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"The proper function of history, as I conceive it, is to ensure that merits are not passed over, and that base words and deeds will have occasion to fear the judgment of posterity."
-Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annals, Book III, 65

"Put yourself in my place. What would you do if someone new came into Belegarth and tried to form an illegal umbrella corporation over the organization, putting themselves in charge? What if they tried to charge you and your realm annual membership dues? What if they wanted to put themselves in a position of such authority that they and their friends could dissolve your realm? You’d protest vehemently, wouldn’t you? Damn straight you would. You better believe I did, too. I blew the whistle."
-Dominus

DOMINUS ON BELEGARTH
© Sean Richey, 2005

I don’t like to talk about this unfortunate period of Dagorhir history that was foisted on us by others. Endless discussion of these tired issues is a complete waste of my time, and we’ve spent far too much time on it already. DBGA spent time trying to resolve it, then spent time fixing it. I like to focus on the positive, and on the future. I don’t talk smack about people, and I’d prefer to get along with everyone. Anyone who really knows me knows this about me. Rather than wasting my efforts and time on someone else’s old BS, I spent time working towards Dagorhir’s collective success. The Belegarth folks could have shared that success, but bailed on Dagorhir to do their own thing. Their loss.

Why doesn’t Dagorhir talk about this? Why should we devote more time? Time’s better spent publicizing and building Dagorhir. Dagorhir is still a happy and established organization, and it’s more than quintupled in size over recent years. DBGA hoped that if we were quiet and moved on, Belegarth would go their own way and the mudslinging would stop. But it hasn’t. It’s become Belegarth tradition to sling mud at Dagorhir, and at me. Belegarth leaders provide a twisted representation of the facts to anyone who will listen. I’m finally breaking radio silence to set a few records straight.

So many people see me as a bad guy, and hate me without even knowing me. Word to the wise, people. Don’t make me that important in your life. It’s particularly sad that you identify yourself and your hobby by that which you hate. I’ve always been of the belief that we are what we love. That’s because I like to focus on the positive. Medievalism’s a strange bird. It’s brought some of the coolest people into my life, and some of the most meaningful and lasting friendships. But I’ve also met a lot of small-minded, petty, backstabbing, lying control freaks.

Do you assume everything you hear is true? Or do you think for yourselves? Does anyone else question Belegarth’s endless use of anti-Dagorhir propaganda to market their organization? Years after what they term “the Big Split” they’re still representing themselves as some kind of political faction and not the independent game they claimed they were setting out to become. I hear they’re trying to decide on a slogan for Belegarth. They should find something that fits their real mission objectives. Like: “Belegarth: Not Dagorhir!”

Rather than explaining my actions and motives, or their actions, motives, and political machinations, I’m just going to lay out a few facts. You can come to your own conclusions. Adopting other people’s conclusions (or fabrications) amounts to intellectual laziness. If you live your life that way, you won’t be happy. Ignorance is not really bliss. It’s just ignorance.

Fact: Dagorhir began in the Washington, DC area in 1977. The Dagorhir Battle Game Association (DBGA) only started calling itself Aratari when other realms started to spring up across the country. For years, we were just Dagorhir. And as new realms cropped up, DBGA freely gave permission to use Dagorhir’s rules, name, and publications. This longstanding tradition of freely sharing Dagorhir continues to this day.

Fact: At Ragnarok XV (2000), Kegg, Freyson, Fey, Granifar, Tzigana, and Ravenrose (Ragnarok War Council representatives of their respective realms) proposed to research whether Dagorhir might acquire benefits by incorporating nationally. Their proposal was accepted unanimously by the Ragnarok War Council.

Fact: In February of 2001, Kegg, Freyson, Fey, Granifar, Tzigana, and Ravenrose filed national incorporation paperwork in Ohio, listing themselves as the Board of Directors for an “umbrella corporation” they were forming over Dagorhir. This corporation was to be called Dagorhir, Inc. No one outside their inner circle of friends was aware of this.

Fact: Kegg wrote his “National Charter” to present to the Ragnarok XVI War Council. This huge document was based on the controversial SCA articles of incorporation. The document placed him and his friends in charge of Dagorhir. It empowered his Board of Directors to collect annual membership dues and dissolve realms. It authorized them to act as consultants, paid to run Dagorhir battles. And it established for them an insurmountable power base in Dagorhir.

Fact: An electronic copy of Kegg’s National Charter was leaked to the Aratari. No one outside Kegg’s inner circle knew about this document. They intended to present this voluminous twenty-six page document to the next RWC as the results of the “research” and call for a vote before any real analysis could be done.

Fact: In April of 2001, I asked a friend to publish a link to a copy of Kegg’s National Charter on the Dagorhir web board. Jikanta, then Dagorhir’s UBB moderator, deleted it immediately it saying that it had been kept secret from the “unwashed masses” because it would raise too many questions. But it had been put in the public eye, so Kegg had to republish it and switch gears. He defended his position (and his document) by maintaining that it supported growth in Dagorhir. Marketing and recruitment were not mentioned once in the entire twenty-six page document.

Fact: Most established Dagorhir Chapters were outraged. Kegg expressed a willingness to remove offensive material from the document. But once confirmed in “power” by the Ragnarok War Council (who had only authorized them to research potential benefits), Kegg could have revised the document again with anything he wanted. He refused to back off. The Aratari made numerous public and private attempts to be conciliatory. DBGA promotes the game and shares it. Why would anyone in Dagorhir want to diminish it? We would have preferred to remain happy friends in a united organization. If Kegg had also wanted this he could have backed off, and remained a popular and influential leader in Dagorhir. Instead, he maintained that the Aratari were preventing him from doing what the Ragnarok War Council had “elected him to do.” He and his friends created all kinds of stink on the internet in support of his position against the evil Aratari who were trying to “take over Dagorhir” in direct violation of the Ragnarok War Council’s directive.

This is the shortened, abridged version. I’ve left out a lot of detail. I’ve left out Kegg’s appointment as Dagorhir webmaster by the Aratari president, and his use of its bulletin board to push his politics. I’ve left out the attacks on Aratari for registering www.dagorhir.org, attacks on me for marketing Dagorhir to the Tolkien community, Jikanta’s repeated removal of my Tolkien material from the Ragnarok XVI webpage (which resulted in Kegg being fired as Dagorhir’s webmaster). I've left out Kegg’s refusal to remove his business from our non-profit organization’s website, and Jikanta’s purchase of aratari.com that redirected viewers to scat porn sites. I could go on (and on) for pages. Instead I’ll just share our conclusions and the actions DBGA took to protect Dagorhir from the hostile takeover.

Their actions and methods told us everything we needed to know about Kegg’s intent. There would be no reconciliation. Kegg intended to take over Dagorhir as an organization, and discredit anyone who opposed him. Now it’s become Belegarth tradition to hate people you don’t even know. It says a lot about an organization that needs a unifying enemy to maintain momentum. Why do you think Belegarth people spend so much time talking about Dagorhir, and talking about me, on the Belegarth website? As if I was the sole entity opposing Kegg?

Put yourself in my place. What would you do if someone new came into Belegarth and tried to form an illegal umbrella corporation over the organization, putting themselves in charge? What if they tried to charge you and your realm annual membership dues? What if they wanted to put themselves in a position of such authority that they and their friends could dissolve your realm? You’d protest vehemently, wouldn’t you? Damn straight you would. You better believe I did, too. I blew the whistle.

The Aratari response was based on advice from legal counsel. DBGA published the anti-Charter, Dagorhir’s Chapter contract. This is a licensing agreement, whereby member Chapters agree to run responsible, reputable non-profit organizations in Dagorhir’s name, just like they always have. This license outlines a Chapter’s responsibilities to Dagorhir, and DBGA’s many responsibilities to its member Chapters. It doesn’t give anyone power over anyone else. Far from it, it preserves and protects Chapter autonomy. It maintains Dagorhir the way it’s been for over 20 years: you run your Chapter, we’ll run ours. When we meet together for big inter-Realm events (like Ragnarok), we’ll decide together how to make things work. DBGA is bound by contractual obligation to every member Chapter. Chapters, on the other hand, are free to leave Dagorhir at any time. The only reason Kegg can put some spin against it is that most people are too lazy to read it for themselves. I defy anyone to show me one bad or controlling thing in Dagorhir’s contract. Just one. Anybody?

Kegg shifted gears. Before this, he and his supporters were trying to use the National Charter to control Dagorhir. Now, he could vilify the Aratari for the contract and espouse some “power to the people” philosophy. Belegarth was formed on people’s apparent inability to remember from one day to the next. Dagorhir always got accused of doing exactly whatever it was he was doing. The spin changed on literally a weekly, and often daily, basis. First they wanted to schism because the Aratari would not allow Kegg to take over with his “National Charter.” Days later, they wanted to schism because of the contract. One day they were leaving. The next day they were telling everyone they’d been kicked out. It was almost comedic.

But this is ironic. The National Charter was SO important that Kegg and his friends were initially threatening the schism because we evil Aratari roadblocked it. Why has Kegg’s all-important “National Charter” fallen by the wayside, instead of being inflicted on Belegarth?

For one thing, Kegg couldn’t vaunt his “power to the people” rhetoric while putting forth a document that was restrictive and controlling. And he didn’t need to push the document on an organization that he already controlled. The National Charter was never important to him. It was a tool to achieve control. If Kegg could engineer his schism, he didn’t need the Charter.

Let’s do the math on Belegarth and Kegg’s wallet. Armageddon’s site is a public park in Illinois that costs Belegarth about $600 for the entire week. It’s so cheap because there are no amenities or infrastructure, like toilets and showers. It’s also conveniently in Kegg’s backyard. Belegarth charges almost what Ragnarok costs, $30/person. Belegarth claims that they get 300 attendees at Armageddon. That’s $9,000! Where’s all the money going?

I’d love to read the Armageddon War Council minutes. I’m sure that Kegg is being reimbursed considerably for “services rendered” on behalf of the organization’s event. He used to do that at Ragnarok too. He’d invariably perform services no one had agreed to or needed. For instance, Kegg would pass out his “gil” coins to everyone at Ragnarok, like a cool guy. Then he’d present a bill for $1,000 to the Ragnarok War Council. His friends there would support his reimbursement, requiring Dagorhir to foot the bill for his popularity contest. I watched this happen for years.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is how and why you pull apart a happy established organization.

SPIN VERSUS TRUTH

Here’s a post someone e-mailed me from the Belegarth web board. It reflects the Belegarth leadership's party line, i.e., what they’ve told their membership in support of their splintering off from Dagorhir and dividing the organization. I doubt the poor guy who wrote this has even met people from the DC Aratari Chapter, or been to a Dagorhir battle. He has no reason to question or doubt.

“Belegarth is a runaway anarchy splinter group that Dagaorhir pretends does not exist. We use pretty much the same rules, but where Belegarth emphases independence and individuality of each realm, and is loosely governed by a council of realm leaders, while the some of the old timers of the Atari out of Washington, DC try to run Dagorhir as a propietary organization. The group split because of mostly an dispute over intellectual freedom between realm leaders. Those favoring individualism/anarchy formed Belegarth, those who favored centralized control stayed with Dagorhir. Some realms are dual members. The groups are of similiar size, while Dagohir membership seems to be stagnating, Belegarth is growing, ie at least 425 and maybe as high as 500 fighters on the battlefield on 10.10.04 at Oktofest”

Belegarth event attendance always seems vastly exaggerated. Event attendance reports continue to climb for weeks after the event is over, propaganda at its sordid best. The event pictures never reflect the supposed numbers. Octoberfest 2003 enjoyed high attendance, only because there was no competing Dagorhir event. And if you look at pictures taken at the event, a vast percentage of the attendees are Dagorhir members from Dagorhir Chapters. In sales, people tend to twist statistics to support their product. Dagorhir’s grown vastly since 2001, more than quintupling nationwide. High attendance at an odd Belegarth event is, ironically, evidence of Dagorhir’s incredible growth. At huge Dagorhir events, we don’t have to exaggerate attendance. We take a picture and put it on the internet, where you can count the people yourself. And we don't do it to compete with Belegarth. We do it so that people who attended can remember the good times. And so that everyone else can see what they're missing:

RAGNAROK XIX

If Belegarth is doing great, good for them. Why the need to keep slinging mud? Is it just that old habits die hard?

In the paragraphs that follow this, I’ve attempted to shed some light on some of the spin, and subsequent misconceptions that spin has created. I know someone will read this and try to put some spin on it, or twist my meaning out of context. Go ahead and do your worst. I don’t lie about anything. I have too much truth to keep track of.

SPIN: Kegg: “I am pretty sure that I am banned for life from DBGA events. What is the offense? I am not really sure, since no one in the know has ever deigned to give me a straight answer or a chance to defend myself." (http://www.belegarth.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=7652)

TRUTH: The truth is that Kegg knows exactly why he is unwelcome. The cease and desist orders from Dagorhir’s attorney might have been some clue. He later applied to be a merchant at Ragnarok XVII. He received an e-mail from DBGA’s Rag XVII merchant coordinator detailing the many reasons he was unwelcome. He engineered a political takeover of Dagorhir without success. Failing that, he engineered a schism in the organization. He founded Belegarth to steal Dagorhir membership and displace Dagorhir. DBGA had to expend thousands in legal fees to make him to stop violating DBGA intellectual property rights. His event, Armageddon, was founded for the purpose of stealing Ragnarok participants and eclipsing Dagorhir’s largest annual event. No one has ever caused so much strife between Dagorhir members. Kegg’s ban from Ragnarok was ratified unanimously by the Ragnarok XVII War Council, and made permanent by the Ragnarok XIX War Council.

Kegg claims that he wants to invite a debate on this issue, because people who misrepresent facts have a decided edge in a debate. Dagorhir is not interested in debating with people who misrepresent facts. We’re interested in fighting with padded weapons. If Kegg really wanted to defend himself, he could have ignored DBGA’s cease and desist orders and defended himself in court. But in court, they call lying perjury.

Here are points to consider. Kegg has made repeated attempts to return to Ragnarok. Why? What if he had won? What if all Dagorhir’s realms had left to join Belegarth? What if Armageddon enjoyed Ragnarok’s incredible level of 700 attendees in 2004, and Rag was attended by only Aratari and KCD? Would Kegg still want to attend if he had won? I doubt it. He wants to come back because he did not win. And that’s why the RWC elected not to have him return to Ragnarok. Dagorhir remains solid and successful. Dagorhir won by surviving and growing. Someone on the RWC a couple years ago said it best: “We won. Why should we surrender?”

SPIN: Kegg: “RWC is setting rules only for Rag (maybe). The DBGA holds the rights to the name and game, and set all the rules. They discuss things with groups, but the groups really don't have any power over the game. If realms had that kind of power, the sport would not have split.”

TRUTH: How To Be Important 101: Invent a problem that doesn’t exist, then provide a solution to your make-believe problem. Belegarth was predicated on this kind of propaganda. What kind of “power” do you need in a pillow fighting game? I don’t need “power” over a game to enjoy playing it. I’ve explained in detail how Dagorhir is really structured below. In Dagorhir, you only have “power” over your own realm. Kegg wanted power over other realms. He couldn’t do it in Dagorhir, so he had to create his schism to do it. He stole something DBGA offers freely and acted the hero by offering it freely himself. Belegarth exists because of his lies. Congratulations.

Kegg: “Jikanta and I started this board after the Dagorhir board got all Big Brother censoring on the sport. Kicking people out who did not agree with them, sending nasty letters from lawyers threatening lawsuits, changing the content (and meaning) of peoples post without noting that it had been edited.” (http://www.belegarth.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=6998)

Here’s another big lie; that DBGA kicked everyone out! DBGA devoted time and effort promoting our sport so we’d have more people to kick out? What? Think about it, people! Dagorhir didn’t kick anyone out. Everyone was free to remain. Many have since returned, seeing the obvious benefits and finding they’d been fed hogwash. Dagorhir is open to everyone.

Kegg encouraged people to use the Dagorhir name without licensing it. He registered a domain for his bulletin board called dagorhirubb.com, where he and his friends misrepresented the facts, just like they do today on the Belegarth site. Imagine buying a trademarked domain name, like microsoft.biz. Use that name to attract Microsoft’s customer base. Then lie about their product, while selling your own. See what happens to you. Trademark and intellectual property theft are illegal, and there are serious penalties. DBGA needed to hire a lawyer to make him stop. And you better believe he dropped dagorhirubb.com like a hot potato! Then, like all his usual spin, he tried to make us out to be the bad guys for sending “nasty letters from lawyers” to make him stop violating Dagorhir’s rights. That’s like deliberately smashing your car, refusing to pay, and then calling you a bad guy when you get a lawyer. He did something wrong. DBGA made him stop. Why are DBGA the bad guys?

Despite Kegg’s efforts, Ragnarok is growing at a staggering pace. Kegg continues to slam Dagorhir to this day while always protesting his innocence. It’s a sad shame, really - a waste of talent and intellect. Kegg could have compromised, and shared authority the way it should be shared, where we all run our own groups independently. He would have remained a leading and respected member of a huge, successful and established national organization.

Do I resent this? I don’t like being lied to. I don’t like being lied about. In the last 5 years, I’ve done a lot to promote Dagorhir. I didn’t need to be “in control” to do this. I did it because I saw an opportunity to give something back to an organization that’s given me so many good times. And I wanted to share those good times with others. I’m sure there are some cool people I’ll never get to meet (or fight) because their heads are full of lies about Dagorhir. I do resent that.

Do I hate Kegg? Not at all, I don’t waste time on hate. I just recognize him for what he is. The difference between us is that he made his control of Dagorhir more important than Dagorhir itself, and ripped the organization apart. And people let him do it, never questioning his motives or character. To me, Dagorhir itself is vastly more important than control over it. I am not in control. I am not trying to be anyone’s leader, outside Rome. I am not making money. I’m glad Kegg is gone, despite the cost. I still think Dagorhir made the right decisions, cutting our losses before our expansive, explosive growth.

SPIN: Amtgard was an organization that schismed from Dagorhir too.

TRUTH: No, it most certainly did not. This is typical self-congratulatory propaganda, intended to reassure Belegarth members that they’ve done “the right thing” by leaving Dagorhir too. The only relevant parallel is that someone stole Dagorhir’s rules and tried to start up a group somewhere else.

Amtgard was founded by a guy named James (Musashi/Peter LeGrue) Heron back in the 1980s. He was a lying conman too, as Amtgard management will attest. Heron is the reason that the Dagorhir Handbook was originally copyrighted, because he tried to steal credit for it when he played Dagorhir here in DC. Why do people insist on stealing something that’s shared freely? I’ll tell you why. They want to have control instead of just settling for fun like the rest of us do. Heron moved to El Paso, Texas and started up another group. It was not a split from Dagorhir, as certain people would have you believe. No one in El Paso had ever even heard of Dagorhir! This was 1983: before the internet, but after smoke signals.

Go to http://agh2o.org/amtwiki/index.php/Peter%20LaGrue  if you want the truth about Amtgard’s origins from an independent source.

SPIN: Ragnarok sucked, go to Armageddon. That’s where all the cool people are!

TRUTH: The people who say this keep coming back to Ragnarok again and again, year after year. This is something that would get them ostracized by their peers who like to perpetuate the old “we hate Dagorhir” mentality. If Ragnarok attendees genuinely felt that “Ragnarok sucked,” they wouldn’t keep coming back to Ragnarok every year. Ragnarok continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Ragnarok XIX had 696 attendees, and many people came straight from Armageddon. I know what they say the attendance has been for Armageddon, but the pictures speak louder than words. We had over 1,000 attendees at Ragnarok XXI. There’s a picture on the Dagorhir website of over 450 on the field. I know. I counted them myself and yelled, “This is the biggest Dagorhir battle in history.” You can count them yourself. Ragnarok will continue to get bigger. And better.

And you know what, Belegarth? Go ahead and hate us. Hate me. If you really want to be the kind of person who goes around hating because you only listen to what people tell you, then I’m glad you’re somewhere else. We’ll have even more fun without you.

I don’t hate you. I don’t even know you, and I don’t waste valuable time or energy on hate. I’m glad you’re having a good time playing medieval battle games. Hell, we have more in common than most people. Mundanes would look at us funny. And properly so! We dress up funny and pillow fight. I can’t think of anything that should bond us together more than this shared psychosis of ours. If you prefer to buy into a “We hate them” mentality, that’s a tragic loss for you. You’re depriving yourselves of huge opportunities to enjoy huge Dagorhir battles at Ragnarok. You’re robbing yourself of potential friendships with lots of cool people. You’re missing out on epic experiences you could share with these people at Dagorhir events. You’re missing out on the best things that YOUR HOBBY has to offer. And you’re sacrificing all of this so that you can conform to someone else's party line. So that you can say to a little clique that you hate Dagorhir or you hate Dominus. Being elitist is lonely, guys. I’ll say it again: ignorance is not bliss. It’s just ignorance.

SPIN: Go to Armageddon instead of Ragnarok. The average experience level of the fighters is much higher!

TRUTH: Actually, that’s probably true. But it’s because there are HUNDREDS of new fighters at Ragnarok.

SPIN: (Kegg said this himself in the early days of the “Big Split.”) “All of Dagorhir is leaving with us, except for KCD (Kansas City Dagorhir).”

TRUTH: Kegg tried to misrepresent leaving as being the “right thing to do.” After all, “everyone’s doing it!” With the exception of Numenor, Wolfpack, and Dur Demarion, there are no real Dagorhir groups of note that left Dagorhir to join Belegarth. Belegarth misrepresents the numbers by including small Numenorean satellite groups that would be considered units within any other Dagorhir Chapter. Kegg stacked the Ragnarok War Council with these satellite groups back in his Dagorhir days so he could have a supporting political faction. And like I said, Belegarth has since grown substantially. And good for you, Belegarth. But you don't need to keep slamming us. Pursue your vision. Be who you are, not who you aren't.

SPIN: Belegarth emphases independence and individuality of each realm, and is loosely governed by a council of realm leaders, while the some of the old timers of the Aratari out of Washington, DC try to run Dagorhir as a propietary organization. Variations include, “the Aratari took over Dagorhir. The Aratari control Dagorhir, etc.”

TRUTH: Control is actually centralized in Belegarth. Belegarth is “governed” by the Armageddon War Council. This group establishes not only rules, but organizational policy. Belegarth realms are subject to those decisions whether they attend Armageddon or not.

In contrast, Dagorhir’s “government” is completely decentralized. DBGA makes no attempt to "govern” anyone. You run your Chapter, we run ours. When we meet together for big inter-Realm events (like Ragnarok), we’ll decide together how to make it work. But neither the Aratari nor the Ragnarok War Council have any authority over your Chapter, beyond our shared contractual obligations to the organization’s success. Neither the Aratari or Ragnarok War Council have any authority to tell you or your members what to do, or to decide the “direction” of your Dagorhir group. You can establish your own rules variations, traditions and internal policies without external interference. You don’t have to believe me. Ask any Dagorhir Chapter leader. They’ll tell you.

Here’s an interesting cultural difference. For Dagorhir, it’s not government. Belegarth leaders like to pretend they’re kings and ambassadors with some kind of “power.” In Dagorhir, that’s roleplaying. Roleplaying has no place in the responsible administration of a mature and successful organization. It is not government in Dagorhir. It’s administration. It’s about responsibility to the organization. Not titles, power, control and authority. I always see those words used by Belegarth leaders and wannabe leaders. Speaks volumes to me. It says, “I am not doing this to have fun. I am doing this to feel important.”

SPIN: Belegarth has been in existence for 21 years because Pentwyvern was in existence back then, Dagorhir’s 2nd or 3rd realm outside DC.

TRUTH: Pentwyvern is not a Belegarth realm. Belegarth has only existed since 2001.

SPIN: Belegarth is growing, while Dagorhir dwindles.

TRUTH: Some of the so-called Belegarth realms are really just units who attend battles at their local Dagorhir Chapter. Look at the Belegarth world map, accessible from the Belegarth website. If you look at the Belegarth map, half of “their” realms are listed as having “no website.” These people do have websites. If you want to find a link to them, you’ll have to visit Dagorhir's locations page. Belegarth doesn’t link to sites that say “We are a Dagorhir Chapter” because you can’t spin that into something else.

SPIN: DBGA’s Board of Directors control Dagorhir’s rules, and only they can affect rules changes in Dagorhir, whereas Belegarth is run as a democracy.

TRUTH: Dagorhir's process is democratic. Rules changes are discussed at Ragnarok’s War Council ever year, where two delegates from every attending Chapter meet and vote on rules changes and event-related issues. Proposals can be brought forward by any representative. Just like every other Chapter, the DBGA/Aratari get two reps and two votes. Chapters are encouraged to comply with the Ragnarok rules set, but are not required to. Every rules change decided by the Ragnarok War Council has been incorporated in the Dagorhir rules set.

Belegarth has the appearance of a democracy. Dagorhir is a democracy. I wish Belegarth would quit trying to speak on Dagorhir’s behalf. But they rely on that to keep Belegarth going. “Belegarth good. Dagorhir bad.” Whatever! If you want to control a portion of an organization, you have to make sure they think you’re doing them a favor.

SPIN: Your realm can be both Dagorhir AND Belegarth!

TRUTH: Sorry. No, you sure can’t. Belegarth leaders are spreading this rumor to estrange member Chapters from DBGA by causing them to violate their contract.

You and your membership can attend Belegarth battles, or Amtgard, SCA, or whatever they want to do! Medievalism is all about having fun! For Gods’ sake, find fun wherever you can! But part of a Chapter’s obligation to Dagorhir is to run an exclusively Dagorhir organization, using Dagorhir’s name and rules for all of their events. Dagorhir’s publicizing you, shouldn’t you be publicizing Dagorhir?

SPIN: The Dagorhir web board is censored tyrannically by Dominus, who denies Americans freedom of speech. The board moderators are Nazis!

TRUTH: Yup, we’re Nazis alright. Millions have died because I didn’t let them break the rules of the Dagorhir bulletin board! Millions! Chew on this little newsflash: if you hate people because your friends tell you to, then aren’t you the ones who are like Nazis?

The Dagorhir bulletin board rules are necessitated by these very same drama queens who complain about it. They break the board rules constantly, trolling, and talking smack about Dagorhir and trying to promote Belegarth at the expense of Dagorhir. Sorry, the United States Bill of Rights doesn’t authorize you to talk smack about someone on their own website. With freedom comes responsibility, or there would be no laws against slander. The bulletin board rules are clearly outlined. You clicked “I Agree” and then broke the rules. That’s like blowing off shots in battle and complaining about the Heralds who called you dead. It’s the same thing.

These same few people come back to Belegarth’s board and brag about how many times they’ve been banned from the Dagorhir bulletin board for breaking the rules. As if breaking rules and being disrespectful was something to be proud of. They lie about the reasons they were banned too, in order to stir up trouble. “I got banned for posting a picture!” No, silly. You got banned for posting a picture from a Belegarth website that talks smack about Dagorhir. It’s the same thing as posting a link.

SPIN: The Aratari are keeping everyone in the dark about Belegarth. They pretend that Belegarth doesn’t exist.

TRUTH: We are not promoting Belegarth or Belegarth events on the Dagorhir website or at Dagorhir events. Nor have we used that medium to say bad things about Belegarth or its people. Belegarth, in contrast, doesn’t promote Dagorhir events either. But they do talk about Dagorhir all the time. They say bad things about Dagorhir and Dagorhir members, and spread misinformation about our organization’s structure and policies. They encourage others to do by setting the example and applauding idiots who repeat their rumors.

I’m glad that Dagorhir, in contrast, enjoys such a positive vibe, promoting camaraderie, sportsmanship and fellowship. Dagorhir does not need a “unifying enemy” to hold us together. Everyone’s glad that everyone else is there to share the fun. More is definitely merrier.

DBGA volunteers have devoted vast amounts of time and effort to ensure that Dagorhir is well-publicized on the internet. Dagorhir’s tremendous national growth reflects that success. This is our obligation to our member Chapters, the benefit of being Dagorhir. Belegarth left Dagorhir. Why does Belegarth feel entitled to share the benefits of Dagorhir’s success? Wendy’s is not advertising McDonalds = Dagorhir isn’t advertising Belegarth. Why are DBGA bad guys for this? We’re not. It’s all just spin, to keep the hate alive. To glorify Belegarth’s “cause” against the unifying enemy.

Amtgard and N.E.R.O. aren’t advertising Belegarth either, but they are not vilified by Belegarth. Why should Dagorhir link to a website where anti-Dagorhir spin occurs on a daily basis? It shouldn’t. Why link to a site that continues to cast Dagorhir and Dagorhir’s membership in a bad light? That won't help the game grow.

SPIN: People aren’t allowed to discuss Belegarth at Dagorhir events.

TRUTH: Does anyone really believe stuff like this? This is another example of twisting the facts. The fact is that you cannot discuss Belegarth, or any other padded weapons medieval combat group, on the Dagorhir bulletin board on the Dagorhir website. Does Dagorhir monitor conversation topics at our events? No. Dagorhir concentrates on making events fun. We could care less what people talk about. Belegarth people are welcome. Amtgard people, whoever. Everyone’s welcome at Dagorhir, provided they do not create problems for the event staff or the participants. And provided their actions haven’t infringed upon Dagorhir’s intellectual property rights to the point that Dagorhir’s had to expend time, money, and resources on legal action.

SPIN: Lord Onyx: I’ve always supported both Dagorhir and Belegarth.

TRUTH: I’ve always thought of Onyx as Chicken Little. Remember that story? “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” Rome ran Rag XIII. I held off fighting till the last Saturday. I didn’t have time, I was working for Ragnarok literally every waking hour. Onyx woke everyone up Saturday morning yelling that there were tornadoes on the way and that everyone should evacuate the campground. (As if you want to be driving around in your car during a tornado!) The sun came out, the sky didn’t fall, and I didn’t get to fight that whole Ragnarok. That’s my first impression of Onyx.

Onyx volunteered to co-host Ragnarok XVIII with Rome. Eight months later, he backed out the day he learned he couldn’t bring Kegg. He only agreed to run Rag so he’d have clout to get Kegg back. I’ve heard people say Onyx is a great leader. Sorry dude, but I’m not impressed. Leadership is about fulfilling obligations. You made a deal with the whole Ragnarok War Council and then backed out. You love playing the martyr, you claimed I attacked you when I stood up to you in my e-mailed response. I didn't attack you, I exposed your motivations and you ran for it, to spin another day. So much for your “support of Dagorhir.” Rome went on to throw what was then termed the biggest and best Ragnarok ever, with record attendance only two years after the so-called “Big Split.” And we had more people at that Ragnarok (395) than we’d had two years before WITH all of the Belegarth members there.

Folks, do you ever read between the lines? I always try to. Here’s the skinny on Onyx. He’s the founder of the “Elite Blood Falcons” (EBF), a unit totally entrenched in Belegarth politics. He’s an empire building type. He recruited several realms’ best fighters so he could have an instant power unit instead of building one from scratch. Kegg was smart to get a lot of influence within the EBF early on, making offers and whispering in people’s ears. Onyx is between the proverbial rock and hard place, because “his” unit is in Kegg’s pocket. So if Onyx wants to maintain a leadership role, he has to play ball and act in Kegg’s (and Belegarth’s) best interests. Far from supporting Dagorhir, he is not even a Dagorhir member. Nor are either of the EBF-controlled realms associated with Dagorhir. Well, one is actually an Ohio Dagorhir unit who calls themselves a Belegarth realm.

Granifar and Tzigana are EBF, and they were to be two of the Directors listed in Kegg’s illegal umbrella corporation Dagorhir, Inc. Kegg offered Granifar the position of business manager for Edhellen Armories. Kegg is always making offers and telling people what they want to hear. That’s how he lures people in. Granifar was lured in.

Galon, Kegg’s President of Belegarth, is EBF. Note too that Galon is an employee of Kegg’s Edhellen Armory business. At least he was last time I checked. No conflict of interests there. ;-)

I saw this little thing Onyx wrote online. He claims this was all about ego, but I think I've laid out the facts at length. The Aratari, Onyx claims, wrote every realm stating that they’d have no say in the direction of Dagorhir.” Uh huh… right. Great salespitch! I’m not going to dignify his rubbish by explaining the truth line by line. It’s just a regurgitation of tired old spin. I see why you came to our battle. So you could walk away claiming we’d said things we never did. Or misrepresent our conversations to your friends as a flat “no.” That’s why I never talk to people like you without witnesses around.

Onyx, you ask what I’m scared of, if it’s “real competition.” We are the real competition. You guys came to the Aratari Fall Campout 2004. On an Aratari battlefield, you guys are average. Decent fighters, sure, but nothing to write home about. Don’t worry, Onyx. The sky’s never going to fall.