NR - Re: NR Warlord vs. Tribute
Lori Campbell
LCAMPBEL at ossm.edu
Mon Aug 28 19:11:56 PDT 2000
Here's my opinion on this subject. I realize that *many* may have
opinions that differ from my own, but I just thought I'd share my
perspective and maybe clear up a few misunderstandings.
When Johann Gunnbjornson and Thorvald Eiggelson (sorry if I butchered
any spellings there) came up with the idea for and sponsored the
event to select our first Regional Warlord, the Crown (HRM abd
al-Mahdi) backed the event and the concept. They even encouraged the
selection of Warlords for other regions. The addition of other
Regional contests (Rapier, archery, knife/axe/spear,etc.) turned what
was initially a fairly simple concept into a full-blown regional
event. I think in general the idea was widely supported and all
signs seemed to indicate support for it would grow over time.
There was much discussion in Wiesenfeuer after the 6th NR Tribute
about whether or not the event should continue. (Those who were
around when HE Gitana started the first Tribute will remember
that initially it was to be a one-time only event.) Only ongoing
enthusiasm had caused the event to continue past the first year. At
that point Wiesenfeuer had sponsored the event for 6 years and, to
put it bluntly, our folks were getting tired.
Enthusiasm for Regional Warlord seemed to be growing. In addition,
quite a few in our group (Barn and I included) were concerned that
two huge regional events per year would be too much for the
region to functionally provide autocrats/dates, etc. for on an
on-going basis. We also knew our group was extremely tired after
sponsoring 5 years of Tribute and probably wouldn't be up for
sponsorship of a regional event for quite a while.
Also a factor was the fact that the kingdom was some $10,000 richer
and far more financially stable because of our region's efforts. In
light of that fact, we felt the purpose of Tribute had been served.
Evidently folks in Wiesenfeuer agreed with us because, when the
barony discussed Tribute again, the populace (by majority vote)
elected to discontinue sponsorship of the event. We sent letters to
the seneschals and landeds in the Northern Region to explain our
reasoning and indicate that if Tribute was to continue someone else
would need to pick up the ball.
The issue had been brought up previously about holding Regional
Championships at Tribute, but Barn and I (and many who were involved
in the creation of the Tribute event) strongly opposed it. The
primary reasons being
1) the purpose of Tribute was solely to raise money for and show our
love for the *Kingdom* - not to hand out titles to glorify the North
as a region.
2) the war college was extremely important at that time
of year and regional competitions would have nixed that due to time
constraints.
3) as has been said, it seemed functionally impractical to
choose warlords/champions to serve at Gulf War only two weeks before
the war.
We suspected (hoped?) that Tribute would die a natural death and the
Warlord concept would take off. I think the flaw in our logic was
that we overestimated the popularity of the Warlord Tournament and
underestimated the popularity of Tribute.
Either way, it is becoming apparent that *2* regional events are
difficult to support - at least that is true for Wiesenfeuer. I know
our barony has its hands full supplying gifts for Gulf Wars, the
occasional gift for Pennsic, manpower and prizes for our Baronial
event, Yule Revel, NR Tribute and NR Warlord.
> Do we want to continue to try to have a Nothern Regional
> Warlord event?
My opinion (again, I realize the majority may disagree) is that one
of the two events needs to go. The calendar is *really* crowded now
and, strange as it might seem, I feel it is equally important for
Barn and I, as landed nobility in the North, to show support for the
Kingdom by traveling to other regions and to kingdom events. In
short, it's the only way to meet people, make new friends and
convince those who live outside of our region that they should come
up North for our events.
Hopefully that will give a little background on the subject and
toss another opinion onto the pile. As always, opinions are worth
what you pay for them :)
Kat
Wiesenfeuer
(The opinions expressed above are my own. They do not necessarily
represent the feelings of my barony, my lord, my mom, my cat, etc.
Then again, I think I can probably state unequivocally that my cat
agrees with me. If she doesn't, I dare her to say so).
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