Greetings friends! It been a while since we had a gathering and discussed the proposal. This year at Pennsic there were two opportunities.
A few people showed up for the first meeting and we discussed a variety of things, including what they have been doing in their Kingdoms, what they have seen, and the status of various orders and awards.
An issue regarding inclusion and welcoming others into awards was not only a topic here, but also in fireside conversations as well. There are those who guard their awards and don’t necessarily welcome inclusion, but that will be a topic for another day.
Generally when it comes to participation, it seems there is more work to be done where inclusion, and cross discipline events are concerned. One thing that came up previously was the idea of having competitions that span several martial areas. Such as a tourney where a score must be submitted for thrown weapons, archery, and atl atl (for example). This could be any combo of activities, including other areas such as: rattan combat, siege, etc.
There exists in An Tir the ‘Three Pillars‘ (see below) competition where participants need not participate in all the ‘things’ but have scores submitted for the things they participate in. The scores are tallied and there is an overall winner. In this case on need not even participate in a specific thing, but they get points for what they do. if atl atl is one of them, great!
One serious issue that did come up was the concept of using scores to gauge viability. We can all agree that scores in the area of martial skills can be a way of determining prowess. The prevailing wisdom was that being the best shouldn’t be a requirement, and this was generally the feeling in respective communities. A point was discussed that when a Laurel, for instance, is polled they do not include A&S scores in the polling for consideration. In that same mindset, scores for martial areas should not be a precluding factor, but might be fair to consider. Using the same analogy, one may enter every single A&S competition and place last, perhaps then this wouldn’t be the best candidate. So too likely would be the case for a martial candidate. In both cases however, scores do not nearly tell the whole story, rather lend to the narrative.
Making sure martial events are happening with regularity, opening avenues for discovery and inclusion. Make sure we as a community are talking to autocrats, event planners, and local groups about how we can better integrate and be more visible. More here. We can’t wait for our passion to be represented, we need to wear it proudly and share!
Other topics we revisiting older issues and looking deeper into the culture and inclusiveness. I’ll link to a previous posts (2018, 2016) so you can read what was shared.
There are many ways to show your support, please learn, share, and actively support the inclusion of the remaining segments of our Society actively precluded for bing recognized for exactly who and what they are.
Support the Valiance Proposal!
