minstrel: Re: the Triatian war- Gunnar raves!

[RBoyd40076 at aol.com]

 Anybody know anything about this?  It seems a bit strange to me...
 Mikal Hrafspa

---------- Forwarded message ----------
>On to things of triatia. 
===============

Is there some confusion about the war itself, Mikal?   I recall, some 5 years
ago when I arrived in Calontir that there was a mock-serious mini-war between
the Barony of Three Rivers (St. Louis) and someone from over in SE Kansas (I
think) who was annexing 3R for "Triatia".

Are they still having a Triatian war (have I been clueless for 5 long years-
don't answer that!) or is this a restart on an old event?
=============== 

>The problem is that Triatia War is not having any war point for the bards.
 >The reason for this according to the Autocrat and Marshal is that no bards
>showed up for any of the meetings, asked about it, or anything else.  This
>is not true.   After the autocrat and marshal had decided what they were
>going to do, in a private meeting, they then asked what could be done to
>improve, do it better, etc.  When two of the bards in the shire asked about
>bardic, we were told there weren't going to be any for the reason stated
>above.   When asked why they didn't ask us then or include one of us or ask
>the minister of Arts and Sciences (that's me here), they blew it off, 
>changed the subject and would not entertain anything doing with bardic
>other than to say that they wouldn't be turned away.  
===============

This pretty well says it all about the status of the bardic arts here and
elsewhere!

As I noted before, SCA tends to get stereotyped into sword-and-board; as we
see here, because the Powers That Be (i.e. the people who actually do the
grunt work of event planning) don't take us seriously.

Think about it: why should the fighters have any practical claim to "theme"
in events- especially to the extent that the SCA is in danger of becoming a
double elim tourney society at times?

Answer:   Numbers.   Enthusiasm.   Organization (marshals, heralds, Warbands
(with warband encampments), Knight peers).   Equipment (tons and tons of
armor that has to be put somewhere).   And above all: tradition.   We have DE
tourneys because we have ALWAYS had DE tourneys.

Compared to that, is it any surprise that a couple of bards got overlooked?
  Is it any surprise that, in the weight of momentum, a demand for
"arbitrary" change comming "out of nowhere" from a couple of "fringe interest
types" (including the MoAS, fer Gawds sake!) would be looked upon by the
"mainstream" as a petty annoyance?

The sad truth is, the SCA is propelled by interest blocks who gain their
leverage by strategic position:

fighters: see above
costumers: most of these are the Court crowd, thus have "connections"
brewers: see fighters
archers: struggling, but managing due to organization and discipline
armorers: see fighters

Now, think about all the "other" interests you rarely see at events:

equestrians: big animals, not that common, lots of poopy to clean up
light weapons: the "ungodly" to fighters: see above
leathercrafters: make armor and belt pouches, ignored otherwise
woodwork, glass blowers, ceramics, beadwork: hard to do in double elim
gardening, stone masonry, shipbuilding: castles don't travel well

And bards?
Theoretically- we should (and have, from time to time) be a natural for
events, especially weekenders or major wars.   We take up space at night when
the fighting stops; we entertain; we give the HW fighters someone to lip
synch to while getting drunk; we provide solice to everyone else who are not
represented at events (see above); we provide light from fires, torches,
etc., to help the nightwatch avoid tripping over tent wires and passed out HW
types; and (if anyone cares to listen) we do provide some atmosphere and
culture thus raising the typical weekender above the level of the WW2 groups.

In practice- two lonely, and I daresay obscure, individuals with a low taste
for fyrewalking (including the MoAS, fer Gawds sake!) get overlooked in the
planning and snubbed when they complain---

---because bards have no "position"---

---because no one realizes what we can offer!

We need to pull it together, people.   At least the archers are holding their
own because of teamwork.

Gunnar Redbeard (&*%$#@%?#&=_+*$#)  (?)  (see above)
RBoyd40076 at aol.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, send email to majordomo at pbm.com containing
the words "unsubscribe minstrel". To contact a human about problems, send
mail to owner-minstrel at pbm.com