Greetings,

I hope you enjoy this Gatekeeper, the first of many to come. It has been some time since the members of the Barony of Winter's Gate has had a newsletter published regularly, and we hope that it will help keep everyone informed of what's going on so we can all be more active. My thanks to Khevronia de Montfort for picking up the editor's responsibilities.
I specifically urge that you support the Sunday fighter practice when we have set it up for a public place. Fighting is the most visible aspect of the Society, and is the rallying point for both oldtimers and newcomers. By resolving to attend as many Sunday practices as we can, in garb, with things to share with interested strangers, we may discover new members to help increase our fun in the months to come. We won't have many of these public practices before the cold weather sends us indoors, so as soon as we set up the location, please attend as many as possible.
I hope to see you all there soon!

--Morgana yr Oerfa, Baroness Winter's Gate

From the New Deputy Chronicler

Greetings to the populace of Winter's Gate.
Baroness Morgana has graciously entrusted me with the duty of the designing and publishing of the Gatekeeper, and I have a few goals in mind that I'd like to share:
Frequency: My goal at this time is to publish every other month, and more often if necessary. A flyer or post-card supplement may occur between publications. There will be an August issue.
Information distribution: Naturally, the primary use of a newsletter is to supply information to the populace. Be it the list of Officers, Royalty, topics for thought, articles, or Events.
Display of Art: PLEASE send me any artwork, Poetry, doodles, articles, quotations from period sources, recipes, patterns, want-ads, cover art ideas, etc. for inclusion in future newsletters.
Feedback: This being my first publication of the Gatekeeper, I hope you find it satisfactory, but also want to hear your feedback and suggestions. There are lot's of details and customs of the SCA I don't know, though I hope I know enough not to offend. I've edited and cross-ref'd this edition to death, but if there are still mistakes, TELL ME!!! (else they'll remain for the next issue)

Captaincy Warm-up Revel & Participation Drive
August 31, 1996 (Saturday)
Get warmed up and ready for Harvest Captaincy with a Saturday revel! Hope it doesn't snow quite yet!
Time: Saturday 12:00 noon through Evening at the Home of Lord Khevronia de Montfort, Viscountess Kareina Talvi Tytar, Taran de Montfort and Rutger van Dieveren 1349 Sloan St., North Pole, Alaska (as near to Fairbanks as can be!!!) Bring your own munchies or cook on site. Plenty of popcorn provided.
Activities Saturday:
Prize Tourney: Khevron's Headless Tourney in the back Forty (feet).
Winter's Gate Arts and Sciences: Sewing, Embroidery, Heraldry, Cooking (reserve the oven early) etc. in the West Living Room/Kitchen. Resources and help for Period Names, and Heraldic development will be provided. Name and Device Submission, as well as dreaded SCA Membership forms will be available.
Medieval Movie Night in the East Living Room. Please suggest features to be run to the autocrat before the event!
Autocrat: Lord Khevronia de Montfort (Don Goertz) [address Omitted] call days or evenings before 11pm with questions.
Directions: Take the Badger Road exit closer to Fairbanks off the Richardson Highway. Make the first Right onto the Old Richardson Hwy. Turn Right after the "49er" bar onto Sloan Street. 1/3 mile on right, the Red house. Watch for Black and White Baronial signs.

Meeting Notes from 6/27/96

Caitlin is stepping down as Baronial Constable and a replacement is needed - contact the Seneschal (Dmitrii) for details.

Sadly, Mistress Annora is soon being lured away to the Barony of Eskalya, and we will need an Arts & Sciences Officer. Contact Annora for duties and information.

Upcoming Demo's to think about. Demo's are good P.R., legitimize our role as an educational organization, and give us a chance to gain new members:
Tanana Valley Fair - Spot demos? Dance/Fighting? 8/3-10/96
Friendship Day - October?

Think about Pilgrimage Badges. Pilgrimage Badges can be given as gifts to visiting Royalty, for making to effort to include the remote Barony of Winter's Gate in their travels. They can also be sold to other SCA visitors to help our meager local coffers.

We're still in need of SCA memberships. Everyone is encouraged to obtain a "sustaining" membership. (see form in center) Only the sustaining (or better) members receive the West Kingdom Monthly Newsletter "The Page", and the quarterly "Tournaments Illuminated"- the SCA wide magazine. Our Barony's numbers (in order to maintain Baronial status) are dangerously low! The North Star Borough has 80,000 people, we should be telling our friends about and promoting the SCA!

The Office of Chirurgeon is soon passing from Lord Grimr to Lord Taran. Taran hopes to teach short first aid classes at events in the future.

Lord Taran has taken the reins for this October's Michaelmas event. The Feast theme will be Scandinavian! If anyone has sources or suggestions, contact Taran at 488-4014 (6-9pm).

An Autocrat is needed for Yule this December 14. Any volunteers for this honor should speak to the Seneschal or the Baroness.

News

Crown Tourney: Duke Jade of Starfall, fighting for Contessa Juana Isabella de Montoya y Ramirez, has won West Kingdom Crown Tourney, and is now Crown Prince of the West. Coronation will be at Purgatorio August 24-25, in Live Oak, CA.

Captaincy report: If you haven't already heard, Alicianne de Montfort of Sprucewood won the Captaincy list at Spring Captaincy, and is now the leader of the Militia of Winter's Gate. Her Heart is Makedonii Dmitrii Aleksievich Kolchin . At the Baronesses request, the list was "round robbin". Annora de Montfort of Shadowood won the Bread baked on an open hearth competition. Several visitors graced our Barony from the southern lands of Oertha making the trek up to the event including Princess Margarita, Viscountess Alicianne, Bjarni Edwardsson, Francis Bull of Kent, Cassandra von Verden, their sons Willian Bullson and Alleyn of Kent from Eskalya, and William Kearny, April of Birchfeld and their daughter from Selviergard. Bright new banners for Selviergard and Winter's Gate were proudly displayed and represented! Awards presented at court were: Baroness acknowledged the following for their extra special work in the last 6 months with a Baroness's Recognition: Senan, Annora, Me.

A competition: There is a competition, encouraged by Mistress Morgana and resisted by Zeke Buzby, to find Zeke a 'real' name. So, lords and ladies, start digging through those name resources. You have until Harvest Captaincy to submit a name or names for Zeke to choose from. He would prefer Norse, and he's latched onto the given name "Kali", but he may have difficulty submitting this as a single name, so either help him finish his Norse one, or find a completely new one for him. 'Winner' will be chosen by the populace at Harvest Captaincy. Check with your library or Khevron for copious name resources.

Winter's Gate had a visitor from the young and distant Kingdom of Drachenwald. Lord Uto von den Suempfen (Udo Mueskens) of the Canton of Wolfsberg (N.W. Germany) stayed with us for a few days. He attended 30 Year Celebration in An Tir (Oregon), visited Eskalya, Winter's Gate, and Earngyld, and is visiting wherever else the four winds and SCA hopitality take him, and plans to attend Pennsic XXV(with a little "mundane" tourist-stuff thrown in). Anyone who would like his address and phone may contact Khevron. He was interested in whether remote Baronies in Oertha had similar challenges to his Canton in Drachenwald. It seems a Barony in Germany has problems with large amounts of SCA populace leaving suddenly and all at once due to U.S. Military transfers nearly wiping out their numbers! Winter's Gate has seen this before. They do, in fact, hold events in ancient castles. Sigh.

A Favorite 30 Year Celebration Memory
from Viscountess Kareina Talvi Tytär

I was sitting in the firelight surrounded by people from all over the Known World, listening to singing and merriment at the 50th Birthday Party of Duke Frederick of Holland, or "Flieg", as he is known to most SCA folk. He has been in the Society since the first Tournament, and has reigned in both the East and West Kingdoms, and many friends, old and new had come to wish him well. When suddenly, out of the darkness, three sets of Crown Heads appeared. The King and Queen of the West, the King and Queen of Caid, and the King and Queen of Drachenwald. The populace made room for them around the fire, and once everyone had settled down, the King of Drachenwald rose and summoned Flieg over. He announced that He had known Flieg for many years (He used to live in the West, and before that in An- Tir), and that He wished to thank Flieg for all that he has done for the Society over the years. He then gestured to his fine tunic and said, "This is My Knighting-tunic, and these are the real pearl buttons with which it is fastened." as He ripped one of the pearls off. "I want you to have this as a token of My esteem." Flieg was speechless, but managed to accept the button.

While Flieg regained his composure the King of the West described the embroidered tapestry which the Barony of Adiantum, in the Kingdom of An Tir (Eugene, OR) had made as a gift for the West. (They were the host Barony for the West Kingdom for 3YC.) It is a 6' x 9' piece of linen embroidered with hand spun, naturally dyed wool (the blue is real indigo). The picture is a Tree of Life of the SCA with the West Kingdom Arms on the Trunk, and all of the other Kingdoms and Principalities branching off of it. In addition to the Arms of all of the Principalities and Kingdoms of the Known World there are also leaves, birds, butterflies, spiders, a "Green Man", a kitten , and many more things within the branches. The top of the tapestry has an embroidered, inkel-woven band which reads (in Latin) "Presented to the Kingdom of the West, by the Barony of Adiantum…" and the bottom edging says (also in Latin) "Dry Clean Only". I think no one will hold it against the Adiantum needle-workers for drawing the tree such that their Principality of the Summits is located in the exact center of the tapestry.

Once His Majesty of the West finished singing the praises of the tapestry, the King of Caid rose and summoned Flieg to Him. He then announced that He had not been aware when setting out that it was Flieg's birthday, so He did not come prepared, but that He has long felt that gifts should be of a personal nature. He then took his belt knife off of his belt, and said that He has treasured this knife, that it is the work of Master Oso(?) (I am not sure I correctly remember the blade-smith's name, but Flieg obviously recognized it). He said that He had used the blade even that night at feast, and that the scabbard was of His own making. He than said that He would be honored if Flieg would accept it from Him. By this point Flieg was not only nearly speechless he was near to tears, as were several members of the assembled populace. One Lord was heard to say "It really says something about a man's reputation when Kings come bearing him gifts…".

There are magic times for all of us in the SCA, times when reality is suspended for a little while and the Dream is all the more real. That evening will live long in my memory as one of those moments.

The Rest of the story... by Sir Donnan the Truehearted (with Permission)

The end to the knife story is that the knife was worth about $350.00. The next day the King was out looking up and down merchants row when he spied a new knife for about the same price. I hear that he picked up the knife to feel it's heft and gaze at it's beauty, when the merchant noticed WHO was studying his knife. At that point (I love puns) the merchant asked the King if he would except the knife as a gift. Speechless, the King accepted.
The gift of giving...

SCA Web Sites!

as published in I-WAY Magazine, April/May 1996
General SCA Info: http://www.missouri.edu/~ccjoe/sca/SCA_general.html
Intro, corpora, bylaws, articles of incorporation, and scope
http://www.panix.com/~wlinden/sca.html
Links to groups, branches & people
SCA FTP Site: ftp://ftp.nau.edu/pub/sca/
Rules, Clipart, manuals
Also, just type http://www.sca.org
There's LOT's of info and places to go there.

Usenet Newsgroups:
"SCA-West" Subscription (discuussion on the Internet) type the message: subscribe sca-west [your mundane name here] and send to

listproc@anthrax.ecst.csuchico.edu.

The Rialto Digest: One can subscribe and unsubscribe by sending email to: SCA-Request@mc.lcs.mit.edu, requesting your addition to or deletion from the list. Prepare for a deluge of messages!
There are also other newsgroups; The An Tir list... I hope to gather some other currently available lists (or updates) for our next issue.