On persona

What is a persona, and how to make one

The concept of “persona” is a little confusing to people new to the SCA. Is this a carefully-researched but plausible historical character, like in a book? Is it a kind of alter-ego, like Batman? Or is it just a way to describe the impression you’d like to make with your choice of clothing and accessories?

The answer is—it depends!

Like so many things in the SCA, “persona” is whatever you make of it. There’s no wrong or right way to approach persona, as long as you’re roughly following the rules and etiquette of the SCA and modern society as a whole.

Your persona is:

1.      A plausible historical person with a name;

2.      Who lived in a general time and place before 1600 CE;

3.      Who filled a role in the society of that time.

A lot of people in the SCA don’t get any further than this, and that’s just fine! A common response to the question “what’s your persona?” will be something like “I’m a 10^th century Viking named Sven,” or “I’m a 16^th century English noblewoman named Margaret.”

If you feel like you want to delve a little deeper, you can get increasingly specific. There’s really no end to how specific you can be! In the same way that there’s always something more to learn about any person you meet, there’s always something new to learn about your persona and the time and place they lived in.

How do I make a persona?

Let’s look at our three points above, but in a slightly different order.

1.      Choosing a time and place before 1600 CE.

When you think about history, what images immediately pop into your head? Is it Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare? Is it plate armor and princesses with tall pointy hats? Is it fierce Norse warriors on longships? Is it devoted samurai serving their daimyo fearlessly? Sophisticated Roman ladies reclining elegantly in a villa?

What do you wish you were, or wish you could wear? Is there a particular period in your family’s history you’d like to explore further, or a special place you visited on vacation once that inspired you forever to be interested in that time period?

What drew you to the SCA—what is your Dream?

2.      Choosing a type of person to portray.

Society takes all types of people and always has. Think about a class or level of wealth you might like to explore based on the clothing of the place and time you’ve picked. If you don’t like being restricted by layers and layers of fussy garments, you might like to choose somebody a little lower down the social ladder. If you have a job you love, maybe you’d like to know what your historical predecessors were like and the challenges they faced. Maybe you have an activity you particularly love in the SCA and would like to know more about the type of person who did that thing. Maybe you want to choose someone who is as different from you as humanly possible!

3.      What’s in a name?

The question “what’s your SCA name?” is a common one. There’s no right way to choose this for yourself, but it should be a name you’re willing to be called by and which existed at the time and place you’ve chosen.

Some people choose based on coolness, some people based on historical references (although be careful picking names from people who are too famous!) or based on the meaning of the names and what they want to communicate about themselves.

I’ve had two personae – Alice Percy (16^th century rural Sussex) and Allert Pierson (17^th century urban Dutch in London). My mundane (real world) name is Allie, with a last name sort of similar to both of those. Both Alice and Allert can be shortened to Allie as a nickname. I wanted to give the impression that both personae are sort of “alternate universe” versions of me.

What’s next?

If you want to, you can register your name and some personal heraldry with the SCA. Talk to a local herald about this if you’re interested, but it’s totally optional.

Now you have a starting place to gather clothing, equipment, accessories, feast gear, camping supplies and all kinds of other things based on what your persona might have had—if you want! Creating an “in persona” appearance and collection of items is a lifelong pursuit for some players, and you should not at all feel pressured to have everything worked out before you jump in. Persona is a journey, not a destination.

One of my favorite things is to use my persona to help me orient my research. I like to ask questions about Allert’s daily life, his relationships, and his work, and then go and find the answers to those questions.

If you’re really into it, a fun thing you can do with your friends who have personae from similar time periods is to come up with increasingly elaborate backstories and interactions between them. This is a great source of “shtick” and will also challenge you to learn more about social conventions and relationships in your chosen time. These shared backstories and historical contexts are common in household groups.

A few quick notes to the wise

Equality. When you are “in persona” (you're in a situation where you're pretending to be your persona), you should treat everyone around you with the sincere courtesy you would treat an absolute equal. Bigotry, classism, ageism, sexism and xenophobia may be period, but it is not tolerated, accepted or welcome in the SCA in any form. We are working together to re-imagine this time in history as it should have been.

Religion. Discussions of religion should be kept to the academic and in historical context. Approach religious personae (monks, nuns, etc.) with extreme caution.

Titles and offices. The SCA has ranks and offices which have the same name as titles and roles belonging to the nobility in our period. These are earned through service to the community, achievement, and the pursuit of mastery. Just because your persona is a knight doesn’t mean you are entitled to be called “Sir Steve,” for example. (Likewise queens, princes, barons, etc.). SCA rules come first.

Appropriateness. Be mindful of “the right place, the right time.” Your persona should add to the general atmosphere and enjoyment of the space for others, not detract from it or take up undue attention. While this tradition is uncommon here in Avacal, Enchanted Ground is a space or time at an event in which all willing participants are encouraged to portray their personae to the very best of their ability, “in character.” If you want to explore portraying your persona in more depth, why not host an Enchanted Ground at the next event?

Appropriation. We play a game in which we seek to re-imagine history as it should have been, but we are modern people who live in a modern society. If you want to portray someone from a cultural group that's very different than your own, listen, learn, do exceptional research, avoid stereotypes and generalizations, be as specific and informed as possible, and be mindful of how your portrayal of that culture will be received by others. Be open to critique and conversation about your choices. Understand that due to severe historical injustices, some cultural groups and peoples will not be receptive or appreciative of your choices, even if you mean well by them. Seek, in all things, to do no harm. We can be interested in a people, place or time without necessarily needing to choose them as the basis of our persona.