Greetings from the Baron and Baroness! We had a busy month and the next one seems to be even more packed with fun.

Angel’s Anniversary was the first event after our last meeting and it was a smash. We loved the fact that our dragonwing was packed with Altavians and guests. It warms our hearts to see so many of us out and having fun together. Thank you all who attended, especially the ones who  helped with the schlepping and dragon wing set up and tear down.

Of course the big shindig for the month was Great Western War. We had such a great time. The camp was packed and the people were splendid. We had plenty of firewood and great bardic entertainment. Thank you all who worked the gate shift with us on Wednesday and for volunteering elsewhere the entire war. A special thank you to Lady Sastine for decorating the camp so well for the Trick-or-Treaters. It was so Halloweeny! We were represented wonderfully on both battlefields as well as the archery and thrown weapons ranges. Sunday night, Altavia was the place to be as well. You are all to thank for Altavia’s hospitality. Altavia, Rocks!!

Caid Rapier, Archery and Thrown weapons opens were held next and Altavians once again turned some heads. Even though we were not hosting either event, Altavians jumped in and helped run the events and Altavians were a force to be reckoned with in all the competitions. Thank you for being such splendid people!!

Agincourt and Feast are coming up this week. Many of us have been working hard organizing both events and We know they will be terrific! Thank you all who attended the meetings and helped out with ideas and input.

Finally, Yule is just around the corner and we will need many volunteers to put on a great party!

You make us look good!

Baron Nikolaos Phaistos

Baroness Briana MacCabe

Greetings good nobles of Altavia. We don’t want to bury the lead, so a great big congratulations to our new Prince and Princess. Sir Optimus won the crown tourney for his consort Lady Issa this past Saturday in a wet and humid tourney. We welcome the new leadership with open arms and look forward to the coming days of Their reign. On a more local note, our own the Honorable Lord Griffith fought most chivalrously and pretty well for the Honorable Lady Amabel. We had many other Altavians offering their service to the day as well. We saw Baroness Meleora and Don Nathaniel Herald the fighters, and Baroness Tezar run the lists. The Baronial Dragonwing was set up and packed up in no time with Baroness Cassandra at the helm. There were many more Altavians helping that day, and we thank you all.

Now let us comment on the heated events of August. The temperature was up, and so was the fun… Well, since we had our last council meeting on the 23rd there has only been one big event. Highland War was hot, hot, hot! Not too many Altavians went to war this year, but I believe His Lordship Griffith did day trip and got in some fighting before everyone melted. The Baroness and I could not attend, and we are sorry we missed it.

Looking forward, tonight’s baronial council meeting will feature our prospective baronial heirs. They will give us some of their ideas for the future and allow us to ask some well meaning questions. We encourage as many people to participate as possible.

Also, we will be having a Guildhall night on Thursday the 15th. This time, we will be in garb to try and entice some new recruits. It is always a lot of fun, and we encourage as many Altavians as possible to join us.

Great Western War is less than a month away and we welcome any and all Altavians to our baronial camp. This year’s theme is Halloween and Lady Saystine will be decorating the camp with ghoulish delight. She will need help though, so anyone who can bring Halloween decorations to war, please do. Help make Altavia the scariest, fun camp at the war. The Baroness has set a gate shift for us on Wednesday evening and it is always a blast. Come early to war and help the barony out.

After the war is over, we will be hosting our Agincourt Archery and Thrown Weapons tourney on October 23rd as well as our Agincourt feast. Come out, shoot and throw for our championship, and feast the day with us in the evening. Please look out for our Agincourt and Feast Facebook pages and sign up for feast early so we can get a good idea on how much food to prepare.

Looking into the not so distant future, Altavia/Angels Yule is right around the corner and we will need plenty of help with that. If you are interested in volunteering, please talk to us or the Seneschal soon.

Thank you all for being such wonderful people.

Yours in service,

Baron Nikolaos Phaistos

Baroness Briana MacCabe

Happy August, Altavia! Here’s hoping you’re all staying cool in these hottest days of summer!

Since we last met, His Excellency and I have had many adventures attending events around the kingdom. We both headed out to Consort’s Champion Armored/Rapier in al Sahid, where His Excellency and several others from the barony competed on the Rapier lists. We are very proud to say that the Rapier finals saw two fine Altavians, Master Laertes and Don Nathaniel facing off, with Nathaniel emerging victorious. Congratulations to him and to Sir Parmenio from Calafia for winner the armored lists.

The following weekend saw both of us heading out to Dreibergen Summer Arts where we saw some amazing art, bardic performances, and even had time to sneak in a rapier class led by His Excellency. This was followed the next weekend by Darach Pirate Tourney up in cool Camarillo, where a good time was had by all.

Finally, this past weekend we headed out to Dun Or for Her Majesty Staeina’s Festival of the Rose. While the temperatures were hot, the art was even hotter! Many congratulations go out to our very own Honorable Lady Courtney of the White Meadow who was named Her Majesty’s Arts and Sciences champion for her very impressive traveling merchant kit and accessories. We look forward to seeing some of these in action at GWW!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for any and all of these events; events are always made more special by getting to spend time with our baronial peeps at them.

There are a couple of events on the horizon. This weekend is Academia up in Nordwache and the following weekend is Highland War, out in al Sahid. Sadly, neither His Excellency nor I will be able to attend either of those events but we hope those that do go have a great time. Following that we have Crown Tournament up in Isles on Sept. 10 and Angels Anniversary on Sept. 17. Angels will be a baronial investiture so please be thinking of any largesse you might be able to contribute to the new leadership of our mother barony.

Speaking of new leadership, our call for letters of intent for couples interested in becoming the next Baron and Baroness of Altavia closed on August 13 and we received one letter from The Honorable Lord Griffith von Bremen and The Honorable Lady Amabel Radleigh. Over the next few weeks, the populace will have several chances to hear from them on what they bring to the barony and what the hope to do as Baron and Baroness. We are in the process of getting the polling process launched with kingdom so be on the lookout for your polling form soon.

Finally, as we’ll discuss later in the meeting, we are looking for ways to get more people involved in the running of the barony and more ways to keep in touch as an office team outside of these meetings. We both urge you to share any and all ideas on how to make things run better for everyone!

Have a great month and try and stay cool!

Yours in Service to the Dream,

Baron Nikolaos Phaistos

Baroness Briana MacCabe

Welcome to July, Altavia! We hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and are getting to go on fabulous vacations like His Excellency or enjoying time with your families in and out of the SCA.

We’ve only had two events since the last meeting, Lyondemere Anniversary and this past weekend’s Coronation/Privy Council two-for-one. LyondemereAnniversary was a nice day full of many events for everyone to participate in. There was a silent auction, a snow cone booth, several arts & sciences classes, a bardic competition, and , or course, martial championships. Congrats to Altavia’s Taliesin (also known as Son of Santa 😉) for his win in the bardic competion and to Don Nathanial Longbow for his win over Papa Colwyn in the Rapier tournament. Thank you to all who helped with set up and tear down and kept us company in the baronial dragonwing.

This past weekend saw the peaceful transition of power from Valrik and Drada to Adam and Staeina. Thank you to everyone who attended and especially those who provided largesse for the royal couples. We had manywonderful things for both outgoing and incoming Royals and, with the help of Amabel, started HRM Staeina’s dice collection with a lovely set of golden rose dice! Saturday also saw Baroness Tezar step up as Kingdom Lists Officer and, at Privy Council the next day, Master Laertes was officially announced as deputy Kingdom Seneschal. He will take over from Sir Tiberius as Seneschal at Twelfth Night in January. We thank these and all Altavians that step up to serve not only the barony but the entire kingdom!

Coming up this weekend is Consort’s Champion Armored/Rapier in al Sahid. It’s going to be a warm onebut we’ll have the dragonwing for shade and will bring much cold water to share with all. I believe the shire will also have its misters out to help keep both combatants and spectators cool. The following weekend is an early-morning CC Ranged out in Starkhafn. Pennsic follows shortly and we wish Christof and Cecilia and any other Eastward travelers a safe journey and a great time! Finally, the first week in August is Darach Pirate Tourneyand I, for one, can’t wait to actually participate in their famous tavern and ship battles as a combatant for the first time this year!

We’d like to close out this month’s update on a couple of notes about service. As we reminded folks earlier this week, we are accepting Letters of Intent from those that wish to serve as the 9^th Baron and Baroness of Altavia through Saturday, August 13. At the September council meeting, we encourage everyone to attend and ask questions of the prospective barons and baroness that have thrown their hats into the ring. We are looking forward to seeing the next generation of leaders for Altavia begin their journey.

Speaking of leaders, if you know anyone who is looking for a way to get more involved with the barony or you think needs a nudge to get more involved, please let myself, His Excellency, or Sybilla know. We are always looking for deputies to back up our officers and eventually step up into the officer role. We often hear that it’s the same few people trading office back and forth (this is NOT a problem limited to Altavia as we heard at privy council) but it doesn’t have to be that way. We know there are people out there that want to help but they just might not know how. We’re happy to chat with folks and point them in the right direction!

Have a great month, everyone, and try and stay cool!

Yours in Service to the Dream,

Baron Nikolaos Phaistos

Baroness Briana MacCabe