Barony of Stormhold

Please visit the Fiat Lux site and sign the petition to keep Lochac traditions. This is the start of the petition.

The Fiat Lux Declaration

We, the undersigned, believe that the current participation of non-contact combatants (ie light archers, siege crew and banner bearers) on the war field has overwhelmingly positive effects for the Kingdom of Lochac in a number of important and divers ways. Viz:

* it provides an attractive combat format, particularly for 14-16-year olds, who are not able to take part in full-contact combat and also for many women, university students and other participants who would not be prepared or able to engage in full-contact war; this makes for stronger groups throughout the Kingdom by attracting and retaining such people
* a significant number of non-contact combatants use this format as a stepping stone to heavy combat, as it enables them to establish crucial trust in SCA combat and its rules; to build up resources and experience; to develop bonds with war bands and other related groups which may not otherwise occur
* banner-bearing provides a valuable means of retaining the interest and participation of younger teenage members of our Kingdom, an otherwise notoriously difficult group to keep; retaining them means retaining their families and so has a significant flow-on effect on the growth and stability of Kingdom membership as a whole
* the levels of participation in light combat in this Kingdom are high, with 60% of our combatants being authorised as lights, and around a quarter exclusively so
* mixed combat greatly enrichens our war scenarios, enabling greater appreciation of period battles, strategy and tactics, and ensuring that wars are much more than simply large-scale melees

We believe that a move to require all combatants to accept full-contact authorisation and participation has the very clear potential to do great harm to our Kingdom, not just on the war field, but also in the future growth and development of the Kingdom. Initial informal polling indicates that a very large proportion of current non-contact participants will no longer take the field with their comrades-in-arms should full contact become mandatory.

The Fiat Lux site