Battles waged on South Green
By Aaron Yeager, Staff Writer
October 2, 2008 | 3 p.m.
On a sunny, post-homecoming Sunday afternoon, when most Athenians are recovering from the night before, people on South Green are savagely beating one another with cardboard swords.
Covered in makeshift armor and drenched in sweat, members of the Society for Creative Anachronism bolt to Morton Hall to rehydrate. Today is "heavy fighting practice day," a chance to hone combat skills before tournaments to come.
"The biggest [battle] I've been in had 500 people on either side," OU sophomore history major Clayton Kawalec said.
The SCA, which has 30,000 members worldwide, convenes annually in Slippery Rock, Penn., for an event deemed the Pennsic War. Pennsic hosts battles, along with myriad other events relating to medieval Europe, including classes on arts and sciences, archery and stage performance.
"Everything you want to learn, there's someone to teach," Morgan McAeth, SCA member of 18 years, said.
Howard Beebe, a member of 20 years, enjoys being greeted with a "welcome home" when he arrives at the convention. "No other events do that. You see nothing modern [there]," he added.
Members can be "knighted" for their fighting ability, called a "laurel" for arts and sciences mastery and named "pelican" for service rendered to their community. The last award is so named, Beebe said, because mother pelicans, according to medieval lore, bite their breasts to feed their babies with the blood -- an act of considerable self-sacrifice.
Despite its focus on medieval times, the SCA is not "dinner theater," Beebe said. "Those performers need insurance equivalent to circus performers." The group does joust, but winning a match doesn't rest upon knocking an opponent off his or her horse; instead, matches are decided by who can break the foam tip of his or her opponent's lance first.
On a grander scale, the SCA is divided into many fictional sublocations: Athens resides within the Dernehealde Shire of the Barony of Middle Marches of the Middle Kingdom. The king and prince of each kingdom are determined through a crown tournament, Beebe said, and must retire after six months.
Beebe, who in the SCA is called Lamorak of Dunsinane, waits by the sideline while his wife, Karen, or Isabeau de Foireeis, spars with Kawalec. Beebe resembles Johnny Depp's character in "Pirates of the Carribean," with a tousled, sweaty mane and a deep, gruff voice unbecoming to his stature.
Across the field, McAeth, on his knees after having had his legs "cut off," stabs at his opponent in what appears to be little more than a wrestling match with cardboard tubes. Finally, he falls.
The rules of fighting in the SCA and those of fencing are not the same, Kawalec explained. "You hit the head, the chest, or the groin with sufficient force, and [the person's] dead," he said. "And you have to hit it hard," he added -- so hard that, without a helmet, the opponent's head could be hurt pretty badly.
Kawalec also said that the SCA is not a live-action role-playing game -- i.e., there are no "statistics" like strength or agility that affect the battle, like they would in a game such as "Dungeons and Dragons."
McAeth wears a red belt to signify his battle rank of "squire." His armor, like that of the others, appears to be homemade, intricate, and indicative of much care.
Kawalec made most of his armor from street signs. Many people are skilled at forging their own armor, he said--some using anvils, as was the practice in medieval times.
McAeth's favorite part of being in the SCA is the camaraderie and people. "We all have a common interest," he said. "There's a tight bond."
As the sunlight dims on the SCA's practice session, the members break into two groups and huddle to discuss strategy. Then, without hesitation, they launch themselves at one another in a paroxysm of cushioned carnage. After this epic finale, they will go home to kids, to significant others, to roommates, or simply just as mere members of the 21st century.
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For all interested, the Society for Creative Anachronism meets every Tuesday from 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. in room 305 west in Grover Center.