The First Bardic War (Upcoming)

On January 23 of this year, there was a wonderful Zoom concert called the Journeyman’s Concert hosted by the Midrealm, where I had the privilege to perform. This is coming to be known as The Concert that Started a War, because the couple dozen or so folks attending or performing in the concert, had a conversation that catalyzed the upcoming First Bardic War.

At the center of that conversation were Hilla Stormbringer of the Midrealm, who was one of hosts of the concert, and Laila al-Sanna al-Andalusiyya, former Queen’s Bard of the East, who had been performing. TLDR: There were a lot of Atlantian bards invited to a Midrealm event. The word “invasion” was used, followed by a discussion of holding the Atlantian bards for “ransom”, and the boast that if the bards of the East and Atlantia banded together, they could take over the known world… Within the hour, Hilla had posted in the SCA Bardic Arts group that she had instigated an “interkingdom incident”, and people were discussing a full-scale War event.

Not wanting to be left out of the fun, I posted to my kingdom FB discussion group (in tones of feigned fear and regret) that there might have been an interkingdom incident at that evening’s concert, and it wasn’t my fault. (More details about how this all came about will be shared out soon in a, er, “re-enactment” we’re putting together.)

Since then, Hilla, Laila, and dozens of dedicated, hard-working SCAdians, many but not all of them identifying as “bards”, have been collaborating on this vision. I have helped promote this new event by sharing about it in my kingdom group, the SCA Bardic Arts group, and a few other spaces, and expressing my enthusiasm. It did occur to me that, among the people organizing event, I am currently a fairly public face for the thing, as a royal bard, and as the former moderator of the Bardic Arts group.

Nevertheless, this is very much a group effort. Please take a moment to check out First Bardic War website, which includes listings of the staff, the kingdom representatives in the alliances, the breakdown of War Points, and how to volunteer and get involved.

This event is designed to be as broad and inclusive as possible. I have spoken up a few times to help people remember that, but I am following the leads of Hilla, Laila, and the rest of the core staff. This is a community undertaking, and if it is as successful as we are hoping, it will be because of every individual who came together as a community to make it happen.

Thank you all.
Drake, East Kingdom Consort’s Bard, Emissary, and General