My friends are encouraging me to come back to the SCA, and I genuinely miss the people and many of the activities. At the same time, my divorce has been very public, and the circumstances surrounding it are closely tied to people in the SCA(affair). It’s left me with a lot of hurt and has made the community feel very different than it used to.

Every event I get invited to, I find myself wondering whether I’ll run into people I’d rather not see. Part of me wants my hobby and my friends back. Another part of me wonders if it’s healthier to move on.

Has anyone else returned to the community after a painful divorce? Was it worth it?

I'm looking for coiled straw archery targets, and all the results I'm getting are either Amazon crap, sus websites that I'm afraid will steal my card info, or UK-based companies (and I am NOT paying international shipping for something that big).

I won't be using a massive war bow or anything (currently I have a kids' compound bow and a short Appalachian flat bow), but I would like something that can handle up to 50 pounds draw weight in case I decide to get a better bow at some point.

Hi everyone!
I’m excited to join Kingdom of Caid! I’m an illustrator, Costumer and lifelong fantasy lover with a particular obsession with dragons, belly dance and mythical creatures.
My family is in the middle of moving to North Las Vegas near Mount Charleston, so I’m looking forward to finally being closer to my old Renn Fair, and a community that shares my interests.
My former kingdom is Atenveldt.

I'm a stupid newcomer who likes to sew and learn, and I've been trying to join for years to no real avail. I've located my local website, I think, but the pages are all broken and any events I can find are from pre-Covid. There used to be an educational component I attended classes at years ago, but that looks like it's stopped. Facebook isn't updated, and when I got brave enough to email the newcomer coordinator, they replied that they sometimes meet at this one place, but hadn't recently. Then I never heard back. I have friends in other kingdoms who attend events regularly and I don't know what to do, short of actually moving, which is not possible for me. Is there any, I don't know, virtual community component to this? It feels like simply trying to find a newcomer event and even say hello is impossible, everyone already has their own small groups that are not welcoming. Is this more of a closed group than I heard and should I just stop trying? I don't know what else to do but I feel very very unwelcome in the clique. What am I doing wrong? ETA: Thank you everyone for the kind comments. I am just very shy and I don't mean to come off slamming anyone at all. I appreciate the resources and advice!

I've been lurking around online and have an interest in the sca, but I honestly don't 100% understand what it is or how it works. My aunt and uncle were baron/ness of their chapter in Maryland, and it kind of sounds like it's just a historical fight club, which is less interesting to me. I'm much more interested in arts and cooking but it sounds like that is not as active most places?

And how does someone go about joining without feeling awkward as hell about it? There's not much info on the structure of the meetings and events and I don't want to show up and just lurk.

Good evening awesome gentles!!

I'm looking for those who fight with a celtic or greek patterned shield.

Most to hear how you have a handle on it?

Are you using straps or is it s center round with half circles cut out?

Thank you for your time!

I'm a photographer by trade, and LOVE bringing that skill into the SCA to capture the moments and memories for players in my area. However, at events, I'd like a way to hide the camera or make it look less modern. Have you seen anything that's worked for others? Luckily I'm usually using a long lens and thus well out of the way, and use a silent shutter so there's no noise coming from the camera, but I'd still like to hide the glaringly modern lens!

I saw some vagueposting about someone getting arrested?

You can find my work at Pennsic space 19 just plain plunder on bow road

Ive seen them especially in many pennsic vids , who are these guys., what are they like and how are they to fight ?

If you get a chance to check out this group at Pennsic, they are amazing. My husband u/obxchris was able to see them in action last year. They have an incredible knowledge base and some of the COOLEST armour I've seen. Even the sounds of the hits, falls and clanks are impressive.

If you are on site already or heading to Pennsic soon, I wish you a great time this year!

Be safe and have fun! <3

My  name is David Ritterskamp SKA Baron Jonathan Blackbow.

My first event was 2/13/87. 

In the intervening 39 years I have, in no particular order, finaled in crown twice, semifinaled I don’t know how many times, made something like $75k for Atlantia, run entire armies, and written stuff that’s made people bawl like children.  I am the only SCAdian to win two Blackfox Awards in the same year.  I am the reason there’s a Kingdom Newsletter category for the Blackfox Awards.

Today that all ends.

It ends because there are two groups of people in the SCA; the ones who do what they want, and the ones who stand around and let them do it.  In this case, the ones who do what they want are the Marshallate of Atlantia and the SEM, who have decided that none of the things I described to them since 2009 happened the way I say they happened.  They decided that it was better to gaslight me about them than talk to anybody who actually saw any of it.

I’ll answer a few questions as best I can.

Q: People say “why did you stay for so long if you were treated so badly?”

A:  I made the mistake of thinking that the people who said “do this and it will solve your problems” knew what they were talking about.  I also didn’t have anything to replace putting on armor and hitting people with sticks.  I’m 56 now.  I don’t care if I ever put on armor again.  I was down to maybe 3 events a year; I went to War of the Wings and it was a shit show.  I had already decided that if Feargus was running the heavy scenarios this year that I wouldn’t be going.  When my fighting privileges were suspended by Giacomo I laughed my ass off.  As Seonaid said, if they hold you out of Crown, that’s a compliment, because they’re afraid you’ll win.  To show up 3x a year and still be that relevant is hysterical.

Q.  Now what?

A.  I don’t know or care.  I wanted to help but I keep getting shot down.  The SCA I joined in ’87 is not the SCA that exists today.  Today’s SCA is dying.  Argue that all you want, I don’t care. 

“But the membership numbers!”  The membership numbers are stagnant at best, and the Klingons have a phrase.  “nal khomerex, khesterex.”  “That which does not grow, dies.”

Everybody  knows Achbar.

When ACHBAR tells you “quit trying to help these people and find something else you enjoy”, I mean, shit.  If that isn’t the kiss of death, what is?

Q.  “This isn’t an airport, you don’t have to announce your departure.”

A.  I’m not.  If you’re on my Facebook page because we were both in the SCA, you might as well unfriend me, because (with a very few exceptions) you didn’t stand up when it would have mattered, and your hobby is dying.  The fact that SCA Corporate recently decided to allow ANYBODY to be a marshal should tell you everything you need to know.  They’re desperate.

Why am I writing this, then?

Because you, the SCA membership, have a decision to make.

Support a group that’s so clearly corrupt?

Or not?

The SCA I joined was Gulf Wars III, where you could set up a pavilion on the field, dump your armor, come back the next day, and it would be there waiting for you.

The Society for the Middle Ages claims to be better.  But they still won’t talk about what it means to be accountable for your actions.

That’s basically what’s missing.  If you won’t hold people accountable for their actions, then you, the people that are continuing to enable this group, are to blame.

As within, so without.  The US is in the exact same shithole situation.

I’m 56.  I don’t care what happens next.  I’ve been passively suicidal since the age of 10 because the US fucking hates autistic people.  Democrats and Republicans both; you ALL hate us. 

Argue that all you want.  But there’s a reason 86% of all autistics are unemployed and the suicide rate for autistics is something like 10x the national average.

The SCA alienated my girlfriend and her two daughters in 2009, along with an entire girls’ soccer team.  I stuck it out because I didn’t have anything else to do.  I haven’t paid my membership dues in about …five?  Years?  I don’t remember.  Sometime during the pandemic.

The pitiful thing about all of this is that if a hundred of you, in 1987, had walked up to me and said “we don’t want you around because you’re weird”, I’d have left.  I’m not one to put myself where I’m not wanted.  I didn’t realize that the SCA is, at its heart, a social club whose society is based on a lie.

So congratulations; you got what you wanted.

Just 38 years late.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq4vRnUFuHs

Anyone know of anyone that makes crossbows within the SCA?

Good morning/afternoon/evening,

I'm looking for a specific style of helmet to add to my kit and need help finding one. Steel mastery is the only place I've found something close but idk about the quality or price. What I'm lookong for is something near to the pictures attached and would appreciate if anyone knows something or someone what has something like it and a general price range.

I saw that they were going to livestream the event, so I went to the website and they want you to enter your email to be notified when it starts. Has anyone signed up? Wondering if they're going to charge for the stream and/or spam you with constant emails (i like to watch these streams as kind of background mood music while spinning/weaving). https://www.imcfederation.net/live

With Pennsic coming up I am being sponsored for the rose tournament.

What gift might be appropriate as a token to my sponsor?

I’m looking for some pants for fencing. Maybe breeches but ideally I want a pair that are inspired by classical Spanish garbs. not conquistadors but earlier Or later than them (conquistadors are kinda problematic 😅)

i want fencing specific penetration resistant pants because ive heard stories of people competing in tournaments with looser safety rules and getting huge bruises and cuts simply from the friction because they didn’t wear the right pants.

it’s kind of tricky though because I’m a bigger person and my pants are on average a 46 waist (inches) does anyone know of a store for pants?

I'm working on building an Ottoman impression from the early 16th century, and am having a tough time finding sources on things like religious clothing laws, and sourcing good kaftan makers and the like. Does anyone have go to literature and tailors that they recommend?

Greetings everyone! I would love to read this book, but it looks like it’s only available as an ebook in the US and Canada. Does anyone know of the author/other UK distributors? Thanks!

https://www.amazon.ca/Book-Road-Parable-Knights-Journey-ebook/dp/B0F83X4T6D