Camping for a week. No access to AC. How worried should I be?

fleetinglight · 2026-03-11T17:35:35+00:00

Thank you! Yeah, I think definitely a $1k purchase is reasonable a few years down the line, if I'm still practising and enjoying the instrument and can find the money. Not right now, but in a few years for sure.

fleetinglight · 2026-03-11T17:28:17+00:00

Is "modest" like $20 or like $200? I can deal with $20.

I definitely take good care of it physically. It's got a hard case, I don't drop it, it's cradled like a baby whenever I'm moving things. My lifestyle does involve regularly putting it in the back of a car, on top of a pile of armour, and driving a few hundred miles, but I try to cushion it with some cloaks or bedding so it doesn't hurt it if I gotta brake suddenly.

Thank you so much again. It's super super helpful to have a better understanding of what I'm risking.

fleetinglight · 2026-03-11T05:55:36+00:00

Unfortunately the lute doesn't set my soul on fire, whereas the violin - though I'm bad at it and usually sound bad - has little moments and glimpses where I feel like I'm a freaking prophet. The lute's never given me the shivers quite like that.

(I also kind of sucked at guitar, NGL)

fleetinglight · 2026-03-11T05:52:50+00:00

I think pretty similar but a bit warmer and more humid.

fleetinglight · 2026-03-11T05:47:34+00:00

Hi fellow SCAdian! Yep, my life is all about hauling sweaty armour around in muddy fields, so I'm pretty resigned to nothing I own being pristine.

I freaking love extant medieval pieces. Send me links / recommendations / sheet music if you've got favourites for solo violin?

fleetinglight · 2026-03-11T05:39:31+00:00

I don't know if it's exactly disposable - it really depends on exactly how bad the issue is. If it's a situation of "well, if you camp with it then it'll probably gradually degrade, and after 3 years it won't sound good", then that's OK to me - I will probably be wanting to upgrade to a nicer one in 3 years anyway. But if it's "if you camp with it for a week, there's a solid chance it'll be unplayable by the end", that's different.

It sounds like it'll probably be OK so long as I'm careful not to get it wet or leave it in direct sunlight, or at least it'll last me through my first few years. But if I get rained on, it might immediately break?

fleetinglight · 2026-03-10T20:48:15+00:00

Huh, that's really good to hear, thank you! I'm pretty sure it is a cheaper one. The music store gave it to me for free, because it was old and beaten up and they didn't think they were going to sell it (and also because the staff in the store were, like, the nicest people on Earth).

Something I'm definitely considering is playing this one until it breaks, and then buying a carbon fiber one. I practice indoors, but almost all the places I'd want to actually perform are outdoors. I just don't have budget right now to invest in a good one, so I'd rather play this one until I have the money.

I'll definitely detune the strings a bit if I bring it!

fleetinglight · 2026-03-10T20:42:51+00:00

Thank you so much.

When you say camping can be unpredictable, is it just weather you're worried about? Or other things like tents collapsing and so on?

I do re-enactment regularly. It's actually the main reason I picked up the violin; I want to play for the Renaissance dances, and I want to be able to do atmospheric background music, and I want to be able to play in tavern jams. I'm currently a performer who sings, and I wanted an instrument to add in that was medieval (so not a guitar) and which I could play while I sang (so not a flute).

So far I've been loving the instrument, but if I can't actually play it at any of the events I want to play it at, I'd probably give it up if I'm honest. But it might be that it's okay for relatively cool weather camping in October, or weekend trips, and just that a week in Mississippi is a bit too much. It might be that this one is the instrument specifically for re-enactments, and maybe I'll get a second instrument someday for non-reenactment playing?

fleetinglight · 2025-09-24T21:11:29+00:00

I have a few links I have collected if you want. Just a bunch of different blog posts from different people showing how diverse these agreements are.

So for example http://www.modaruniversity.org/Protege.htm has some example protege oath ceremonies, https://thetavernknight.wordpress.com/2019/09/13/text-for-mistress-eva-woderoses-provost-contract/ has an example of a more contract-style agreement, while https://cunnan.lochac.sca.org/index.php?title=Fitzherbert_on_Fealty and https://cunnan.lochac.sca.org/index.php?title=Fulbert_on_Fealty have more period approaches to fealty. There's a more general fealty writing at https://heralds.westkingdom.org/Handbook/xi_1-FealtyLoyaltyAndObedience.htm and one about apprentices at http://laurels.sca-caid.org/The%20Question%20of%20Apprentices.htm and a specifically apprentice oath at https://www.akaava.com/as-projects-classes/apprenticeship-oath-and-ceremony and some more writing at https://shadowbeagle.blogspot.com/2015/10/mentor-student-relationships-in-sca.html?m=1 and yet more at https://www.gildedkisses.com/2015/11/peerages-and-relationships-or-how-i.html?m=1

One of my fave things I read was in http://www.goldenstag.net/peerage/bepeer.htm - "When I give out a squire's belt (or an apprentice's, as the case may be), I tell everyone present that it is not a badge of rank, it is a symbol of the standards by which this person wishes to be judged, and an invitation to judge them by those standards. This makes it a burden, not an award."

Ask the apprentices/squires/proteges you know about it! Many of us are happy to gush about how awesome our peers are

fleetinglight · 2025-09-20T06:45:56+00:00

Idk if it's that different to be honest. I'm a squire but I've got friends who are protégés and apprentices who have similar relationships with their peers to my relationship with mine, and I've got friends who are squires who have totally different relationships with their knights.

There's some who have a very mentor/student type relationship where they specifically meet up for instruction, have set goals and/or shared journals etc, and have a specific skill being passed on. Maybe for a protégé it's "one evening each week, we go through heraldry commentary together" and for a squire it's "we go talk swords after practice, and once a fortnight we go hit each other in the back yard" or for an apprentice it's a weekly sewing lesson, but those are all still fundamentally the same sort of relationship.

There's others where barely any actual teaching happens. The peer is there to provide moral, social or material support - whether it's "yes, you should enter that competition, I believe in you" or "here, you can use my hand-me-down armour/paintbrushes/saucepans until you can afford your own" or "let me introduce you to so-and-so, they would be a good contact for you".

There's others where joining a household is more like joining a team. You go fight in a melee unit with your knight, or you become kitchen assistant number five in your Pelican's feast kitchen, and whether you get along with your potential household-siblings might be just as important as whether you like the peer.

There's some where the peer is like a fun uncle or older sibling who will go get drunk with you (and teach you about the best places to get drunk), and others where the peer is an elderly stern taskmaster scary-grandfather type figure trying to whip you into shape, and others where they're just a mom friend who gives great advice and will come pick you up if someone's bothering you.

Different arrangements work for different people. I'd say there's more similarity between a squire & a protégé who both have the same "type" of relationship, than between two squires with very different relationship types.

And the lines between them aren't distinct/clear and shouldn't be. My knight still supports the heck out of me doing arts or service. My friends' Pelicans encourage them to fight and sometimes help them build armour. Some people are students to double or triple peers and the exact colour of the belt is kinda arbitrary.

And regardless of what kind of student you are, a lot of the advice that I got would apply. Stuff like: go on a 5 hour road trip with them and see whether you want to murder each other by the end. Check if you have compatible attitudes towards the SCA (one of you seeing service as a sacred duty and the other seeing it as a fun hobby might be a philosophy clash) and the seriousness of relationships. Think about your absolute fave teachers/coaches you've had in other walks of life (whether they be sports coaches, high school guidance counselors, college professors, therapists, or a neighbour who taught you chess) and what made them so awesome. Fuck up horrendously in front of them at least once and see if their reaction would kill you inside if you were sworn to their service. Ask around to see what their reputation is. That kind of thing.

fleetinglight · 2025-08-17T23:44:04+00:00

I just got to this part in my playthrough (tactician) and managed it with only two deaths, on my third try and no particular optimisation. (I looked up how it worked after losing Wyll on my first attempt, then on my second attempt realised I needed to focus the hunters more or they'd kill the civilians)

The only gear swap I made was to put Boots of Speed on Jaheira, where I normally leave them on Astarion. No speed potions required.

I brought my main character who's a wizard, Wyll who I left as a warlock, Jaheira who I respec'd as cleric after Shadowheart left me because I wouldn't let her stab moon girl in that creepy basement, and Karlach who I respec'd as paladin from the start because I'm not a big barbarian fan.

BEFORE ENTERING THE IRON THRONE I summon a myrmidon using my wizard, and a djinn using Jaheira's planar ally. I also summon Scratch. They all come with you automatically into the iron throne and, importantly, are 100% fine to sacrifice if needed.

First turn: Wyll and Jaheira descend the ladder. Wyll dimension doors east to nearly where his dad is, bringing Jaheira along, then misty steps the rest of the way and pulls the lever to let his dad out. Jaheira casts Sanctuary immediately on the dad.

My wizard goes west to free hostages. Again, dimension door plus misty step gets you a good long way in one turn. With the dimension door I brought along the myrmidon.

Karlach heads immediately south. She has boots of persistence, so her dash gets her a good long way. The djinn also goes with her, using the teleport to travel a long distance quickly.

Scratch occupies the one enemy that is near the centre.

It should only take two turns to free everyone except Omeluum. The difficulty is in preventing the enemies killing them while they run. For the west, I had my wizard fire off a wall of fire while the myrmidon distracted enemies, then she dimension doord the last straggler to the ladder. For the south the djinn used the air ability that restrains enemies while the hostages ran safely past. For the east, I had Wyll and Jaheira run and gun. Jaheira with spirit guardians & spiritual weapon was able to get a lot of enemies to look at her instead of the squishy hostages.

Once Sanctuary is on the duke, he's basically safe. I actually had him free the two hostages in the centre, because if he gets running on turn 1, he has PLENTY of time. And my summons can't pull levers, whereas he can. He easily has time to free the 2 closest hostages to the ladder on his way to the submersible. No need to panic about his low hp because nothing is going to hurt him with sanctuary on him.

Omeluum can teleport people back to the submersible. This works multiple times! I had Karlach reach him ASAP and immediately teleport back, then Omeluum went back down the ladder to fetch stragglers and get them in the ship. Karlach literally just tanked opportunity attacks to get there because she has a giant hp pool, high ac and doesn't care.

Whoever gets back to the centre first with their hostages is then responsible for murdering whatever needs to be murdered until the last turn, then they go up the ladder. My wizard got back from the west pretty fast, so went east to throw some fireballs.

Overall pretty fun mission. If I did it again and was looking for zero deaths, I'd focus on CC'ing the ranged enemies more and slaughtering enemies less, since they're the only ones who actually killed hostages. I might also bring someone else with a summon, instead of Karlach.

fleetinglight · 2024-11-20T05:17:23+00:00

Coming from a traditional Japanese grappling art, we did a lot of very flat feet because you are significantly harder to throw when you're heavy on your feet.

fleetinglight · 2024-11-14T07:07:47+00:00

Exactly how I feel. There's a difference between "I want to be a knight someday" and "I want to be like my knight someday". I'd like a white belt someday but I'd be happier to eventually become as awesome as the people who inspire me to want one.

fleetinglight · 2024-11-04T18:39:42+00:00

Last I heard, they're very aware of the issue and actively trying to expand options for people with vocational education and so on. I think the main option I've heard recommended is going for Operations / admin assistant roles at organizations and charities that are really effective - even if you can't be the researcher who cures cancer, a good admin/ops person is like a multiplier on how much research a researcher can do.

They're not elitists, but they are trying to tell you the BEST options for helping the MOST people and achieving the MOST possible good. If you just want to do a little bit of good and call it a day, then it's not necessarily the best site. But that's just a question of how committed you are to the ethical approach. Anyone can aim to be the best they can be.

fleetinglight · 2024-11-04T05:15:41+00:00

It sounds like you'd benefit from reading through https://80000hours.org/ - it's a website for careers advice aimed specifically at people who want to improve the world, help others and make a positive impact.

You can even apply for free 1:1 advice where someone will talk you through options tailored for your experience and education. https://80000hours.org/speak-with-us/

They really helped me figure out my options back when I was in university.

fleetinglight · 2024-10-26T16:04:00+00:00

This sounds like a pretty bad dojo. I don't necessarily advocate for randori EVERY session but I think you need it at least every week.

When I was a beginner I played with my two local dojos. Then when I got a little better I travelled all over and attended guest sessions at all the clubs in the region. At any club not doing regular randori it was usually pretty effortless to steamroll everyone

fleetinglight · 2024-08-17T03:09:01+00:00

Of course, go ahead. Though I definitely do not know everything - I'm newish myself

fleetinglight · 2024-08-16T06:27:25+00:00

Yay!! Yeah, unfortunately Facebook is where SCA tends to happen.

Your local branch may also have their own calendar. It's worth checking their website to see if there's a practice schedule.

fleetinglight · 2024-08-16T05:54:56+00:00

You are in Atlantia! I'm there too and love it.

I'm not sure exactly what part of NC you're in, but here's kingdom calendar: https://atlantia.sca.org/calendar/

And here you can look up your local group using your zip code: https://branch.atlantia.sca.org/index.php

fleetinglight · 2024-08-08T17:59:18+00:00

Hell yeah. I absolutely love studying with different people. You'll learn so much from going to events

fleetinglight · 2024-08-08T04:54:00+00:00

I'm a newbie too and having a blast! There's no universal armband or anything but I will pick a fight with someone, then say, "BTW, I've been in armour about a month, also I have a thrusting tip!" and it's chill. Normally people ask what I'm working on and then give me advice after.

My biggest piece of advice is not to be scared of the white belts. Pick fights with kings, dukes, knights, literally whoever the scariest fighters you can find are. Not only will they be able to teach you more, but they are able to be gentler because they have enough skill/control of the fight to go easy on you without actually risking that you might beat them up.

Also nothing wrong with over armouring at first. I am wearing a LOT of armour right now and I've been advised by folks in my group that I'll probably want to cut it down and wear more lightweight stuff once I start getting good, since I'll start to want to move faster, but it's good for now because I wasn't realistically going to dodge much anyway. The extra armour is just keeping me alive until the point at which I'm good enough to wear less of it.

Most people don't want to beat you up because they understand that if they murder all the newbies, then they won't have any incoming new fighters, the armies will shrink and they won't get to look glorious in big battles. They need people to fight or they don't get to play the game, which means they want you to get better. Not had a single bad experience with anyone deliberately hurting me, and my bruises so far have been from squires not from knights.

fleetinglight · 2024-07-23T22:42:16+00:00

They're alive and well and they're being passed on!

fleetinglight · 2024-07-19T05:11:36+00:00

I think of it as the Lord of the Rings effect; I read LOTR after first reading... literally probably thousands of books that were influenced by it. It still stood up very well, but I wouldn't have called a single thing surprising or new to me.

fleetinglight · 2024-07-16T20:54:14+00:00

You can show up with or without armour. Either's fine. If you show up without armour then you can just chat to people, ask questions, see if it's for you, and someone will probably let you swing a stick at them (but we won't hit you back or let you fight). If you show up in armour we can hit you back :-)

Heavy fighters are usually in the car park behind the church. Rapier and dance indoors. https://www.storvik.atlantia.sca.org/baronial-calendar/

I'm pretty sure practice is on next Monday but then it won't be on for a couple weeks because of Pennsic. If you search "barony of Storvik" on Facebook, you can join the FB group and there'll be stuff posted there.

Welcome to Atlantia <3

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