On the lineage of OGRs
People sometimes speak of lineage, or who was cadeted to whom, as far back as it is known. But, what are they talking about, really?
In the East Kingdom, members of the Order of the Golden Rapier (OGR), who may style themselves as "Don" or "Doña", are the pinnacle and leaders of the rapier community. Should they take dedicated students under their tutellage, they are referred to as cadets.
This practice of taking cadets is similar to knights taking squires, and the duties of both persons are like unto that arrangement. The Don often promises to teach what they can about fencing, but also courtly manners, politics, or the lack thereof, not making one's self look like a fool, and whatever else the Don thinks makes a better member of the SCA. The cadet most often promises to hold their Don's teachings above all others, to learn from them, and not make them look like a fool. As a mark of the agreement, the cadet wears some form of blue scarf on the arm or shoulder as acknowledgement of the relationship. In kingdoms where the comparable award is denoted by a white scarf, the cadet's scarf is red.
The Don/cadet system (such as it is) has been around since before the Order was formed, and is a throwback to an older incarnation of the cording system. The OGR was created at Pennsic in AS XXVII, while cording goes back further than anyone I have spoken to recently will admit to. Therefore, while the first 14 OGRs were all made at the same time, most of them had been gold cords beforehand. I mention this because, as you will see in my lineage, my Don has precedence over two people who figure further back in the family tree.
Before I get to the example family tree, I'll mention that the rolls of the order can be found here.
OK. On to my details. I'm the only adult male who gets to call Nataliia "Mom" and live to tell about it... mostly because it's her fault that I fence. She started a class in the Barony of the Bridge, long about 1994 or so... it's all been downhill from there. No, seriously, I still do this because I enjoy it just as much now as when I started, when I was the wise-ass class clown of Nataliia's little class. In case I haven't said it enough, thanks, Mom.
Annys and I moved to Bhakail at the end of 1996, so Nataliia played Yenta and set me up with Don Dylan, who she thought might do some good teaching me. She was also trying to break "the curse" - Dylan seemed to take cadets only to have them move 500 miles away or disappear. Her aim was to install me as the "lucky rabbit's foot" cadet, break the curse, and maybe even allow some of his cadets to become OGRs. It worked. Very soon after I showed up, my cadet-brother Martin got his OGR, and the curse was lifted. What's even funnier about this is that last year, I posted a mock Ann Landers letter on the Cadets List detailing how all my siblings had been "claimed" by the Creeping White Menace or been turned into ogres, leaving me as the cadet who must endure, the "lucky rabbit's foot, without whom, no other cadets may advance". Of course, I thought I was so clever, and that I had coined that phrase!
So, anyway, at the time, Dylan had been King's Champion twice, and was Deputy Kingdom Rapier Marshal - a well-respected guy and a hell of a fencer. He gave Nataliia's proposition some thought, and got to know me, and agreed to take me on as a cadet. I took my blue scarf officially at the Known World Academy of the Rapier in Massachusetts, 1997. It was there that Dylan made the now-famous remark that Nataliia taught me to fence, but he taught me to win. It's kinda true in a way, but don't let Mom hear that!
What followed was six years of "custody" shenanigans, with "Mom" and "Dad" mock arguing about visitation rights and about the other "neglecting" me, and "Obviously, he gets that from his Dad/Mom's side..." It's been fun. I still get to call Nataliia "Mom", and I can still go to Dylan for lessons and to discuss various stuff.
NOTE: As of 2015, the SCA has recognized a peerage for Rapier, the Masters of Defense. This of course leads another wrinkle to the concept of lineage, since there are now a few Eastern Masters who have looped back on their lineages and become recursive. This used to be easier to understand, but I wouldn’t trade ease of understanding in place of that Peerage for anything.
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The particulars:
Below is the illustrated family tree for as much info as I have. It includes not only my descent, but my students as well, the "Brats of Tadcaster". If anything changes or comes to light, maybe I'll update here. One never knows. As far as the "Mists of Antiquity" goes, there are some Dark Things way back, such as previous incarnations of the cording system, and the precursor to the OGR, The Order of the Guardsman. A lot of that history is clouded, known clearly by (or blocked from the memory of) only those who were there at the time.
On Mom's side, I'm descended from Brokk Jarlsson (OGR #39) to Nataliia (#43), and I have four siblings there: Jael (#70), Eomer, Sebastian and Jacob.
On Dad's side (#4), beginning in the Mists of Antiquity - Yciar (#14) to Phillip (#9) to Dylan. I have 6 siblings on that side: Marion, Martin, Coinneach, Cluaren, Daniel and Vivienne. Marion (#59), Martin (#51) and I are now OGRs. Coinneach is from the Outlands, a White Scarf kingdom; he's White Scarf #38. Dylan has since moved to a White Scarf kingdom, so he is not only an OGR but a White Scarf of Aethelmearc as well (#17).
As far as my numbering, I went from cadet #6 of OGR #4 to OGR #64. Handy, that.
NOTE: As of 2015, I've had to update the list of my cadets up there: my only cadet left standing is Declan; Bruni put fencing aside for a while to pursue arts & sciences and became a Laurel; Lillia has been recognized for her service to Heraldry and made a Pelican; Alesone has gone off to pursue other teachings. I think Nataliia has picked up a few more cadets in six years, too, which means more relations on that branch.
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