Well I had just written a long detailed account of the day and it went splat on the internet. Now I am tired and not wanting to write it all again. So it is the short version.

It was a good event. Small turnout. Rain mseed up parts. I ran the rapier melee and came in second in the rapier tourney. Ran a bypass Combat Archery auth for a friend who has been in the SCA about 30 years and this is his first combat auth of any kind. That was cool. Got to watch sgtgintaras in command. He did very well. It was the only event before Pennsic that he and I would be at as CO and XO. I am happy to be back as an XO. Single combats were rained out. Jondo made great food again. Pool party was rained out. So da_bearon and family took us to Laser Tag for the teenagers to play.

Got home picked a tipsy sgtgwn from her party and soon it is time for bed.

I am about to get to bed. Tomorrow is Ethyl. Rapier fighting in the morning. Boffer marshal in the middle. Armored in the afternoon. Huge meat pot luck. Evening swim.

A simple fun event.

Unless it storms.

Hope for good weather.

Your result for The hardcore SCA Test...

King's Advisor

You scored 85% hardcore SCA!

Take The hardcore SCA Test at HelloQuizzy

I was brought way down by the crafts question.

Posted with permission:

Let me be clear- those SCA fighters who live within the geographical area known as the Middle Kingdom, who bear arms against the Midrealm army for any reason whatsoever gain dishonor through this action, based upon period parameters.
In the period we study it was the dream of every man-at-arms to be rich enough that he could fight without requiring payment from anyone. This situation would gain him admiration and love, and the envy of others who shared the desire for the perfect situation in the life of arms. To be that rich and choose to live a dangerous life anyway- that was the perfect situation.
Any SCA fighter can live that dream. THAT is what "the Dream" means.

This is what I mean by the middle ages as they should have been. Not some fantasy of another age, but the dream of the middle ages themselves.

Had a great time at chentzu and layni_girl's party. Still there at the moment. We had some really good fighting. Not the largest turnout, but good stuff. druminmychest was here for the first time. ourflagiswhite and I had some good exchanges. little_deer was back in armor, even though we did not get to fight, I was glad to see her back. And it was nice to meet Spanky.

We had so much food. I am not sure how we keep coming up with more food than we can all eat in this group.

Then lots of great schmoozing, geeking, and staying up until 4am with talkisdead. Very good stuff.

Now it is off to the next visit!

I have been to every Pennsic since 13. Now that is not as long as some, but it is 24 in a row. I have never had a bad time. Some have been better than others. Pennsic is special, I can not imagine not going. It would not feel right to me. I have many great memories of Pennsic. It has not mattered if we lost the war. I still have great tales of fun and glory. Winning is fun to. But not winning the war. That is OK, but I can not even tell you which wars that we have won save two. Eislan's and Kenna's wars. And I only remember we won those for other reasons. I remember winning battles. The Bridge at 13. The Champions Tourney at 23. The Field Battle at 25. The Woods Battle at 34. The Maze Battle whenever that was. All of those hold personal memories. Winning is exciting at the time, but that fades. It is the glories of the battles that stay with me. Hard fought battles with amazing personal moments.

The song Three to One really tells the story of how I feel about winning at Pennsic better than I could ever could. With permission from loreleiskye ( Three to One )

Sir Theodric EikBrandr, General of the MIdrealm Army and trusted friend, took the time to reply to my rant and explain more of what happended. If you took the time to read my rant, I implore you to read his reply.

All I have to add is that while I want to win every battle at every Pennsic, and I have been to all of them since 13 that is 24 in a row, I still think we should fight for the joy of combat and that all SCA wars should have nearly even sides.

If you are not in the SCA you can skip ( this )

Went to Illiton fighter practice tonight with two other Lochmorrow fighters. We got a late start as someone else was late for a change. But it was a great practice. chentzu brought my armor and other stuff that he had got for me from Jubilee. We did do some fighting, but not that much considering how long it had been. alzbeta_m and birchduck and I did spear practice with the two of them working against me. This was a very fun way to practice and yet almost like a drill for all of us. starwolf_129 and I did two handed swords. druminmychest and I had several good passes and I tried to impart some wisdom on him, but he knows all of this stuff now. He just has to put the pieces together. Michael of Ivy continues to be a real danger. I only fought armored due to our being late. But about 20 of us invaded Steak and Shake after we were done with practice.

A very fun night.

The time I had at Jubilee was pretty good even if it started and ended poorly. I got there later than I wanted to on Friday because bunches of little things just kept adding up. Like the phone call from layni_girl telling me that she and chentzu would not be coming over until Sunday and she was not sure if she was going to come over at all. Having to stop and get food, etc. Then all those little things, sadly, made me miss the baby shower for neojupiter.

But from then on it was good. First I found that draconisregena was able to come for a short time. It was nice to see her and suck some energy. Then I got a call from ladyroisin telling me that she was coming down! So I got setup in good order near mairegirl and cannedtomatos. I even got zix123 to help out before let him to hang out with his friends. That evening was some wonderful energy and conversation. It was sad that draconisregena had to leave to go work a doulbe shift on Saturday but it was good to see her having some fun on this continent. I did lose track of gunvor7 after putting Sean to bed. I assumed I would catch up with her the next night...

The demos went well. A decent amount of fighting. We paired off the chiv with ladyroisin and I on one side and Sir Guerric and Duke Bardolph leading the other. We fought six melees total during the day splitting them three each, which is just wonderful for everyone. One of those contained the most amazing save that I can remember. Sir Guerric stepped perfectly into engagement and started a shot that I had zero chance to block or dodge. Then ladyroisin came out of no where with nothing but a shield, having lost her sword arm, and somehow blocked the shot. I fought lots of good pickups with her as well during the day. She had nothing to prove to me about her skill, but I found it interesting when people came up to me and said they saw clearly why she was made a knight.

I also did my share of helping, by fighting three authorizations during the day and trying to keep the fighter organized for the melees. It is a demo after all. Between the fighting, yes I took about a two hour break, I got to see Rathwin, a former Iron Steeder that I never see enough of and his lovely wife Deb.

So it was a good time even if it ended abruptly. This makes 26 consecutive Jubilee Olde English Faires for me. The event is not what it used to be. I miss the old days of the afternoon war practice, the 70 fighters on the field, the wet chemise contest, the times when it was the MIddle Kingdom Demo, the parties that went until three in the morning, etc. but things change. Fun was still there to be had. The crowd still got a good show. It is still a great place to show the public what the SCA is. And hopefully come up with more people who will always love Jubilee because it is where they first saw the SCA.

I think I need some. I really want to write about all the good things at Jubilee before the phone call, but I really am too tired. I slept in a recliner at the hospital last night. I did not fall asleep until after 2 was woke up at 5:30 by the nurse checking Jen and was up to stay at 7. Tried to nap when we got home but I was waiting for Jen's car and my stuff to come home, so I could not fall asleep.

Now bed for 9 hours sounds good, but I still do not know where my stuff is other than in transit. I feel like I should stay up and wait to here from Tarin. But I am so tired.

I made a new tent pole to replace the one that broke at Pennsic. I bought the wood. Cut it to size. Drilled out the hole for the metal spike and installed the spike. I did a second one, but I could not get the spike out of the old pole. I think that means that the pole is still good.

Now this new pole has yet to be tested...

I am very disappointed and sad. No one's fault. Just a very bad situation. I had to call and not have zix123 get on the train today. He will be even more upset. At least next weekend is Jubilee.


Greetings to the loyal friends of the Griffon and Dragon,

It is with a heavy heart that the Autocrats of Border Skirmish V, set to
start today and run through Sunday, inform you that the event is cancelled due to heavy rains last night at the campsite. There is between 2-4 inches of standing water all over the fields. We were hoping that the weather would hold and the event could continue as planned but Mother Nature has decided against that. The skirmish between the Kingdoms of Northshield and the Midrealm has been put on hold for our lands to dry from the wet. We are sorry for the last minute notice to you all.

We ask the populace of the Known World to help spread the word of the event being cancelled to as many lists as we can.

We are hoping to reschedule the Border Skirmish event for a later time in the summer/fall. We will send correspondence in regards to a new date as soon as we can.

Thank you for your understanding and we hope to see you at Border Skirmish V later in the year. If anyone has any questions either of the autocrats would be happy to help you. Their contact info is below:

Mistress Tatiana Marana Melville 262-513-1271 (h) 262-879-2809 (w-Fri 13th 8:30-2:30p) tatianam@ameritech.net

Baroness Kristiana of Arden 847-921-6229
kristianaofarden@hotmail.com

Yours in Service,
The Autocrats of Border Skirmish V


EDIT: I have no doubt that this is the correct choice or the autocrats would not have made it. It is going to be a nightmare for them.

I have been officially made the XO of the Midlands Army for the remainder of this war season. I will be serving under sgtgintaras the recently appointed CO. He asked me if I would be willing to serve under him. I am thrilled to do so. I remember my time in command and the ones as an unbelt are much more memorable. I hope that I can offer him advice in the background and be the knight in the foreground when he needs it.

It has been over ten years since I served as a regional commander, either CO or XO. It will be my fifth time total though. I am looking forward to being back in the mix and helping Gin lead the region to glory!

Draco Invictus!

So sgtgwn calls me this morning and tells me that I need to go to her brother's house as she is getting her hair done for the wedding and her car is blocking him in. So I drive over and on the way I am caught by chentzu. He can tell the story of how oblivious I am, I do not want to go into that. But he was on his way home from the Salt Lake City and I had told him he could stay with us if he could get that far. 1000 miles was all he could do leaving him over 100 miles from here. But it was so cool to see him and he came to Dan's to wish congradulate his former brother in law.

It was odd but really nice.

I can not give the details on this, but I got a funny today.

My phone rings. I look at it and go, I do not know that number. I am on my way to get my plates renewed, but I take it. The voice says is this Sir Ix. I answer, yes it is. The voice says this is Lutr. I say, Your Majesty.

I found the sequence funny. YMMV.

My son often listens to my squire, Master John Inchingham's music. He is doing so tonight. My name's Inchingham just came up. Everytime I hear this song, I am honored beyond measure. I have had more than one song written about me. This one is about John. Yet I do not think that I can ever be more honored than anything than the this song. The chorus is like this:

I will wear this red belt with great honor. I will bring no disdain to this chain. If i never achive martial prowess, then a squire until death I'll remain.

I have had too many squires leave my service. All for their own reasons. John is a double peer in his own right. To hear him say this would be honor enough. To have it in a song for everyone to hear is beyond honor.

He is all one could ever ask for in both a peer and a squire no matter his combat level.

The more I read about the rules of the SCA, the more I know that the only right thing to do is to make sure Lutr wins on Sunday. Some people have raised concerns about the legitmacy of the tournament or their own honor if they enter Crown and yield. And those are vaild concerns. Lutr and Tessa broke the rules as they were written. This is a real Crown Tournament and it will have the same oaths given as always. So I understand the problem with entering. I do not understand the problem with not entering. Is anyone really ready to step in a be Pennsic King? How could anyone do the job as well as the people that prepared to do it for months?

But really what has got to me is the fact that reigns have been messed up over membership issues multiple times in the known world over the years and yet the BOD has done nothing to assure that it can not happen again. There are many ways they could have done this. A grace period for memberships like auto insurance has. Automatic membership extension for the people winning crown. Requiring membership extensions upon victory in the tournament to cover the entire reign. Or even changing our rules about who must be a member. They have had years to do one of these and have not done so. I am just not sure why. I know that one former BOD member reads this :) and I am not angry with any person who has been on the BOD. But the purpose of the BOD should be to protect the organization, and that includes from within as from without. The invalidation of this reign has done damage. I am sure that they all have. And likely more damage than could have been done if the internal rules were different.

OK. That is enough of that. I want to think of the SCA the ways the cheering middle school kids did at the demo last night. Where were we the knights in shining (or furry) armor.

Politics aside, the SCA is still about having fun with your friends. Chaos Caravan had and aztec theme this year and so I went. I arrived to find the drawing of me done by draconisregena plastered all over wanted style posters. This was going to be fun. Soon I was in armor and all the other fighters divided into teams. I was a free agent with gold to take from me by single combat. There was also gold to be moved from one end of the woods to the other. A great time in the woods ensued. I was not on, but I was having fun. I decided that I would fight wounds retained. This gave an opportunity for a newer fighter to drop me with a very nice thrust to a very tender region. I can not come up with her name right now, but she was thrilled to have the ability to kill me. I had great fights with Mike Ivy and Almaric. The woods were really to big for the 25 fighters we had in them, but it was great still.

Then we did some traditional war practice. I took a nasty fall over a dead fighter in the field practice. I landed on my right arm and the impact went into the shoulder. It made me sit out the next one and I mostly fought spear after that. But I did get my pole back out for the unblets training session as I needed to give them a challenge. Hah. I was not exactly swinging it. I did pick up my two swords for youth rattan fighter who really wanted to fight me. That was fine as I just used it as a threat and that worked great for his training. Then I fought with the two boffer fighters and they loved it. My right shoulder is still very sore, but I do not think it is anything long term.

Feast was a well researched Aztec style. Sean and I were seated at head table. The chocolate drinks and turkey tortillas were done perfectly. They served the chicken shaped like igaunas. druminmychest came to head table seeking an explaination on how to eat the corn on the cob. That was too funny. mistressarafina kept coming up to head table and telling the group of us how she was so below us. The shire of Grey Hope treated me like royalty all day. We did not stay late as rain was moving in. But this was just the day I need considering what else happened in the Midrealm. These are the reasons for being in the SCA. Fighting and friends with fun. Other things are part of the game, but these are the reasons to play.

From the Imperium Seneschal

I have many, many thoughts on this but they are all going to wait until I have a lot more information.

I am off to Chaos Caraan where HerRM was going to be.