Answering the War Arrow

In August of 2000, at the age of 37, I put on my own armor for the first time, and took the field at the Stock Pavilion in Madison, WI. This had long been the place of practice for the combat arts used by the Barony of Jararvellir, a Barony in what was then the Principality of Northshield, the northern holdings of the Middle Kingdom of the SCA. The photo to the left shows me in my first armor rig, an early-14th century-style coat-of-plates and a bascinet.

In 2001, I joined a fighting house called Bluerose, led my Viscount Belrix of Bluerose. I squired to him during 2002, and left his service in 2003, just after he was accused of un-Knightly behavior and Banished from the Midrealm by then-King Valharic. He was stripped of his Knighthood and his membership in the Society, and I've had no contact with him since... and precious little with my former comrades in arms, who mostly left the Society with him. The photo to the left shows four of Bluerose, from a newspaper article on a non-SCA demo we did in Chicago. I am the one on the left; the others from left to right are Byrd, Belrix and Oswin. The armor I'm wearing in the photo was largely created by my wife, who hand-carved all the intricate (and in this image, barely visible) Celtic knotwork animals, knots and Green Men. The armor itself is still on the field, being worn by Maestro John Chandler.

Later in 2003, I was taken in by House Kulmbach, led by then Viscount Siegfried (he is currently King Siegfried of Northshield, on his way to becoming Duke). I attended Pennsic with him in 2003, and again in 2004 when he was Heir to the Kingdom of Northshield. I acted as Chamberlain for him and Bridei when they stepped up as King and Queen for our new Kingdom. Just before that, however, at Love Feast (held in Lub Suichil), I put on armor for the last time. That was September, 2004.
The picture to the left shows the battle line for Northshield at Pennsic in 2004. I am at the far right, in black with the gold stripe across my chest.

Time moves on. It's now been 2 years since I last put on armor, a length of time I wouldn't have believed could pass. But I'm 43 now, and getting myself into shape enough to get the armor back on is... well, daunting. Still, I love the fight, and I miss my friends. I'm going to get this done, by Gods.