[Bryn-gwlad] championships

[Chris Zakes]

At 06:28 PM 8/1/2007, you wrote:
>I would like to clarify my comment concerning the
>prestige of baronial championships.  As I stated, I
>certainly meant no slight to the honor of being chosen
>for one of these championships.  My point was that in
>any competition, the value of winning is determined
>largely by the quality of the opposition.  This is why
>we render honor to our opponents.  In the last
>baronial chivalric championship, there were, to the
>best of my recollection, 12 entrants.  Two dukes, two
>knights, three centurions, and 5 other fighters.
>Stiff competition but by comparison, Steppes Warlord
>usually fields upwards of 50 fighters and I would
>conjecture, since I wasn't there this year, had more
>than 12 chiv in the list.  I wouldn't be shocked to
>find that they had 12 counts or dukes in the list.  By
>any reasonable measure, Steppes Warlord will outrank
>Bryn Gwlad Baronial champion as a mark of fighting
>prestige.  To put it simply, people are going to look
>at the Steppes Warlord and wonder when he will become
>Crown, they will look at Bryn Gwlad's champion, and
>wonder when he will become a knight (if he isn't one
>already).

FWIW, Steppes Warlord *does* have two (maybe three) built-in 
advantages that Bryn Gwlad lacks:

1. It's on a three-day weekend. No other local championship event has 
that advantage.

2. It's the longest-running tournament in Ansteorra--it actually 
predates the very *concept* of Ansteorra by several years.

(3. It's pretty centrally located for the entire kingdom. 
Significantly more so than Bryn Gwlad.)

         -Tivar Moondragon