An Tir Dearg

MOTION to amend Realm Tabard Rules as follows, to prevent any Realm member under disciplinary or restrictive measure from the Council from being eligible to apply for the tabard until such measures are resolved. Changes in bold type

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. 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 of 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.

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.

• 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.
  

***Voting will remain open until 2359 hours on Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011.***