ANST - A succession story

[Tim McDaniel]

I uncovered an old draft message in progress and decided to
finish it.

On Fri, 20 Feb 1998, Galen W. Bevel <galenbv at ix.netcom.com>
wrote:
> > ..........................Coronation has a battle and
> > the Prince "banishes" the old King and steps up.
>
> Let me see if I can get a great story straight as it was
> related to me.

Wow!  My first very own "no shit, there I was" story!  I was
in the front row of that final court.  Please let me make
small amendments.

> Bjorn, King of the East thought it would be fun to show up
> at Edmund's Coronation.  He marched in with several of his
> knights and claimed that they were there to "protect" the
> Middle throne during the interegnum, following the recent
> demise of the Middle soveriegn.  Of course, this
> interegnum might end up lasting several years.  Edmund,
> totally caught off guard,

Actually, it was with (somewhat secret) pre-arrangement.
Also, there is no interregnum in the Middle; the Sovereign
personally crowns the Heir.  (Hence no demise, either.)

The old crown of the Middle -- I dunno who; I'll call them
"Roy and LaRene" -- had done all the closing stuff -- the
equivalents of Gauntlets, dismissing retinue, et cetera.
Then the herald cried "Their Majesties summon the heir to
the throne!" (for his coronation).  There was a few-seconds
pause, so I said semi-loudly "or someone to accept for him".
My liege lady smacked me.

Then King Bjorn of the East strode in, alone as I recall.
He explained that he and Roy had made an agreement at
Pennsic that they were each other's heirs, and that it was
important to keep Viking people on their thrones.  He was
therefore claiming the crown.  I turned to my liege and
said, "See?  Someone to accept for him.  Told ya so."

Roy agreed, and bid Bjorn kneel.  Bjorn did, and removed the
Eastern crown from off his head (to make room for the new).
Roy then proclaimed Bjorn to be the king, took the Middle
Kingdom crown off his own head, and started to lower it onto
Bjorn's head.  He lowered it slower and slower; from the
front row, it was obvious he was waiting for something.

> Edmund valiantly proclaimed his right to the throne

Just before the crown touched, there was a mighty shout of
"HOLD!" from the rear of the pavillion.  Edmund strode in,
wearing a surcoat with the arms of the Middle quartering the
arms of the East.  (I'm told he had worn it at a previous
Eastern event, or Pennsic -- I forget which Middle
coronation it was.  Lovely heraldic idea.  Wonderfully
period.  A walking declaration of war.)  He indeed disputed
Bjorn's right ...

> and he [Edmund] and the knights of the Middle went off to
> seek their armor and trounce these invading Easterners. A
> royal melee (literally) ensued, with Edmund of course
> coming out victorius and going on to ascend the Mid-Realm
> throne.

Later that afternoon, I talked to a fighter who fought
there.  (Fighters had been told to bring their armor; I
think they were only told about the other fighting that day
-- pickup fights and a small tourney, I think.  I don't know
if they were all knights.)  He reported Bjorn's instructions
to his side.  Loosely: "1) For God's sake, we're gonna LOSE!
Period!  2) Nobody kills Edmund, no matter what.  You kill
him, I kill you, for REAL!  3) At the end, I'll be the last
one standing, Edmund and I will fight, and he will defeat
me.  Got it?"  Midrealmers were allocated to the Easterner's
side to even up the numbers.

> Bjorn told me at the 30year Celebration that at one time
> during the battle, the knights got so enthusiastic about
> the battle that they left Edmund standing alone, beside
> Bjorn...and two or three Eastern knights.  Bjorn said it
> was almost more temptation than he could handle, but he
> was good and went off to join his other knights in battle,
> and left the Middle its Crown Prince.

I don't remember details of the battle, but I think I recall
people standing without fighting around the edges at times.

> I make no claims for the veracity of this story, as I am
> telling it from memory after several years, and of course
> feel the need for a bit of poetic license to make it more
> enjoyable, but any variations from the basic truth are
> accidents and entirely the fault of my leaky memory. In
> such a case..my apologies to both Edmund and Bjorn.
> 
> Graf Galen K.

It was a wonderfully enjoyable piece of schtick.  Thank you
for reminding me.

Daniel de Lincolia
-- 
Tim McDaniel; Reply-To: tmcd at crl.com; if that fail, tmcd at austin.ibm.com
is work address.  tmcd at tmcd.austin.tx.us is wrong tool.  Never use this.
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