The History of Silverwater
The History of Silverwater
A more personal accounting of
Silverwater's history by Roger Shrubstaff. (updated 2/23/01)
Silverwater History Timeline. Some of these are from memory as best recollected.
- July 1992 - Idea to start Amtgard group initiated by Roger Shrubstaff, Flotsam of Norgham and Raven Darkshade (later changed his name to Tigger deCat).
- August 1992: First battlegame held in field near lakeside green. Others are Brother Weasel (Louis Milke), somebody named
'Graham', Graham's Brother, and Degenerus (Josh Degenario). In a vote, the group is named Silverwater. Flotsam wins
first tournament.
- September 1992: Looking for a place to play, tried park along Lake Worth and woods near Graham's house. Eventually settled on field near main pavillion area of John Prince Park.
- Ocober 1992: More recruits: Satori, Quillian Rhys, Grubilex the Unruly, Erick MacTallon.
- November 1992: Camping trip to Camp Kelly near Orlando.
- April 1993: Quillian leads quest for better area of John Prince Park, arrives at "Island" site with the pine-laden hill at one end and palm scrub at the other surrounding an open field. Home for a long time.
- May 1993: More recruits: Loyal Jones (now Loyal J. Oakheart), Butch. Trip over to Jonathan Dickinston state park to play in scrub forest.
- Summer 1993: Regular battlegames, some tournaments, rain, etc.
- September 1993: Second trip to Jonathan Dickinson state park. William Axeperson's first appearance.
- Winter 1993: Despite excellent weather, tempers flare and attendence drops, group goes semi-dormant.
- May 1994: Loyal Jones' Bulletin Board System (BBS) "The Diving Board" becomes the home of much Amtgard discussion. Several regular BBSers express interest in Amtgard, and an Amtgard section is set up.
- June 1994: A meeting is held at Roger Shrubstaff's home with various BBSers attending: Loyal, Dirk Roachbearer, Darkthunder, and Logan Whitefang. Some sparring out in back so they can see what the weapons and combat are like.
- July 1994: Attempt to meet at John Prince Park, derailed because of rain. Next week, though, they all come out, including some more BBS people including Scarlett. Soon after, first appearance of Seoman Bishop. Legendary attempt by Loyal to make armor out of wetsuit in the middle of summer results in his collapsing on the field.
- August 1994: Around this time Khelden Blackblade and Tizzleton started showing up.
- Fall 1994: Group, revived, sees surge in membership, averaging 25-30 and even hitting 50 once. Early companies form: The Horde and The Mellow-Dramatic Warriors. Roger Shrubstaff is Sheriff.
- November 1994: Due to most people going to a Tri-Con at FAU, a battlegame is held on a field next to a stage at FAU. Logan Whitefang jumps off the three foot stage and blows out his knee. Two weeks after the surgery and against his doctor's and family's advice he returns to fighting in his leg brace.
- January 1995: 5-way election day battle sees Loyal Jones become Sheriff. Last time monarchy decided by combat (this was a hybrid vote/combat where people voted by fighting for their candidate). House Whitefang appears.
- Spring 1995: Various attempts to contact old friends receive promises of assistance which never materialize. Group is still without an official sponsor. Finally discover Amtgard-L, where contact is established with the rest of Amtgard. Aramithris sends contract and 6.0 rules (prior to this we'd been working under 5.0).
- June 1995: Contract is signed, notarized, and returned. Silverwater votes to join The Kingdom of the Burning Lands, and is
made a Barony under them. Trip to Clan XIII is planned. In a close election, Logan Whitefang becomes the first Baron of Silverwater. his regent is Julia Silverfang. Seoman Bishop wins baronial champion tourney.
- July 1995: Trip to Clan XIII with Loyal, Tizzleton, Flotsam, Roger, Philbert and Seoman driving out to New Mexico and coming back the next day to pick up Logan at the El Paso airport. Logan attempts to crash kingdom monarch's meeting. Logan is caught dropping live steel on an amtgard battlegame field. Logan greatly exaggerates our group to any who would listen. Etc. Otherwise
great trip.
- August 1995: Park service paves over main battlefield for some lawn bowlers. Another quest for a field ensues. For about a month, we use Mound Hill, a low rounded hill utterly devoid of vegetation without any facilities or adequate parking nearby. Brotherhood of the Four Winds appears.
- September 1995: Location moved to it's current spot adjacent to parking lot by park headquarters.
- Fall 1995: About halfway through his term, Logan Whitefang stops showing up. Once sufficient weeks have accumulated to have cause for abdication (as per corpora) calls for his dismissal are everywhere. Burning Lands advises letting the matter slide until his term is over, as it is nearly so, and this is done.
- January 1996: Loyal J. Oakheart wins election and is Silverwater's second baron. Cyrus Darkheart is his regent. Arrow problem with park finally cleared up, official permission to use park granted. At Loyal's coronation, Land of Falling Fire visits. We start to use other side from the field across the road, a heavily forested region that makes for interesting battlegames. Khelden Blackblade wins baronial champion tourney.
- July 1996: Trip to Clan XIV with three vehicles and Seoman, Roger, Thorfin, Liam, Tizzleton, Normal, Loyal, Khelden, Omino, Tosc, and Faux Paus attending. Faux Paus earns his name there.
- August 1996: Roger Shrubstaff wins election and is Silverwater's third baron. Seoman Bishop is regent. Park service bulldozes half the forest we use for half our battlegames, places a building and parking lot there. Eventually we continue to use it, though it's not as good as it was before. Loyal J. Oakheart wins Baronial Champion tourney.
- September 1996: Olok Blackstar, driving by, notices group and wanders up to find out what is going on.
- December 1996: All-thing decides to synchronize Silverwater's calendar with that of the Burning Lands. New Year's party at Hathgar's. Fireworks everywhere.
- January 1997: Yule Regret It event in Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Holiday-themed quest involving an Evil Santa terrorizing the woods.
- February 1997: "Firewater I": Land of Falling Fire visits, is defeated in combat. We follow them back and defeat them on their soil.
- March 1997: Loyal J. Oakheart wins landslide election to become Silverwater's fourth Baron. Dameon Sanguinius is his regent. Various companies appear at the encouragement of Loyal: Senqua (Saracens), Raven's Blood (Saracens), Blackstar, Conclave of Evil, Stonecutters, Hawkstone and Tulocs. Vid Zaymeal wins Baronial Champion tourney. Attendence starts to exceed 40 regularly.
- April 1997: Massive feast thrown by Raven's Blood and Senqua. All-day battles, guests from other organizations, money raised for the Barony, all-round excellent event. Loyal brews massive cooler of Saracen Salad. Hathgar decides to move to Illinois to join Cyrus Darkheart, but has so much fun at his going-away party he decides to stay.
- May 1997: Event at Emerald Coast co-organized by Loyal J. Oakheart. Loyal decides to move to the Iron Mountains (Colorado).
- June 1997: Surprise attack on Land of Falling Fire results in a tough battle, but Silverwater is again victorious.
- July 1997: Loyal's going away party (on July 4) fails to convince him to stay, but does manage to get absolutely everyone attending (except Tombo who holed up in a corner with a pool cue)) tossed into the swimming pool at one point or another. Trip to Clan XV. Going were Seoman, Leanna, Dameon, Tombo, Ahriman, Roger, Otto, Vid, MacTallon, and Mark. Loyal was there from his new home in IM. At Clan Court, King Ivar elevated Silverwater to a Duchy. Last farewells from Loyal. Regent Dameon becomes Pro-Tem Duke and names Tombo Pro-Tem regent for the remainder of the term. Ahriman gives his bitter sarcasm to all who pass by our site.
- August 1997: Conclave of Evil splits, with rival faction Conclave of Chaos (aka Treekillers) forming and taking most of their members. Conclave of Evil regroups and manages to survive.
- September 1997: Omino resigns as Chancellor, Ahriman becomes pro-tem chancellor.Trip to Darkwater East quest.
- October 1997: Tombo elected 1st (elected) Duke of Silverwater, narrowly defeatting Otto von Shabbejaeger. He names Berenike Cheron as his regent. Trip up to Dragon's Rage II. Various house split/changes/alterations. Conclave of Chaos leaves, some split off as Tree Killers and stick around. Tulocs become Whitestars.
- November 1997: Conclave of Evil holds quest for Dagger of Infinite Penatration, won by Chase. Raven's Blood splits. Silverwater first approached about possibility of hosting a future Olympiad.
- Wow, lots of time here...
- Okay, well, um, Silverwater was part of the founding of the Neverwinter Alliance sometime about here, hoping to bring an Amtgard Kingdom to Florida. Many meetings, Iron Monarch, etc.
- July 1999 - Neverwinter made the 11th Amtgard Kingdom at Clan. Roger (me) acting as Legate until coronation of first King.
- January 2000 - First Neverwinter Coronation saw Sir Tonbo, of Silverwater, the first king of the Kingdom of Neverwinter.
- Spring 2000 - Ahriman finally elected Duke. Olok moves north. Silverwater's number continue to drop. Ahriman elected Duke, Siobahn Regent, Decado Champion. Decado captured while visiting in Shining South and leads invading forces to Silverwater, where despite decline in numbers and fighters and our champion fighting on other side, we retreat to our woods field and successfully repel the invasion.
- Fall 2000 - Siobahn elected Duchess. Toda Regent. Silverwater's continued drop in size leads to Silverwater voting to drop itself to Barony status. Toda elected Baron.
- December 2000 - Old website goes down. Roger elected Chancellor.
- Silverwater begins slow recovery. Decado returns from exhile.
- March 2001 - new website finally brought back up. No frills, focus on content (hopefully).
- 2002: Black Dragon elected Baron. Droth elected Regent. Rowboat shows up. First appearances of Jaeger and Hellora.
- August 2002 - Toda is knighted but moves to Gainesville (Darkwater East). Talstar from the defunct Shining South joins Silverwater.
