The list field should be a place where all fighters are welcome regardless of whatever background they come from. When one group of fighters talks down to another, likely without knowing it, the result can lead to pushing fighters out of our sport.

Often this happens with the best of intentions.

I would like to ask fighters to take a moment to think about this situation and consider their role. This isn’t a call out. No single person is to blame.  We all are to blame to some extent, either by doing it or allowing it. Silence can often look like acceptance.

At a recent event I was talking with a fighter on the side of the list. At a point in our conversation she told me that she enjoys fighting her friend. She wants them to do well, and they are determined, and have a goal. Who is she to stand in their way of achieving their goal?

I can say I have also felt this way in the past, is this a mentality can that leads to the best results in your personal fight?

Before I dive into that, let’s look at another similar example.

There seems to be a number of questions and confusion about about how getting peered works.
What roles do the King and Queen play?
How do members the orders  play into the process?
What is the poll?

These are many questions we’ll explore together, as we review the mechanical process of becoming a peer.

“How do I become a peer?” is an on going question. It has a complicated and personal answer, but, until you understand this process, any advice on that front will be inaccurate.

What is the peerage process? Read More »

For whom do you fight? Do you fight for yourself? Or for something else?

Tournaments provides an opportunity to gain renown for yourself and your consort. It is a good thing to fight in tournaments.

On the other side of coin, being part of something bigger is what attaches a lot of fighters to the SCA. For a good number of fighters, large melees are the highlight of what we do we in the SCA.

What other sport can you play along with the biggest legends of the game?

At the end of the day back in camp no matter what happened there is always a story of, “No Shit, there we were, and we turned the corner and there they were, at least two hundred of them!”

A lot of people believe in what we do so much, they dedicate many hours attending what I can only think of as the most boring board meeting, at the happiest place on earth. To put together a plan that will hopefully give our side and edge and win the day.
Read More »

Recently social media sites have been filling up with memes, rumors, outrage and popcorn worthy levels of about some King doing this or that, what Peer said a thing they shouldn’t (or should have), and who is outraged by it all.

Each time something like this happens, many people claim it is the end of the SCA as we know it. I, for one, would like to take a step back.  For a group that studies history, we sometimes don’t allow it to give us the perspective that maybe it should.

When you take the long view on history, the black/white dogma of the day fades away, and what is left is sometimes vastly more complex, and yet more simple. When you get right down to it, very few people in our society do a thing out of malice.  Most are just people trying to get by any way they can, figuring things out with the cards as best as they are able.

To give an example of this, I would like to tell you a tale of SCA history long past, far before my time in the Society. It’s a tale some have heard around the campfire, although it might sound just a like a meme for some post you saw today. Read More »

At a North Oaken War maneuvers very early early in my SCA career, my third event, there was a torch light tournament.

As the name describes it was a tournament to be held in the dark, with only a hint of flickering light from which to determine if that thing coming at your head was a sword or paranoia.

This praticular NOWM was also a wedding celebration complete with a tournament.

Prizes were awarded by the newlyweds, but they took recommendations from those participating.

I remember a lot of flailing around in the dark, I can’t recall if I even won a single fight.

All the same, King Felix recommended me for The Mark of Courage for just jumping in to get him.  Read More »

At a recent fight practice, I asked a local unbelt for a few passes. He responded with something to the effect of, “Okay, but are you just going to hit me a lot to teach me a lesson?”

“Certainly not”, I responded. “I don’t fight to, ‘teach anyone a lesson’, I make an opportunity to learn, for myself as well as my opponents.”

Read More »

I love tournaments, meeting your opponent face to face, and taking part in a mutual kinship of competition. This is one of the few venues in life when both parties can walk away improved. As such I have always loved Crown, it is all of that and a lot more.

We put on our fanciest garb, we hang banners, and get bards to boast funny and over exaggerated things. On the side of list is the biggest inspiration of your life, encouraging and watching the entire enterprise. It is a grand thing in deed.

However,  I’m saddened so few competitors entered the list with a smile, while at Crown. Read More »

A vigil is an important part of the elevation process, and it has many customs and traditions of its own, one of which is the vigil book Read More »

Over the years, the number of people competing in Crown Tournament has gotten a lot smaller compared to days of yore. There could be a number of explanations for this: the disappearance of an Invitational Crown list, the start of the Tournament of Chivalry, and the general addition of a number of other ways an Unbelt can gain word fame without fighting in Crown.

These explanations are not necessarily the causes of a decline in participation, but instead may stem from one common branch. Read More »