Lyonesse was Re: principalities...border

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

>> Quoth Mikjal...
>>
>>OK, here's a (potentially) dumb question: If most everyone really
>>likes "high persona" events like Lyonesse and the Pennsic Pas d'Armes
>>and other similar real medieval tourney formats, why do we keep doing
>>modern NCAA-style elimination tourneys?
>>
>>Mikjal Annarbjorn
>>
>
>My guess would be that they are simply about 5-10 time easier to put on well, 
>I shared an office with Sir Pendaren when he and his lady love were
>preparing to host Ladies Tournement of Chivalry, and the amount of work they
>put into it was substatnially more that a regular "play-off" tourney... well
>worth it of course, but it was without a doubt a Tourney of love for them
>both...
>
>I'm still gladly impressed thay BjornsBorg is able to do it year after
>yaer... perhaps they should be renamed the "Barony of Love".. or would that
>be misconstrued ;) 
>
>Caladin

Heilsa, All!

        The other factor is initial cost... onec you've been doing a high
persona event for a while, your group builds a bunch of regalia and props...
your startup cost for getting these together can be very high.  Also, these
types of events require lavish hospitality to feel "right" in many cases.
And it takes a lot of people working together to make it happen.

        To take Lyonesse, which I know well, there is an autocrat who is
responsible for doing standard autocrat things like getting the site,
porta-potties, pavilions, list ropes, etc.  We have also Lady Lyonesse, aka
Baroness Mari, who arranges much of the pagentry involved.  Then we have the
Ladies of the four Fields:  Lady Falcon, Lady Bear, LAdy Stag and Lady
Dragon.  These four individuals are what make the event work.  It's so
demanding that we won't let anyone run a field more than two years running
to avoid burnout.  Each Lady provides (out of her own pocket!, or donated by
her assistants) whatever food and drink she thinks she needs to be
hospitable... this has traditionally been a feast for about 50 to 100
people, and multiply that by four fields.  Then each Lady also provides
favors for her Field, a token of some sort that the fighter keeps as a
souvenier of the Tourney.  And frequently, a similar gift is given to the
lady who sponsored the fighter.  Many of the Ladies hire/bribe/barter to
provide musicians for their pavillion.  And each Lady is responsible for
providing prizes for their Field's Champion, a gift for his lady, and a
prize for their Artisan.

        The props don't end with the sponsors of the event... the attendees
also contribute.  To have the appropriate pagentry and presence, many
fighters and their sponsoring ladies costume an entire entourage to attend,
and plan medieval gestures that will be exceedingly good theater (such as
The White Knight who released a flight of doves as his party entered).  Each
fighter must come prepared to pay ransoms for those times when he is
defeated, and pride means that one's ransoms should be commesurate with
one's rank... 

        And, overall each particpant, whether sponsor or attendee, must
bring their willing suspension of disbelief.  They must be able to abjure
talking about this week's Star Trek episode, or that $%#!$ computer at work.
They must also be able NOT to say "That's not period!"  

        Overall, it's a huge amount of money, time, and sheer hard work to
make a high persona event happen, and even more is required to make it
happen well.  But I think it's worthwhile.

Wassail,

::GUNNORA::
Former Lady of the Field of the Falcon, Lyonnesse


Gunnora Hallakarva
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