2005-08-28 - 12:17 a.m.
My Knighting at Pennsic 34
Way to go Ruaidhri, my big brother came through with some really nice pictures of the event. You can check out the whole collection here:
http://ruaidhri.smugmug.com/gallery/755656/1
You can also see them here as I�ll be posting my favorites, that�s right folks for a little while this will be �All Justus, All the time� But don�t worry the funny pictures will return soon.
In the first issue of �The History of Justus� I covered my beginning in the SCA and the beginning of my relationship with my Knight, Syr Ternon.
Ternon squired me by surprise on my first day at Lilies war, I had actually helped him pick out my belt, much as I would help set up m own vigil tent ten years later. There is a pattern here that I plan to continue with my squires.
I authorized the next day, there was some confusion as I showed up to my 1st* authorization with my squires belt on. I had been fighting for almost a year but I was still 17, so I had to have the earl marshal present to authorize.
*Actually, it was the second time I tried to authorize, the first time being at Winter War Maneuvers the year before. They pulled the king (Now Duke Eringlen) over to do the authorization, and I completely froze up, it was pretty sorry.
I did much better in my second authorization, and went on to authorize two weapon, bastard sword, great sword and pole arm.
Later that day was my first real battle. But before that, there is
�The Tale of the Favor�.
Earlier that day a lady had given me a beautiful embroidered favor, very delicate, which I carefully laid in my tent for safe keeping.
As we were preparing for the field battle my Knight and new squire brothers surrounded me, Ternon was holding the favor.
�Squire, why have you forsaken this lady�s favor?�
My Squire brothers barley suppressed a giggle, I tried to explain that I was simply trying to protect the favor from the ravages of war�
Ternon tied the favor to my squire belt,
�Thank you Sir Knight, I will never forget the lesson�
�Oh, I�m sure you will not� he said with a wicked grin.
He took the remaining end of the favor and tied my right hand to the belt and handed me a dagger.
�Go now, and make us proud�
I fought first major day of battles of my SCA career with a dagger in my left hand, and actually had a really good time.
On the occasion of my Knighting, Ternon has required of me to recreate the event and fight all comers with a dagger in my left hand. I would have done this at Pennsic, but there were actually very few fighters doing pickups after the main battle. Rather than follow the letter instead of the spirit of his command, I have decided to wait until Coronation where there will be a host of Knights and men at arms ready to take a whack at the baby knight.
I had a really good time at my first war; there was an especially memorable torchlight tourney that we fought with bastard swords. The field was down on the beach, and half of the small list was in the water. I don�t remember how far I got into the tourney, but I had some great fights. This last year at Lilies war I ran into a Count that was there that night. He actually remembered me from that torchlight tourney.
I continued to attend as many events as possible that 1st year. I was working at a Truckstop at night and half-heartedly attending school during the day. There was more than one occasion where I would leave directly from work to attend an event a couple hundred miles away. Not having slept for 20 hrs, I�d show up at the event, fight all day, sing all night and then drive back. I could do that back then, now I don�t bounce back as quickly.
I had such good SCA friends, my best buddy was Jurgen Fuchsyeager. A very, very large gentleman with a propensity to rub his hands together in glee. We went everywhere together, including 23 hrs to Estrella war that year. I�m hoping to meet up with him at Lilies War this year, we haven�t seen each other since I left Calontir to join the Air Force. I miss him very much.
The guys that got me started in the SCA, Killian and Nazir, are still playing and I saw them both at Liles war this year. Their kids, who were 7 or 8 when I left, are fighting now, and are the same age I was when I left. It was a lot of fun to see them both, as they have changed little, (a bit more grey) and I have changed completely. I was standing next to Killian and he obviously had no idea who I was, I started talking to him in a familiar way and I could see him thinking �Who the hell is this guy?� After awhile his son, whom I had talked to earlier that day, came up and said �Hey Justus� Watching the realization strike Killian was one of the best moments of the war.
That moment of realization happened over and over again that war; even with old squire brothers I had not seen in a decade. I�m glad that all the reunions were happy. I was still a kid when I left Calontir and I was worried the foolish things I had said and done would haunt me when I returned, but if they did, everyone was kind enough to let them remain in the past.
Three pages is enough for anyone, I�ll post more tomorrow.
Justus
