Re: scope of the SCA

[David KUIJT <kuijt@umiacs.UMD.EDU>]

Poster: David KUIJT <kuijt@umiacs.umd.edu>


Greetings to Cheapside!

Eogan writes:
 
> Hmmm...  this brings up an interesting question of perceieved reality.  My
> mid-14th century Scots-Gaelic persona, even with his version of a
> Christian upbringing, would have still had a strong folk-belief in Elves
> and Faeries. [....]
> 	So, I don't think elven persona are a problem, as long as we REACT
> TO THEM IN PERSONA.  If someone comes up to you and says, "Hi, my name is
> Elyssa, Daughter of the Wind, and I'm 4000 years old" (actually happened
> to me), then I would reply with, "Then you're a demon to be sure!"  I
> would then grab the nearest cross shaped object, brandish it in front of
> me, yelling "Back!  Away, fell beast!" [...]


My [in-persona] reaction would be more like "You must be mad, possessed by
a demon, to say such a thing!".  Anyone who said something like that
must be insane or a charlatan.

The only way I would believe [in-persona] that someone was actually one of
the fey folk would be if that person exhibited magic powers beyond my ken.
And no, modern technology is not beyond my ken--that just induces me to
step out of persona and say "please stop pointing that flashlight in
my eyes."

Only if I was truly convinced that this person was a faerie would I react
as Eogan does.

Skepticism was alive and well in the Middle Ages, just like today.  And so
was credulity, just like today.  Since I'm a modern skeptic (not calling
the Psychic Hotline, believing in UFOs, etc.) I find it easiest to play a
medieval skeptic.

I apply the same rule to cross-gender personas.  (An issue much discussed
years ago, although not so much at present.)  If I can see from across the
room that it is a woman in man's clothing, I treat the person as a woman
in man's clothing.  If they tell me to treat them like a man, I treat them
like a woman in man's clothing who asks to be treated like a man (i.e.,
politely, but I still would be a little surprised if they followed me into
the men's bathroom).  The only way I'll treat a woman in man's clothing
like a man is if I don't realize it is a woman. 

Dafydd

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