Incidental Padding

by Marrel I'rous O'Daiwen

Most of you have a vague idea of what Dagorhir is; you have either seen the YouTube video, watched it on Memorial lawn, or perhaps both. Many passersby have described it as "geeky kids running around and hitting each other with foam swords." While this may be a first-glance definition, many do not delve into the matter to discover the true nature of Dagorhir.

Contrary to its Geneva dialect, Dagorhir, meaning "Battle Lords," is not pronounced DAH-ger-hire, but DAH-gore-here, and is taken from one of J.R.R. Tolkien's Elven languages. Dagorhir is a full-combat live-action
role-playing game, where the art of weaponry is brought together with character play from historical and fantasy settings. This means that the player is not simply sitting at a table - they are actually living the event.

by Foghnan Neonach

Several years ago, I read a short story about a door-to-door computer salesman who had gained the right to canvas the land of fairie. I don't remember the name of the author, but he described the key characteristics of the land of fairie in a way that made me think of a real place that could have inspired the myth. First, time runs differently, and a man could grow old in a handful of days. Second, the landscape shifts about, making direction uncertain. In a time where the path of the sun served as the only clock and compass, there is a place where this actually happens--within the arctic circle. If the measure of a day is sunrise to sunrise, then one day lasts one full year in this strange land. If the sun rises just above the horizon and then hangs frozen in the eastern sky, then the distant mountains will seem to circle you as the endless day drags on. And so, the land of fairie is not a mythical place to the west, but a real place to the far north.

by Foghnan Neonach

In the Arthurian legends, there is a bit about how only the rightful heir to the throne could draw the sword Excalibur out of the rock or anvil into which it had been embedded. As our modern, egalitarian society no longer accepts the concept of divine or supernatural intervention making possible for one that which is impossible for all others, many will dismiss this as pure fantasy. Besides, we've never found a rock with a sword-shaped hole in it. I believe that what we have is just a slight misunderstanding due to cultural differences.

In Ireland, there is a big rock that the old High Kings used to have to stand on when they were crowned. When the minor kingdom of Dalriada moved from Ireland to Scotland, they took with them a small rock about the size and shape of a pillow that their kings had to sit on when they were crowned. This rock is still being used by the British Monarchy during coronations today. Large, flat rocks, natural and carved, fixed and portable, were commonly used as altars in a wide variety of sacred ceremonies throughout Europe. Every culture that still retains a monarchy has a ceremonial sword or two lying about.

Throughout pre-Roman and pre-Christian Europe, it was a fairly common practice for the warriors of each tribe or petty kingdom to elect the best of their number to be king. Sometimes, however, you would wind up with several candidates all backed by various factions, but with no clear consensus as to who would be king. As High Priest in this situation, you could let them fight it out to prove who is the best warrior and risk having it escalate into civil war, or you could do something like this: gather the eligible warriors around the altar-stone, lay the ceremonial sword across it, and proclaim "Let he who first draws the sword from the stone be king!" Think about it, this is a test, not of strength, not of divine right, but of boldness. The boldest, most decisive warrior, and therefore the most fit to rule (at least in theory) will not hesitate to pick up the sword while everyone else is still eye-balling each other and trying to calculate the odds.