REALM TABARDS
The An Tir Dearg tabard or belt flag are worn as symbols of a fighter's dedication to the sport of Belegarth as a whole and the realm of An Tir Dearg in particular, with the belt flag being the official method of distinction of accomplishment so that those who wish to wear unit tabards or garb may preserve their individual look and still be readily identified. The tabard will be available for those who wish to wear it and will serve the same function as the belt flag. The official colors and description of the initiate tabard are a black background with a red "ATD" over the left breast, and a gold or silver epaulette worn on the right shoulder by the Realm Leader and Realm Council members respectively. The official colors and description of the belt flag are a black background with a centered red "ATD". The coloration of the senior versions differs only in that the "ATD" is gold. The tabard presently offers two layers of achievement. The requirements outlined below are intended to demonstrate that a fighter has shown determination to develop for themselves and then for others a solid foundation of quality equipment, rules knowledge, fighting skill and consistent participation at An Tir Dearg practices and inter-realm events.
The realm leadership hopes that all fighters within the realm would seek to obtain the initiate tabard as a mark of their respect for the realm and the sport and a pledge of their own intention to continually improve their skills. Seeking the senior tabard will hopefully be of interest to all tabard holders as they increase their dedication and reach out to bring others into the sport. Earning the initiate tabard is only mandatory for unit and realm leadership. Any fighter willing to follow the rules of the Book of War of the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society as interpreted by An Tir Dearg is welcome to participate in the realm's practices and events without pursuing the recognition of the Realm tabard.
Use of the ATD Logo
In order to maintain a sense of respect for the commitment made by tabard holders, use of the Realm logo ("ATD") in any way or color on a fighter's personal garb or gear separately from the official tabard/belt flag is permissible only if said fighter is a current tabard holder within An Tir Dearg. Such use is subject to approval of the Realm Council for appropriateness and general appearance and must be easily discernible from the official Realm tabard and belt flag in both style and color. Non-tabard holders may be loaned an official Realm tabard to wear at events, if any are available and at the discretion of Realm Council members present, as a means of easy identification on the field of battle.
The tabard trials will be held every even month of the year at the first regularly scheduled practice on Wednesday night. Any deviation from this schedule will be announced on the forum by the realm leadership. All participants will be expected to meet the requirements below when supplicating for each of the tabards. No Realm member who is under any disciplinary or restrictive measure from the Council is eligible to apply for the tabard until such measures are resolved.
Initiate Tabard
Attendance
All candidates must have attended nine practices within the three months (13 weeks) immediately preceding the trial. An exception may be approved by the realm council if the Realm Council feels the spirit of the requirement has been met and the missed practice was well justified.Equipment
The candidate must possess and wear to the trial full fighting garb following the guidelines in the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society's Book of War and the discretion of the Realm Council. No armor may be worn during the trials.The candidate must also possess their own complete set of weaponry for their primary combat style in the trial. The weaponry for the secondary style must either belong to the candidate themselves or be from the shared weapons of the candidate's unit, not another fighter's own gear.
Knowledge
The candidate must correctly answer 18 out of 20 questions in a written test drawn from the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society's Book of War. Additionally, the candidate must correctly perform checks on a blue sword, a flail, a red weapon, a javelin, a spear, an arrow, a piece of leather armor, a piece of chain armor, and a helmet in front of at least one of the Council members present in accordance with all rules in the Book of War. These include, but are not limited to template, weight, measurements of haft padding, looseness from core, and hit test. Three of the items will have been predetermined to fail check by the Council. If a candidate does not identify all of these weapons then the test is failed. A candidate may incorrectly fail two weapons that have been predetermined to pass if he can explain his reasoning.
Skill
The candidate must choose two styles of fighting they will use to pass the tabard trial. These styles must be substantially different from one another and an active shield may only be used in one style. A passive shield could potentially be used in both styles, but would need to be reviewed by the Realm Council.
The candidate must successfully win a minimum of five out of ten, 1 v 1 encounters with each combat style. Opponents will be selected from those who have recently received their tabard or are soon to test for their tabard so that this is a test against the candidate's peers.
Three of the encounters in each set of ten must be against an opponent using a sword and shield, and another three encounters in each set must be against an opponent using a red weapon or dual-weapon style. The remaining four encounters in each set may be against any weapon style, so long as at least three encounters in each set of ten are against an opponent using the same weapon style set as the candidate.
If the candidate fails either or both of the ten round encounters they may re-test as many times as necessary the same day. Each time they must fight through all ten encounters before beginning again to attempt the set they failed. The knowledge component of the trial may only be attempted once per trial day. If the candidate still cannot pass any part of the trial by the end of the allotted time they will be able to reattempt at the next scheduled trials.
Senior Tabard
Attendance
All candidates must have attended forty practices within the year (fifty-two weeks) immediately preceding the trial. An exception may be approved by the realm council if the Realm Council feels the spirit of the requirement has been met and the missed practice was well justified.Additionally, a supplicant for the senior tabard should have represented the realm to the larger world of Belegarth by attending at least three inter-realm events within the previous fifty-two weeks.
Equipment
The candidate must possess and be willing to loan at least two extra sets of full fighting garb following the guidelines in the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society's Book of War and the discretion of An Tir Dearg realm council.Additionally the supplicant must personally own, maintain, bring to practice and be willing to loan at least 6 pieces of fighting equipment. For the purposes of fulfilling this requirement a shield or red weapon may be counted as two pieces and weapons under 24" will count as one half. Archery equipment is inappropriate for meeting this requirement.
Knowledge and Service
The candidate must herald for at least one hour during regularly scheduled realm practices at least once a month during the preceding fifty-two weeks. Therefore the candidate will have formally acted as a herald, donning the yellow tabard and becoming a non-combatant, on at least 12 separate occasions with no more than a 5 week lapse between the occasions, the first eligible practice or the most recent practice.
COMBAT MASTERY AND OTHER AWARDS
The realm council would also like to recognize the development of superior combat skill, service to the realm and some less serious "achievements." The requirements for these are still under discussion, but an outline of the expected list of awards follows:
Combat Skill Awards
Primary Weapon Categories
- Single Blue Mastery
- Red Mastery
- Blue and Board Mastery
- Dual Weapon Mastery
- Green Mastery
- Win 8/10 duels with their weapon set against other tabard holders (cannot fight the same tabard holder with the same weapon set twice)
- At least 5 must be against the same weapon
- At least 3 must be against sword and board
- Win 5/10 duels against 2 opponents, also tabard holders
Secondary Weapon Categories
Javelin Mastery
- Kill a human target at 35ft on 8/10 throws.
- Standing outside a 35' circle while 6 tabard holders fight a free-for-all inside, kill at least 3 of them before there is a single fighter using 5 javs or less.
- Kill a human target at 50ft on 8/10 shots.
- Standing outside a 35' circle while 6 tabard holders fight a free-for-all inside, kill at least 3 of them before there is a single fighter using 5 arrows or less.
- As a team of 4 tabard holders, win 8/10 matches against other 4 man teams of tabard holders or other fighters of appropriate skill if not from our realm.
- No two opposing teams should contain exactly the same members with exactly the same kit.
- Fighting pitch is restricted to a 30ft area with no reusable missiles.
- No armor is permitted, but any legal selection of weapons or shields is perfectly acceptable.
- No bout may run longer than 5 minutes.
Non-Combat Awards
- Garb Mastery
- Armor Mastery
- Heralding Mastery
- Injury Award
- Years of Participation
- Exemplary Service