By: Briar "Phee" Sieracki
My dear friends,
For those who have been unable to make the first 3 iterations of Tournaments of the Branch, truly, you have missed some fantastic times.
To begin, Lord Harkon has made sure that the fields are fought as evenly as possible; to begin, there is both Combat and Arts & Sciences. The tournaments are split between Knights and Unbelts…simply, if you are of a peerage such as a knight, a magus, or the like, you fight under that. Unbelts is the easiest way to describe a wide array of people who might not have had the attention drawn to them that they should: squires, pages, people with no titles whatsoever. There are even steps to break Unbelts into further categories, should numbers prove large enough.
Combat is easy enough to explain, but Arts & Sciences…in years past it has been tactics and strategy (using the infamy of Argyle!), embroidery, calligraphy, some…resource allocations…many skills we may not think about when it comes to the world around us.
In this way, Tara has offered a format in which people can fight their peers, and allow those who may be looking for squires, apprentices, or mentees to find them. A fantastic way to match your skill as well as get all eyes on you.
There is, of course, also the Champion of Champions tournament, a recognition of heralds (a personal favorite), and newly added, an encampment competition!
As every year, there are also two altars available, that allow our spellcasters and fighters to try the other paths’ shoes, so to speak. An altar to Rawonam where magic casters may lay their spellbook to take up arms, and an altar to Antioch, where a fighter may lay a weapon or armor and try magic for a while.
Between a casual day of tournaments (a rare case where I enjoy watching the fights!), food, friends…it is worth the time to make it.
Phee
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I might be a bit biased because Hillary is my partner, but I mean it when I say that TotB is absolutely a tournament you should make the time to hit. In my years in the Realms, I’ve never seen cleaner tournament fights, the joy people get from hearing their names called or trying a new tourney they never would have otherwise.
Swing by for a few. Bring your dad, it’s Father’s Day after all! You’ll be glad you came, and sad you missed it.
Briar