Of Arms and the Man (OOC)

I am finding sl blog a dramatic shift! I can say more in a 30 minute blast here than poor Tele can get out in a month in world. This is good and also challenging; above all it is different.

I have gone back and read Tele's long post on the Duchess' blog, and find I wish to say a few things about role play combat in sl, and I guess about myself in rl.

I have never been much for video games (not since the original Zork, anyway) and have never played Doom, etc. I have done martial arts, off and on, for years; I have always found those environments positive, a place where the body and mind are built up and not torn down. When I dropped into SL quite by accident more than a year ago (in a work related exploration) I found myself doing what we all have done: hypnotically clicking on telehubs from the main map and tp'ing into random sims. That is how I discovered Caledon; it is also how I found sl Gor. The first city I entered (not Tland) astounded me with its slaves and thralls and distinct warrior culture. Rather like the real world behind the time of the Illiad, I have always thought, in cartoon form. I understood quickly, from talking to the little slave girl who gave me my first Gorean city-tour, that what was going on was consensual role play, even if I did not understand it. I certainly have never felt drawn to the dom/sub side of Gor. That is me personally, you understand! It may be that some have their personalities uplifted by such games, or merely enjoy them without damage.

It was also in that paticular City (again not Tland) that I met a man I would now recognize as a Priest King. Who and what they are I only know a little even now (for they are not favored in Tland, and we had none there) but it was this bald fellow who first asked me if I wanted to spar. I did not know one could spar in sl. He gave me the free Laura sword (a sword I still have) and told me the very basics of how to use it. He was not a resident of this town, I believe, but he talked me into their arena, and while I tried to swing proceeded to blast me with multi-colored push arrows until I was trapped in a cage ball over and over...finally, he left me there, in the cage ball, in an Arena with walls so high I had to tp out (and I was so noob, this took me time to figure). I did not complain, but this was clearly not a good experience.

It was quite by accident that I landed in Scagnar and met Brutis. Brutis! There is none like him in all sl (except for his alts). Eight feet tall, with a drinking horn on one hip, a huge axe on his back, a wonderful accent, and an utterly helpful spirit. When he asked if I would like to spar and I told him I had no weapon (not completely true, as I still had the sword someplace with my free t shirts and sunglasses and jeans from NCP) he said "one will be provided." Unlike the first idiot I encountered, Brutis showed me how to rez the weapon (the forerunner of our own Loch system!) and a little about how to use it. From that first night, our friendship grew and he and I spent many hours, about a year ago from now, playing with axes in that arena. How fun that was! No one really died, everyone got up right away, and no one held hard feelings. Well, almost no one. Brutis and I were there so much we saw noobs and characters from other sims come and go, and I learned a lot about a person by the way he acted in the Arena. I learned some boast, some swagger, and some whine....but my favorites were always the guys who the more they lost the more they wanted to try! Who never lost their tempers. Who persisently tried to improve even if they ate sand all day. I learned about warrior courtesy, and I learned about Honor. Of course, I knew I was in a virtual world; this was not real martial arts, but the culture around the arena in Scagnar in some ways offered me more psychologically (though sadly, nothing physically) than some places I had trained in rl.

Taht said, what sl Gor lacked, and lacks, is Chivalry. And I define this as a desire to use strength to protect those who lack strength. Some of them (as Brutis) do look out for their bondmaids with tremendous fervor; but all too often I heard the term "my properties" to refer to a man's slave girl avs, I heard the Free Women denigrated in jokes over and over, and I could not last in a culture like that, even if Tland was milder than most. More on this topic another time. I have another small story to share.

There was one night Brutis and I were on self-designated duty, patrolling the docks (and the sim never entered full rp when I was there, nor has it yet done so, so we had few intersim contests though we were always drilling and preparing to defend our City) and some, as Brutis would say, "sleenish" men came into the sim. It turned out they distracted Brutis and I while two of them rp'd stealing the homestone, the most sacred object in any Gorean City (which, considering ours is actually a Mountain, cannot really be done). When their ransom demands reached us the next day, we were all utterly enraged, and Tharkis plotted our response.

It was well planned, let me say. But as we collected men from other sims to help our small band (and only Turia came in force) some horrifying things were said as we geared up for a full scale invasion of the thieves' home camp. Things I will not repeat. And when we got there, I will share only one memory: a naked female avatar running down the hill in the dark, trying to escape as we exchanged arrows with the one or two warriors in their camp (there were almost none of them there when we arrived, at least in my memory) ; she came right at me, I was firing wildly, and I shot her once before I could think to just let her go (someone else brought her down, and she was bound; she was the daughter of their Ubar, or King). I swear, I swear, I heard her scream as she came running erratically towards me. That may have been near impossible at that time in sl, but I swear she did. I know this is second life; I know we are all playing avatars, but I have never gotten over that experience. She was unarmed, and not dressed (there are plenty of female avatars in Gor, the panthers and talunae, who go very well heeled, and who will do things to captured men few in Caledon can imagine and who understand how the rp works...this poor thing was not one of them).

So, you see, when I came to Caledon, I did my best to make sure any woman who needed a bow had one. I was happy to see women competing in our Arena (and winning) and glad that women in Caledon have full equal rights; the absolute opposite is true in Gor. There are sims where a slave, and even a woman, can be impaled for carrying a weapon or the wrong kind of weapon (never Tland). Let me step completely out of character and ask: what kind of sick boy-shit is that? But I found another piece of myself emerge in the Caledon role play: chivalry. I announced myself as bodyguard to the Duchess Loch Avie (on my own initiative) before the Tourney for Life, as I was very unsure what would happen when we brought our warmongering hoards into Loch Avie, and I was damned sure the person who thought up the TFL was not going to be harassed or collared. I had a picked guard of men...Brutis among them, who came with a personal armory on his back, to put down any problems that might arise (none did). As I found myself more uncomfortable in Gor, and spending more time in Caledon, I discovered the very good feeling it is to be Protector, even if no one in Caledon actually attacks anybody else (yet anyway). It is true I have remained the sworn bodyguard of DLA, but my anger absolutely flames when any helpless or defenseless person is threatened or challenged! There are rl reasons for this, I think, which form no part of this blog.

Which brings me to the reason I am really posting this: in rl, I have never hit a person outside a mutual training situation, as in boxing, kickboxing, karate sparring, whatever; I abhor actual violence and the damage caused by any war, and believe actual aggression must be a method of last resort. Now, I love martial arts! I see nothing wrong with full contact sparring sports, etc. Let us say I abhor any serious violence! This is the code I live by, and I live in a country safe enough to be able to embrace it.

For me, then, sparring in sl is simply fun, like any game or sport which uses eye hand coordination. And the new weapons look cool! Sl 'combat' is much more complex, as it involves stronger feeling, etc. Still, in a sim that does not allow rape or torture or other repugnant rp, I think it can be quite exciting. High Adventure! The sim the Duchess and I were in the other night is a sim like that: when an 'evil' person is captured, he is told to be good and loving and nice, and when released, must act in a kind and passive manner for 12 hours. It is very fun to see this. When the baddies catch one of the good people, one comes back under a curse, attacks a friend or friends in the City, and the one time I saw it happen anyway, is then taken to the infirmary to be healed and restored to one's loving self. A fun system, as much as I've seen of it.

All this said, do not think I have forgotten what was done to me that night in the rp! I fully intend to go after my target! But even beating an evil wizard to a pulp and hauling him off to the pokey (assuming I ever beat him at all)....these are things that are expected, even good naturedly, in that sim. I do not want to emotionally wound anyone's typist. RL provides enough of that to go around.

This, then, is a sketch of why I like sl arms and combat, and why I admire people who can do them in good sport. It shows humility and courage to get out there and try and fail! And it takes persistence to get good! It is utterly exhiliaring when one wins! These are commendable traits and valuable experiences.


Oh, I must also say:

H's comment that Miss P and I may now fight crime at night was hilarious and well-taken. But while she thought up the idea that her ending up in my house could have something to do with a duel (certainly based on the silly things I told her about myself and my interests in world) it was I who had her punch the villain and throw the rock in the story below. Empowering her, and minimizing Tele's role. She may have no interest in such things at all! It is not fair that I write backstory for her, and won't do it again without letting her see it first (though she has not complained...she seems a kind and fine person, and one truly new to Caledon).

Love to all. It seems I had more to say on this blog than I thought! But then I am catching up....more than a year in world, and no chance to reflect on that experience with those who also share it.

Peace.