From: jdoucette@venus.cc.hollandc.pe.ca (Jingle bells, mortar shells, VC in the grass...)
Subject: Re: SCA geography (was: through a looking ...)
Summary: Taking the time to know fully what you're getting into. 
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Holland College - Charlottetown PEI
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 14:24:00 GMT

In article <uplink.724672373@cwis>, uplink@cwis.unomaha.edu (Axel Rose) writes...
>	Of course, the followup from my perspective is, "If we can have
>people from non-European backgrounds, why can't we have personas from
>fictional backgrounds?"
> 
>	I used to like the SCA, but I had this big problem with it: Why
>couldn't I come in as the character I wanted to be?  A few of my friends
>are this way too.  I originally wanted to come in as a character whose
>name was not period (spawned out of too many AD&D gaming sessions), and
>whose race was decidedly not human.  I was told, "NO."
> 
>	You have to understand.  For me, I'm doing good when I decide I
>can get into the silly costumes and play the Kingdom game.  But when I'm
>told that I can't do what I want to do, then it's time for me to start
>making trouble as a way to protest.  And making trouble is what I, and
>those previously mentioned friends, are very VERY good at.
> 
>	Aside from being a half-elven lord of swords, my close friend
>Calvin Aristan wanted to enter as a ninja.  He was told no, the ninja
>weren't period, he couldn't be one because he wasn't Asian, etc., etc.
>Calvin's got the skills necessary, but because his "ninja" skills are
>actually modern-day commando techniques, he was told he wasn't period.
> 
>	David Milner wanted to come in as another persona, the Silver
>Prince.  I can understand why some who had worked very hard to gain the
>actual SCA title of "Prince" would have felt angry at this newcomer's
>claim to the title.  But I hope that group understood when, after they
>told Dave to come up with a new name, and kicked him out when he didn't
>change, he got them evicted from a local public facility during an
>event.
> 
>	My point?  Maybe I don't have one.  Maybe I'm so frustrated at
>the SCA and the Kingdom game that I came online to rant & rave and see
>just how many people flame me.  (Go ahead, BTW: I haven't had a good
>laugh since Drizzt and I went at it a while back.)  Maybe I'd like to 
>know what makes the SCA so arrogant to push every other Medievalist
>group out of business?  (I don't know whether this is true or not.)
> 
>	If you want to know who I am, I was a member of the Barony of
>Lonely Tower for quite some time (although I never really understood
>just quite what I had to do to get ahead in the SCA... no one would 
>ever tell me).  I won't tell you my mundane name or my Society name,
>just be satisfied with the name of the role I play now:
> 

	I'm not even in the SCA (yet...wait for it) but I just couldn't let 
this one go.
	First off, the SCA is not perfect.  By default, any large 
organization will have faults ad infinitum.  Even so, I would imagine most 
members of the Society feel the pros far outweigh the cons.
	All I have to say about your wanting to be a fictional persona...I 
do know what you mean.  I would dearly love to be one of my AD&D
characters.  But that's missing the point.  This is the Society for 
Creative Anachronism -- that last word means, more or less, things which 
have gone before, a throw-back to a bygone age.  As far as I know, there 
were no elves or dwarves or orcs wandering around the planet in the period 
the SCA is stated as re-creating.  So if you came into the SCA hoping like 
mad that you could be a half-elf...nice try but when they explained to you 
more fully what exactly A in SCA meant you should have decided, then and 
there, if you really wanted to remain in the Society.
	Your friend who would not change his name from the Silver Prince...
too bad.  When he DID gain the right (remember, the Middle Ages invented 
the term 'feudalism') calling himself the Silver Prince would have been 
extremely in period and a good honourific.  Because he did not change his 
name he, in effect, said "(expletive deleted) you...I want this name and 
I'm not going to even listen to you."  He also snubbed those who by dint of 
very very very hard work have gained the right to use the title 'Prince'.
It is analogous to calling yourself the heavyweight champ without having 
fought.
	Modern-day commando techniques are NOT ninja skills -- I know, I am 
a soldier and they do not teach us ninjitsu.  Yes they teach us techniques 
of stealth but being a ninja is much much more than just being able to 
sneak around in the dark...
	When I was talking with some friends in the SCA I mentioned that 
I'd like to form a Roman Cohort or a Highland Regiment.  They pointed out 
that those two organizations were outside the period, one a few hundred 
years before, the second a hundred years after.  I had not been aware of 
the exact period being examined but when I was made aware, I changed my 
mind.  I currently have no idea what kind of unit to form, but I am bending 
my energies to working in period.
	Because the Society won't let you be a persona out of a fantasy 
novel does not mean they are a bunch of arrogant bastards.  It does mean 
that they are preserving the charter of the SCA, namely to re-enact certain 
aspects of Medieval life for a variety of reasons, the chief among those 
being to have fun, to explore history, to see what your ancestors lived 
like and to have fun.
	I won't comment on the European/non-European thing because I do not 
know all the specifics.  From the posts on the Rialto, I do know it is a 
subject for debate among long- and short-time SCAdians.
	And as for making trouble...trouble-makers, certain kinds any road, 
are needed in any organization.  The kind, your kind, that make trouble to 
make trouble are not.
	The SCA is not for everyone.  If you have decided to depart, please 
try to be a mature adult about the whole situation.

John Doucette
SCAdian-in-waiting