About Personas (SCA 306)

This page, like many on this site, is purely my own opinion.  There are other opinions out there.  

(note, you don't need a persona to play in the SCA.  You need a name, and some medieval clothing.  Please see the newcomer section)

Persona = fictional personal history which includes real medieval people and events.  A place and time that a historical "you" existed.  A knowledge of medieval life as would have been experienced by a medieval "you".  

Being in the SCA will not change your height, your hair color, or any other physical feature.  Non-physical features, such as family relationships, nationality, and what year you were born, are now fully adaptable.  

In some ways, this is great.  Always wanted to be an only child?  Now you are!  Want to be the secret love child of a Mongolian raider and a German lady?  Now you are!  You were now born in....pick a number between 0 and 1600!  However, this means that you need to know something about the time period you have now been "born" into, yes?  Also, how does that medieval life history interact with your SCA life?  Many SCA people choose to be SCA-related to one another.  How are you going to explain how you, a Viking Age Scandinavian, got a Roman "son", a Japanese "brother", and an Elizabethen girlfriend?  

Before we get into how you invented a time machine, lets worry about some more practical matters.  The basics you need to participate in the SCA are a name and some clothes.  There is no RULE that these two things must go together, just that there must be evidence for the existence of these items before 1600.  However, most people in the SCA choose to have at least a BASIC persona.  

A basic persona = a place and time that the medieval "you" existed.  

With a basic persona, now you have a framework and some guidelines about what you should be called (name) and what you should wear (clothes).  How you pick the place and time is completely up to you.  Many people pick a place and time that they like the look of the clothing.  Others choose based on what is popular in their local SCA group.  I consider that there are two GOOD ways to pick a persona.  

Option 1: you have been interested in a particular place and time for much of your life.  Some people are just passionate about a place/time.  That is GREAT.  Go for it.  

Option 2.  you do not have a passion for one place/time.  Ok, now things get just a little more complex.  My advice is this: PICK A TIME AND PLACE THAT FITS THE ACTIVITIES THAT YOU LIKE TO DO IN THE SCA.   No, really.  Let's say archery is your passion.  GREAT!  Now, brainstorm for a minute, and think about cultures which valued archery highly.  High medieval England, big on longbows.  Mongolians, big on horse archery.  Now, think about options that would not be so good for an archer.  Anything with too long of sleeves, right out.  Romans in Northern Europe?  Not so into archery.  

Let's try another example.  You are female, and want to fight heavy.  Well...there IS a lady in An Tir who fights in a full corset and hoops, but I would not advise a new person to be Elizabethen and fight heavy.  See a pattern here?

However, if you notice, things are getting tricky.  Because, in order to make these decisions, you have to know something about these cultures.  How do you know what people wore in a specific time and place?  Oh oh, research time!  But first...

Option 3.  Get a name and a tunic, and then wander around the SCA until you figure it out more.  

Is 3 a perfect solution?  NO.  Is it what a lot of people do?  YES.  I did this.  I will freely admit, that I was named a boy's name out of a fantasy novel (it is documentable), and my place/time was something along the lines of "celtic tinker".  I had a name and a tunic, and that was plenty for about five years.  Eventually, I found a culture I really liked, changed my name, and got new clothes.

And REALLY...in order to do #2, you have to know what you like to DO in the SCA...which means you need to do #3 for a while first :)   

Okay, moving on.  

By some method, you have now determined a place and time that you are interested in.  Next up, basic research.  You may go through several non-permanent personas as you refine where/when you are interested in.  

NOTE:  You can always change your persona.  You can wear different clothes, and have a different name.  You can have as many personas as you want.  Don't ever feel like you are "stuck" in what you have currently picked.  

So, the next thing we need is some general knowledge about life in your time/place.  There are many books, and many websites.  Go forth, and have fun.  

(a quick aside from the main topic today: "what if I never find any time/place I love?  Can I just be called Fred and wear a tunic forever?"  

Short answer, you CAN, but you shouldn't  

Long answer:  When you get to a level of involvement in the SCA, you need to up your game.  People who have been in the SCA a long time accumulate titles and reputation.  People will now follow your example.  So, when you get to that place in your life where you have been in the SCA a long time, and people look to you to see what they should do, BE A  MEDIEVAL PERSON ALREADY.  It isn't that hard.  If nothing really jumps out at you, JUST PICK SOMETHING.  The entire idea of this hobby is to recreate the best parts of the middle ages.  Our society is very tolerant of the explorations and lack of equipment in newcomers.  HOWEVER, that does not mean that it is okay for Peers to wear their jeans on the field, or have machine embroidered cotton tunics.  Corpora says you must dress in YOUR BEST ATTEMPT at medieval clothing...you are going to tell me you have been in the SCA for ten years and you are STILL wearing that tunic made out of a bed sheet, and your name is still Fred from-my-shire???  Really?  If you can't manage on your own, ask for help, dude.)

Okay, now what?  I have a name, and maybe some clothes...

GREAT!

Nothing else is required! 

"But" you say "I kinda liked figuring out what my name should be, and what clothes I should wear...can I keep doing this?"

Yes, please do!

You can go as in depth as you want to for a persona. If you go look around the internet, there are many checklists of things to look at when constructing a more complex persona.  There is one for Viking Age males on this site (The Norse Boy test, see the sidebar).  I prefer to start from an everyday standpoint: what would my persona interact with on a daily basis?  What does her food taste like?  What does her bed look like? How does she pay for things?  Where do her clothes come from?  

You can also take a larger view, and look for things like: who was King?  What did the people who lived there call their country?  Was there a war happening? 

However much detail you feel like adding, that is up to you. 

Have fun!