It seems like I tried hard *not* to join the SCA. In the late summer of '79, I went with some gaming friends to a sort of live action fantasy con that I later found out was Pennsic 8. I paid more attention to a girl in our group than anything that was going on around me. When I looked around, I wasn't terribly impressed. I didn't go to the battles-- too rainy. Couldn't dance to save my life, though the folk music was ok. Although the partying was pretty intense, some of the people seemed a bit off even for gamers-- the current King claimed he was an *elf*, for pete's sake! :-)

The following spring, at a real con, some of the people at our table started getting up to leave a promising game so that they could catch "coronation". Anything that could get gamers to leave the table *must* be interesting, so I invited myself along in time to see Talymar & Valmai take the throne. It was romantic and inspiring in it's way, but kinda formal and serious, too. I wanted something a little livelier. I had no inkling they were the same organization.

That fall, my freshman year at O.U., I stumbled across a demo on South Green. I topped a hill over the railroad tracks just in time to see this little short knight clobber a big tall knight. Then the big tall knight got up, hugged the little knight and helped *her* off with her helmet. I was mesmerized. I wandered up to the display tables and asked this little guy with jug ears and a crown what was going on. Had I been paying any attention to his explanation (my eyes were glued on the cute blonde in the armor) I might've recognized him from the spring event. Anyway, he was very gracious but talkative and finally caught my attention when he got to the part about personas.

(This is the part that keeps haunting me.)

ME: Personas? That's kind of like a D&D character, right?

KING TALYMAR: Hmmm, sort of. We try to base them more on historical facts than complete fantasy though.

ME: (In one ear and out the other) Cool. Can I be a wizard?

KT: Uh, no. You can be a stage magician who *dresses* like a wizard as part of his act, but we try to discourage things that might make people believe you're attempting real magic.

ME: (Disappointed, cause this probably rules out Clerics as well.) Alright, what else ya got?

KT: Well...we have knights.

ME: Neat. I'll be one of those then.

He then went on to explain patiently the entire awards structure, the code of chivalry, and the quaintly amusing notion of *earning* titles. Sort of like going up levels, I figured. I ran back to the dorm to throw on my Tom Jones shirt, stuck my epee in my belt, and trotted off to collect some of my gaming buddies.

Walking along to the revel, I described the funny little king, the babe in honest-to-gosh armor, and sagely explained that for a trained fencer like me, getting on top of this little club would be a piece of cake-- six months tops!

Avatar (as Myles) won a crown of gold for his lady almost exactly twelve years later.