and Manu serving as our raffle fairies, the spectacle began (more or less) on time. A small crowd had already gathered around our booth, and once the church bells finally quieted down, the drawing could begin.

Not all of our winners were present to collect their prizes immediately. Of course, we reached out to them afterwards to arrange a later handover (Louis, if you’re reading this — please get in touch!).

And as fate would have it, luck smiled upon a familiar face: Johannes, our fastest contestant, won a pizza voucher! Fate also had a sense of humor that evening — the wine shop voucher went to Neele, our youngest winner. Well… it’s never too early to start practicing. Wink. WINK!!!