On
the subject of Fighter Authorizations
On the subject of Fighter Authorizations, Jeferson Crow wrote: > please enlighten me.
My pleasure.
Authorizing a fighter in heavy SCA combat requires a bringing together of the following elements:
A place to fight.
A duly-warranted marshal of Artemisia.
A knight,
Who is not already off doing something else.
A fighter,
Already authorized,
In armor,
With weapons,
And inspected.
A candidate for authorization,
In armor,
With weapons,
And inspected.
The candidate's SCA membership card.
The most recent version of an Authorization Card (blank).
A pen.
Something to put put the Authorization Card on whilst writing on it.
Given all that, it's not suprising that number of Authorization Cards given out does not even begin to approximate the number of fighters in the kingdom. Better yet, after several months of vainly trying to get all fighters officially authorized, someone invariably either thinks of something that got left out of the list, or comes up with a newer version of one of the forms to be filled out, or loses the list of all the fighters that have been authorized so far.
This typically initiates a mad scramble to RE-authorize all the fighters that have been authorized, along with a quest to hunt down all the as-yet unauthorized fighters. In our kingdom, this is exacerbated by the requirement that to be authorized, you have to be an official member of the SCA. Since many fighters aren't members, they are also not interested in getting authorized.
It's all really quite amusing.
Does this mean we should ignore the authorization process? Absolutely *not*. I've lived and fought in four kingdoms (Meridies, Atlantia, Middle, and Artemisia), and everytime I move to a new place, I re-authorize. It's a good process to go through, in that it makes me read the local marshallate handbook and acquaint myself with the local rules and combat conventions.
In the end, each one of us is responsible for conducting ourselves on the field of battle in a safe manner. It's not a question of what we can sneak past inspection or how we can avoid waivers or membership. These requirements exist for a reason, and it's up to *us* to follow them. If that includes fighting in front of marshals and chivalry to let them judge our behavior on the field, then we should welcome the opportunity and learn from it.
As an aside, I've fought perhaps a dozen times for authorization, and have yet to receive my first card. The most common reason for not getting a card: 'no pen'. The 'no card' obstacle is running a close second, and I actually once failed to get a card because there was nothing handy to write against.
Oie. Time to re-authorize again? Count me in!
-bart
--
Lord Bartholomew Hightower of Canterbury
mka Dan Watson
http://www.cs.usu.edu/~watson/bartholomew