Tournaments to become King...started with Narnians, non-humans, etc. being allowed to enter, fight and win. At the end of that first tournament there was a King and a Queen. That is the game I joined and it is the game I play. It has nothing to do with history or modern senses of equality. It is a game that began a certain way. Some folks had problems with the Narnian/Tolkien element and moved toward historical in the sense of the romantic reinvention of medieval during the late 18th century. Not my bag...I joined for the pretty clothes and guys. :)
I want to see this happen, and I agree that we need to move out of the customary prejudices of the modern world as well as a false idea of the past. This takes a step towards that needed change, so it is an improvement. It is not enough for my taste, but it is a start. I can understand the BOD not wanting to shine a light on, or perhaps throw a flashlight through, cracked glass as the society's populous does not all agree. However, what this does do is pass the buck, or put the onus on the Royalty. This provides a problem for any Royals making any decision in either direction. Perhaps it is currently better this way, as those who show the courage to fight for the Crown and then to rule, should have the courage to deal with public opinion, but I can not envy them. I know exactly what I would do, but right now, I'm kind of glad I'm a fencer and not eligible to risk service of that nature.
Well, for north american based cross border kingdoms (East, Northshield, An Tir) I would suspect it would be harder to appease the populace than, say, a Kingdom like Eldoremere where equality is enshrined in the mundane laws that affect all the populace as opposed to a regional split in mundane law.
Putting it all on the shoulders of the Crowns is one way of dealing with it, but I think it can open up individual Crowns to potential lawsuits and will encourage Kingdom specific cultures. An example - Masters at Arms are enshrined as Chivalry Peerage in Corpora - but when was the last time a Master at Arms was made in An Tir?
I am not opposed to same sex consorts for any reason actually. But to those who oppose them because "it isn't historically correct to period"...WHAT period do you refer to? Cause iffin ya look closely you will find out that there were in fact such, both officially and unofficially, at different periods throughout history.
Also, again, it would be historically correct for many of us in oiur periods to own either slaves or serfs or indentured servants...if we aren't going to be progressive on the same-sex consort issues, perhaps then we could visit whether in game we could own slaves as well? :)
Sorry, I tried to post on blogspot, but couldn't get it to workpearlFebruary 3 2012, 04:23:16 UTC
I must be mad, because I cannot see how this alteration actually changes anything - couples can enter, but it doesn't say anything about same-sex being allowed to fight for each other.
This was being discussed at my local meeting last night, and it was pointed out that by using the word 'couple' instead of 'consort' they might be trying to avoid the situation of two 'stick jocks' pairing up to enter the Lists so they would have a better chance of winning. But it then excludes non-romantic couplings of the same gender (like father and son, mother and daughter, two brothers, a knight seeking a more experienced-at-being-royalty consort than his mundane wife etc.) that would be perfectly fine if both people had different genders.
But I'm also a weird duck who advocates for same-gender pairings because it would make things more 'medieval' for me, as for a while Viking Age Hedeby was ruled by two kingly brothers - Gyrd and Gnupa
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Tournaments to become king are not period.
Taking out the four words allows the kingdoms to make their own decisions.
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That is the game I joined and it is the game I play. It has nothing to do with history or modern senses of equality. It is a game that began a certain way. Some folks had problems with the Narnian/Tolkien element and moved toward historical in the sense of the romantic reinvention of medieval during the late 18th century. Not my bag...I joined for the pretty clothes and guys. :)
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However, what this does do is pass the buck, or put the onus on the Royalty. This provides a problem for any Royals making any decision in either direction. Perhaps it is currently better this way, as those who show the courage to fight for the Crown and then to rule, should have the courage to deal with public opinion, but I can not envy them. I know exactly what I would do, but right now, I'm kind of glad I'm a fencer and not eligible to risk service of that nature.
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Putting it all on the shoulders of the Crowns is one way of dealing with it, but I think it can open up individual Crowns to potential lawsuits and will encourage Kingdom specific cultures. An example - Masters at Arms are enshrined as Chivalry Peerage in Corpora - but when was the last time a Master at Arms was made in An Tir?
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Also, again, it would be historically correct for many of us in oiur periods to own either slaves or serfs or indentured servants...if we aren't going to be progressive on the same-sex consort issues, perhaps then we could visit whether in game we could own slaves as well? :)
Hmmmm now THAT gives me ideas...;)
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This was being discussed at my local meeting last night, and it was pointed out that by using the word 'couple' instead of 'consort' they might be trying to avoid the situation of two 'stick jocks' pairing up to enter the Lists so they would have a better chance of winning. But it then excludes non-romantic couplings of the same gender (like father and son, mother and daughter, two brothers, a knight seeking a more experienced-at-being-royalty consort than his mundane wife etc.) that would be perfectly fine if both people had different genders.
But I'm also a weird duck who advocates for same-gender pairings because it would make things more 'medieval' for me, as for a while Viking Age Hedeby was ruled by two kingly brothers - Gyrd and Gnupa
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