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Thory Vedardottir

From EastKingdomWiki

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Þórý at Pennsic 44
Information
Resides: Barony of Carolingia
Status: Active
Awards:
This individual may not have an entry in the Order of Precedence, or may not have added their OPID yet. Volunteer editors may add it in the future.
Heraldry
ThoryRedrawn.jpg
Azure, a winged ounce rampant within an orle argent.

ThoryBadge.jpg
Badge: Fieldless, on a Thor's hammer sable, in fess the runes Thorn, Othila, Raido, Eoh argent.
Award & Office Badges
Award of Arms
Herald

Introduction

My name is Þórý Veðardóttir. (It's said like "Hooray!" with more Thor.) I joined in March anno societatis 47, and became a Herald at pennsic 42. I'm a Viking Shield Maiden, and I've just Authorized in Heavy List. I look forward to fighting in the Novice Tourney at Pennsic 46.

I am the Golden Gryphon (Pursuivant Herald) of the Barony of Carolingia.

Persona

I'm a Viking Shield Maiden and sailor from the village of Tønsberg in the Northlands. According to the Christian method of counting years, it's 994 A.D. Like many other sailors, I follow Thor. I usually bring my Runestones to gatherings and enjoy giving readings.

I am part of Camp Crooked Cat at Pennsic.

Heraldry

I am the Project Lead for the Heraldic Traceable Art 4.0, which will hopefully replace the Pennsic Traceable Art 3.0 by Pennsic 46 in 2017. I am the Golden Gryphon Herald, the title for the Carolingian Herald Pursuivant. I am part of the Blue Tyger Herald's art team.

I registered my name and device within a few months of joining the Society, which is quite unusual. Many people take years to decide on a time period, persona, and name. My former partner convinced me to join the Society because he saw the Old Norse dictionary on my desk--I was researching the Vikings for my alternate history novel.

I was fortunate that an amazing website is dedicated to Viking personas, clothing, customs and names: The Viking Answer Lady Webpage! My former partner suggested that I should start from the back of the alphabet when choosing a name. (I have since met more people with "A" names than I can shake a stick at!) So I looked at the end of the Women's Names Section where the "Þ" names started, and found "Þórey" which indicated a devotee of Thor with unusual luck. Since my luck is odd, both extremely good and extremely bad, I decided this was a good omen and chose it. The spelling was changed to "Þórý" by the Heralds to better fit historical accuracy.

For a last name, I looked no farther than "Stormsdotter" the handle I'd used for email and LiveJournal and everything else on the Internet for over a decade. (It was the last name of a LARP character. The "er" ending is incorrect for Scandinavia, and is a deliberate hat-tip to Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion books.) I looked up the Old Norse word for "Storm" and "Veðar" is a pun on my legal name, so I went with it. I ended the name with the standard Viking female name suffix, "-dotter".

The designs of my arms and badge are just as personal as my name. As a side note, registered designs are called 'devices' rather than my 'arms' until the bearer has been awarded the right to display arms. This is why the first award given in the Society is almost always the Award of Arms. Anyone can register a name, device and badge, regardless of their age and membership status. Also, the name on your blue SCA Membership Card has nothing to do with the Heralds or Name Registration.

My device is 'Azure, a winged ounce rampant within an orle argent.' This means it has a blue background, with a silver winged cat in the default posture, rampant. The orle is the extra silver border. The design comes from a combination of heraldry of my favorite author's two lady knights. Tamora Pierce's first lady knight, Alanna the Lioness, has a shield of red with a gold lioness rampant. Her second lady knight, Kel the Protestor of the Small, has a blue shield with a silver owl and a silver orle, a detail which distinguishes a lady knight in her books.

As a Herald, I consider myself an honorary member of House Ravenclaw, and my favorite colors are blue and silver. I don't like owls and the Mountain Lion is one of my totem animals, so I wanted a silver lioness rampant on a blue field with the extra silver border. Due to the sheer enormity of registered devices in the Society with cats, the device I designed conflicted with another lady's. My consulting herald suggested putting wings on the cat, which I later learned was a very common solution for clearing conflicts. Since I was going for a combination of cat and owl, I was quite pleased with this alteration. My only regret is that my device is registered as an 'ounce' rather than a 'lioness.'

My other registered device is my Badge. Badges are lesser forms of Heraldry, usually simple designs which can be easily drawn, painted, or embroidered onto items as a way to show they are my possessions. (As a side note, when making favors, it is better form to use your Badge rather than your Heraldry.) Since I've been putting Thor's hammers on a number of my things that the muggles see, the Mjollner shape was a clear choice for a base. To further distinguish this black Thor's hammer as my own, I wrote my name across it in silver Elder Futhark Runes: Thorn, Othila, Raido, Eoh. Since the Elder Futhark doesn't map perfectly to English, my name ends up being spelled TH-O-R-EI.

Activities and Interests