Hail, Vikings of Jom!
Hear one, hear all, the Reeve calls upon you to hear the challenge which you must undertake on the eve of our great feast! Each of the Jomsvikings who comes to our Veizla must prove himself (or herself) to be worthy of such a name, even if he has done so many times in previous years.
And so, this year, the Reeve asks this of you: display a feat of great strength and prove yourself worth of Jomsborg and the name of Jomsviking! Thus, may we be ready and able to invade Norway the next day, with such might Vikings at arms. We cannot possibly fail to pillage, burn and loot more mightily than ever they have seen (since last year)!
May you prove strong and sturdy in the troubles which lie ahead,
Fare ye well until the night of feasting,
Roseanna (Reeve)
Hail, Jomsvikingar! The winter has been long and harsh, and great trials lie ahead. Yet soon, the summer winds will bring warmth and fair weather; with following winds ideal for an invasion. "And where shall we invade?", I hear ye cry. And I answer ye "NORWAY!". Too long have they lain unpillaged. Too long have we rested on our laurels, content to tend the winter fires and live on the fat of months gone by. Too long have snows and bitter rains hemmed in our noble ships, rusted our spears and buried our helmets. Norway grows proud, unharried by our swords. It does not quake in fear at the mention of Jomsborg, as it had wont to do in months gone by. Have our beards turned as white as the thick snows, our hair as grey as the winter wolf? Are our shields broken and our spears turned to pokers to tend the cooking fires? Do our war bolts do service as mere hunting quarrels? Are we reduced to farmers and foragers by the cold and the toil of the long, dark months? I say we are not. For we are Jomsvikingar!
When the summer solstice draws near and with Odin's blessing, come, all, come to a great feasting! Come ye to the New Hall and drink deep of the horns of mead, eat hearty and draw strength for the battle to come! For on the 11th day of June, we sail forth in our mighty longboats to invade the shores of Norway! We shall strike them like Thor's mighty hammer! May they tremble once more in fear of our strength and quake at our cries of war and blood and death! We shall pillage and we shall loot and none shall be left save the old and the weak, to tend the crops that we might return in the year to come, with the might of the gods. So join me, Jomsvikingar all, at the feast of the Veizla on the eve of battle, and make ye ready, lest you join Odin in his halls in glorious death in war!
Starter - Warm Somerset Brie & Sun Blushed Tomato Tart with Basil Pesto
Main - Pot Roasted Supreme of Guinea Fowl with Crispy Pancetta & Caramelised Onion
Pudding - Raspberry & White Chocolate Torte with Summer Berry Coulis
To drink (for those on a drinking ticket):
1 glass white wine per person,
1 glass red,
1 glass mead,
1 glass port.
For non-drinkers, jugs of orange juice and still water.
There is also a mead-only drinking ticket for people wanting mead but not wine or port.
£24 non-drinking (orange juice and water only)
£30 drinking (alcohol plus some orange juice and water)
£28 Mead only drinking (orange juice and water, plus 2 glasses of mead).
The price of any of these is increased 3 if you are NOT a member of CUSFS.
1) Name. 2) Drinking/non-drinking/mead only drinking. 3) Whether you require a vegetarian option. 4) Member or non-member of CUSFS. 5) If you expressly do NOT wish to be the Reeve for next year (since the new Reeve will be announced at the Veizla, details below for those who haven't Veizla'd before/don't know what's involved in the job).
The Noble and Most Terribly Important Tasks of the Omnipotent Reeve of Jomsborg the New are as follows: - To organise the Wake and Afmaelisdagr in January. - To attend the aforementioned and raise the new sun. - To organise the Veizla (this thing... the reason for this email and all the kerfuffle... it's a dinner thing, in case you hadn't guessed). - To choose his or her companions. - To choose his or her successor at the next Veizla. - To organise the invasion of Norway (a punt expedition to Granchester the day after the Veizla... or rather, the day after the 2011 Veizla, as it makes more sense for me to do it this year, since I have more than a day's notice to organdise). - To be omnipotent, and do so in a dignified and generally awesome manner.
As far as I have discovered, organising the Veizla is the most engaging of these. Dealing with a college is annoying and organisation needs to be begun at the beginning of Lent Term at the latest. But since the Reeve is omnipotent, it will not be beyond his or her powers to do so. It may just leave them a somewhat peeved Reeve. I will be around to assist if assistance is required, and many other past Reeves are in email/person contact to answer questions. It's just a matter of getting it done.
The Wake and Afmaelisdagr require much less organisation, since they do not require large amounts of money changing hands or colleges being battered into organisation. Hopefully you attended this year, but if not, all that's involved is spending the night drinking and playing games, then trekking to Castle Mound for sunrise and making it happen, preferably in some interesting language or format of the Reeve's choosing, and defining the shape of the new sun. The current one can be likened to a teapot (being a Noble and Proper Shape for a Sun... not like this newfangled "spherical" business).
Being omnipotent, as a full time gig, is obviously a serious responsibility indeed, not to be misused, no no, not at all. This is a weighty task and very much not a silly thing, I'll have you know.
The companions are as follows: Bard - currently James Brister Doesn't seem to do much as far as I can tell. Geldjarl - currently Philip Bielby Deals with monies. Philip is also treasurer of CUSFS so it is sensible for him to be re-picked for this position... since Jomsborg doesn't seem to have monies of its own. Meadkeeper - currently Edward Morland Keeps the societal mead (duh) and organises writing workshops. Runecaster - currently the absent Fraser McNair Writes things down (including the names of those present at the Afmaelisdagr).
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