Belegarth

Hello everyone! My name's Brent, and I'm from central Kentucky. I've been fighting regularly for about four years, though there's neither a Belegarth nor a Dagorhir chapter in my area, so I haven't been able to get involved as a member. I recently moved after graduating, so I'm now in the process of seeing if there's a group of fighters in my new city whom I could join and with whom I could possibly reactivate a chapter.

I'm hoping to attend my first Belegarth event, Equinox XXIII! I was actually wondering if there were a realm or unit that's attending that wouldn't mind sort of taking me in for the weekend, just so I would have a group to pitch my tent with and a banner to protect. I'm in the process of trying to contact the Louisville realm, but I'm not sure if they're still active, or if any of them are going. I'm really excited about the prospect of my first event, but it would be a lot less appealing if I knew I were to end up sitting in my tent alone of an evening. Is there a unit going that wouldn't mind adopting an extra for a couple days?

I hope to see many of you in the field!

Hey, welcome to the boards! The Louisville chapter of Belegarth is Dun Abhon, and they are an active realm.

You can contact them most easily at their Facebook page. If you don't use Facebook, you can also try reaching them at their realm email address: freeholdsouth@insightbb.com. I can't guarantee if that email is still valid, however.

You're definitely on the right track to enjoying your first event; finding some great folks to show you the ropes will make it an even better experience.

Best of luck!

-Thurat-

Thanks! I just got added to their Facebook group. I didn't see any conversation about Equinox in the last couple months, but I just introduced myself and asked.

Would anyone else have room for an extra if none of them end up going? And even if I can caravan with them, I'd still love to meet as many people from different realms as possible!

[UPDATE] It looks like there are only two people going from Dun Abhon, and they won't get there until later on Friday. So if I can find a unit to hang with for Thursday and Friday, that would be awesome!

Does anyone think it would be inappropriate for me to ask this in the Equinox thread?

Why, hello there! Nice to see you're posting around, although you're not exactly new, you are in a new area. :) It's a shame there wasn't something closer, but I'm glad you're making the efforts to get a hold of the closest realm and seeing about who to camp with at an event. Being all on your own at one can really suck and drag it down.

I wish you the best in this quest! I hear Equinox is a great one! I think that you SHOULD post something in the Equinox thread! It'd be your best bet.

Thanks! Yeah, there isn't really any Bel/Dag activity in Kentucky outside of Louisville, at least none that I've been able to find. I'm holding out a mild hope that there will be a small group here in Lexington that I can find, but I rather doubt it. I think trekking out to Louisville every month or two might end up being about all I get.

I'm going to post in the Equinox thread now! Hopefully that works out; for some reason it's a little less awkward to ask here than it would be to walk up to random groups of people and say "Hey, can I camp with you?"

Looks like there is also a group in Danville, KY, which is about 50 minutes from Lexington. Their website says they meet on Centre College campus every Friday, but I don't know when the website was last updated (the copyright is 2011). Even if they don't officially exist anymore, you may still be able to find some interested persons, and maybe get something of your own started in that area. Not really relevant to your Equinox inquiry, but better than only getting to fight once or twice a month.

Ha! I had forgotten that page existed. My brother made it, and I was one of the core members that started the group in Danville. They do still fight weekly (now that Centre's classes have started back). I guess I hadn't really thought about going back and joining them; but I was a little hopeful that I would be able to participate in a group with more experience, since I (who has learned everything I know from the googles and done my best to replicate it) was the most experienced fighter/foamsmith. Most if not all of the current participants hadn't even heard of foam fighting before they tried it with our group, and I'm pretty sure everyone in the group now is still using the loaners I made.

Now that you mention it, I probably will hop down there every now and again for practice, just to keep the rust off. It's a little frustrating that I have to drive 50 minutes to a town of 15,000 people to fight with a group of 5-15 that I started, rather than fight with a group of people in the city of 300,000 in which I currently live.

You could always start a group in Lexington. Not as easy or as fun as just being able to join up with a group who has already got the growing pains out of the way, but it's something.

Were guys also the ones that started the Ashland group "Ashguard"?

I'm going to do my best! The question is how dedicated I'm going to be willing to be (or how much time I'm going to have). If there's literally not a single person I can find that already has some foam fighting background, I suppose I'll just have to start advertising and try to drum up some interest.

Obviously fighting is fighting, but even if I do manage to get a group started here, I would really like to get more active in the wider community, so I can bring back better fighting and building techniques. I'm still trying to glean technique online, but no matter how many threads I search or tutorials I follow, it still seems like all the equipment I see being used is much higher quality than what I've been able to make. That may or may not be true, but I'd at least like to get my hands on someone else's weapons and see how they make them, just to be sure.

That was us! It was never more than an idea though; we didn't have a core group, and we never really started actually advertising and trying to find people with interest. Mostly it was us thinking big and creating a small online space as an initial point of contact.

So, not to detract from your OP, but would it be safe to remove Ashguard from the realm list, or are there still fighters in the area? Even if a realm goes defunct, I keep them listed as inactive in case fighters move to the area and want a point of contact, so they aren't starting from the ground up again.

Also, that's a great attitude to have. Always seeking to improve is how you'll get the most out of Bel. If you need any help along the way, the boards are always a good place to ask, even if they seem a bit quiet.

There's a semi-active unofficial Dag group in Lexington. I fight with them sometimes. Email me. bamudd@gmail.com

Yes, it should be labeled as inactive. It never was active; I had either forgotten or never realized it had been added to the realm list. I'm hoping that the group in Danville will eventually want to get involved with the Bel community, but if Ashguard ever becomes a realm, it won't be we who start it.

Ashguard doesn't appear to be on the wiki list of realms. It is listed on the Bel map of realms, though for some reason it's based in Danville along with Centre Belegarth. Honestly Ashguard could be removed entirely, but if you wanted to keep it listed as inactive, the map reference should be moved to Ashland Kentucky.

[EDIT]
I just saw your post, Oisin. That's awesome! I'd love to meet up with you guys. Emailing now.

I'll go ahead and remove Ashguard then, as there would be no benefit to having it on the list, or the map.

Drive to bloomington in and come fight with us! It's not that far...

Thanks for the invite! The trip to Bloomington would take me right through Louisville though, so if I were to go that far I would probably just join Dun Abhon. Hopefully I'll be able to connect to this Dag group though, which could solve that problem!

Hello Applewood, sorry I didnt see this before equinox started or I would have invited you to come camp with us.

A captain of The Abitriun, Clover has a chapter someehere in Kentucky, its not a realm, but its a group of fighters in Bowling Green area I believe. I will double check exctly where its at because im not sure. Anyways if you saw the pirates with the blue tabards that was us, I hope you had a reat time at your first belegarth event.

Perhaps we wil see you at the next Beltaine, if you have the same problem by then you can come chill with us for sure. I hope you find a group soon, pretty much all i could reccomend has been covered, but check out the local game shop where people play cad and tabletop games and you can often find people interested if you wanted to just start a local chapter