[Adam S.]

I know Matheus Bane. He's a good guy.

There's one thing I should note about this article/essay he's written: It was written for the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA).

While I've been active off and on in the SCA I've come to a conclusion: While the SCA exists as a Not-for-profit educational group, it's gotten mired over the years in it's own sense of history. Both it's own and real world. The ideal of the Society is a good and noble one. It's the first outlet I had for my love of historical edged weapons. The intrinsic flaw is that it now exists for itself.

Take for instance there stance on heraldry. It's nigh on farcical. You can't have arms that look too close to anyone else's? What about all of the documented battles where an ally was attacked because his arms looked like the enemy's at a distance? And heaven forfend you should blend a French surname with a (insert 'other' Euro nathion here) first name. In the SCA we're all supposed to be lower, traveled nobility...

It's a big self perpetuated mess that knows a little about history, has nice wardrobe, and can party like a college student with a brain tumor and no self preservation instinct.

Fun to visit, but bring your own salt, yer gonna need it.