ES - The Elfsea Defender Tournaments (long)

Estella Flather eflather at flash.net
Mon Jun 19 20:34:51 PDT 2000


Greetings from Mistress Stella-
	In the past we tried to speed up the Rapier and Chivalric Defender
Tournies by doing alternating rounds. Unfortunately for some reason this
still led to LONG breaks between rounds and it took longer than doing the
two tournies separately, don't ask me why, it just did. It would seem that
it would be less of a break between rounds because the list mistresses
could work on the parings while the alternative round was going on but it
didn't work out that way. We also have people who like to fight both
styles. There were a couple of die hards who tried to switch from light to
heavy armor each round, but it wasn't a reasonable thing to ask people to
do. Also, I like to marshal or herald for the Rapier fighters during their
tourney and I couldn't do this if there were alternating rounds of light
and heavy.
	I find it interesting that most of the people venturing opinions about HE
Galen's tourney plan are not chivalric fighters. Are there experienced
chivalric fighters out there who have an opinion?
	Mistress Stella
	
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> From: baron at elfsea.ansteorra.org
> To: elfsea at ansteorra.org
> Subject: ES - The Elfsea Defender Tournaments (long)
> Date: Thursday, June 15, 2000 1:02 PM
> 
> Galen here...
> 
> Let me try to get this thread back on track.
> 
> My original post was to get feedback on the structure of 
> the chivalric tourney to choose the next chivalric 
> Defender of Elfsea.  Perhaps my focus was too narrow in 
> that post.  I've posted elsewhere (specifically, on the 
> Archery list) about the archery tourney, and the Baroness 
> has been consulting with rapier fighters about the exact 
> format for the rapier list (anyone interested in having 
> input is welcome to contact her at <
> allessandre at hotmail.com>).  Clearly however, there is 
> interest to know how the whole thing fits together.  I'll 
> try to provide that in this note.
> 
> All three tournies are intended to be "high persona" 
> competitions, with much pageantry and pomp, hopefully fun 
> for participants and spectators alike.  Each is intended 
> to be sufficiently limited in duration to be able to fit 
> all three into the same day, without overlapping each 
> other on the schedule.  Her Excellency and I are very 
> interested to watch them all.
> 
> I don't believe it's a good idea to move the rapier 
> defender competition to SpringFaire.  I see the 
> advantages proposed, but I feel that the drawbacks, which 
> have been pretty well spelled out by others, outweigh 
> those advantages.  However, if someone feels strongly 
> about doing this, I don't consider the matter closed and 
> would cheerfully entertain further debate.  Moot seems 
> like an appropriate forum (but if you want to argue it on 
> this list, please start a new subject line).  However, my 
> preference would be to make that change _after_ this 
> fall's Elfsea Defender, if it is to be made.  I do note 
> with amusement that the proposal has been proposed and 
> advocated by light fighters, and opposed by heavy 
> fighters.
> 
> The tourney format I posted already has no breaks between 
> rounds for the listmistress to redraw the pairings 
> because there is no listmistress or pairings.  It's all 
> done by challenge; points are not kept, the winner is 
> chosen by judges, as in period.  This is a tourney 
> without 3x5 cards.  Certainly it will need a lot of 
> heralds.  Many more than 10, properly done.  That's why 
> I'm asking each fighter to provide his own herald.  A 
> fighter can bring a whole ground crew to support him: 
> herald, lady, pages, squires, and how these people add to 
> that fighter's presence could make the difference to the 
> judges on who put on the best performance.
> 
> As to what we are picturing and proposing for Elfsea 
> Defender, and what we've been discussing since it was 
> announced that Allessandra & I would be baron & baroness, 
> let me try to paint a picture ...
> 
> It's early in the morning.  Too early.  It seems the sun 
> is barely up, but the wake-up heralds, those heroes 
> without whom little would get done, are crying the site.  
> The heavy fighters groan, roll over and go back to sleep; 
> armor inspection isn't til noon, and they've been 
> partying.  The rapier fighters rise slowly, dress 
> leisurely and begin their morning routines.  There's time 
> for breakfast, because their armor inspection isn't till 
> 9:30.  The archers are up, dressed and armed in a trice.  
> There's coffee waiting at the archery range and the 
> greatest prize in Ansteorra that can be won with a bow is 
> waiting there too.  The competition starts at 9:00.
> 
> The baron and baroness are there, and a sizable crowd has 
> gathered as well, and the range is designed to accomdate 
> them.  The finest archers from all over Ansteorra have 
> come, and the field is festooned with banners, pennants 
> atop each target, and the heralds are ready.  Kerrick is 
> determined to keep the collar of Defender of Elfsea, his 
> home barony, but Lord Fearghus, the Royal Huntsman, 
> Archery Champion of the Steppes and Guardian of the Tor, 
> is set on adding to his titles today the championship of 
> what is also his home barony.  And former Defenders of 
> Elfsea are returning, too, including Don Sebastion, and 
> Lady Innes, as well as other great names of the firing 
> line like HL Gilli, Lord Aldwin, Lord Plachoya, and up-
> and-coming archers like Master Pug, Laird Sean, and many 
> more.  There is a golden arrow as a prize, as well as the 
> traditional collar and banner, but the big prize is that 
> the airline tickets donated by Lord Tarkus this year are 
> going to the new Archery Defender.  Nobles and spectators 
> are cheering for and wagering on their favorites.  By the 
> time the archers have gotten down to the timed shoot 
> round, though, the crowd is quiet and watching intently.
> 
> By 11:00, or 11:30 at the latest, the new archery 
> defender is known and it's time for the rapier list.  The 
> Dons, cadets and other fighters gather to impress the new 
> Baroness with their panache (the Baroness loves to be 
> impressed by panache) and to try their skills against 
> each other, and against such former Defenders of Elfsea 
> as Don Alexander, Don Brendan, Don Donald, Don Miguel, 
> Don Robin, and others.  Don Duncan, the Guardian of the 
> Tor, will no doubt be trying for this prize, and I'm sure 
> Don Llywelyn would like to try his hand for this title 
> for the first time since becoming a Don; he's had to sit 
> out four of these tournies as Baron.  Elfsea's favorite 
> cadets, Lord Daniel, Lord David and Lord Darius (the 3 
> D's ?) will turn out, and Her Excellency Dona Kayleigh, 
> back on the tourney circuit after her successful reign as 
> queen, will surely be there as well.  Like the chivalric 
> tourney this day, the rapier fighters will win not only 
> by skill but also by their appearance and conduct on the 
> field.
> 
> By 1:30 or 2:00, the chivalric list will begin.  As I 
> described before, this will be another exercise in 
> pageantry.  Knights, squires, centurions from all around 
> will come to test their mettle against such former 
> Defenders of Elfsea as Count Mahadi, Count Gunthar, Earl 
> Dafydd, and HRM Alaric Drake.  I happen to know that 
> Centurion Airaklee wants to win this tourney, and will 
> put on quite a show; so will Lord Virgil, and what might 
> the Baron's own squires pull off to draw the favor of the 
> crowd to themselves? (And if we're already behind 
> schedule when it starts, we'll just eliminate the 2nd 
> round).  With 3 rounds of 45 min. each, plus a melee, a 
> 4-hour tourney should be no problem.  We'll be done by 
> 6:00 or 6:30, for feast and/or court at 7:00 or 7:30 -- 
> dancing afterward, or even during.)
> 
> Elfsea has done a lot a special things in its time:  the 
> culture camps, the peasant tournies, the byzantine baths, 
> bardic events, themed events, kingdom events. I think 
> it's time once again to do something special, something 
> folks will talk about for years afterward, as they do the 
> Lions Tourney, and Nine Worthies.  This sort of tourney 
> has been done very successfully in Ansteorra, but never 
> attempted in a baronial championship.
> 
> To do this will require the whole barony.  My household 
> can't do it, neither could House Mac, Clan Rolling 
> Thunder, the Company of the Hunt, or Firefall.  But 
> Elfsea can do it.  With its great members and cantons, 
> Elfsea can make this happen well, _if_ we can all agree 
> and be on the same page with what we're doing.
> 
> But we don't have to do this.  We can do the traditional 
> swiss five with the precedence challenge and the four 
> fields.  We've always had fun with that, and gotten great 
> Defenders.  We could even do it with speed tournies and 
> have the whole thing done by lunch, leaving time for 
> other activities, as someone said.  Or we could run both 
> the heavy & light side by side with Allessandra & I 
> trying to watch both and succeeding at watching neither, 
> with the archery somewhere else and not watching that at 
> all.  It's much better to tell me "no" now, than to let 
> me go off and have us get to September, or even the day 
> itself, and discover that the whole barony isn't as 
> excited as I am, and isn't ready to do what's advertised.  
> It's just a question of how big a deal do we want to make 
> of Elfsea Defender.  
> 
> Without looking up his name on Armand's history page, 
> most of us couldn't tell you that the first Defender of 
> Elfsea was Lord Elder Frederickson.  I never met the guy, 
> never spoke to him, but I know this:  The Ansteorran 
> Order of Precedence lists an Elder Frederickson with an 
> AoA and a Sable Thistle.  Virtually no one remembers him.  
> Did he drop out?  Was he just some flash-in-the-pan 
> newbie who got lucky one day and never again?  No he 
> didn't, no he wasn't.  Elder Frederickson moved away.  
> And like a long list of other Ansteorrans who trained 
> here, he went on to reign there -- in his case in the 
> Principality of the Outlands, when it was still part of 
> Atenveldt, where he reigned as Prince and was dubbed a 
> knight.  Viscount Sir Elder Frederickson was the first 
> Defender of Elfsea, the first of a long line of 
> chivalrous and noble warriors.
> 
> The Baron & Baroness want to make Elfsea Defender a very 
> big deal indeed.  Elfsea is a magical place to live, and 
> I want us to make magic for Defender.  This tourney can 
> be a time for heroes to do what heroes do.  Who's with 
> me?
> 
> - Galen Elfsea
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>
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