Long-ass SCA meme
Gakked from everybody.
1. Mundane Name:
Karen Angela
2. Mundane Job:
Technical Writer
3. Persona name:
Angelina Nicollette de Beaumont
4. How did you come up with your name?
Joined in a household with a tradition of using mundane first names (what can I say? Stick jocks with limited imaginations…); I never cared for Karen so I went with my middle name, which I Italianized because I was most interested in the Italian Renaissance at the moment. I liked the sound of Angelina Nicollette (from the medieval romance Aucassin and Nicollette); for many years that was the entire name. Long friendship with Adelaide de Beaumont and several in-jokes resulted in being declared a de Beaumont sister; misinterpretation of this in court made me realize that I cared enough about the designation to protect it, and I added the de Beaumont officially.
5. Where and when did your persona live?
Venice, b. 1497, 30 years old in 1527.
6. What is your Known World Location?
Lyondemere, Caid
7. What kingdom do you consider to be your home?
Caid
8. How long have you played?
Thirty years. I know, it scares me too.
9. How did you get started?
I read about the SCA in a school newspaper when I was in high school, but it was much more difficult to track us down in person in those days. In college at Cal Poly, Pomona, I took a class in SF Literature, whence we started a Science Fiction club. Several months later, two guys from the weekend-marathon D&D games down to Cal State Fullerton wandered in and asked if anyone had ever heard of D&D-one of the guys was Phillip of Meadhe, who later started a fighting practice on the library lawn on Thursday afternoons. That original group included Kyr Yaroslav, Duke Adrian, and Countess Acelyn Schirleah, among others. We eventually became the Shire of Heatherwyne.
10. Why did you join?
When I was thirteen, I first saw “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” on Masterpiece Theatre, and it warped me for life. I wanted those dresses! The SCA presented the first possibility that I could actually wear a Tudor gown.
11. Have you registered a name?
See #4.
12. Have you registered a device?
Gules, a bottle-nosed dolphin embowed and in chief a sprig of three orange blossoms slipped and leaved, fesswise proper. [Tursiops truncatus] [Citrus simensis]
And four badges, two of which I really should release-they’re left over from a previous marriage.
….and that doesn’t count the badge I use most often, which is for the de Beaumont sisters and actually registered to Adelaide.
13. What awards have you been granted? In what kingdom did you receive these awards?
From Caid:
830924 Laurel (costuming)
010106 Court Baroness
060722 Landed Baroness {Lyondemere}
820116 Dolphin
811121 Harp Argent (costuming)
810530 Award of Arms
850324 Legion of Courtesy
811121 Signum Reginae {Acelyn}
830528 Signum Reginae {Ealasaid}
841117 Signum Reginae {Troy}
851116 Signum Reginae {Isabel}
901117 Signum Reginae {Lyn}
911116 Signum Reginae {Adriana}
030531 Signum Regni {Gerhart & Una}
961102 Queen's Personal Recognition (Albra)
850713 Lion's Paw [Lyondemere]
800516 Towers [Dreiburgen]
From the West:
020105 Queen's Cypher [Ginevra]
14. How many events do you attend each year?
When we became Reeve and Reevess, we decided that the key to survival was going to be pacing. We try to hold it down to two a month, but occasionally events overtake us. Probably around 30.
15. What is the best event you have ever been to?
The Twentieth Year Celebration, in Texas in 86. Not so different from Pennsic, I’m given to understand, but I’d never been to Pennsic, before or since. The site was beautiful, green and secluded (all novelties for a Caidan); it was the longest event I’d ever been to; we were camping with a large and interesting group of people; I met people and saw things from all over the Known World; the shopping was terrific. Lots of great memories.
16. What is the worst event you have ever been to?
GWW II, otherwise known as the Great Western Warsh-it had been raining for weeks and the ground was saturated: when we woke up the morning after we arrived, our bed was surrounded by standing water. We were so miserable we finally abandoned the site just to go home and get warm and dry-we came back for our pavilions and less-delicate goo the next day. The autocrats finally had to cancel the event. The boys (and many others) spent hours in the parking lot helping people push their cars out of the mud.
17. What event do you make it to every year?
Lyondemere Anniversary, GWW
18. What event do you refuse to go to
September Potrero-it’s just too hot.
19. Who is your favorite person to hang at an event with?
My barony and my household. They’re like the big extended family I never had.
20. What activities do you participate in?
Administering a barony. Costuming (the Company of Clothiers), embroidery (although I’m afraid this is the Year of Mundane Projects), beading, bardic (I’m the audience), persona research, One Book, One Barony.
21. What activity would you like to learn?
I’m not done learning costuming yet. Probably never will be.
22. Are you a marshal?
No
23. How many tents have you had destroyed at events?
Took damage at GWW I-shattered poles and burst seams-but it was repairable.
24. Has your garb ever caught on fire?
No
25. Have you ever woke up in a strange person’s tent?
No. (We Caidans are relatively stuffy.)
26. Do you have a pavilion?
A day shade (the Lantern’s Keep pavilion) and a huge canvas sleeping pavilion.
27. Are you a peer?
Yes
28. Do you ever want to be a peer?
I wanted to be one before I was one.
29. Is a coincidence that peer rhymes with beer?
Not in Master Donal’s case.
30. Are you a squire, apprentice or protegee?
Nope
31. Who would you like to be squired, apprenticed or protegee'd to?
There was no real apprentice/protégée concept in Caid before I was elevated. Had there been, I would have liked to be apprenticed to Mistress Louise of Woodsholme for costuming. Fortunately, I’ve had the benefit of great teachers, both peers and non-peers, both before and after my elevation.
32. What is your war cry?
Owie, owie, owie! HA, HA, HA! (It’s a long story…)
33. Have you ever been pulled off of the field for your safety?
No
34. What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you in armor?
Armor?
35. Have you read copora?
Yes. There have been times I slept with it under my pillow….
36. Circlets, how do you feel?
Caid is a minimal-sumptuary-law kingdom. I really like that. As long as it doesn’t look like a coronet, knock yourself out.
37. What household(s) do you belong to?
Lantern’s Keep. And we have a very close association with Haven House in the West.
38. If you could change one thing about the SCA what would it be?
I’d like to make governance more transparent and representative. We’ve gone from being a handful of people with dayshades in the park to a large organization with significant assets and cashflow, and our governing procedures-where we have them at all--just haven’t kept up. (Which isn’t surprising-it happens to professional organizations all the time.) Sometimes we fail to make necessary or useful decisions because we lack the mechanism to make decisions entirely. And we have a certain culture of secrecy that helps perpetuate mistakes and leaves most of the membership disenfranchised, and thus unable or disinclined to make contributions that could really improve the SCA.
39. What is your favorite part of the SCA?
The people. We all come for different reasons, but we stay because we’ve found a real community here.
40. What is your SCA Goal for the next 7 years?
Complete a successful term as Baroness of Lyondemere. Aiming for four more years, but negotiable in either direction given circumstances. After that, to support the new Baron and Baroness, take a bit of a break, and reassess everything.