Tuesday, September 4, 2007

From the Frontlines: September Crown

As the worthy king and fair queen of An Tir prepare to step down, the people of An Tir came together at tourney to witness the bravest and strongest in the land battle for the title of crown prince. Over a hundred champions met to fight for the honor and glory of their inspirations. Under the blazing sun they met and, after five hours, by the slimest of margins, the winner was chosen. (Really the slimest of margins - best of three in the final, each won one bout, then both of them lost their legs in the third bout.)

I did my fighting on the rapier erics. I fought in a hold-the-field tourney, a Sable Rose tourney, and passed on the golden ribbon after an hour and ten minutes of almost continuous combat to Maria Theresa, who was very psyched to receive it. I now bear a blue and black celtic knotwork ribbon on the hilt of my sword as a former bearer of the golden ribbon. Doing over an hour of fighting in the sun was an amazing rush for me, though at the end of it I could barely lift my sword. I drank about two-thirds of a gallon of water in a three-hour window centered on the fight. There were about eight people rotating to fight me, and even some of them were visibly weakening towards the end.

The site was only so-so, but being quite far away from any major light polution the night sky was incredible - stars shining out brilliantly all over the place.

I had one really good "SCA moment" - I was walking back to site from the parking lot (I ran out of water and needed to get more off site), and a guy I don't know pulls up in his pickup and offers me a lift into camp. Only in the SCA would I accept a ride from a stranger. :-)

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