[Ansteorra] Persona development and lack thereof
Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace
sirlyonel at hotmail.com
Wed Sep 27 10:47:22 PDT 2006
Salut cozyns,
When I first joined the SCA in 1986, I had a lot of people helping me get
all the things I needed: clothing, armor, a name, heraldry, feast gear. I
knew only a few folks who had personas. At least, I knew only a few who
actively played at being in persona. Frankly the whole persona thing sounded
a bit silly and far more theatrical than I wanted to be.
What I didn't realize and what no one explained to me was that a persona
helps make everything come together. If you don't work around a persona, you
end up with some serious mismatches. In my case, I found myself with garb
from late 12th Century Outremer, a name from 16th Century England, and armor
vomited forth from a time machine (14th Century legs, 15th Century arms,
13th Century body armor, 10th century helm).
After a year or so, I started playing with persona development. I was living
in Idaho, so fitting my clothing to a hot climate was complicated. I also
found that I really hated the long tunics and surcoats. I did a lot of time
travel and geographic wandering, clothing-wise, and decided I felt most
comfortable in the late 14th/early 15th Century Southern French.
It's taken a few years for my armor to catch up, and I still have that late
English name. I'm sure it confuses people. I remember it confused hell out
of at least one herald who tried to announce me into a tournament with a
French pronunciation of "Lyonel Oliver Grace."
I've thought about changing my surname (or at least dropping the middle
name) and using a French pronunciation. After twenty years, though, it would
be weird making the transition from the long i sound in the first syllable
of Lyonel to the long e sound. (Before the linguists and onomasticians get
on my case, yes, I know, the French pronunciation is actually a short i, but
it certainly sounds like a long e to American ears.)
lo vostre per vos servir
Meser Lyonel
_________________________________
Micel yfel deth se unwritere.
--AElfric of York
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