[Artemisia] Rose and Butterfly Tournament at Uprising Silver Jubilee

[Mike Bradley]

Unto the rapier fighters, Ladies of the Rose, and Ladies of the Papillion of
Artemisia

as well,

Unto the visiting rapier fighters, Ladies of the Rose, and Ladies of the ...
(Viscountesses*) coming to Uprising in the Splendid Peacock Lands of One
Thousand Eyes in the Noble and Glorious Sovereign Lands of Artemisia


Does HL Conchobhar mac Michil, by the Grace of Their Gryphon Majesties of
Artemisia, Defender of the White Scarf, send most humble and heartfelt
Greetings and Salutations,

First, let me apologize for the lateness of the announcement for this year's
tournament.  Real life has been conspiring against allowing me the time to
dictate to my scribe.  Thankfully, my scribe kept a copy of last year's
missive for me to quickly edit. Secondly, feel free to forward this letter
around the Known World if you think it necessary, as it is only being sent
directly to the rapier lists of Artemisia, Atenveldt, and the Outlands (they
being the two Kingdoms with the most visitors to Uprising each year).


This year, at the 24th anniversary* of the (failed) revolt of the Northern
Atenveldt shires, I Don Conchobhar will once again be running and sponsoring
the Rose and Butterfly Tournament in the manner that I prefer.

To wit:
Those fighters wishing to enter must have a sponsor. Said sponsor must be a
member of the Order of the Rose (i.e., a Countess or Duchess), a Lady of the
Papillion** (Viscountess) or a currently seated Queen, Princess, or Heir to
one of those titles. Those Ladies eligible to sponsor fighters may sponsor
one fighter for each reign that they did serve; any variance from that rule
is at the whim of myself.  It should be noted that my whim always includes
reigning Queens and Princesses being able to sponsor as many fighters as
they wish, and to allow Crown Princesses and Tanistas (or whatever
Principalites call the Princess' Heir these days) to count their upcoming
reign when determining the number of fighters they can sponsor. (For
example, HG Renee could sponsor three fighters, twice Queen of Artemisia and
once Princess of Artemisia.) All fighters must have a letter of marque from
their Lady Sponsor, or be presented in person to the Marshal of the
Tournament (HL Conchobhar) on the day of the tournament before the
tournament starts.  My personal preference is for an e-mail from the sponsor
in advance, but hand-written and mailed or delivered by hand are fine as
well.  Due to the lateness of the announcement, even if you will have a
hand-written letter (some of which have been beautifully done and I love
receiving) a quick email of intent from the fighter or sponsor would be
greatly appreciated (and by 'greatly appreciated' I mean 'pretty pretty
please?' as the more paperwork and tourney prep I can get done before the
tourney, the less time fighters are waiting to cross blades while I get it
all together).

The tournament will be held (TENTATIVELY) on Friday morning at Uprising (I
say tentatively, because there was much discussion about fighting schedules
for this year, and things may or may have already changed). The format of
the tournament (round-robin, double elimination, etc.) will be determined by
the number of entrants. As host of the tournament, I will also be providing
a prize to the sponsoring Lady and fighter who is victorious on the
field.***

I would like to remind everyone why I started this tournament.  This
tournament is not about fighting for personal glory.  It is fighting for the
glory and honor of those Ladies, that by tradition in Artemisia and other
places, that we fight for.  The King and the Prince, they have had all those
that wear armor to serve them; the well dressed, well rounded, articulate
Renaissance men and women of the Arte of Defense chose to serve the Queen
and the Princess, and they allowed us to fight for them.  They let us fight
in their name, so, let's fight in their name.

So, as of right now, the list for the Rose and Butterfly Tournament is open.
My challenge to you all is to have as many of the Ladies whose honor we have
taken onto the field as Queens and Princesses represented in the tournament.
I look forward to seeing you all at Uprising.

Don Conchobhar, DWS Artemisia

*Yes, I am very pedantic about language; it comes from being a herald, a
software engineer, and minoring in linguistics. While this year *is* the
25th Uprising, it is the 24th anniversary of Uprising 1, and there was no
Uprising 0.  It's a fairly common 0-based/1-based index problem.

**Throughout, Lady of the Papillion should be read to include "and all other
similar Principality Orders for former Princesses".

***No, I have no clue what the prizes will be right now, and probably
wouldn't say even if I did.