Appendicies

Glossary

Hold

A call for immediate ceasing of all activity on the field for safety concerns.

The Rules of the Lists for the SCA Inc.

The section below is reproduced verbatim from section IX.B of the April 2006 revision of the Corpora of the SCA Inc. It is reproduced here for convenience. Changes to Corpora shall override the rules in this section.

1. Each fighter, recognising the possibilities of physical injury to themselves in such combat, shall assume unto themselves all risk and liability for harm suffered by means of such combat. No fighter shall engage in combat unless and until they have inspected the field of combat and satisfied themselves that it is suitable for combat. Other participants shall likewise recognise the risks involved in their presence on or near the field of combat and shall assume unto themselves the liabilities thereof.
2. No person shall participate in Official Combat-Related Activities (including armoured combat, period fencing, and combat archery) outside of formal training sessions unless they have been properly authorised under Society and Kingdom procedures.
3. All combatants must be presented to, and be acceptable to, the Sovereign or his or her representative.
4. All combatants shall adhere to the appropriate armour and weapons standards of the Society, and to any additional standards of the Kingdom in which the event takes place. The Sovereign may waive the additional Kingdom standards.
5. The Sovereign or the Marshallate may bar any weapon or armour from use upon the field of combat. Should a warranted Marshal bar any weapon or armour, an appeal may be made to the Sovereign to allow the weapon or armour.
6. Combatants shall behave in a knightly and chivalrous manner and shall fight according to the appropriate Society and Kingdom Conventions of Combat.
7. No one may be required to participate in Combat-Related Activities. Any combatant may, without dishonour or penalty, reject any challenge without specifying a reason. A fight in a tournament list is not to be considered a challenge and therefore may be declined and forfeit the bout.
8. Fighting with real weapons, whether fast or slow, is strictly forbidden at any Society event. This rule does not consider approved weaponry which meets the Society and Kingdom standards for traditional Society combat and/or Society period rapier combat, used in the context of mutual sport, to be real weaponry.
9. No projectile weapons shall be allowed within the Lists of a tournament, nor shall any weapons be thrown. The use of approved projectile weapons for melee, war, or combat archery shall conform to the appropriate Society and Kingdom Conventions of Combat.

Blade Flexibility Testing

1. To determine if a weapon meets the standard of being "reasonably flexible": Hold the weapon parallel to the ground, supporting the handle against a table or bench if necessary. Hang a 6-ounce weight (170 grams) one inch (25 mm) distance from the tip.
2. If the blade of a dagger (up to 18 inches blade length) flexes at least 1/2 inch (12.5 mm) the blade is reasonably flexible.
3. For a rapier blade (18" or longer), the blade must flex at least 1 inch (25 mm).
4. For a cut and thrust rapier blade, the blade must flex at least 1/2 inch (12.5 mm).
5. Any blade 18 inches or longer, being used in melee combat, must flex at least 1 inch (25 mm).
6. Blades fitted to a Pole Weapon must flex at least 1.5 inches (37.5mm) and no more than 3.5 inches.

Procedure for making changes to these rules

1. These rules shall have precedence as set out in section I.A of the Corpora of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. At all times mundane law has precedence over any and all rules of the SCA.
2. As per section II of the Laws of the Kingdom of Lochac, temporary changes may be made to these rules by proclamation of the Crown as set out in section II of the Laws of the Kingdom of Lochac, which can be found at the following URL: http://seneschal.lochac.sca.org/laws-of-lochac-2
3. Permanent changes to Lochac standards, conventions and canon may only be made using the following procedure, and shall only come into effect after all of the following steps are complete:
   1. The change must be proclaimed by the Crown at an official event; and
   2. Notification of the changes to the standards, conventions or canon will be distributed to all group rapier marshals; and
   3. The Rapier Combat Handbook (this document) will be updated to include the approved changes; and
   4. Notification of the changes will be published in Pegasus.
4. The only exception to the procedure outlined above shall be in the case of mundane law changes contradicting these rules. Mundane law always has precedence over internal SCA rules and in the event of a change to mundane law contradicting it shall become effective immediately and this book will be updated as soon as possible.
5. The procedure for requesting changes to these rules is as follows:
   1. Discuss proposed changes with your Group Rapier Marshal.
   2. Discuss proposed changes with the Lochac Kingdom Rapier Marshal.
   3. On the Kingdom Rapier Marshal’s approval, necessary experimentation, testing and documentation, including experimental and test results and risk-assessment of the impact of the change, will be undertaken and reported to the Kingdom Rapier Marshal.
   4. If the Kingdom Rapier Marshal agrees to the proposed changes, they will forward them to the Kingdom Earl Marshal and also seek approval from the Society Rapier Marshal as necessary.
6. Typographical corrections and minor changes clarifying wording of a rule, that do not change the substance or intent of a rule, may be made by the Kingdom Rapier Marshal, Kingdom Earl Marshal or their Deputy for Combat Laws only, without going through the processes set out above.

Document History

• V1.0 Original document developed by the Lochac Rapier Marshallate, proclaimed into law on the formation of the Kingdom of Lochac, on 6/7/2002.
• V2.0 Introduced Rubber Band Guns to the weapons inventory and reflected changes to the Marshallate structure.
• V3.0 Introduction of Cut and Thrust Rapier Rule and reflected changes to the Marshallate structure. General tidy-up of the rules. Authorisations changed to Rapier, Melee, and Cut and Thrust.
• v3.5 Introduction of Pole Weapons, updating of blade requirements to Society Rules, implementation of new Society Rules for mask/helm padding, changes to allow rapier combatants to supervise rapier combat.
• V3.6. Revision of rubber band gun rules to include long arms and insertion of Society Rapier Rules update regarding hand protection for Cut and Thrust.
• V4.0 Revision of melee/war rules to include increased risk management. Addition of Kingdom Rapier deputies for Spear/Pole weapons and Youth Rapier. Addition of Rubber Band Gun Only authorisation. Addition of ‘blood rule’. Revision to gender neutral terms and formatting.
• 26 May 2019 - Conversion to wiki format, corrected section referencing, replaced his/her etc with their etc, and removed acronyms. Removed reference to Principality. Updated broken web links.