A question on War

I. Marc Carlson IMC at vax2.utulsa.edu
Tue Jul 18 06:53:08 PDT 1995


Let me lump some of these together here in an effort to slow the number
of messages

From: keandbc at ix.netcom.com (Keith Ewing)
Subject: Re: A question on War
>Ansteorra is presently a main combatant in only one war. The Gulf War. 
>Ansteorrans travel all over the known world to attend wars in which 
>other kingdoms are the main combatants, but the kingdom is only 
>involved in Gulf Wars. I answered your last question first.

That's all right.  I've never been critical of our Main war, although the
rationalization for it escapes me.  However, if rumor is to be believed,
and I will do so in this case as it may indicate a possible trend, we
are actively *soliciting* wars.

>Now the first part of the first question, "why?". From a fighters 
>standpoint it is the only way to test one aspect of our art. 

This makes perfect sense to me, particularly as regards the recreating
period strategies for experimentation (Although I do question how effective
such recreations can be without details such as cavalry and organized 
drilling of one's troops (which is something I've not seen Ansteorrans
all that keen on)).   I can even understand the fact that for the 
participants (and even some observers) wars can be fun and an opportunity
to do things that normal one on one combat doesn't allow.

>More on "Why?". From the standpoint of any Scadian, wars are an 
>excellent opportunity to meet people from other parts of the known 
>world and exchange ideas with them...

As a Scadian who does not see that wars are an excellent opportunity, since
they are not advertised or presented as such, I must question your use of
the word "any".  Your message is the *first* time I have heard anyone
discuss wars as ANYTHING other than "an unsightly brawl" (since we don't
use artillery :) ), (other than Pennsic, which has become well known for
its non-combatant aspect).

>...
>I could go on. I haven't mentioned dancing or reveling or enchanted 
>ground or kingdom patriotism yet.

That's all right, the points you *have* made have been more than adequate
to suggest that there might be other reasons to attend the Gulf Wars.

>Now to answer the last part of your first question, "Why so MANY?"
>I have never considered one annually to be "Many".  

One annually is not "Many", you are correct.  Moreover, for every kingdom
to have their "own" war may well be a good thing in that they could serve
to take some of the population pressures off of Pennsic.  OTOH, doing so
could "Glut" the market, making wars less "Cosmopolitan" since people
would have no reason to tavel that far to attend a war.

I suppose the root of my questions has to do with a certain dissatisfaction
that the growth of the "War" thing just reinforces the point that the Society
is centered on heavy weapons fighting, and everything else is little more
than keeping the camp followers busy.

>Kein MacEwan, Warlord of Ansteorra. (Does it show?)

Not usually :)

Diarmuit



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