Sticky Questions

At Whipping Winds, I was asked why there aren't any northern White Scarves. Boy, talk about a loaded question. But you have to admit it's a very good question, even if it isn't entirely accurate. There is one White Scarf in Bronzehelm: Don Adam, a recent transplant from the Outlands.

So why hasn't Northern Artemisia produced any White Scarves? I mean, we have fencers. Fifty-two, going by the official rolls. That's out of 178 total authorized fencer. In other words, almost 30% of Artemisia's fencers live in Northern Artemisia, and yet only one of the 19 White Scarves lives north of One Thousand Eyes. Now if we average out the number of white scarves (19) to the number of fencers (178), you come out with about one out of every ten fencers being a white scarf. So we've apparently got the numbers to allow us to produce White Scarves, so it can't be our numbers.

Maybe we're just too new of fencers. There may be something to that. After all, when I came back from the Army, there were only a handful of fencers that I recognized from before, so the majority of fencers up here have been doing it for something less than 7 years. The thing is, I can think of three fencers besides myself who were fencing before I left that are still active: Cormac, Antoine, and Albion. Yes, Antoine and Albion took a hiatus around the same time I did and came back at about the same time, but even discounting those absences, they still have better than ten years fencing within the Society. So there is a pool of experienced fencers to look at for promotion (about the 1 in 10 we see in White Scarves, even) as well as a pretty good crop of up-and-comers in the making.

So it's not lack of fencers or lack of experienced fencers. So why aren't there any Northern White Scarves? The only reason I can come up with that might have any merit is visibility. Artemisia covers a huge area, about a thousand miles from our northernmost group to our southernmost. And, although One Thousand Eyes is closest to a geographical center, Loch Salaan has been our cultural center since our days as a principality. Just look at a map of our kingdom and you can see this: centered around Loch Salaan are three other groups, all of which are less than two hours driving time apart. Even expanding out, there's another half-dozen groups within about 4 hours of Loch Salaan. So, yes it makes sense that Loch Salaan would be the cultural center. The drawback to that is that the southern-most group in Northern Artemisia (the former shire of Dun Braga) is seven hours from Loch Salaan. And beyond them there's three groups within an additional two hours, and three more another three hours out and then two more past that.

For the most part, those of us in Northern Artemisia can manage about a 4-hour drive to make it to events without too much trouble. Unfortunately for most of us, the only groups within that four hour range are other groups in Northern Artemisia. I'll admit it: in my 20 years of playing, I've made it south of One Thousand Eyes a whopping 5 times.

And we get upset because more southern fencers don't make it up to our events. Hmmm. If we can't make it to events more than four hours away, how can we expect our southern brethren to do it?

If we, as Northern Artemisians, expect to receive the recognition we feel we deserve, we need to make it out of Montana - and not just to Uprising. We need to be willing to make the long pilgrimages into the heart of Artemisia. And not just to be seen, but to also show our southern friends that it is possible - and worthwhile - to make the long trek.