Whats wrong with the SCA?

[DariusUird@aol.com]

Poster: DariusUird@aol.com

    Unto all good gentles in the kingdom of Atlantia,
          It is with the utmost regret that I write this letter, and I am
sure I will recieve nothing but greater condemnation for it. 
     I have been in the SCA for seven years now. When first I joined I was so
excited to have finally found a place where I was accepted and of use, but of
course I was younger and more naive. 
    I started out as a fighter and was taken "under the wing" by "Lord"
Valdemar Wendel Bayard. I was given a suit of loaner armor and immediately
set to fighting for the barony of Windmasters Hill. I wanted my own armor so
badly and was always asking Valdemar about armor workshops. His reply to my
pleas was met with " oh, we havent been having armor workshops for awhile
now".
    Well, I discovered later that armor workshops had been going on in
Magnus's basement and that "Valdemar" had been taking part in them. I was not
allowed to participate in them because "Valdemar"considered me much more
usefull to "him" (for whatever his own political agenda) if I was in his debt
for the armor and the fighter practices, than I would be if I had my own
armor. I dedicated my life and my resources to him and the SCA. I was made
promises that went unfullfilled and I suffered humiliation at his hands while
I was going through a painfull separation and was unable to attend fighter
practice for a while.
     Through the SCA I met the woman of my dreams and before very long I was
married to her.
      I soon discovered that marriage meant nothing to most of the men I met
in the SCA, every event I went to there was someone waiting for me to make a
wrong move,hoping that they might have an opportunity to seduce my wife away
from me.
    Because I was married to the Lady Ursula Von Bremen, every male was
suddenly my enemy. They came to me and condemed me for having a woman" they"
wanted.
    Worst of the lot was good old "Valdemar" (aka. Gary Quillen). He worked
on my wife for years until we had some problems and she turned to him for
some friendly advice, within days he was filling her e-mail with love letters
and playing on her every fantasy, never relenting until he had won her over
with his lies and promises. Since then she has been cold and distant ( I
intervened and stopped the affair before it became physical (I assume)).
Since that time "Valdemar" has spread lies and untrue rumors about me that I
am helpless to defend against. He ended my fighting career and wrecked my
life and stole my wife away with his lies and fantasies.
      In times of need my wife neglected her husband and children because of
her work for the SCA,
for which she was never recognized. She spent 20 plus hours a week keeping
the books for Atlantia, maintaining correspondences and making sure things
were getting done. Her reward for such long and devoted labor was to be
dissmissed when our hard drive failed and it took us a few weeks to replace
it. It did'nt matter that she had devoted every spare second of her life to
the job of kingdom ex-checker. It did'nt matter that her husband and kids
fell by the wayside as she worked her ass off to help the kingdom solve its
financial problems. She simply got a letter telling her she no longer held
the position. (Thanks Cuan!). So, not only is my marriage suffering from the
SCA, but my wife is dismissed from office and made to feel like shit because
it was more "convenient" to not wait a week or two to get our computer up and
running again.
    All in all I have found the SCA to be abusive and uncaring to those who
dont devote there entire being to its running and perpetuation. My labor and
time and that of my wife have been used, abused, and shat on. And thanks to
"Lord"Valdemar I no longer even have a marriage to console me in my grief.
You destroyed my life Gary, 
I hope you are pleased with yourself.
      The SCA is a wonderful concept, I wish it were what it claims to be,
Unfortunately it rewards the maniacally egotistical and abusive, and punishes
those of us who genuinely wish to be of service to the dream. And thanks to
people like Valdemar Wendal Bayard, the SCA has become a nightmare of broken
dreams and false promises, where those of us who have feelings are used up
and dismissed in favor of personal, egotistical, abusive desires.
         With the utmost regret and pain, I write these words.
            "Lord" Darius Uiridus

             I hope that one day things will be set right and the SCA can
become what it was meant to be!

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