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Twelfth Night in Montengarde
<ComicBookGuy>Best Twelfth Night Ever.<\ComicBookGuy>
Yesterday was a pretty good day. I got up early, and managed to make it to the Calgary Archery Centre all by myself (a first since they moved to the Starfield Industrial Park). It was a very close thing though - If I was even thirty seconds later I would have missed the train, which would have meant missing the last bus out to the industrial park. I would have been late for the train had I not run most of the way. Haven't jogged in awhile, but it's nice to know I haven't lost the muscle (yet - got to get back into that).
Got to the CAC just as everyone else was and entered the archery tournament. There were thirteen of us in all and I was the only novice.
The contest was a lot of fun. We were in three groups of four (plus one) and Annys (who ran the contest) also shot, though she wasn't a competitor per se. My group consisted of Sheldon, Paul and Delwin (I have no idea what her mundane name is), and apparently we had the highest combined score of the groups. I felt pretty good about how I was doing and I was getting lots of compliments from the more practiced archers.
After the contest I got a ride home and I took a short intermission from 12th night festivities. Gareth and I went to Future Shop where I picked up a copy of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere for $72 (I later found it at MusicWorld for $47, So I went back to FS and they lowered the price to about $44 and reimbursed me the difference).
Then I went to the feast. A cast-off tunic and jeans were my garb, which is good enough for someone who couldn't use a sewing machine if their life depended on it. Found a spot at the Blackwood table with a number of friends of mine.
The feast was excellent as usual (I've yet to have a bad feast at an SCA event - though I've heard it happens occasionally) - I won't get into what the food actually was because I'm not qualified. Suffice to say that I went back for seconds and was happily sated by the end of it.
And then came court.
A little background. The Society for Creative Anachronism is made up of Kingdoms, which can have Principalities, which in turn have Baronies. There are also smaller divisions, such as shire, hemishire, demishire and hemidemisemishire. The smallest division is a Bec de Corbin, consisting of a peasant eating an ice cream treat. A peasant without an ice cream treat is just a peasant and is not deserving of special term. I don't pretend to understand any of this special terminology mind you. For example, the Kingdom is run by a King and Queen (natch) and the Principality is run by a Prince and Princess, but the Prince and Princess likely aren't actually related to the King and Queen. Baronies are run by a Baron and Baroness, who are appointed to the position by the King and Queen (who allegedly take input from the populous at large).
I live in the Barony of Montengarde, which is in the Principality of Avacal, which is in the Kingdom of An Tir. Got all that? Good. Montengarde is the bunch who put on the 12th night I attended. They're not the only ones who do - it's a big thing pretty much everywhere the SCA is.
Back to court. It seems there was some kind of polling and the king and queen removed the Baron and Baroness. Thus the Barony of Montengarde could not actually have a Baronial court this year. The Prince and Princess were there though, as where some royals from neighboring regions. This made for a short but thoroughly enjoyable court - It can get a little tedious after the first hour.
As an aside, a bunch of people boycotted the event. As temper tantrums go it was a pretty ineffective one. Why punish the event organizers for a decision the Kingdom made? It's a little like being pissed off at the corner store because you don't like Coca-Cola's corporate policies. I don't blame the former Baron and Baroness though - In their shoes I wouldn't have come either. That's not a boycott though - it's just avoiding an event you're not going to enjoy because everyone is going to keep bringing up a touch subject.
For me, the highlight of court was being called up because I won the best novice category of the archery tournament. Remember - the one I was the only novice in. Well I actually did really good despite my self-depreciatory comments. I got 29 points. The lowest score was 9 and the highest was 52 (Paul) which is just a little shy of the median. I also tied Delwin for highest score on one of the targets. For this wonderful victory a got a cool-as-hell medallion that I'm nagging Lisa into making a chain for so I can wear it to events.
Getting called up in front of the royals the first time was a little unnerving as I had no idea what was expected of me. My urge was to sprint past Annys and snatch the medallion from her hand so that nobody could see me. I didn't actually do this though. Instead I managed to remember to bow to the royals and stand off to the side with a big shit-eating grin.
Ok, so winning novice in an archery tournament (especially when you're the only novice) isn't that big a deal - I'm still proud so mo-mo-nanny-boo-boo.
I've avoided getting too heavily into the SCA prior to this, but the lure is much higher now. Plus I think this archery thing is for me. I may never match the Hero/Malabar/Dalton's of the world, but who cares. I can hold my own and it's a pleasant way to spend my Friday evenings.
On a final note, is it just me or was the hall loaded with great looking women? Damn, I gotta work on that whole introducing myself thing.
Yesterday was a pretty good day. I got up early, and managed to make it to the Calgary Archery Centre all by myself (a first since they moved to the Starfield Industrial Park). It was a very close thing though - If I was even thirty seconds later I would have missed the train, which would have meant missing the last bus out to the industrial park. I would have been late for the train had I not run most of the way. Haven't jogged in awhile, but it's nice to know I haven't lost the muscle (yet - got to get back into that).
Got to the CAC just as everyone else was and entered the archery tournament. There were thirteen of us in all and I was the only novice.
"How well did you do?" someone would ask.Now, I've shot before, but never more than casually, and since I sliced my finger open last August, I haven't shot. That ended last week when I shot for the first time in at least six months. I didn't suck, but I wasn't what you'd call good. The problem with hanging around with Da Union (the Archers of Avacal) is the fact that the level of talent is so good that anything less than consistent bulls eyes becomes (in a neurotic mind such as mine) abject failure. Not that Da Union has anything to do with this internal depreciation - they've been nothing but encouraging.
"I was best in my class". I would say.
"Cool".
"'Course, I was the only person in my class."
The contest was a lot of fun. We were in three groups of four (plus one) and Annys (who ran the contest) also shot, though she wasn't a competitor per se. My group consisted of Sheldon, Paul and Delwin (I have no idea what her mundane name is), and apparently we had the highest combined score of the groups. I felt pretty good about how I was doing and I was getting lots of compliments from the more practiced archers.
After the contest I got a ride home and I took a short intermission from 12th night festivities. Gareth and I went to Future Shop where I picked up a copy of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere for $72 (I later found it at MusicWorld for $47, So I went back to FS and they lowered the price to about $44 and reimbursed me the difference).
Then I went to the feast. A cast-off tunic and jeans were my garb, which is good enough for someone who couldn't use a sewing machine if their life depended on it. Found a spot at the Blackwood table with a number of friends of mine.
The feast was excellent as usual (I've yet to have a bad feast at an SCA event - though I've heard it happens occasionally) - I won't get into what the food actually was because I'm not qualified. Suffice to say that I went back for seconds and was happily sated by the end of it.
And then came court.
A little background. The Society for Creative Anachronism is made up of Kingdoms, which can have Principalities, which in turn have Baronies. There are also smaller divisions, such as shire, hemishire, demishire and hemidemisemishire. The smallest division is a Bec de Corbin, consisting of a peasant eating an ice cream treat. A peasant without an ice cream treat is just a peasant and is not deserving of special term. I don't pretend to understand any of this special terminology mind you. For example, the Kingdom is run by a King and Queen (natch) and the Principality is run by a Prince and Princess, but the Prince and Princess likely aren't actually related to the King and Queen. Baronies are run by a Baron and Baroness, who are appointed to the position by the King and Queen (who allegedly take input from the populous at large).
I live in the Barony of Montengarde, which is in the Principality of Avacal, which is in the Kingdom of An Tir. Got all that? Good. Montengarde is the bunch who put on the 12th night I attended. They're not the only ones who do - it's a big thing pretty much everywhere the SCA is.
Back to court. It seems there was some kind of polling and the king and queen removed the Baron and Baroness. Thus the Barony of Montengarde could not actually have a Baronial court this year. The Prince and Princess were there though, as where some royals from neighboring regions. This made for a short but thoroughly enjoyable court - It can get a little tedious after the first hour.
As an aside, a bunch of people boycotted the event. As temper tantrums go it was a pretty ineffective one. Why punish the event organizers for a decision the Kingdom made? It's a little like being pissed off at the corner store because you don't like Coca-Cola's corporate policies. I don't blame the former Baron and Baroness though - In their shoes I wouldn't have come either. That's not a boycott though - it's just avoiding an event you're not going to enjoy because everyone is going to keep bringing up a touch subject.
For me, the highlight of court was being called up because I won the best novice category of the archery tournament. Remember - the one I was the only novice in. Well I actually did really good despite my self-depreciatory comments. I got 29 points. The lowest score was 9 and the highest was 52 (Paul) which is just a little shy of the median. I also tied Delwin for highest score on one of the targets. For this wonderful victory a got a cool-as-hell medallion that I'm nagging Lisa into making a chain for so I can wear it to events.
Getting called up in front of the royals the first time was a little unnerving as I had no idea what was expected of me. My urge was to sprint past Annys and snatch the medallion from her hand so that nobody could see me. I didn't actually do this though. Instead I managed to remember to bow to the royals and stand off to the side with a big shit-eating grin.
Ok, so winning novice in an archery tournament (especially when you're the only novice) isn't that big a deal - I'm still proud so mo-mo-nanny-boo-boo.
I've avoided getting too heavily into the SCA prior to this, but the lure is much higher now. Plus I think this archery thing is for me. I may never match the Hero/Malabar/Dalton's of the world, but who cares. I can hold my own and it's a pleasant way to spend my Friday evenings.
On a final note, is it just me or was the hall loaded with great looking women? Damn, I gotta work on that whole introducing myself thing.
Archery, eh?
--Sean
Re: Archery, eh?
The targets were hand drawn and portrayed things like a guy in armour threatening a lady. Hit the guy in armour, get a point. Get the eye-slit in his helmet, get two points. Hit the lady by accident, lose a point.
Another target had a medieval death figure threatening a baby. I'm happy to say that only one archer hit the baby and it wasn't me.
As to how I officially rank? If I recall correctly, I'm a novice for my first year shooting, so next year I have to join intermediate. One archer (who came in second overall) claimed that he should be a novice - arguing that he had been shooting less than a year *in Montengarde*, even though he was a crack shot and had competed many times before in the SCA. Needless to say, I don't agree with this interpretation of the rules.
The SCA does have an official scoring system, and I'll get one of the marshalls to administer it for me so I can see where I stand. I want to practice at 30m and 40m more before I do though.
Re: Archery, eh?
(Anonymous) 2004-01-23 02:46 am (UTC)(link)Re: Archery, eh?