Re: chivalry / no "watch list"

[Acresouth <Acresouth@aol.com>]

Poster: Acresouth <Acresouth@aol.com>

I say Huzzah!  These are the exact questions that came to my mind when reading
His Majesty's post.  I hope the chivalry answers well lest many aspiring
knights pack up their things and go home forever because they "don't have what
it takes" according to His Majesty's definition of what it takes to be a
knight in Atlantia!

In a message dated 98-03-05 20:52:14 EST, corun@access.digex.net writes:

<< Please enlighten me. Firstly, what does the Chivalry in general consider
 "great things"? Secondly, are these standards You have listed then the only
 standards which mark a Knight? Are not courtesy, hounour, and chivalry,
 counted for anything? What about courage? Honesty? Loyalty? Perseverence?
 
 I lay the following examples before You. I am small in stature, so I may
 never possess the strength of someone much larger than me, You for
 instance, or Duke Galmr, Count Thorbrandr, or Duke Cuan. Yet though I am
 small I have tenacity. I may one day face You on the field, and though You
 pummel me into the ground like a tent peg, I will rise again and face you.
 And again and again. I may never beat You no matter how hard I try since
 You outmatch me in sheer strength. But am I less worthy of Knighthood for
 that? I may also not have as much stamina as a younger man such as Yourself
 (and before You say I'm not that old, I probably have a good decade on You
 though I don't look it), and therefore I may leave the field sooner to
 rest. Am I to be faulted because age has taken its toll of me?
 
 But, there will always be someone I am better than. Where then is the line
 drawn? What, if any, are the other standards that the Chivalry sets before
 it considers someone for Knighthood? What combinations of the above
 mentioned standards are acceptable? All? Any two? Add then any standards
 not yet mentioned and what then becomes the acceptable level? And if I try
 and try and slowly get better, yet I never manage to match Your strength or
 Your speed or any of the other things You've listed, am I still unworthy?
 One can only do as well as one can. A glass may only be filled so full
 before it holds all it can. What is the measure by which one is gauged
 against these standards? I ask the older Knights, what were the standards
 in the Old Days? The same? Different? If different, how?
 
 Again I hope I have not given offense by these questions. I have great
 respect for You, and yet I would be dishonest with You if I did not say
 that the standards You have listed cause me some dismay if those are the
 only standards by which one is judged for Knighthood.
 
 In service,
 Corun
  >>
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