If you hadn't stumbled out of your car just now, you would be convinced that you were no longer in Kenai on a warm Saturday at the dawn of the 21st century.

Kroger's fianc³, Marc Stroud, attends SCA events as Fearghrus MacAirt. "I'm an early period Viking from about 700 to 900. That was during the time period of the first Viking raids on Ireland and in Europe. Photo by M. Scott Moon

Steel collided with steel as knights from all over the principality engaged in combat, each competing for the right to wear the crown of Oertha (Alaska). Before the fighting commenced each paid homage to the prince and princess and to their consort before meeting their opponent on the field of battle.

Breezy Stevens of Kenai is also Lady Lasairiona of Creavenore. "Right now I'm dressed as a very early period Viking lady. Maybe 10th century Denmark. Mundanely, I am a stay-at-home, home-schooling mom. Ben Gunner and I used to play (SCA) when we were teenagers. After we were married and we moved to Kenai, we looked around to see if there was an SCA group here and there wasn't one and we scoffed around for a while going someone ought to start an SCA group and we decided it would have to be us. So we started the shire and it was almost six years ago now and it just took off. It's gotten big now and it's kind of exciting." Photo by M. Scott Moon

The shire of Ravensfjord, the Kenai Peninsula branch of the SCA, hosted the summer coronet and investiture at the Kenai Department of Economic Development last weekend. Folk came from all over the Kingdom of the West (Alaska, Northern California, Japan, Korea and the Pacific Rim) to participate in the festivities, greet long-lost friends and watch the tournaments. Amber Gardner, known in the SCA as Amber of Ravensfjord, spent months finding a site, researching the event and preparing the refreshments for the coronet's participants.

"It takes on a life of its own once it starts," she said. "I researched as much as I could research for six months. Did you know that carrots were purple in Roman times?"

Many people had food set out that would have been in use in Europe during the Middle Ages. Photo by M. Scott Moon

"Different people have different expertise in different eras," Gardner said. "We try to reproduce the different things that were in existence back in that time frame."

"You pick a period in history and you can choose whatever suits your interest," she said.

Gardner wanted to make the coronet a Roman-themed event, so she stayed up late the night before cooking, even baking ancient Roman bread. Although she doesn't have a degree in history, she said a lot of her garb is based upon ancient mosaics.

Jenyvr of Squalid Manor (Janice Ziv) and Elspeth Bouchannane (Jacki Frederick) read and work on artwork in their contribution to the small tent city that sprung up for two days. Photo by M. Scott Moon

The Society for Creative Anachronism got its start in 1966 at a party in Berkeley, Calif. Stephanie Drummonds, known in the society as Melisande de Canonwald, said the party was a celebration for someone getting their doctorate in history. Today the society's influence is even being felt in the schoolroom as members don their garb to show fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders what life was like during a bygone era.

Kroger's fiance, Marc Stroud, attends SCA events as Fearghrus MacAirt. "I'm an early period Viking from about 700 to 900. That was during the time period of the first Viking raids on Ireland and in Europe." Photo by M. Scott Moon

There are few requirements to join the Society for Creative Anachronism, Drummonds said, and anyone can join.

"All we require is you make an attempt at clothing from somewhere within the thousand years we cover, which is 600 to 1600 A.D.," Drummonds said. "You can get as intricate or simple as you want."

In addition to garb, Gardner said if the public wants to attend an event, they have to make everything else as period authentic as possible. This includes covering up water bottles and other paraphernalia of the "mundane" — as they call it — world.

"Some people take this really far," she said. "Those people are the ones you can go to because they're so picky about how it's done and how it looks. They can answer all questions about certain periods in certain times."

One thing a newcomer should keep in mind if they are planning on attending an SCA event is that only royalty wear crowns, tiaras or circlets, Gardner said.

Sharron Albert of Fairbanks goes by Morgana yr Oerfa. "I'm a 10th century Welsh woman, head of my own household. The thing about the society is that there's sort of three different groups. There's the real partiers, there's the people who get heavily into the research and know all about their persona, their time period and that kind of stuff, and there's the rest of us that just do the society work. We're the officers, we run the events and we learn the arts. ... We match our names to a period and a place." Photo by M. Scott Moon

The society's roots can be traced back to fantasy writers Diana Paxson and Marion Zimmer Bradley. Eilis O'Boirne, known by her mundane name as Lee Forgue of Berkeley, said Bradley herself came up with the society's name.

"An anachronism is something out of its own time," Forgue said, adding that a Cadillac in a Victorian period film is an anachronism. "We are the anachronisms because we are something pretending to be from a different time."

Forgue has been an active society member for 35 years and brought her children up in it. The time frame is loosely defined as Medieval and Renaissance, but officially extends to 1600 A.D. There's no official early start date, Forgue said, but most people start at the time of Charlemagne, approximately 700 A.D.

"Some people push the envelope," she said. "The Russian Medieval period lasted until 1850-something."

There are 19 kingdoms worldwide from Alaska to the Middle East and even Antarctica, each with its own king and queen. Each kingdom has several principalities and baronies, each with their own rulers.

"People are brought together by their love of history and also some of the ideals of courtesy, honor and chivalry," Drummonds said. "(We) try to bring those ideals into our daily lives."

SCA events are different than the more familiar Renaissance fairs. Anna Hailey of Anderson, also known as Giuliana di Benedetto Falconieri, who participated in Renaissance fairs before she joined the SCA, said the fairs are more like a day-in-the-life event where you can really be Queen Elizabeth.

"They have trinket shops, it's like going to market," Hailey said. "If you're really lucky there's jousting."

Forgue said that in SCA, a heavy combat tournament determines who rules a kingdom, principality, and in some cases, baronies. It's not period authentic, she said, but it's better than waiting for the ruling monarch to die.

"It's not a great way to pick a ruler because you want a sensible one," she said laughing. "Our kings have been hit in the head several times, but they choose sensible queens."

Terms of rule vary, as well, Forgue said. Kingdoms choose their rules every four months, princes change every six months and barons and baronesses, who are more administrative than kings or princes, every two years.

One of the most important parts of the SCA is choosing a name and persona that represents who you were back then. Hailey's name, Giuliana di Benedetto Falconieri means Giuliana, of her father, Benedetto Falconieri.

"I am my father's daughter," she said, adding that a Giuliana de Benedetto Falconieri actually existed. "I went online and found a Florentine census from 1331."

At the coronet, Hailey sought the advice of Latimer Herald Owen ap Morgan (aka Earl P. Jones of Sacramento) on a name and device for her group.

"So we can do official things," Hailey said.

Jones sat in the main pavilion poring over one of several thick volumes of Medieval names, helping newcomers choose the right one. Consultation is a herald's chief job.

"I don't do all the work myself," he said. "There are other heralds."

Jones said the SCA insists on names being historical or reasonably similar and can represent whatever the person wants. A person should start with a first name or Christian name and add a surname based on who their parents were, where they come from or their occupation.

"When you've got 15 Johns, you need to know what John you're talking about," Jones said.

The SCA encourages newcomers to have a name picked out by their second event, that way they don't get stuck with their mundane names. Jones said starting with the various SCA sites is a good help.

Coats of arms let people know who's who, Jones said. Just like names, they can represent whatever the user wants, but Jones encourages people not to make them tell their life story.

"It's a corporate logo, not a mission statement," he said.

Chiveris stepped up as principality herald and basically acts as the town crier, making announcements and stating the proclamations of the prince and princess.

"I'm the radio," she said.

Chiveris said a double-elimination round of battle would decide the next ruler of Oertha. Anyone can fight in the tournament as long as they are older than 18, she said, including women.

"If the lady wins, she would be princess in her own right," Chiveris said. "Her husband is prince consort. It's an equal amount of shared power."

Mari Alexander of Turlock, Calif. is the first female Earl Marshal in the Kingdom of the West. Although she hasn't attained the rank of knight, as Earl Marshal Alexander enforces the codes of conduct upon the field of battle.

"I started (the SCA) at 15 at a little Renaissance fair," Alexander said. "Some of the fighters, a couple of guys, fought for my friend and I. I gave them ribbons out of my wreath and bestowed my favor and I was hooked."

Knights from all over the principality competed for the crown July 21, but only one person could be prince. That honor went to Sir Dietrich Jorgen von Marksburg, otehrwise known as Vince Yoder of Anchorage.

Yoder has been fighting since 1992, but said he didn't get into it heavily until a year and a half ago. Because he is smaller than most other knights, Yoder's strategy is to get past the tip of his opponent's sword.

"The tip of the sword is the most dangerous," Yoder said. He fights in close quarters with his opponents so they don't get a chance to generate enough power to cleave him with their sword. "He doesn't have as much control as I do," he said.

When Yoder and his lady, Bianca Rose Byrnes, or Darlene Culler, were crowned Lord and Lady Borealis, all Culler could say was "Wow!"

"It's pretty exciting," she said. "I've been the helper, but never actually done it myself."

There's much more to the SCA than swordplay. Almost every kind of art imaginable from calligraphy to book binding, dancing and cooking is taught in the society.

"The joke is if you can hit it with an axe and break it, it's an art," Forgue said. "The sciences are astronomy and brewing and the art is the pretty stuff."

Although Hailey's bent runs to glass blowing, she said embroidery is easy to travel with. She's even made chain mail.

"You take wiring and wrap it around a dowel and cut the springs into open links and work them closed," she said.

You can distinguish yourself in the arts and sciences, as well as in service, similar to the way a knight distinguishes himself in battle, Hailey said. While the knighthood is signified by a chain around a fighter's neck, masters of arts and masters at service can join the Order of the Laurel and Order of the Pelican. "There are a lot of things to be laureled for," she said. "You can even be laureled for research."

For Gardner, being an SCA member gives her an excuse to dress up and have fun.

"It's a way to be somebody different," she said. "You pick somebody that would have or could have existed back in whatever time frame and you make up a whole persona that goes with it."

Drummonds, who found the SCA her freshman year of college, simply made a dress and began attending events. Twenty-seven years later, the friends she made back then are still in the society and she still keeps in touch.

"I found people who enjoyed a lot of the same things I did," she said, "and who were interested in history and learning. I've met wonderful people and had lots of fun."

As transplants from Outside, the principles of honor and chivalry attracted Hailey and her husband to the SCA and they are currently raising a daughter into it. To her, the SCA is her family in Alaska while her real family is 4,000 miles away.

"We have Thanksgiving and Christmas with them," she said. "When we haven't had anything else, we always had the SCA."

Jessica Cejnar can be reached at jessica.cejnar@peninsulaclarion.com.

Gardner, who is Den'ina Athabaskan, said she could interpret her ancestors' culture in the SCA because it has been around for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Bradley passed away several years ago and Paxson has long since retired from the SCA, but many of the original members still are active.

Even though Hailey's namesake actually existed, Hailey can't pretend to be Falconieri, but could pretend to be a relative.

"You could play off it and do stuff with (your) persona," she said.

Alexander, along with her husband Gemini Asonte, teaches at De Grendelus Medieval Martial Arts Academy in California. She has engaged in western martial arts since 1991. As a woman, competing against burly men with broadswords and hardened steel requires strategy.

"I'm more patient and tactile. I'm not going to bully guys by doing subtle motions," Alexander said. "If I can make them feel threatened on one side, I can strike them on the other."

Alexander said if she was in the tournament, she would fight for Asonte and he would fight for her. If she won the crown, she would be princess regent and Asonte would be prince consort.

"We'd reign together as equals," she said.

Asonte's Medieval martial arts school has been up and running for two years, teaching kids 8 years and older the fundamentals of Medieval fighting, including wielding broadswords, maces, axes, spears and bows and arrows, with the principles of Asian martial arts in mind.

"The ideologies are similar to the Asian styles," he said, adding that the school qualifies as a physical education program for the Turlock's home-school curriculum. "It's an arts program actually. We teach arts and sciences from (making) their own clothes and tunics, to armor, shoes, period dance and calligraphy."

Having received black belts in several forms of martial arts, including Asian and Filipino, Asonte joined a fighting group called the Grendels. As a knight, Asonte said his job is to observe and instruct.

"It's important that I fight the fighters," he said. "So I can speak on the prowess of the knight."

Forgue said she learned calligraphy in high school, but was laureled for several other arts she didn't pick up until she joined the society.

"I'm a basic jack of all trades," she said. "I've received laurels for heraldic design, calligraphy, cooking, costuming and dance. I make jewelry, do wire knitting."

She's also served as the kingdom's chief herald, seneschal — which is basically a chapter president — and the king's chief steward.

"I've also been on the board of directors for the modern corporation and seneschal for the entire society," she said.

The SCA has ingrained itself in Forgue's life and become as much of a family as her own. For many the coronet July 21, despite the remote location and new faces, was a reunion.

"This gives me a kind of community," Forgue said, adding that she's attended Oertha events twice a year for four years.

Forgue said she can travel to SCA events and not have to pay for food or lodging. A woman who was attending an event in the San Francisco Bay Area needed a place to stay and though Forgue was on away from her house at the time and didn't know the lady, she gave her the key.

"We ran into each other when I came back and she took me out to dinner to say thank you," Forgue said, adding that they've been friends ever since. "There's always somebody who's willing to put you up."