West Kingdom Purgatorio Coronation XII/1977
Chronicle of Purgatorio by Lions Gate official chronicler, Maelen of Catcott (from North Wind #22, Aug 1977, newsletter of the Barony of Lions Gate)
Baron Gerhard Kendal lost one war and started another at Purgatorio, held in Big Trees, Calif., on July 30 and 31. The war with Dreiburgen was lost when Gerhard was defeated by Dreiburgen's baron, Sir Walt von Markheim, in single combat. At one of the frequent courts, Gerhard declared war on the Barony of Golden Rivers because they had tried to make Lions Gate pay a toll to cross their lands to fight Dreiburgen. Golden Rivers has accepted the challenge and a call has gone out for mercenaries and patriotic fighters to fight the first battle next spring in place of Shasta invasion.
Lions Gate had 12 representatives, if you count Maras and Bolverk, to watch Duke Paul of Bellatrix and his lady Carol crowned King and Queen of the West for the 6th time. We were but a drop in the bucket, though, considering the estimated 400 anachronists there. Melissa Kendal and Nikolai Andreov had their activities drastically limited by the intense heat. Some of the Californians were also heard to complain about it and rumour has it that it was the hottest Purgatorio on record. In spite of this, Padraic, Bolverk, and Gerhad armoured up and even won some battles.
Courts were frequent and there seemed always to be a herald yelling about something, but points of interest included Gerhard and Amanda receiving the Queen's cipher from Queen Carol, who also gave Bolverk a large sum of monopoly money to help her cross the border, and Queen Carol, Duchess Patrice, and Dunchess Lorna receiving Awards of Arms from Prince Balin of Caid. Baron Michael the Black received the first augmentation of arms in the history of the S.C.A.
The fighting and the armour were excellent, as expected, but there were many activities for the non-fighters besides watching the fighters. Several archery competitions took place, including one between the principalities. Music from krumhorns, bagpipes and voices drifted over the field, sometimes in competition with each other. On Sunday morning there was an Episcopalian service at one end of the site while a melee was in full swing at the other. Throughout most of the event, the two Monboggians present established diplomatic relations with the Khanate of the Golden Dragon.
A soon as darkness fell there appeard strange dark shadows flitting behind pavilions and trees armed with boffers. Anyone who crossed the field in dark clothing was likely to be hit by at least four of these ghostly warriors. A Ninja war was in progress, and lsted until only one fighter remained.
The madness carried on into the heat of the day, when a live chess game took place. One side fought under the banner of Lions Gate and our folk were more than a little shocked to see Gerhard and Bolverk on the opposing side (the King had ordered them there). The battle ended in victory for our side, as the other side conceded because of the heat.
Two auctions were held, one of handicrafts, and the other of rights to throw pies at particular knights, with the proceeds from both going to the land fund. The latter proved very popular, with groups getting together to buy rights to a specific knight, and knights getting each other. The audience gratly enjoyed the proceeding and it turns out there really is an art to throwing a pie to cover as much of your target and as little of you as possible.