[Northkeep] events

[Hugh & Belinda Niewoehner]

These are memories & experiences of Damon Hroarsson as I recall them 
today.  They're not in any particular order.    Parts of this thing are 
going to sound damnably self-serving but I can only put  down what  I 
remember I saw or participated in.

Castellan:

Most of this isn't when it happened but why or how.

Castellan...How'd it come about?  My involvement here is one of those 
things which will doubtless be controversial to some but it's also one 
of those things I'm truly proud of.

Winter of '89...We were having an officers meeting at Zenobia's.  
Catherine was Seneschal.  I was KM.   I think Alanna, and Talana were 
both there.   The topic came up of what we were going to do for our 
spring event.

Somebody (Catherine?) made a statement about 'Why is it tourney's can 
only be won by fighters? I mean, why can't we have a championship where 
the tourney can be won by A&S?'  Someone else replied 'We can, but no 
one will come.  If you don't have fighting you loose your largest draw.'

My reply- "That's not a problem.  There's no reason we can't make it 
both ways."

'??? please elaborate'

"Back in B3R some A&S folks complained about a lack of recognition for 
A&S.  So, a Gentleman named Harald can up with  a tourney where, in 
order to win,  you have to enter an Art, a Science, and a Martial Art 
plus a fourth entry in any of them.  No reason we can't do that here."

  'That's neat but how does that help non-fighters?'

"Archery, Knife, Axe, and Spear, are all acceptable Martial Arts."  
Several people started discussing things excitedly at that point so I 
sat back and watched 'em run with it.  (Hey, I just come up withideas.  
It's up to others to make them happen.)   Later on, somebody asked what 
we'd call this champion.   Several good names came up and I submitted 
"Castellan for a man, Chatelaine for a women."

'Why?'

"What is a Castellan? The keeper of the keys to the castle.  The keys to 
recognition and advancement in the SCA are Arts, Sciences, Service, and 
Fighting.  Sounds like we've got those pretty well covered."

Castellan stuck but no-one ever went for Chatelaine.   You know...I've 
never heard anybody talk about that meaning behind the title when we 
give the award, but I know it's there, and that's good enough.  The 
event has changed dramatically from the original concept but it has 
survived and the three way competition still draws challengers.  Gotta 
be pleased with that.

Now, to the reader, please don't leap to "Damon's trying to say we 
wouldn't have Castellan without him."  NO!  I just made a statement of 
less than 50 words.  It took lots of others to make it happen.  And if I 
hadn't made that statement we'd still have had an event.  It would have 
been a different event though, not what Castellan has evolved into.