Avery Shaw

Photo
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Information
Registered Name: Avery Shaw Resides: Drachenwald Status: Active Joined SCA: 1991
Order of Precedence
Avery Shaw
Heraldry
Pean, a pall inverted azure fimbriated Or.

His Excellency, Master Avery Shaw, OP, MOD, WSA, Lion of Ansteorra, Defender of the Dream

Previously Known As:
Nickname(s):
Pronouns:

Offices:

• Local Offices Held
  • Prior Bryn Gwlad Rapier Marshal
  • Prior Gate's Edge Hospitaler

• Regional Offices Held
  • Prior Southern Regional Seneschal
  • Prior Southern Regional Rapier Marshal
  • Prior Coastal Regional Rapier Marshal

• Kingdom Offices Held
  • Prior Kingdom Rapier Marshal
  • Prior Kingdom Cut & Thrust Marshal
  • Kingdom Seneschal (Jan 2020 - November 2020)

General Information:

• Collector of stories and history
  
• Student of Interkingdom Anthropology
  
• Former maker of crossbows
  
• Decent cook
  
• May or may not cause mischief as a hobby....will neither confirm nor deny such things.
  

Persona History:

English, son of a Puritan. NOT one himself. Courtier at the court of the Queen of Ansteorra, but servant to several different Queens.

Interests:

• Rapier Combat
• Cooking
• Stories
• History (both Mundane and SCA)
• InterKingdom Anthropology

They Let Us Play With Swords

They let us play with swords.

We tend to forget this. At a certain point in your SCA career, you end up going to meetings, dealing with politics (inside and out of the SCA), doing things because you have to do them, not because you want to...and we all have those moments when we forget...none of us started in the SCA to do any of these things.

I have said this before, and need to remember it more often. We all read the wrong books when we were kids. We all saw the wrong movies. And maybe we ran around with towels tied around our necks as capes...or made swords out of broom sticks and shields from garbage can lids...because we wanted to be those heroes. And then one day, someone said we could be.

We get to dress up, put on armor (of various kinds), and we get to go play with our friends. We get to fight, we get to die, we get to honor those who honor us. All those things we wanted to do when we were kids....they let us do it here.

I am no longer a child. I don't just bounce up when I get knocked down these days. I hurt...all the time...and it is frustrating beyond words. I know I am far from the only one who deals with this...and yet...I am not ready to stop. I love holding a sword. I love facing against my friends and seeing who can best who on any given day. I love that there are those who I consider my friends who are better fighters than I ever was....or will ever be...and yet they still want to fight me, because it is fun. Winning is fun...but it is about so much more than that. As Cyrano said "A man does not fight just to win."

So even though my knees hurt. And my ribs. And my hips...and back....and shoulders...and....sigh.

I am not done yet. I will keep trying. I will keep fighting. I will keep trying to remember...

They let us play with swords. And that is more than enough.

Don Avery Shaw, MoD, OP
Also...Sean...the kid who still plays with swords

Timeline of Activity:

• Started playing in the Barony of Golden Rivers, Cynagua, Kingdom of the West in 1991.
  
• Moved to Ansteorra in 1993, started playing in Stargate.
  
• Moved to Bryn Gwlad February of 1995.
  
• The Banishment of Avery Shaw, 2007
• Baron of Bryn Gwlad 2/2008-2/2011.
  

04/13/2019

So...Coronation was today. In their final court, the last action before stepping down, Their Stellar Majesties, Conal and Miguel, exercised their right to name one person during their reign as "Lion of Ansteorra, Defender of the Dream."

Me.

For those not SCA, the Lion is an award that carries no precedence. No rank. And yet, it is an award held in the absolute highest regard in my Kingdom. Lions are those who lead by example. If someone new says, "how do I behave in the SCA?" we point them at a Lion and tell them "do it like them." I have always considered the Lions as walking legends. The heroes we all wanted to be when we grow up.

Iolo. Robert. Siglinde. Edwin. Sara. Kein. Modius. Tessa. Robin. Octavia.....the list goes on...these are the people who I wanted to be like. These are the people who I wanted to NEVER let down. These are the people who set the bar for what is right and proper.

And now, I am apparently one of them. And I don't know how to take this. I am... speechless... well, as close as I get to it.

Thank you to Conal and Miguel for trusting me to not screw this up. This is the second time you have laid a challenge before me. When you made me a White Scarf 15 years ago, I was not aware at first what I suddenly needed to live up to...that realization came over the next several years...and I still find something new that I need to work on every day. I would like to think you have not been disappointed in your choice...and now you have replaced the slope of being a WS that is always before me...and you have given me a mountain to climb. One that I know I will never reach the crest of...but the point is to always keep climbing, is it not? Again, I hope I never give you reason to regret this choice. To say Thank You...just does not feel adequate...but thank you.

And thank you to everyone else for your kind words. Again...I am blown away...maybe it will be more of a solid concept as we move forward, but for now...this is rather surreal...

And thank you.

Avery Shaw, Lion

Prior Groups:

• Cynagua in the Kingdom of the West
  
• Barony of Stargate
• Barony of Bryn Gwlad

Populace Provided Information:

Kolfinna Egilsdóttir

When the Great Plague of A.S. LIV (2020 C.E.) threatened the Stellar Kingdom of Ansteorra, Avery's calm and firm leadership as Kingdom Seneschal provided the guidance and direction we needed in all corners of the kingdom from the very beginning. I don't want this time to pass without mention of his tireless efforts to inform and protect our Populace. Defender of the Dream.

Trivia:

• When Don Avery was made a White Scarf, he was given two scarves. "Diarmuid mac Ruis gave me the one he was made with... which had been Maelgwyn's, from Iolo, from Sigmund (first WS King). Last I heard, Brian now has it." The other scarf was from Benedict.
• When Master Avery was made a Lion of Ansteorra in the final court of Miguel & Conal, there was no medallion available. Seeing this, Master Robin of Gilwell removed the medallion from around his own neck, and offered it up.
  
• Master Avery was a guest on Live from CAID, discussing the Lions of Ansteorra.

Notable Contributions or Accomplishments:

• Holder of the Queen's Blade of Honor for Cateau II
• Banished by HRM Deanna for having "Inconvenient thoughts"
• Queen's Champion to HRM Gilyan Alionara Clonmacnoise I
• Queen's Champion to Sonja Ryzaja II
• 7th Baron of Bryn Gwlad
• Holder of the Queen's Blade of Honor for Margaret ny Connor.