AZ-RUNE

Slava Atenveldta,

Lord Iosif Volkov, Squire to his excellency Viscount Sir Jerry the Inverter of Kilkenny
House Inverted
Baronial Guard of Sun Dragon
Kingdom of Atenveldt

arizona.rune@gmail.com

I am also a good man, loyal, determined, patient (more so as I get older), caring, and nurturing. When I look at the good and bad traits I see two side of the same coin.  So what does that make me, human I guess, a person that feels at least, a man.


My faith in many things has been bruised and left in doubt but as my father would say, "the sun will rise tomorrow whether you like it or not."  So I persevere because of an old motto of my Scottish clan: Lindsey, which is "Endure Forte."


My fighting style was centered around this and all my tastes in literature, history, and so many things have been centered around two simple, yet powerful words: endure forte. In Norse mythology it is dark about the end times of Ragnarök, and the Battle of Thermopile where 300 Spartans (yes and there roughly 1,000 other fellow Greeks) stood against insurmountable odds.  These stories made me realize I cannot agree with Machiavelli in that "the ends do not justify the means." I read "The Prince" and there is wisdom in it but gather from it the wisdom you value and re-read it in a few years and see if you value the same things. 


I believe strongly that "white leather" means first that I must serve as the wall, that I will defend against all assaults and those behind me can move freely because I stand here against the storm. This thought leads to service and the words of Leo Tolstoy and Jack London:



"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."  --Leo Tolstoy


"He who serves all best serves himself."  --Jack London


When the water crashes against the stone and breaks it does wear it down over the years but when the people come and reinforced the stone the cycle is renewed. When Tolstoy talks about changing the world I think of every boy's dream about being a knight to save the land, but not what to do the day after that. Then I think of London's words and find that knights have become cops and firefighters they continue to save the day each day and by serving those around them they become reinforced because the whole gets stronger through their efforts.


Others will mention that all the stone cannot be attended to at the same time surely some must fall.  I would agree but remember Thermopile, remember the Alamo, ethics and morality are what you do when no one is looking. They could not see the future and yet stood their ground to make a way for that future to come, they served without regard for their well being because they saw what the SCA strives to see everyday.


the Dream...
... of what should be, not what was or often is.


I see "white leather" as perfect imperfection, when a broken soul can find reparations to itself through service to a goal bigger than they are yet like a unique, perfectly imperfect snowflake fall with the power of an avalanche of change when they unite in community of action.


Sister Joan Chittister of the Order of Saint Benedict said it best about the church, and I find this to be true of any institution that becomes successful and sustaining.
  "The church is a human institution, and it is slow.  It's also a universal institution.  It takes a long time for ideas to seep to the top, let alone to move the bottom.  So you just realize that what is going on right now is simply the seeding of the question.  It comes down to how many snowflakes does it take to break a branch?  I don't know, but I want to be there to do my part if I'm a snowflake."


Each bearer of "white leather" and the peerage as a whole is one of these snowflakes, and with the inspiration they can muster all of us become perfectly imperfect, unique, and special.


I can't wait to see what we can do when such a community moves together.

Now I split the hinge to help with articulation which would contract to a point when bent at the knee. See below:

Now you can see the split hinge contract at this point and articulation is no longer an issue. Now came what turned out to be a bigger issue for me. Because the right half of my body is a half-inch longer than the left half this right legs sits to low given the shins were measured off the left leg. I know its my fault for not realizing this would come back to haunt me. That being said I went down to the closest Tandy Leather / Leather Factory store to talk about keeping the leg from sliding down. The manager was in and he had made a number of leather armour suits for various S.C.A. fighters over the years. I walked in wearing the right shin and we began to discuss my options of how to fix it. He peg the right-side / left-side size issue within 10 minutes of talking to me. Then the conversation became not "how to keep from sliding down" but "how to hike the shin up to the right spot."

This is what I could come up with give time, only having copper rivets, some 10oz. leather straps and chainmail I wanted to build something with:

Now I will be adding to the chainmail to make a sabaton of sorts but that will wait till FP so I can test the alterations out and then it is on to the vest. Ahh, at least E.W. is paid for and we are stocked on gear.

The picture here is an attempt to show my progress and the blue on the handle is wrapping for a tennis handle for shock absorption and then leather stripping removed from an axe I had used and re-purposed for grip on this handle. After E.W. I will trade the pommel out for a brass pommel for better balance. The thrusting tip is also from Windrose as well.

Oh my god, where do I begin!

This has been the best of the practices and one of the most memorable trips I have had in a while. Andrea and I left at

7:30AM for the Shire of Granite Mountain in hopes we could be there by 9:00AM. We set all of our alarms for 5:00AM in hopes that we would wake by 6:00AM, LOL!

Well off we headed off and pulled up the event on facebook and then used the navigator app on our android phone to get directions. Bows to T-Mobile and his myTouch 3G slide, hahaha!!!

On the way up the scenic views were so beautiful I told Andrea we needed photos of our trips going to and from in the future but the very first picture she scored with the camera was after we found our way there.

Upon arriving at the site we parked and went to sign in and when we got there one of the heralds

mistook Andrea height and said, "One adult, one child." Now I did smirk because she is short and I can see how they made the mistake. Braids in the hair we both agreed later probably did not help. Andrea said rather matter of factly, "Umm, I'm 30." Then I saw a sight rarely seen in the S.C.A., the herald's jaw dropped in shock! One of her associates said to her playfully, "Don't you have somewhere to be?" Truth be told it was one of the funnier moments I have had after returning to the S.C.A. at the beginning of the year. Andrea has had so much fun and I get to re-live being a newcomer through her experiences.

Then I hiked my way to the bathrooms because wouldn't you know it, put your cup on and instantly you have to pee, geesh! Now regardless of the walk, the line, and what not these were indoor bathrooms and warm! There is nothing more awakening to a person than you somewhat cold bum hitting freezing metal or plastic toilet seat at 3am! AHHHHHHHH!!!! You know I am right if you have had this happen to you. My thanks to the heralds for securing such privy locations.

Well I finally got dress in my "Sunday Dress" armour which means I added mail to the outfit and here is the picture. To which I got several compliments on the rig's appearance. Now enjoy the shot because after the fights that day there will be modifications to the armor after a floating knee floated to low, dragging my thigh with it, yipe! Andrea (her SCA name is Ulianna) found out that the Queen of Atenveldt, Amirah, Aten Regina, shares her gluten allergy when I came across it on the Atenveldt website. So she made a gluten free version of a food recipe called "Fighter Biscuits" she found on a site talking about Pennsic War. To help bring her out of her shell and get to know people I got her to make extra for the queen and we got her some glueten free cider as well. Sadly we have no pictures of this but way to go for the Atenveldt virtual herald!!! For this person recorded the event it was awesome!

Please go " here " to see ALL of her photos I upload and I will paste a few more in here as room allows me for the post. Then I saw the coolest thing ever! I got to see the creation of a Barony, but really I saw the realization of a decade long dream become realized.

The Shire of Granite Mountain had been acting the part of a Barony for some time but were being formally recognized now for their efforts. Above is a link to my facebook album for all the details but this is some of the cooler shots I think matter for the post.

Now both the founding Baron and Baroness get to retain the title of Baron and Baroness of Granite Mountain for all time, which is just a cool milestone in the lifestyle for someone to earn by sweat and sacrifice.

I am so happy his excellency, Brian the Pious of Granite Mountain, was very cordial on the field and when I asked to see his bazubands (vambraces / arm armour) up close. Okay, so I got some compliments on my fighting which only means I have stopped sucking horribly since returning to fighting. In one on one I would still get "owned" fight with that heavy basket hilt blade and shield. Even Andrea said I was wailing on a few guys. I only brought my pole axe and 9-ft spear with me because my right wrist still gives me horrible pain the following day if I use a heavy one handed weapon in it.

HRM Phelan reminded us not to break ourselves on the field that day but that happened about two fights before the 20 minute resurrection battle at the end of the afternoon (2:40pm to 3pm). It only makes sense when I mention a small birth defect which means I developed with the left half of my body being a half inch shorter than the right half. On most clothing you can't tell unless you ask me to stand straight and my right leg is bent at the knee. Well when the armour was made with my leg measurements on the left shorter leg.

Well I got a shot in the right upper knee sliding it down so the edge of the floating cop was over my knee cap. Then came the second shot and BLAM!!!! I got popped but good. The picture here is me resting and then getting up to go and try to do the last rez battle.

Well I told my housemate that I was done and I headed over to strip down. Boy was I happy when HRM said no closing court my knee was popped and swelling. I was going to make damn sure that injury could not happen again!

Now at this point we might have been leaving the event but the map of Atenveldt had been forever changed into the one below.

From here we headed to the Best Western Prescottonian and had a lovely room set up by a future mother in law. The ride was gorgeous and the town square was a sight to behold. I am told it was used in the filming of Back to the Future's town square, but I have not verified that.

From here we headed the feast and it was awesome! Andrea did get a picture of some of the food

and me helping with the dishes. My knight said the highest form of leadership is service and every knight should be willing to help serve. I decided to do that when I could help with the most menial of tasks, washing dishes so the cooks didn't have to. There is something to be said for honest labor and a task well done. I felt great!

What a weekend!

Slava Atenveldta,

Ok really! How is this not one of the coolest inventions out there! I mean it allows the weakest person capable of using the suit to lift 200 lbs. Imagine what I capable person could accomplish.

Sorry Geeking out and looking at armour!!!!

Woot!!!

later,

arizona.rune@gmail.com

We had saved up and it finally arrived! The World's Biggest

Tootsie Roll...

::murmur::

Oh sorry, apparently its the way they ship tempurpedic mattresses so let the un rolling commence!

It was a 10" thick mattress (7in + 3in <-- whatever that means) that ballooned up like a popcorn piece in the microwave, LOL! Now the wood I am told helps with frames that don't have a flat layer between the wooden ribs on the box frame and the mattress. After sleeping in it I don't know if it helped but I love it, with one con. I was told they retain heat and that part is true so I have a fan run while I sleep small consolation to deal with in the scheme of things.

arizona.rune@gmail.com