Combat Comes to Lions Gate
(From the Barony of Lions Gate's 25th Anniversary memorial book, as told by Bjorn of Havok, June AS XXXVI. Included with permission.)
The First Meeting
or How I spent my summer vacation - for a long time!
Shortly after the earth cooled, a friend of mine that was a fellow war gamer (bunch of guys that played with toy soldiers) told me about a bunch of weird science fiction folks that were in a group in Seattle that dressed up in weird costumes and hit each other with sticks. at that point I was feeling the symptoms of martial arts withdrawal. I had been doing Judo for some time but the body was getting broken and I could no longer compete. However this sounded like a nice, easy sport.
At the appointed hour I showed up at the house of an otherwise respectable movie critic and his wife, Michel le Voyageur, and Susan the Opaque. As I recall the other conspirators were to become - Pere Daniel, Astistinalvich Griadene, Tiara nic Anflishtir (Notes), and Shea of Green Mountain (Notes). The interested student will probably look up the spelling of the above names and find mine are not remotely close. this is because at that meeting when I saw what other names were like, I resolved to be an illiterate Viking with a short name, and this has stood me in good stead since.
Michael and Susan Walsh explained some of the background of the SCA, but were a tad vague in substance to questions on the fighting. Something about wearing armor and hitting with weapons made of rattan and wrapped in duct tape. What's rattan several folks asked? "I know" I said, "it's used for weaving baskets." At that time I worked for a neighborhood house and was involved in running recreation programs for ages from preschool to adults. Weaving baskets - I knew. On that basis plus my demonstrated high pain threshold (remember the Judo) I became the Knights marshal. The word went out through the war gaming community, we can play war games for real. the only problem was most of us were not much in the way of athletes and we had minus Zero idea how it worked.
No Problem! Armor we had. All we had to do was get hockey gear and we were set. Shields, no problem - one of the group saw the spun aluminum tops for the trash cans in the City of Vancouver and contacted the manufacturer. Swords. Well... I got several rolls of rattan. Yes, I am talking about the 1/4 inch diameter vines, and soaked them so they were straight (sort of) bundles, then wrapped them with duct tape. The only problem was that they were a bit whippy. So we evolved a couple of odd fighting habits. The shield was held out at arms length and our wallets were always kept in the left hip pocket as butt armor. A habit I keep to this day. Thus did we while away the winter. At that time we had only the one helmet, a hockey cap and a catcher's mask, but we traded around, one person hitting, the other blocking.
Came the Spring and we headed down to our first event at Ravenna Park in Seattle. We only had one complete set of armor so I was designated to be the fist one to fight. Oh the excitement we felt! Oh the stifled laughter when the real folks saw the hockey pads. However - the true hallmark of those days was courtesy. I was quickly offered the loan of enough equipment to try fighting. I was bundled into Liam of the Barque's mail, a spare Hippogriff helm, other bits, and a real SCA sword and thrown out against a fighter (I think it was Styrbjorn Hrolfsson but I remember he bore pine trees on a white field) (Notes). There then begun a wondrous match. My opponent led me through the moves, encouraged my attempts, taught me what it was like to be hit. After, there was no mirth from the watchers but only happiness and encouragement.
Gentles, all that read this and smile at our beginnings, know that without the kindness and generosity shown to me at that first event I would probably not have spent the effort to drive down from North Vancouver to Seattle on a week night for fighting practices, then back home that same night so I could go to work the next day. Such is the obligation of the dream.
Bjorn of HavOk
Notes
Editor's notes:
- Tiara nic Anflishtir: probably Tara nic an Fhleisdeir
- Shea of Green Mountain: Seaghda of Green Mountain aka Daoud Barbarossa ed Din
- Styrbjorn Hrolfsson bearing pine trees on a white field: research reveals that Styrbjorn Hrolfsson does indeed bear arms which include three red pine trees on a white field.