[Ansteorra-rapier] From the Queen, about Queen's Champion

[Jay Rudin]

Forwarded for the Queen:

Greetings to the rapier community of Ansteorra!

I would like to invite each of you to my Queen's Champion tournament this Saturday, to be held in the Shire of Brad Leah. For more information about the event, please visit the website: http://brad-leah.ansteorra.org/events.html Armor inspection and presentation of the fighter's should begin around 9am and the tournament around 11am, leaving several hours for fighting and entertainment before the event is over.

The day will be full of rapier combat, in all its varieties. If you want a chance to fight as many people from across the kingdom (and from other kingdoms!) as you can, this is going to be your chance. The goal is for everyone to leave the event with their "cup-o-blam" emptied and wiped clean. If you have cut and thrust equipment, please bring it and use it if your opponent is similarly attired and authorized. Feel free to also use this chance to *get* authorized in
cut and thrust.

For the tournament, all of the fighters will be sorted into four pools (perhaps less if there is not enough space for four fields), and each person in the pool will fight every other person in the pool. After the round robin, two fighters from each pool will be selected to advance to the second half of the tournament. The second half will be a single-elimination, best two out of three tournament, with the winner becoming Queen's Champion.

If that doesn't turn out to be enough fighting, or there is still time in the day, perhaps at the end we can find a suitable location for some practice melees for Gulf Wars!

In order to speed up the process of sorting out fighters into each of the pools, I ask that you send an email to the List Mistress, Mistress Emma de Featherstan, at emma at hailmog.org. In this email, please provide your name, where you are from, and any fighting associations you may have (cadet, Don, etc.). This information will be used to help separate "frequent fighters" into different pools so that you won't have to fight the people that you fight all the time. I personally find it frustrating to drive several hours to a prestigious tournament only to fight the people from your own group or neighboring group. Besides, less time for sign-in, means more time for practice fights!

I have not asked for Letters of Intent for this tournament, but I would like to recognize and thank Baron Orlando di Gilead (cadet to Don Elric Dracwine), Kazimir Volkov (cadet to Don Aubrey de Baudricourt and Jean Fernald de Sevigny), and Don Tristan von Heidelberg for taking the time to give me personal letters about the tournament.

Some have asked, and many may wonder, "What does it mean to be Queen's Champion? If I can't do that, should I even come to the event?" To answer the second question first, "Yes!" The more fighters at the event, the more chance you will get to learn new techniques and tactics. And, with this format, there will be plenty of fighting so that you may have a chance to employ that new technique you just learned. If you do not believe you will be able to fulfill the duties of Queen's Champion, tell Emma in your email or tell me at the event.

Now, for the first question - "What does it mean to be Queen's Champion?" Unfortunately, that is a much more ambiguous question that cannot be answered in a short amount of time. I truly wish I had more time before this tournament so that I could spend the time talking to each of you with questions about being my Queen's Champion and be able to answer them completely. I expect my Champion to attend Gulf Wars for the entire week, as well as travel to most, if not all, of the events we are traveling to - even the events not in Ansteorra. My champion should be clean and well-groomed, but not smell better than His Majesty on a regular basis. My champion should be able to keep the secrets and surprises they may hear while around the Crown, adhere to the requests of our Head of Entourage and be compatible with a majority of our entourage, be able to keep up with me mentally and physically, and continue to teach me about the rapier community, the role of the White Scarves in Ansteorra, and how the cult of Gloriana and veneration of the Queen is accomplished in these modern middle ages. (Many thanks to those who attended my Princess Tea and began this discussion. I look forward to continuing it over the next several months with a much wider audience!)

Awaiting a glorious day on Saturday,
Queen Gilyan II