Koke Gan

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Photo

Standing guard at Vincenti da Murano's Vigil
at Ansteorra 40th Year Celebration Event
Information
Registered Name: Koke Gan
Resides: Vindheim / Namron
Status: Active
Joined SCA: 1990
Order of Precedence
Koke Gan
Heraldry

Per bend sinister vert and sable.

Koke Gan ši

Previously Known As: Ciarra, daughter of Zenobia (of House Wizard's Keep)
Nickname(s): Cocaine - given by Meg Sterling when we met (sounds like Koke)
Pronouns: She/her
Pronunciation: koh-kay gahn shee (Please see In Case Of Court note below)

Additional Registered Heraldry:


Offices:

  • Local Offices Held
    • Webminister, Barony of Northkeep - Fall 2018 through Winter 2021
    • Webminister, Barony of Namron - Beginning Winter 2021
  • Regional Offices Held
  • Kingdom Offices Held


Persona History:

13th C. Mongolian

Interests:

  • Socializing!
  • Fiber Arts
    • Kumihimo
    • Finger Braiding
  • Juggling
  • Thrown Weapons
  • Illumination
  • Running various errands for folks at events


Gallery:


Timeline of Activity:

  • Attended first event in or around 1990 and was briefly involved as Ciarra.
  • Life took her away from the SCA until Castellan 2017, although she did sneak in one or two events in that long span, here and there.
  • 2018
  • 2019 - what a full year!
    • Thorvald Egilsson Memorial Potluck
    • WInterKingdom (where she received her AoA!)
    • Mooneschadowe Provincial Games
    • Wolfstar Winter Melee
    • Gulf Wars XXVIII
    • Fort Work Days at Will Rogers Scout Reservation
    • Norman Medieval Fair
    • Spring Coronation for 81st Crown (of TRHs Prince Vladislav Strelec & Princess Margaret ny Connor)
    • Wiesenfeuer Baronial
    • Namron Beltane XXXIII
    • Northkeep Castellan XXX
    • Steppes Warlord.
    • Demos:
      • Sun Fest in Bartlesville
      • A Midsummer Faire, A Medieval Fair in Enid
      • The All Thing in Haldtre (Elk City)
      • OSU Campus demo with Mooneschadowe
    • Wolfstar Summer Fling
    • Valor in Calontir - first trip to that kingdom!
    • Ansteorra 40th Year Celebration - 4 full nights, including volunteering at the Wiki booth (do you have a page yet?) and Gate
    • Three Centurions.
    • Fall Coronation and present a gift to His Excellency, Vladislav Strelec.
    • Northern Border Skirmishes was amazing! Koke enjoyed the thrown weapons & archery competitions as well as listening in on the Bardic competition.
    • Bonwicke's 27th Annual Champions Tournament. The melee there with Tarvos the prize bull was hilarious!
    • Weisenfeuer Yule
  • 2020
    • WInterKingdom - where the 82nd Crown awarded Koke with a Sable Flur for her work in Cord Braiding (Kumihimo)
    • Wolfstar Winter Melee
    • Mooneschadowe Provincial Games
    • Covid-19 cancelled Koke's plans to attend Gulf Wars XXIX, Norman Medieval Fair, and any further events for the year. In July, Koke relinquished her House Wolfstar whelp sash back to Uallach Dhubhshlaine. Koke has not, as of yet, attended any virtual events outside of meetings
  • 2021
    • Relocated and accepted the Webminister position with The Barony Of Namron
    • Sun Fest Demo in Bartlesville
    • Castellan, which was postponed to the Summer months
    • Premier Coronet Tourney for Vindheim where the 84th Crown awarded Koke with a Sable Thistle in Cord Braiding (Kumihimo)
  • 2022


Event Missives:

Valor XL, September 2019

I traveled with Aesa North out of the beautiful lands of Ansteorra into the kingdom of Calontir. Vatavia was very welcoming and we quickly found our spot with House Wolfstar and some bonus Ansteorran brethren. Camp set (in the dark) and off we went to see who else made the trek as well as meet some of our Northern neighbors. I did not stay up as late as I normally would, but was ready to rest after a long and busy day.

Saturday morning found me as entourage to "His Fabulancy," Dimitri of Vatavia. Ansteorra made a FINE showing in the Valor melees! Our troops were so well honed to work together as one that our hosts had to split them up to avoid losing in such great measure. The Bardic competition was to be "something different" and performed during Feast. I stepped up to offer something different to Their Royal Majesties of Calontir and Their Excellencies of Vatavia, but wanted to include a bit of Calontir in my performance. For this I had collected three black walnuts from the grounds and tucked them away into my sash. I pulled them out one at a time and began to juggle. After dropping the walnuts a couple of times, I advised that this was actually quite dangerous. For when the walnuts collide in the air, they fire away from each other in opposite directions! I had hit someone earlier in the day. I caught 40 times and offered that it was in celebration of my own Kingdom turning 40... but it was also the 40th year for Valor. The crowd seemed to enjoy my humor and my performance. After feasting with friends and enjoying the other competitors, there was much fun to be had with House Wolfstar. Again I did not stay up as late as I tend to do as events.

On Sunday morning, I again was entourage to "His Fabulancy," Dimitri - who by now had become a brother of mine in House Wolfstar! Many of our Ansteorran fighters participated in the tourneys on Sunday. The Guardian Shield returned to Ansteorra again, thanks (once again) to His Excellency, Morgan Black Dragon of Northkeep. Matthew MacGilleFhaoláin of Northkeep won the Arts & Sciences competition, which was no surprise at all. His icon was a glorious display of Opulence, the theme for the competition. I did not win the Bardic competition, but was excited to have participated.

Their Excellencies, the Baron and Baroness of Vatavia did make a point to let me know they enjoyed my performance. This third and final night of Valor XL, our hosts did provide a great spread of things to eat, drink and entertain. Still, most spent much of the night at our household camp. It was this final night that I actually refilled my cup with very late night conversation with my brethren, not retiring until nearly morning.


Monday morning found everyone breaking camp and heading homeward. Aesa and I had obligations so we began our travel fairly early in the day. I knew we were nearing our blessed lands of Ansteorra when I saw the giant sky flowers on the horizon! This inspired me to send word to His Royal Majesty, Sultan Vladislav Strelec of our victories and to share my joy to be returning home.

Catellan XXXII, May 2022

Castellan is my Homecoming event and it was SUCH a joy! Arriving at the same time as Castellana de Andalucia, it was nice to be setting up camp side-by-side together. And as one of my highlights was generally getting to help friends, I was thankful to get to help with the tent and keeping an eye on Kellan as we both wrestled our tents.

Side Note: the Site Tokens, Feast Tokens, the verbiage, the map... everything was beautiful and clearly a lot of thought and work went into all of it.

Teaching Jutte VonderBerg how to work gate Friday night was amusing. 😆 Over the course of the event I got to assist in several Kindness Shenanigans™ as well as some of my very own. 🥰

Saturday breakfast tavern was just as delicious as I knew it would be! I'm so glad I made a point of getting up early enough to catch that! Alas, I had NOT rested well Friday night, though, including A-Fib and the thunderstorms, so after breakfast I actually took care of myself with a nap! (This meant missing Morning Court.)

Chasing (aka "entourage duty") Baron Perrin de Beaujeu ALL OVER THE PLACE was great and meant watching the Bridge Battle, which I'd never seen... it was SUCH A JOY! Oh my goodness - the hilarity and also seeing how much the fighters (including HSH Romanius Vesperianus) enjoyed themselves. I also got to watch Round 1 of the Bardic competition. AND I got a quick break to check out the Elevenses Tavern! It was a VERY busy 2 hour shift!

While on Entourage duty, I received The Hero's Portion... of Chocolate [card] from Rebekah Aleyn - I was honored. I got to collect my portion once I was off duty: one of Zubeydah Al-Badawiyyah's *perfect* chocolate chip cookies! I made a point of taking time to celebrate a few of my own heroes, thanking them for doing things that have mattered a great deal to me - directly and indirectly. They know who they are.

I wound up trekking back and forth between the hall and the field for multiple reasons, not the least of which was arriving half an hour early to judge the Children's Bardic competition. Oops! lol This site (Will Rogers Scout Camp in Cleveland, OK) is so big! And we don't even use very much of it!

Judging the Children's Bardic competition... I haven't judged any SCA competitions before, but when the request posted - something told me this was something I could manage. It was an experience! lol I was glad I could help, including creating a form to help us judges keep track of what turned out to be TEN competitors! I'm also thankful to her Excellency Jehanne de Montauban, HE Ismet al Din Bithia & HE Damon Hroarson for help with judging. I was in awe of how well Muirenn Nia ingen Nath-I managed to keep all those kids corralled and busy all day! There were a LOT of kids at the event!

Afternoon Tea Tavern! That's right, there were THREE taverns on Saturday (plus Feast!). I think this was brilliant and honestly Yzabeau Brossier and Emmelina de Meadelande just did such a wonderful job as Event Stewards! Then... I decided to try for another nap. Honestly, all the walking and the chasing His Excellency... I needed the rest. But only managed to doze a very little bit due to noise before it was time to dress for FEAST!

Feast, my friends! I had shared how much I was looking forward to Feast and it was absolutely everything I knew it would be! Sharing a table with Úallach inghean Uí Dhubhshláine and Sarah & Kevin and family... a very upbeat, friendly, chatty table. Everyone had a good attitude and I do so enjoy their company. The FOOD. Y'all. Kiah knocked it OUT OF THE PARK like we all knew she could! And right on the theme! The Feast Removes included Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Elevenses, Luncheon, Afternoon Tea, Dinner, Supper and Dessert! Klauss Luinstra was a very attentive and amusing server in all the ways you would expect from someone who is a bard through and through. 🙂 I believe Francois de Beaujeu did a fantastic job as his first time being a Feast Hall Steward.

Court was good and amusing, I love court antics! You must be present to win. Time to change clothes again to prepare for an evening of fellowship in the cold! I added a hot pack for my shoulder (and for the cold night).

Over the course of the event, I got to spend some one-on-one time with a few people. I appreciate their trust in me for confiding the things that have troubled them as of late AND the new joys in their lives. I am honored that some even sought out my input / advice. You know who you are. I *also* got to laugh it up until the wee hours of the morning with the likes of (among others) Jason Drysdale, Jean Paul de Sens, Margherita de Mantua, Michelle Chantal de Charente, Turpin Tyme, Nalka Um Al-Jafna, Belgutei Batar and Haley's Comet (AKA Vigge Jonsson / Viggen)! (some later than others) It has been MANY moons since I stayed up until 4 in the morning with friends! (Yes, I totally realized this is part of why I was so exhausted Sunday.)

Whoever decided off-site time should be 2pm was GENIUS! It was such a relief to know I wouldn't have to hit the ground running at dawn, esp since my phone wouldn't hold a charge. I got to take my time having a bite to eat and packing up - and am SO thankful for Skeggi berbeinn Sebbason ins sterka coming to help me at the perfect time. Folding my tent and loading the heavy items... my struggle was much reduced thanks to him!

While they weren't limited into a specific time mentioned above, I also very much enjoyed the time I spent with Milokhna & Vitalis. I got to know him a bit better and he is hilarious! I am so pleased to see both of them jumping RIGHT into the SCA and they seemed to have had a great time serving Feast.

The Fellowship of Castellan was just incredible! It left me excited for my next event, which unfortunately will probably not be until King's College... but that's only a few weeks away. 🙂

Prior Groups:


Populace Provided Information:

Kolfinna Egilsdóttir

This good gentle marches to the beat of a drum that few can hear. She has a kind soul and has worked her way into my heart as a trusted friend and confidant. I am glad that the SCA afforded me the opportunity to meet her.

Notable Contributions or Accomplishments:

  • Competed in A&S with an unfinished embroidery piece in 2017 & 2018 at Northkeep Castellan.
  • Taught classes on juggling and square disk Kumihimo at 2020 wInterkingdom
  • Competed in A&S with Cord Braids in 2021 at Northkeep Castellan.
  • Competed in Bardic for the first time at Beltane 2022.
  • Competed and won both panel judged as well as Populace Choice in Beltane 2022's themed Fire Competition.


Non-Armigerous Awards and Recognitions:


Affiliations:


Mundane Information:

Mundanely known as Jorje (George), she works as a Virtual Assistant and does whatever else to make ends meet. She is available as a Wedding Officiant in Oklahoma. She spends most of her time as a Family Manager over many appointments, activities and interests for her children. She is a passionate patient advocate for her children and friends. She is a staunch and fierce advocate for children with special needs and can be found on Facebook and Instagram.

Special Needs:

Lactose Intolerance

In Case of Court:

koh-kay gahn shee
Koke uses the Mongolian "ši" suffix rather than "Lady"