thegirlsclub

[ViolanteV]

Greetings, fellow deadly valkyries!

My name is Violante (mka Tara). Being an SCA heavy lyst fighter is a long-time dream of mine. I discovered the SCA about 10 years ago at a Renaissance faire event at Mercer County Park in the East Kingdom. The SCA was one of the coolest discoveries I ever made. I remember the lyst field set up at the event. One fighter wearing really pretty shiny stuff was answering onlookers' questions between fights and letting people try on his big sweaty gauntlets. From that moment on, I knew heavy fighting was for me. However, my quest was not an easy one. I wasn't yet 18 at the time I discovered the SCA, and when I did turn 18, I shipped off for college in Carolingia. There, I made friends with the small local SCA group and the few (3-10) students on the Wellesley campus who were in the SCA. I met and talked with one of the local heavy fighters about starting up. However, the logistics were prohibitive; there were insurance risks barring my starting heavy combat during the very long varsity fencing season (September through March), and, once out of season, financial and travel challenges continued delaying me. I did, however, manage to get to my first SCA light weapons classes. Sophomore year, I studied away for the fall and made friends with the heavy fighters from the Shire of the Ruins—including their recent Majesties. Out of college, I kept moving around. I wasn't close enough to a local group to start up right away, but I began slowly building my armor while waiting for the right time to join up. The opportunity at last came during graduate school in Ft. Lauderdale when I (finally) got to be an active member of the SCA and play with Sea March and Sangre del Sol, where, under the direction of Max Von Halstern, I began learning heavy fighting basics of stance and movement and the biomechanics of throwing shots. I completed my degree and moved in December back to central Trimaris, where I (just) finished building my armor. I got to wear it for the first time fighting this past week. So, I'm a brand new fighter with just about everything still to learn , but it's a journey that I know I will thoroughly enjoy!

Although I've yet to authorize in heavy combat, I'm already authorized in rapier and have been fencing rapier about 2 years. I began fencing modern (olympic style) foil about 10 years ago, but have only about 6 full years of foil experience. I also do some occasional archery. My non-martial hobbies include art and writing. Besides becoming a skilled combatant, my only other big SCA aspiration is to become an accomplished bard and playwright. I've written a great deal of period-inspired poetry (sonnets, ballads, and even a couple experimental pieces in Middle English), but I have shared practically none of it in society. So far, I've written two short plays for performance at SCA events (one based on Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale" and the other on Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso"). The former has already been performed, and the latter has yet to make its debut. Ultimately, I hope to turn out full-length verse plays (think Shakespeare) and form a permanent troupe to perform them for the populace. My general persona is a Spanish privateer/conquistadora, but because I planned my name to be historically sound for as early as the 13th or 14th C, it gives some nice leeway for having a significantly earlier armored persona (because I prefer late period garb and early-mid period armor!)

So, anyways, that's me! Let me close by saying that it is truly a pleasure to get to meet all of you fine women who share in this kinship of armored, steely souls and in this lust to bash things with rattan.

With a cheer and salute,
Violante V.

[Cunian]

I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun doing this. Well met.

[Isabella E]

Welcome to the forums.
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It's not the most powerful animal that survives. It's the most efficient. -Georges St-Pierre
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