This is one of the most important components of the American Medievalists Association. Simply stated, a member must have, in reality, anything that he/she claims to have. In other words, if your character claims to be a fully armored knight, we require you to actually own the armor and weapons of a knight. This does not mean "borrowed", or "planned", or even "currently-under-construction". We want you to have the actual objects. By extension, if a person wishes to fight in battles and tournaments, then they must own a real version of anything they intend to fight with. In the American Medievalist's Association's view, it is only the real stuff that counts; the fighting is done with safety weapons and better armor only as a concession to safety & comfort, since this IS supposed to be fun. Safety equipment does not count toward a character's wealth, as does the real stuff.

Compared to certain other medieval societies where you can claim to have/be something, or where the possessions are "assumed", this requirement may seem a little stringent. However, if you realize that the American Medievalist's Association is intended to be primarily a re-enactment group (with a certain amount of LARP), then the requirement that a member actually possess what he/she claims to possess is not entirely unreasonable. Certainly, Revolutionary War & Civil War re-enactment groups require their members to have the clothing, equipment, and etc. that they will use during their re-enactments. The intention of this 'clause' is to discourage members from claiming to be things that they obviously are not. If a member wishes to be some important character, then they must do some actual work, or spend an appreciable amount of money, or in some other way acquire the things that such an important type character would have if they really were who they claim to be.

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Last modified: April 01, 2002