elwell@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Clayton Elwell) (05/10/88)
Well, folks, I'm still not sure who created alt.sca, but since I'm one of the people who suggested it in the first place, I may as well give a short description of the SCA and what this newsgroup could be. The Society for Creative Anachronism is an international non-profit educational organization dedicated to learning about life in the middle ages (600-1600) by recreating various aspects of it. We've been around for more than 20 years. What started as a reenactment of a medieval tournament in the back yard of Diana Paxson in Berkeley, CA has grown into a worldwide institution, complete with its own traditions and myths. Probably the most famous activity in the Society is the tournament. Imagine 10 to 20 people, wearing real armor and bearing padded wooden weapons, recreating a medieval tournament. The combat is *not* choreographed, although safety precautions are very important to us. There are also plenty of gentler pastimes--I, for instance, would rather watch from the sidelines, in the shade, with a goblet of ice-cold lemonade, than to stand in the sun with 50 pounds of steel on my body... Various people concentrate on different activities. Some people cook medieval feasts, some people play medieval music, some people (such as myself) learn about and do calligraphy and manuscript illumination, some brew ale or wine, and so on. Chances are, if it was done in the middle ages, someone in the Society has probably figured out how. Mind you, we try to avoid things like catching Bubonic Plague, however authentic they may be :-). This is a brief description I tossed off the top of my head; I'm sure there will be more later from either me or someone else--I'm going to eat dinner. --Lord Lorimbor Coiradan, AoA, CW, OPF Art Director, Tournaments Illuminated (the SCA's national newsletter) -- Clayton M. Elwell <elwell@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> -=- "Gee, the Captain's vanished utterly so we'd better beam down the second-in- command to exactly the same coordinates to see what happened to him!"