From: Tim@f4229.n124.z1.fidonet.org (Tim)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Tadhg's Preferred Geographic Area
Date: 22 Jan 93 06:16:28 GMT


    Pagan le Chaunster wrote:
 JG> Unto the goodly Folk of the Rialto, and especially unto
 JG> Tadhg, does Pagan le Chaunster send Greetings!

 Hmm ... could be good news, could be bad news....

 JG>  ... I see no reason why a Celt or Viking let loose in the Laurel
 JG> kindgoms *wouldn't* be covered in multichronic booty.

 JG>    And Tadhg responded: 
  >  Sounds painfully close to what we've got right now...

 JG> Really?

 *sigh* Really...

 JG> ... In the end I'm forced to conclude that the SCA in New Zealand has
 JG> certain similarities with the SCA in its homeland, but is in many
 JG> respects a very different beastie.

 "It looks very pretty in the pictures", he said wistfully.... One of my
 professors in law school was from New Zealand; I've often thought of
 moving there when I get tired of Texans....

 Ansteorra is the fourth kingdom I've lived in, and by far the best from my
 certifiably-authenticity-nazi perspective, but I still consider it far
 from perfect. If I had to live permanently in any of the others, I'd
 probably quit (with a short list of kingdoms where I would try to take out
 as many as I could with an Uzi before I went). I guess it just goes to
 show that there's no pleasing some people....

 JG> Ever thought of founding a Great Household with a strong authenticity
 JG> bias?

 Already exists: Ordo Fraterculi Trinitatis, a congregation of clerks
 regular under the Rule of Columbanus. The habit is white with a gray
 scapular and hood. Unfortunately the number of people in the SCA who seem
 interested in the Church (which was more important in the Real Middle Ages
 than the institution of knighthood) can apparently be counted on the
 fingers of one hand. So much for authenticity.

 JG> The "Enchanted Ground" concept can work well, and can be a great spur
 JG> for people to get their stuff "right".

 Well, the "Enchanted Ground" concept is one of the areas in which I depart
 from Duke Sir Cariadoc, since I'm convinced that it more often winds up as
 the "Crosstime Engineer's Ground". Plausible authenticity requires
 consistency, and consistency merely on an individual basis isn't medieval,
 it's just paperback-fantasy. "Theme events" are a step in the right
 direction; developing our own *consistent* cross-cultural synthesis even
 more so. But I'm a minority on that....

 JG> I strongly recommend "Enchanted Evenings" (Some En-chaaan-ted
 JG> Eeev'ning...): gather at some gentle's residence from sundown until
 JG> the candles burn low to potter around and make things (a stich&bitch
 JG> in a more medieval/renaissance setting), play board-games, do a bit of
 JG> singing or dance, read from various period books, argue heraldry in
 JG> period terms, ....

 Waking up at 2 a.m. to do Matins in choir ... "Domine labia mea aperies/
 Et os meum annunciabit laudem tuam" ... and again at first light for Lauds
 ... "Deus in adiutorium meum intende/Domine ad adiuvandum me festina" ...
 I've been there. I like it. It's one of the reasons I'm still in this
 organization. It doesn't happen enough. Earth-pimple tents and coolers of
 beer around the list field and people puffing cigarettes in Court make my
 stomach hurt.

 JG> Now I'm getting all enthused again...

 *sigh* And I'm getting all depressed again. I think I'll go to bed....


 * Origin: Herald's Point * Steppes/Ansteorra * 214-699-0057 (1:124/4229)