Monday November 3, 2003
Ashbaugh relishes medieval transformation into Lord Ian Kennevan of the Shire
By JUDE DIPPOLD Times Observer Managing Editor
At 6 feet, 4 inches, and packing 225 pounds on his rangy frame, Ian Ashbaugh would be a formidable presence even without his second degree black belt as a Wado Kai practitioner.
But when Ashbaugh dons gauntlets and helmet, gorget and lorica segmentada and picks up his great sword, transforming himself into Lord Ian Kennevan of the Shire of Heronter and Kingdom of Aethelmearc, he becomes even more commanding, summoning up a martial presence that encompasses a thousand years of western history.
The transformation of the soft-spoken Tidioute native from his day-to-day existence as a pharmacist into a Celtic-Roman warrior began, strangely enough, in a dentist's office, where Dr. Charles Myers revealed himself as Master Charles The Serene, a woodcarver and a Laurel in the Society for Creative Anachronism, or as SCA members call themselves, a Scadian.
Master Charles, a skilled artisan whose talent has been recognized throughout the Kingdom of Aethelmearc and in much of the known world, as Scadians are wont to say, invited Ashbaugh to a presentation on the Battle of Hastings at the Warren Public Library. The presentation by Lord Cygnus The Blissful, one of the kingdom's premier fighters and now, by dint of martial prowess, Duke Sir Cygnus The Blissful, captured Ashbaugh's imagination and began the birthing of Lord Ian Kennevan, holder of the Golden Alce and a member of the Maison de la Blanc Croix.
Scant weeks later, Ashbaugh found himself, at the urging of Master Charles The Serene, at the largest and oldest SCA event, the annual Pennsic Wars, held near Slippery Rock. Suddenly, his world was transformed. In the midst of 12,000 Scadians, time slipped a cog, transporting him into a landscape that was starkly medieval, spanning the years between 600 and 1600 A.D. In the encampment of strangely shaped tents and battlements, he found Scadians in period costumes, practicing arts ranging from calligraphy to weaving. He relaxed at bardic circles, savoring the songs and stories. But most of all, his imagination took flight as thousands of warriors clashed in pitched battles in the fields and forests surrounding the encampment.
"I watched a lot of fighting and said, 'That is something I want to do'," Ashbaugh recalls, reveling in the spectacle of the full-contact martial art, where fully armored warriors engage using rattan weapons, dodge blunt head arrows, and are hit with ingenious "rock" projectiles made of duct tape and toilet paper or tennis balls grouped and wrapped in tape to become boulders hurled by siege weapons.
The Society for Creative Anachronism was, as Ashbaugh discovered, "a thousand hobbies rolled into one." Ashbaugh was hooked, and Ian Kennevan was born.
Never one to do things half-heartedly, Kennevan fully entered into the spirit of the SCA. He bought period garb, scrounged armor, and began practicing with other fighters from the Shire of Heronter, seeking authorization to fight, basically a certification that he wasn't a danger to himself or others.
And that was just the beginning.
Having sampled a wide variety of what the SCA had to offer at Pennsic through classes and demonstrations, Ian Kennevan soon found himself working on his own armor, illuminating manuscripts for court presentations, and helping prepare feasts for his shire.
"You get as much out of it as you are willing to put into it," Kennevan says earnestly.
Believe it.
Lord Kennevan, whose alter ego is something of a self-taught gourmet chef, recently spent months poring over medieval manuscripts in order to obtain an authentic menu for a feast he prepared for an annual gathering of the Shire of Heronter, an entity encompassing Chautauqua and Cattaragus counties in New York and Warren and McKean counties in Pennsylvania, the other world.
"You get your really hardcore characters who do their research," he says simply.
Kennevan's efforts did not go unnoticed. Through both his service to the Scadian community and his fighting prowess , Kennevan was granted an Award of Arms in 1999 and became Lord Ian Kennevan. This fall he took another step toward knighthood when he was awarded the Golden Alce.
Scadians advance through the social orders of their anachronistic world in one of three tracks, martial arts, arts and sciences, or service. Each of the orders has three ranks, the highest in each, respectively, are Knighthood, Laurel, and Pelican.
While he participates in each of the orders, Lord Kennevan's main focus is clearly the martial world of Scadia.
"I love to go out and do a good melee," he confesses.
Lord Ian Kennevan may have one eye firmly fixed on knighthood, but the other is focused on his own peculiar notion of a medieval good time - building a trebuchet capable of hurling a ten-pound pumpkin a half mile. Kennevan has his plans for the massive siege instrument well underway. He's lined up a supply of lumber from Dagonell The Juggler, who recently removed a large deck from his home in the other world. Now it's just a matter of engineering and manpower.
Kennevan figures that the trebuchet will be a real hit at the next session of the Pennsic Wars but admits that it could only be fired in demonstration. With its power and range, it would be too dangerous to include in an actual battle, Kennevan concedes. No armor could protect from a great pumpkin at the end of a 2,600-foot trajectory.
But Ashbaugh believes the medieval war instrument could be a real contender at next year's Busti Pumpkin Fest, where competitors vie with all manner of machines to propel gourds over unimaginable distances.
A true Scadian, Lord Ian Kennevan. One foot planted firmly in each world.
And that, Lord Ian Kennevan/Ian Ashbaugh figures "will keep you going forever."
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