Title: per-lepers-msg
Subject: lepers as personas
Author: Edited by Mark Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: lepers, persona, SCA, medieval

per-lepers-msg - 9/1/13

Stories of using leper personas.

NOTE: See also the files: persona-msg, personas-msg, persona-art, names-msg, per-insanity-msg, Persona-Build-art, Inquisitn-Gme-art, Persna-Devlop-art.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: nusbache at epas.utoronto.ca (Aryk Nusbacher)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Lepers (was: Vampires)
Date: 30 Mar 1994 03:33:50 GMT
Organization: EPAS Computing Facility, University of Toronto

In article <2n9uvs$4f0 at mojo.eng.umd.edu> kimh at eng.umd.edu (Kim Xy Ho) writes:

>I just had this idea:  did anyone in SCA ever impersonate let's say, a leper,
>or a plague victim?  Sounds rather medieval to me ;)

My room-mate Graham and I spent an evening at Pennsic being scrofulous
beggars in search of a cure for the King's Evil.  It was a lot of fun
-- especially the reactions from women (we were very noisome indeed)
as we begged to be touched.

This was two years ago, but the royal reactions were as follows:

EAST:	Randall Longsleeves's  doorwardens wouldn't let us near him;
and when he left his gate for the privy; they cast us aside ("I mark
thee, Mord the Green, I mark thee for a villain and a bastard for
using me thus!").  The king walked over us without even noticing
(which I, as a person who has in the past marched two files of pike
over the backs of the Mendicus people, saw as poetic justice).

WEST AND ATLANTIA:  Stephen Bellatrix waas in visiting his cousins of
Atlantia; whose doorwardens wouldn't let us in.  We wailed piteously
outside (attracting not a few of the upper-class guests to the
door-flap of the tent to see what was making that horrible retching
noise), but when Dur came by with the doumbek tabernacle choir they
actually came out to see what all the noise was (tourists!) and we
managed to beg touches from Stephen (though not Niobe, nor the
Atlantian).

MIDDLE:	David Failsworth ordered us to be executed for disturbing some
shindig (we were really perfecting our scrofulous wails by that point),
had a block brought out, and was testing his doorwardens' halberds for
sharpness when our appeals to his Christian mercy touched him, and he
cured me (but not Graham, who is not as good at combining a gurgle
with a wracking cough as I am).

EX REX:	Arastorm the Golden was willing to touch me on the head, but
when I explained that the King's Evil could only be cured by touching
the inner thigh, she screamed for her little demonic Norseman husband
who chased us off with a sword.

FRIENDS who were not used to seeing us wearing really filthy
lower-lower-class clothes and crawling on the ground were unsure of
who we were and why we knew them.

SUMMARY:	Worth the price of admission for an evening.  Wouldn't
want to do it all the time.  More fun to be a healthy proletar than a
sick vagabond.

Cheers (and a horrible death-rattle cough),

Aryk Nusbacher

From: meg at tinhat.stonemarche.org (meg)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Lepers (was: Vampires)
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 94 03:47:01 EST
Organization: Stonemarche Network Co-op

kimh at eng.umd.edu (Kim Xy Ho) writes:
> I just had this idea:  did anyone in SCA ever impersonate let's say, a leper,
> or a plague victim?  Sounds rather medieval to me ;)
> 
> I wander what the reaction would be, if you had a bunch of lepers wandering 
> about at an event.  I mean, really ugly, disgusting lepers with very realisti
> nasty skin deformities, on face, hands, etc..
> 
> I'm really curious how this "social realism" would be looked upon..
> 
> Or maybe it is already done?  I never was at any SCA event so forgive my 
> ignorance..
> 
> Mark from Markland.

I was a leper at Pennsic 8.  I had "bloody" bandages, my face covered, 
and a bell.  I begged in front of the Barn. Made good money, too. 

There are two ragged men who claim to have scrofula at Pennsic. They 
follow Kings begging to be touched. (the royal touch is reputed to heal 
this malady). I saw a King actually really kick one last year. In 
earnest, not in jest.  I asked His Majesty why he did it.  He said they 
had been plagueing him (yes his very words, and with a straight face 
too!) for days, and he was late for court, and tired of their 
foolishness.  Ah, alas, the burden of the Crown can be tiresome 
sometimes.

His Maj King Elfin gave them real money and candy.  They claim he healed 
them. But I suspect they will have a relapse before August next.

I know a woman with CP who begged at Pennsic once.  People complimented 
her on the authenticity of her "act". She made over $200. 

Last year I was accosted by a team of men who sang "Log" at me until I 
paid them to shut up.

It just gets weirder and weirder.

Megan
== 
In 1994: Linda Anfuso
In the Current Middle Ages: Megan ni Laine de Belle Rive  
In the SCA, Inc: sustaining member # 33644
                                YYY     YYY
meg at tinhat.stonemarche.org      |  YYYYY  |
                                |____n____| 

Subject: lepers
Date: Tue, 03 Nov 1998 13:48:49 -0500
From: Marilyn Traber <margali at 99main.com>
To: Stefan li Rous <stefan at texas.net>

rotflmao
for the local event "4q the first", about 6 years ago, my lord
had to go as a leper. several weeks before he came down with
a whopping case of poison ivy. the first thing the corpsman
did was give him calamine lotion[now they just go straight
to the progesterone and avoid the small crap]
now, what is the effect of calamine lotion on suppurating
poison ivy blisters? a funky white-beige scab that flakes a
lot, and oozes. for his comfort, we threw together a
mideastern loin wrap, and a sort of khaftan out of a
brownish looseweave craft burlap, make wrappings for his
legs, torso and arms of very casually wrapped gauze strips
and sat him with his carving tools and project and a begging
bowl on the ground near our table [it being a free form
schmooze, picnic and archery event.] He even made 35 cents
in pennies from people wandering around.

(4q has been the local schmmoze event for 6 years now, this event
happened at the first 4q[quivers, quoits and quarrels quandom].)

margali
[who is so unallergic to the rhulitoxin that i have
inadvertantly sat in patches with no effect
whatsoever-except to give it to him later when he passed me
the laundry...]

From: margali <margali at 99main.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Oil of poison ivy and study of Poisons
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 20:28:33 -0400

Cynthia Virtue wrote:
> The answer to B I have not yet ascertained, but the answer to A seems to
> be "only as a tool of revenge."  It would have to be applied somewhere
> that you'd get direct skin contact, although the astonishing appearance
> of my hands confirms that applying it to a dog's fur, and getting
> someone to pet the dog, would work very well.  I don't hate anyone that much.
> --
> Cynthia du PrŽ Argent

Those lovely leaves of three are a new world plant, that some stupid british git
thought was ever so nice looking and took some back there with him, and now they
have it in england. [thats another point for our side!]

My lord really suffers from it-he could look at a picture and get it. one year he went to an event as a leper-the corpsman gave him calomine lotion for it, it
suppurated and the calomine sort of embedded into the sores and it looked really
disgusting. He went in rags and loosly spiraled gauze and put out a begging bowl.

He made 35 cents mostly in pennies and a jersey pike token.
I on the other hand am immune after having spent 7 months with a really bad case
in the early 70s. I am our pennsic camps designated poison ivy eradicator on land grab day.
margali
proud to be welsh manx and scotts!

Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 17:23:58 +1200
From: tamara at suncrow.com
Subject: Re: [Lochac] Mendicant Friar experience at Pennsic
To: "The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
	<lochac at lochac.sca.org>

<<< I do have these (unfortunately, old) files in the Florilegium and
would love to have more.
per-insanity-msg (30K) 4/17/08 Insane personas, insanity in period.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/PERSONAS/per-insanity-msg.html

per-lepers-msg (9K) 2/23/01 Stories of using leper personas.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/PERSONAS/per-lepers-msg.html >>>

Kjartan and I did the leper thing one Pennsic.  It was to raise money 
for the Chirurgeons, so we only did it one day.  We wore rags and bells 
and wrapped ourselves in bandages and moaned "Outcast!  Unlean!" a lot.  
Our friend Guillaume had a Hospitaller persona, so he was our minder, 
and alternated between playing the part and explaining what we were 
raising money for.  Some people didn't get it and just gave us the hairy 
eyeball.  Some people laughed and gave us money.  Some people got into 
it with either "Oh, poor souls!  God bless and here's some alms" or 
crying out in alarm/cursing us and crossing the road to avoid us.  One 
guy made a good show of shielding his gentle lady from our corruption.  
I forget how much we raised in the end, but it was good fun.

Kazimira

<the end>

Edited by Mark S. Harris	per-lepers-msg	Page  of