Squires Journal

I am Squire Creek! I am involved in Belegarth Medieval Combat Society, located in Dur Demarion (Nashville, TN). This is my journey to knighthood!

[squirecreek]

Beltane XXX: Dungeons, Dragons, & Dur Demarion

It’s been a couple of months since my last entry! Life has been busy, but I survived Beltane this year. I watched two of my realms mates and friends be knighted - congratulations Nea and Khnor! It was an honor to witness both of your elevations - and I even fought Khnor in her trial. Almost made her cry too because I frogged up as well, something I haven’t done in nearly 2 years.

I also fought in my first tourney! I lost, but I had fun! I fought in the single blue tourney, and my knight wasn’t even there to watch me. Thank you Tres for participating and being my first tourney fight. And thank you to Selkie, Dip n’ Dots, Rigamir, and Talon for encouraging me to get outside my comfort zone.

And I totally didn’t almost make someone choke by saying something ridiculous that made them laugh while eating. I would never say anything unhinged at all and am totally innocent. (And I’m totally not a mimic, my belt flag says so)

I’m finishing up finals and graduating college this week ✨

[squirecreek]

Oh the off season !

As we’re headed into the off season for my realm, I’m looking at things I can finally do now that I my school semester is about to end. I’ll have about a month of freedom before my spring semester starts up! Currently looking at getting a buckler shield blank and making my own shield to knock something off of my squire requirements. Foam smithing and armor making are things that are a little outside of my realm of knowledge so I’m excited to dip my toes in and learning some new things.

I will say at some point this fall I have also misplaced my fighting gloves (oops 🫣) so I am currently looking at replacing those. Not to mention investing in some good knee pads - I’m sure my body will thank me for this one.

I know I’ll want to do more crafting between semesters I’m just not sure what I want to work on. I do have a very thick fabric that looks like bark that I think could make a really cool cloak 🤔 and my favorite pants need some mending as the side seams have been ripping a bit.

I’m really excited to try and get some crafting done this off season!

[squirecreek]

Small life update! Flew all the way out to California to see my boyfriend Volkard and we went to his practice. I enjoyed getting to experience Hel practice out in Whittier and getting to see some of my favorite people 🖤 Kuma, Igua, and Minerva are all homies I’ve met online (thank you artificers guild discord) and finally getting to meet them in person was amazing. Getting to experience Bel with Volkard was the best - I can’t wait to go to events with him. I also got to spar with him finally which was so nice 🥹 I wish I had thought to record the spars but we will have more in the future. 🖤⚔️

[squirecreek]

Life has been really busy lately and my bel stuff has taken a bit of a back burner. I am hoping during my winter break between semesters to have more time for Belegarth (mostly crafting since it’ll be the off season for my realm). It’s been a tough time the past few months but I haven’t forgotten my squires journal - just putting my energy where it needs to be right now.

[squirecreek]

Mini post-EQ dump (maybe I’ll come back and write something more lengthy later) :

• this is my 3rd event being an event coordinator, it’s so much work and I’m always so tired from running around but it’s probably the most rewarding work I’ve ever done.

• I didn’t get in nearly as many spars as I wanted, but Sunday I did get some good spars in with some out of state friends. I felt so much support in my journey to learn fighting and it was great.

• I got to sit in on a Nadar language class and a Tengu ritual hosted by my friend Stellar - it was a great experience, I enjoy getting to learn about the different lores and backgrounds of Belegarth.

• I got to hang out with my knight and all of our friends, make new friends, and enjoy my community and it really just helped rejuvenate my spirits.

• I got complimented multiple times for being firm with my boundaries with people at the event and that really felt good. I tend to be a people pleaser and to have people reaffirm that me standing by my boundaries is good and necessary was extremely helpful.

[squirecreek]

8/23/25 - I hosted a craft day at my house today! I’m biased and feel like it went over super well, lots of projects got finished (I managed to strip down and rebuild a blue sword with help from my knight and my best friend, finish my squires tabard, and get done with the base for a monster tunic I am making). I’ve never been able to host something like this and I’m super excited with the turn out - definitely hope I get to host more in the future! ⚔️

[squirecreek]

The Great Hunt

On 8/10/25, I took a leap and barreled into The Great Hunt. I went from “I occasionally spar on the sides and maybe fight on the field when it’s no more than 4v4” to “I’m going to do a combat heavy barrel and fight like 8 people in 1v1 repeatedly until I beat all of them”.

There was no time limit, no limit on how many times I had to face each person. I fought Knights, Squires, and a Blade Masters Apprentice from my realm. People I look up to, my friends, and newer realm members.

I’m not a good fighter, but I pushed myself to try and it took me quite a while but I did pass my barrel. A part of me is sad I didn’t have it recorded, another part of me is very happy I didn’t have it recorded. Either way I am proud of myself for taking the leap, and extremely thankful for the encouragement I received from my friends in this venture.

[squirecreek]

10 fights with Squire Khnor 8/10/2025 - learning flail

Advice from Khnor afterwards: stabilize your shield, you let it float towards the side as you fight. It can’t protect you that way, make sure to keep the shield where it needs to be.

Things I noticed afterwards: I need to be more responsive with the shield - I’m slow to try and block shots. I also need to better process when and where I’m getting hit (though this is something that will hopefully get better with time).

[squirecreek]

Why are you just now getting into fighting? Isn’t Belegarth a combat sport?

Belegarth is a community, and while a large aspect of that community is combat focused there are other facets of the community. There’s leadership (realm leadership, units, houses, guilds), volunteering (events, classes, marshaling, weapons check), crafting (garb making, foam smithing, leather working, etc), and so much more. Belegarth is kind of like a jewel with many different sides.

I’ve been attending my realm since 2019 (very lightly in 2019, obviously not in 2020, and started coming backing out in 2021 and becoming progressively more involved). I’m just now getting into fighting for many reasons. Probably the easiest answer is crafting is my comfort zone - I love knitting, crocheting, and sewing as those things help my anxiety and bring me a lot of joy. I’ve enjoyed growing my skills in those areas and getting to talk with so many other people in the community who also craft and learning from them. Probably the biggest though is I was afraid of the field - there’s a lot of people and moving parts, getting hit scared me. In the end though, I ended up being the biggest threat to myself because I flinched a lot and more often than not flinched in the wrong direction. Shots that should of hit me in the arm or the chest would hit me in the throat or the head, not because of my opponent, but because I’d see the weapon coming and would flinch down. So my current work is getting comfortable being hit so I can be safe on the field - a lot of this work is being done in 1v1 spars on the sidelines, though I have ventured into a few smaller field fights (typically no more than 4v4). This is completely out of my comfort zone, but I’ve already noticed some growth and that helps me believe I can keep pushing forward and working on this.

[squirecreek]

10 fights with Syr Goldbug 7/27/25 - learning flail

Advice from Bug after the fights: let’s work on not taking the bait from your opponent, and learning how to combo your own fake with a shot.

My observations: with flails, don’t bring shield in when the opponent strikes - work on pushing shield out to prevent wrap around and moving forward to counter strike. Footwork needs work. Don’t be afraid to move in to strike, ya got short arms dude; you need to close the distance.

Most of my time in Belegarth has been spent being non-com. I’ve primarily focused on crafting and volunteering, but now as a squire I want to round out my experience in Belegarth by learning how to fight. Challenging myself to do spars at practices and learning different fighting styles will help get me out of my comfort zone and hopefully help me have better understanding of weapons, skills, and the culture of the sport!

[squirecreek]

May 3rd, 2025 - Beltane XXIX

The knighting of Sir Cornix the Celerity Knight (photo credit to FLNT/Sawyer Richardson; pictured is Syr Talon proceeding over the knighting as Sir Cornix kneels. Creek is presenting Cornix with a spear as his knighting weapon.)

This was the moment I officially stepped into my squireship! I had retained under Cornix during his squireship for a little over a year, and I was still really nervous to step into squiring - what if I’m not good at being a leader? What if I fail?

But the truth is that I am going to fail - maybe not entirely, but I’ll have moments where I fail at tasks. And I’m not gonna be a great leader right from the start. Being a squire is the start of my dedication to learn though - learn how to better communicate, how to listen to others, how to provide a safe space for people in the community.

So will I mess up? Absolutely. But the goal isn’t to be perfect. My goal is to grow. My goal is to stumble and pick myself back up and keep trying. My goal is to learn about my community and work towards making it even better.

I am Squire Creek of Dur Demarion and this is the start of my journey! ⚔️