Welcome to Altavia
A Barony in the Kingdom of Caid,
in the Society for Creative Anachronism
On October 26th, Agincourt is happening at Woodley Park!
The Barony of Altavia is a local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts, skills, and traditions of pre-17th-century Europe. The Barony of Altavia includes the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, and Malibu, and is part of the Kingdom of Caid which includes Southern California, Greater Las Vegas Area, and Hawaii.
Members of the SCA study and take part in a variety of activities, including combat, archery, equestrian activities, costuming, cooking, metalwork, woodworking, music, dance, calligraphy, fiber arts, and much more. If it was done in the Middle Ages or Renaissance, odds are you’ll find someone in the SCA interested in recreating it. What makes the SCA different from a Humanities 101 class is the active participation in the learning process. To learn about the clothing of the period, you research it, then sew and wear it yourself. To learn about combat, you put on armor (which you may have built yourself) and learn how to defeat your opponent. To learn brewing, you make (and sample!) your own wines, meads and beers. You will frequently hear SCA participants describe the SCA as recreating the Middle Ages “as they ought to have been.” In some ways this is true – we choose to use indoor plumbing, heated halls, and sewing machines. In the dead of winter we have more to eat than King’s venison, salt pork and dried tubers. However, a better description is that we selectively recreate the culture, choosing elements of the culture that interest and attract us.
Altavia News From Their Excellencies
October 2025
Hello Altavia!
This was a busy, exciting month full of events and milestones.
First up was Angels Anniversary, which was a wonderful day of fighting, with lots of armored and rapier fighters, and Altavia was well represented in each.
We started the day off with Niko taking on Merlin as his Protege and were surprised with a well deserved Pelican offer for Tezar, which she accepted!
We had several Altavian rapier fighters make it quite far into the tournament, and were excited to see Nathaniel win, and become the new Angels rapier champion.
At CAID Rapier Open we saw some of our rapier fighters, Lyric and and Merlin awarded with their Dualists.
There was a great turnout, with 51 fighters in the rapier tournament and 16 in the cut and thrust tournament.
Lyric made it to finals in cut and thrust against Crow, who won in a best two out of three finals.
Both Merlin and Ceallach ended the tournament with only one loss (Bedford style tournament)
At Crown, we had a full day of peerage offers, awards, arts, snow cones and enough fighting to tire even the most energetic and high stamina fighters.
The fighting throughout the day was a joy to watch, and both Sir Christian and Duke Willhelm fought magnificently in finals. At the conclusion of an epic day of fighting we were able to welcome Duke Wilhelm and Countess Lorissa as our new Prince and Princess of CAID.
We’re looking forward to the next month, including a brand new camping event this weekend, Fire and Ice, which is focusing on ranged weapons, as well as our own archery championship, Agincourt, and Great Western War following closely behind.
In service,
Baroness Amabel
Baron Griffith