[Ansteorra-archery] More on Royal Huntsman

[Pug Bainter]

Good Morning,

 

  I know that the thread has died down (and showed up while I was just
setting out on travel, so I'm just now catching up), but there are a few
things I want to iterate and expand on.

 

  There are two types of Champions for the Crown - Greater & Lesser.

 

Greater Champions - King's & Queen's - are expected by tradition to attend
their Majesties at most of their events and become trusted advisors to the
Crown. Those events that they cannot attend, they arrange for a stand-in
generally from a previous champion or a member of the appropriate Order.
They are also expected to represent the Crown in the champions
tournaments/battles at Gulf Wars and Pennsic. Yes, their travel is expected
to be to the major wars as well, but there are times that they have a
stand-in for Pennsic. These champions have specific events that their
tournament is held at, and while Queen's Champion is generally a separate
event, it is the only one with that benefit.

 

Lesser Champions - Huntsman, Lancer, A&S, Bard, etc - have little to no
demands on them because as a community we do not take the role seriously.
While there have been a few that have attended them at events or arranged
for a stand-in, this is by far the minority of the individuals. Some Crowns
have stated that they 'prefer' their Huntsman to attend them on the field at
Gulf War but many have not. I've seen events where Huntsman's were at the
event, but did not attend the Crown. That being said, there are a few events
that we have been told not to attend them because of space availability
around the thrones. These champions are at events selected by the Crown and
relevant officer/champion. This means that the announcement of it is
sometimes not months in advance, but it is always in advance and typically
(but not always) far enough to be published in the Blackstar. That being
said, if the Crown wanted to go to an event and announce it there that they
were holding the tournament they could, but that is not tradition today.

 

  As has been stated over and over again, by tradition the format is not
known beforehand and has always been target archery, although it has
included some combat archery style segments. This requires people to come
prepared for any *target* archery format. The formats have included 3D
animal targets, paper animal targets, modern & period target faces, period
shoots (wreath, string, wand, etc), IKCAC (man) targets, CA ammo at other
targets, etc.

 

  Some may point out that Armored and Rapier combatants are allowed to
borrow equipment the day of the tournament if they don't have something. The
difference is that in the early days of the tournament archers *expected*
the marshal or specific members of the community to provide equipment for
them to borrow which is unrealistic and why we started making the statement
that loaner equipment will not be provided. If you are able to borrow
something before or on the day of a tournament, you may use it. If you
cannot, you must forfeit. Depending on the format of the tournament, you may
be eliminated from the tournament or just have a loss.

 

  If we want the archery champion (and by extension the community) to be
taken more seriously, it is up to us to take the steps to get there. This
includes taking the duties of the championship more seriously which would
include attendance to the Crown more in lines with the Greater Champions,
accepting that the format can be a full spectrum target archery tournament
without whining, and having more participation in the tournament itself. The
hard part of that is that we cannot demand the status change or the
privilege of attending the Crown, nor can we expect attitudes to change
overnight. This attitude change will take years and a single champion who
does  not maintain a high level of quality or trust can ruin the foundation
work done and can cause the process to start over, sometimes from scratch
depending on the history.

 

In Service,

Pug Bainter

Phelim Gervase called Pug, OP, OL, Arc d'Or, Baron of the Court, etc.

Dark Horde Moritu - Barony of Bryn Gwlad - Kingdom of Ansteorra

pug at pug.net

 

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