The White Shield Report
Not that mastersantiago didn't do a bang-up job of reporting already, but I wanna blog, too, dagnabit.
First of all, let's take as read my natural tendency to assume that Everything that Goes Wrong is Somehow All My Fault. I tried (really, I tried!) to be supportive of the autocrat and cooks and everybody who had a job to do, without meddling too much. While I probably wasn't entirely successful, at least nobody bitched me out to my face, so I could pretend that I wasn't a hopeless busybody. A couple of nights before the event, when I complained to mastersantiago that I was afraid the event would flop and that I'd be responsible, he (with no regard for his own safety) pointed out that White Shield habitually draws as many combatants as an average coronet list, and that the feast was completely sold out. How could that possible equal FAIL? He was completely unswayed by my argument that a large, radioactive lizard would probably storm in to destroy Tres Pinos.
Leading up to the event, I made gift bags, a demi-cloak for the winner of the WS rapier tourney, and a haversack for the Baronial Youth Champion. On Friday night, with the help of several henches, we packed the truck, loaded up present baskets, and checked off the packing list. Saturday morning, we were in the truck bright and early, and the only thing I had forgotten was my chemise. Le sigh. Good thing my dress is lined.
We were onsite just behind paul_rowan and daddythug and helped get set up. Well, mastersantiago helped get the field set up, and I went up into the hall to get out of their way. Up there, I waved my hands imperiously a little bit, told people to do the stuff that they were already doing, and then vacated before any of the cooks decided to chuck a pot at my head. When I got back down to the field, most everything was set and all I had to do was get into my dress and start to look Baroness-y. I started to get worried that things weren't starting on time, but looking around nobody else seemed to be stressing about it. We had a last-minute scramble to get invocation set up, but once things started running the rest of the day just flew by.
I absolutely loved running the Baronial Youth Championship. Three boys entered, momstable's youngest, and B&J's two oldest. The championship had four sections that they needed to complete:
1) They needed to put in a half hour of service. I suspect they all did far more than a half hour.
2) They needed to learn a dance. They actually learned two.
3) They had to discuss the virtue of Courtesy. They had all done their homework and came prepared with what Courtesy meant, and they made such an impression on syele, that Her Highness awarded them all with Pegasi (Pegasuses?) during court later.
4) They had a single-elimination bottle jousting tournament.
They all did amazingly well, and it was tough to decide amongst the three of them. M2 was finally declared the winner, and we invited him to join us for dinner at the high table. I don't have the picture available, but I think he had a pretty good time.
I handed out flowers, and chatted with people as they stopped by, and watched the finals of the list. Our henches were amazingly good at keeping us fed and hydrated, usually before we knew we needed anything. A couple of times I'd walk out the back of the sunshade toward the bathroom, only to hear graniab Poppins yell "Where do you think you're going, missy?" and then come along to make sure that I wasn't unescorted anywhere. (Okay, once I made it out of the feast hall without an attendant, but I was on Official Kingdom Seneschal business.)
We did an afternoon court on the field to give some awards and hand out the prizes from the various tournaments, and Their Highnesses and Her Majesty held their courts. I've never liked trying to hold court in the Blue Room -- I think it's far too crowded in there -- so I wanted to get most of the court biz out on the field. The only things we awarded in the hall were the Oak of Service to paul_rowan for being the guy under the bus, and the Baroness' Champion Cloak, and thank-yous to the cooks & servers & everybody who busted their chops putting on the event.
As mastersantiago said, I gave the Baroness' Champion Cloak to Katherine ní Cheallaigh of Skye. The Baroness' Champion Cloak moves from recipient to recipient, rotating (as much as possible) between fighters, artisans and servants (wow, that feels weird to write, but what else would you call 'em?). The White Shield recipient is usually a fighter, 'cause, you know, it's a fighting event. Earlier I'd actually had a fighter in mind, but the choice wasn't exactly singing to me -- not that there's anything against this particular fighter, but it just didn't feel right. And in the meantime, mastersantiago and I were having a, well, let's say, lively discussion about some administrative junk with Katherine. It wasn't that we disagreed or anything, but we butted heads over how a decision was made. Sitting down with my awards list later, I realized that Katherine is exactly the fighter I was looking for.
So when we convened court between courses that evening, we called momstable forward as the current holder of the cloak, then kaa_the_naga leaned over and asked me who to call forward to receive it. Katherine was called out of the kitchen, and we could tell as she approached that she didn't know exactly why she was being called forward. Even kneeling next to momstable in the cloak, she didn't grok what was going on until kaa_the_naga started reading the ceremony. And she went splat.
I hadn't written up a speech, but I had rehearsed what I was going to say, and it went something like this: When I was told that I'd get to choose the next recipient of the Baroness' Champion Cloak, I was also told that it should go to a fighter. And I thought about all of the fighters in Darkwood, and it occurs to me that almost everybody in Darkwood is a fighter to some degree or another. We all have something that we'll fight for, it just may not be on the tourney field. And Katherine is a fighter. She'll fight to her last breath for what she believes is right, and she'll stand up to anybody to do it. That's the fighter I want to see representing Darkwood right now.
Katherine was crying. I was crying. emma7926 was crying, but that's not hard. There were probably others, but I couldn't tell you right now. From the collective exhale in the hall, though, I was pretty sure I'd made a good decision. Then mastersantiago leaned over and asked if he could add something. "Sure," I said. "Top that." He just grinned and said "Watch me." He pointed out that, if you're dumb, you should surround yourself with smart people. If you're smart (and I'd like to think that we are), you should surround yourself with smart people who will argue with you. Katherine is definitely that person.
Again, from the reaction of the crowd, I think it was the right thing at the right time.
Overall, the day just flew by and I think it went very well. We stayed right to the bitter end, helping clean up and take all the gear out of the hall -- thanks to the henches who wouldn't let me do a whole lot during the day, I wasn't broken when cleanup time came around and could help carry bins to the van and garbage to the dumpster when the people who'd been busting their asses all day finally started to run out of steam. There are a few things I wish I'd handled better, but they're mostly little organizational items. I felt underprepared. Looking back on the day now, though, I'm happy.
First of all, let's take as read my natural tendency to assume that Everything that Goes Wrong is Somehow All My Fault. I tried (really, I tried!) to be supportive of the autocrat and cooks and everybody who had a job to do, without meddling too much. While I probably wasn't entirely successful, at least nobody bitched me out to my face, so I could pretend that I wasn't a hopeless busybody. A couple of nights before the event, when I complained to mastersantiago that I was afraid the event would flop and that I'd be responsible, he (with no regard for his own safety) pointed out that White Shield habitually draws as many combatants as an average coronet list, and that the feast was completely sold out. How could that possible equal FAIL? He was completely unswayed by my argument that a large, radioactive lizard would probably storm in to destroy Tres Pinos.
Leading up to the event, I made gift bags, a demi-cloak for the winner of the WS rapier tourney, and a haversack for the Baronial Youth Champion. On Friday night, with the help of several henches, we packed the truck, loaded up present baskets, and checked off the packing list. Saturday morning, we were in the truck bright and early, and the only thing I had forgotten was my chemise. Le sigh. Good thing my dress is lined.
We were onsite just behind paul_rowan and daddythug and helped get set up. Well, mastersantiago helped get the field set up, and I went up into the hall to get out of their way. Up there, I waved my hands imperiously a little bit, told people to do the stuff that they were already doing, and then vacated before any of the cooks decided to chuck a pot at my head. When I got back down to the field, most everything was set and all I had to do was get into my dress and start to look Baroness-y. I started to get worried that things weren't starting on time, but looking around nobody else seemed to be stressing about it. We had a last-minute scramble to get invocation set up, but once things started running the rest of the day just flew by.
I absolutely loved running the Baronial Youth Championship. Three boys entered, momstable's youngest, and B&J's two oldest. The championship had four sections that they needed to complete:
1) They needed to put in a half hour of service. I suspect they all did far more than a half hour.
2) They needed to learn a dance. They actually learned two.
3) They had to discuss the virtue of Courtesy. They had all done their homework and came prepared with what Courtesy meant, and they made such an impression on syele, that Her Highness awarded them all with Pegasi (Pegasuses?) during court later.
4) They had a single-elimination bottle jousting tournament.
They all did amazingly well, and it was tough to decide amongst the three of them. M2 was finally declared the winner, and we invited him to join us for dinner at the high table. I don't have the picture available, but I think he had a pretty good time.
I handed out flowers, and chatted with people as they stopped by, and watched the finals of the list. Our henches were amazingly good at keeping us fed and hydrated, usually before we knew we needed anything. A couple of times I'd walk out the back of the sunshade toward the bathroom, only to hear graniab Poppins yell "Where do you think you're going, missy?" and then come along to make sure that I wasn't unescorted anywhere. (Okay, once I made it out of the feast hall without an attendant, but I was on Official Kingdom Seneschal business.)
We did an afternoon court on the field to give some awards and hand out the prizes from the various tournaments, and Their Highnesses and Her Majesty held their courts. I've never liked trying to hold court in the Blue Room -- I think it's far too crowded in there -- so I wanted to get most of the court biz out on the field. The only things we awarded in the hall were the Oak of Service to paul_rowan for being the guy under the bus, and the Baroness' Champion Cloak, and thank-yous to the cooks & servers & everybody who busted their chops putting on the event.
As mastersantiago said, I gave the Baroness' Champion Cloak to Katherine ní Cheallaigh of Skye. The Baroness' Champion Cloak moves from recipient to recipient, rotating (as much as possible) between fighters, artisans and servants (wow, that feels weird to write, but what else would you call 'em?). The White Shield recipient is usually a fighter, 'cause, you know, it's a fighting event. Earlier I'd actually had a fighter in mind, but the choice wasn't exactly singing to me -- not that there's anything against this particular fighter, but it just didn't feel right. And in the meantime, mastersantiago and I were having a, well, let's say, lively discussion about some administrative junk with Katherine. It wasn't that we disagreed or anything, but we butted heads over how a decision was made. Sitting down with my awards list later, I realized that Katherine is exactly the fighter I was looking for.
So when we convened court between courses that evening, we called momstable forward as the current holder of the cloak, then kaa_the_naga leaned over and asked me who to call forward to receive it. Katherine was called out of the kitchen, and we could tell as she approached that she didn't know exactly why she was being called forward. Even kneeling next to momstable in the cloak, she didn't grok what was going on until kaa_the_naga started reading the ceremony. And she went splat.
I hadn't written up a speech, but I had rehearsed what I was going to say, and it went something like this: When I was told that I'd get to choose the next recipient of the Baroness' Champion Cloak, I was also told that it should go to a fighter. And I thought about all of the fighters in Darkwood, and it occurs to me that almost everybody in Darkwood is a fighter to some degree or another. We all have something that we'll fight for, it just may not be on the tourney field. And Katherine is a fighter. She'll fight to her last breath for what she believes is right, and she'll stand up to anybody to do it. That's the fighter I want to see representing Darkwood right now.
Katherine was crying. I was crying. emma7926 was crying, but that's not hard. There were probably others, but I couldn't tell you right now. From the collective exhale in the hall, though, I was pretty sure I'd made a good decision. Then mastersantiago leaned over and asked if he could add something. "Sure," I said. "Top that." He just grinned and said "Watch me." He pointed out that, if you're dumb, you should surround yourself with smart people. If you're smart (and I'd like to think that we are), you should surround yourself with smart people who will argue with you. Katherine is definitely that person.
Again, from the reaction of the crowd, I think it was the right thing at the right time.
Overall, the day just flew by and I think it went very well. We stayed right to the bitter end, helping clean up and take all the gear out of the hall -- thanks to the henches who wouldn't let me do a whole lot during the day, I wasn't broken when cleanup time came around and could help carry bins to the van and garbage to the dumpster when the people who'd been busting their asses all day finally started to run out of steam. There are a few things I wish I'd handled better, but they're mostly little organizational items. I felt underprepared. Looking back on the day now, though, I'm happy.