I went to a neighboring shire’s meeting the other night….and one of the fighters there was trying to put into words the difference between Meridian Calibration and the calibration the Harder hitting kingdoms.
My response was this;
1/31/07
First off In my experience while there are kingdoms who hit a little harder on average with a little travel both within the kingdom of Meridies and outside of it, you will find that there isn’t really that much of a difference in the “throwing” force level of the Average fighters of the many kingdoms. Among the better fighters there is even less of a difference in “throwing” force levels. On a personal level oddly among the best fighters I have fought there is little difference in either “throwing or receiving” ( My definition of best : Those people who commonly do well are always among the best are very hard to hit, are constantly there at the end of tournaments and rarely if ever do you see them struck much less not call a shot when they are). However, in general The difference really exists in receiving levels and philosophies (mostly in philosophy in my opinion).
In fighting the receiver of the shot should figure one of three things in regards to force; Was the shot 1) Light, 2) Good or 3) Excessive.
The first thing we do once someone is in armor is teach them what a good shot is both throwing and receiving. We teach and teach that till they have it down pat.
Then when they get in a fight and are struck their answer should be one of those three things. And if you have to question whether it was light or good…it must have been good, further if you have to question if it was good or excessive then it was good. For if you know what a “good” shot is and are struck…if you have to question it, all you are doing is looking for a reason not to call it, which means it was good. And if it was Excessive, well you wouldn’t have to question, when your hit with an Excessive shot you WILL know.
Some people believe that you cannot throw an excessive shot with a single handed weapon, these people have been struck in the head too many times, their brains are addled and they may possibly be incapable of logical thought anymore. – Or more likely they take some perverse joy in whacking people as hard as they can and use this philosopy as an excuse. Don’t let these people ruin your fun, just ignore them and move away from them if you cannot kill them. – Find a marshal and let them know the situation or a member of the Chivalry most of us relish the chance to take care of one of these neanderthals.
Some other kingdoms go the other way with this philosophy, saying that if its questionable it wasn’t good, choosing to err on the side of not taking the “questionable” or “borderline” shot….this gives them the reputation and the perception of being “thick”. While in some cases its certainly true…it’s the philosophy that is really the difference.
In Meridies, we would rather lose a fight than ANYONE think we are thick or miss shots, this not only includes our opponents peers (small p) but certainly the populace or audience it sullies our reputation (our honor is our own) . Where as in some other Kingdoms they care little about the perception or reputation and put all into saying that no-one may question their honor and it doesn’t matter what others may or may not think of them. This leads to the easy ability to lie to oneself and convince yourself that you are right and all others are wrong…anyone can see what that is the path to.
There in lies the difference, if you can’t understand it let me know where the problem lies and I’ll try to expound on it.
