Siar Geata

a Shire of Westmarch, located in Escondido, CA (A northern suburb of San Diego)

Kingdom of Dragonspine

Heraldry

Sair Geata has finally picked their heraldry. This was done in two stages. In the first stage, we picked a black & white design. In the second, we chose colors. Previous candidates can be found here, on the Westmarch boards.

It was pointed out by Arthur that the area above and around the pommel looks rather ass-like. This played a strong role in the pattern's selection by the voting populace on Feb 8, 2008.

"It's nice...but when I look at it all I see is ass and thighs." --Arthur

History

Pronounciation: shar gee-A-tah (or some reasonably close facsimile thereof)
Meaning: Siar Geata is (rumor has it) Gaelic for "West Gate".

Siar Geata is the name taken by two struggling shires in the San Diego area, Strathclyde and Nazzeroc. They merged in August of 2005. The original Strathclyde members have all since been consumed by Real Life.

It took almost a year, but they're finally making Barony numbers. Once upon a time, 10 fighters was a good day. The current attendance record is 56 people (locals plus a large contingent of walk-ups, a regular day at the park in a SHIRE) set on March 15th, 2008. Hell yeah. Siar Geata's previous record was achieved February 8th of 2008, with 45 locals.

Attendance tends to spike after the Escondido Ren Faire, where Siar Geata holds a booth & small ditch field. They hand out fliers and invite anyone and everyone to come swing some foam. The Esco faire runs two weekends, every six months. After the previous fair, they averaged well over 20 for a couple months before tapering off to 15-ish. Prior to the demos, the park's record attendance was 16.

They have been privileged to be visited/raided/crushed by Sir Clalibus, Sir Father Thomas, Dame Wynd, Sir Drakknar, Sir Phocion, Warlord Thedro, and Squire Talen... driving home the point that the local top of the heap are just big fish in a little pond.

After receiving a contract from Burning Lands in (MONTH?!) of 2007, Siar Geata held an Althing, and unanimously decided to petition Dragonspine for membership, followed by a similar decision to join Westmarch as soon as it became an official entity.

• July 14th, 2007, Siar Geata officially joined Dragonspine.
• November 7th, 2007, Siar Geata was voted in as a member land of Westmarch, the first land to join since its founding.

Quests

• December 8, 2007 - Missing Peasants
• December 15, 2007 - Spellcaster Bounties
• December 22, 2007 - Tribes at War
• December 29, 2007 - To be announced...

People

Imports

Watch what happens when you live in a town with three military bases

• Arthur MacGregor - formerly of the Northern Holdfast, active duty Navy.
• Deiter - Formerly of Astral Winds, active duty Marine, works the same flight line as Milamber.
• Eve El Wy'fe - Long time member of Nazzeroc, Lucas's wife.
• Evelyn Trueshot - Mutt's wife.
• Squire evil Randy - Currently deployed, active duty Navy.
• Kai - Formerly of Blackspire. Writes a lot of quests. Active-duty Marine, freshly returned from Iraq.
• Lucas the Lost - Long time member of Nazzeroc, formerly of the Emerald Hills
• Milamber Andalsa DarkJester DeTalon - Founding member of Nazzeroc, formerly of the Burning Lands, returned from deployment. Active-duty marine.
• Milan - formerly of Blackspire.
• Miles Ookami - visitor from Westmarch Proper.
• Mutt - Active duty... err... marine?
• Silvera - Founding member of Nazzeroc, Milamber's wife.
• Taly - the good-half of evil Randy.

Home Grown

• Cadogan - A bear with laser eyes?!
• Die Katze - Scoot's sister
• Dragoth
• Fanny
• Garion
• Jack Darkstorm - Showed up having actually read the rules, with a sash even.
• Killian
• Lag Eldgrim - Experienced Wanderer
• Longfox - Longfox is loooooooooong
• Madame Bon Derriere - Dieter's wife, finally suckered into coming out to Amtgard.
• Nico - Oh GOD! *stab*
• Nocturne (SG)
• Ramen
• Rangor
• Rangor's Wench - err.. "wife".
• Ryuke
• Riff
• Veteris Dragoon - Long-time member of Nazzeroc
• Scoot
• Tarsus - Honorable mention. Mind the lunge.
• Thorn (SG)
• Tremere
• Tweak
• Wildclaw
• Xeno - defected to college.
• Yugovich - Gets called "Yugio" a lot.

Promising Fresh Blood

• Geko - "Acquired" from a disintegrating Darkon/Dagorhir/whatever group.
• Kiri - "Thy who screams with 4 year old girl voice"
• Lanceweaver
• Rio
• Selvaran
• Trios
• Veralydaine - Bard-ette in training - defected to college.
• Woodstock

Officers

• Milan - Sheriff, GM Bards, Monsters
• Tweak - Regent, GM Scouts
• Lucas the Lost - Prime Minister, GM Healers, Monks, Warriors
• Rangor - Champion, GM Barbarians

Other Positions

• Cadogan - Heir Apparent
• Miles Ookami - GMR, Herald
• Scoot - Captain of the Guard
• Lag - Scribe, GM Archers
• Ryuke - GM Assassins
• Die Katze - GM Druids
• Tremere - GM Wizards
• Kathleen - GM Garbers
• NO CONFIDENCE! - GM Color
• Veteris - GM Chefs

Previous Positions

• Siar Geata Officers
• Siar Geata Guildmasters

Directions

• Kit Carson Community Park, just off I15.

We meet Saturdays at 1:00pm in Kit Carson Park in Escondido. From the 15, take the Via Rancho Parkway exit east. Via Rancho transforms into Bear Valley. Take the first park entrance on the left (first left after the Beethoven Drive light). Siar Geata meets in the field between the jungle gyms and the tennis courts after the first stop sign.

They also hold fighter practice every Wednesday night (6:30pm) at the same location, often much closer to the tennis courts.

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Archery in San Diego

The Bad News

San Diego County forbids anyone from carrying or firing "archery devices" in public parks... without permission, permit, etc etc. Such permits are impossible to obtain. It is difficult to tell whether this applies to parks in Escondido (which is in San Diego County, but not the city of SD proper).

The Good News

Siar Geatans have been using bows (as many as 7 on the field at once) at Kit Carson since the beginning of '06 without issue. We have been observed doing so by park rangers and off-duty police officers, none of whom made any comment one way or the other. This bodes well.

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• siargeata.org
• Forums
• ORK page

For information on other chapters in Amtgard look here