Mod inaction and the future

[Flavivs Aetivs]

While SOTW appears to be a business it is in my opinion more like a nonprofit charity which has the purpose of supporting the struggling Roman Reenactment hobby in North America. The availability of lower cost reasonably accurate gear to the hobby is critical to it's continued existence and growth particularly with the current and probable near future economy. Making honest and dedicated retailers like SOTW and commercial manufacturers like Daniyal feel unwelcome on RAT is a detriment to the hobby and unbecoming of any RAT member regardless of motive. If perfectly historically accurate gear was required take to the field the field would be empty both because of evolving research and discoveries and because of differing interpretations of the available evidence. Even something as simple and basic
as tunic color is the subject of endless debate! Regaining the participation and trust of deserving marketplace participants who have left RAT should be a priority for both moderators and ordinary RAT members alike.

Seeing as I cant find the Multiquote button, I'll respond to this one at a time.

Legio VI Ferrata Fidelis Constatns is a 501c3 Tax Organization - i.e. we're a church organization technically. The only payment that is asked for is enough to cover the cost of transit (gas, the trailer is a gas guzzler) to an event and any necessary lodging. Otherwise the price would shoot way up to like 500 dollars if we even asked for a small amount to cover gear.

By we I mean Rusty really, he runs the whole thing. I'm just a 2-bit legionnaire.

But yes, the US Re-Enacting Community consists of maybe 200-300 people doing principate, and maybe about 20-30 of them incorporate other fields with that (this is one of the reasons its so expensive if you want to do something else because you often have to buy 2 completely different kits. It will cost me 1500 dollars to get the rest of my principate equipment, and I have college so most of what I got was materials or an item for my birthday or christmas. Then it'll cost me another 2000 dollars or so to do a Late Roman Impression. It'll be 10 years before I finish my Kit.) IT is, quintessentially, a charity. None of us are paid for these events, except very rarely, and the only things covered are what's mentioned above, except for a few meals.

Our main event in particular, Castra Romana which I was unfortunately not able to attend this year, is hosted in a state park. The biggest event int he US is Castra Lafe in Arkansas, and is like the only privately hosted event in the US to my understanding. That's why it's the only event our legion ever "fights" at, and even then half of us are dressed up as celts. Maybe a total of 20 people on either side.

The prices here in the US are rather high for what would be the same thing in europe, because of the cost of overseas shipping, and then it has to come through customs, so unless it's already in stock buying items is difficult and expensive. SOTW is literally pretty much the best Market in the US because it's usually in stock for the most wanted items. And there's plenty of excess for some things as well, like the late roman stuff, because there's like maybe 10-20 non-principate era re-enactors as anything outside of 1st-2nd century isnt that appealing, because of the sterotype incorperated by hollywood and other media.

You are also right about historical accuracy - new things are found all the time. For all we know there could have been a whole legion in the 1st century wearing bright yellow tunics and using mainz-type gladii while wearing lamellar armor.

The debate about tunics alone is enough to call most items into question, as the closest to the "blood red" color ever came to by modern tests was really a salmon color.

This part is at both posts now:
I think the blame really is to fall on both sides of the pond here. There are a lot of stereotypes int he US about Europe, and Vice Versa I'm sure. I know a lot of europeans, and 99% are good people and have the right to any opinions they may have, but it takes 1 bad egg to ruin the bunch. Now, I'm not putting the blame on any of you here, but most of the american re-enactors don't like RAT because they feel rather outspoken by you europeans, and feel that there's a slight anti-american attitude. I disagree with that somewhat, but I feel that on both sides there's a sort of unwillingness to be able to understand and accept other people's ideas or opinions about a topic, and I think maybe a big problem is that some of the americans may be having trouble putting their opinions aside to have and engage in a reasonable discussion. The same can also apply to the europeans too, and it only takes a select few for both sides to alienate each other.

Another problem, this one regarding debates specifically, is that Americans don't have as many primary sources, or even secondary sources as you europeans have access to. There's not a lot of interest in Roman History over here, as it has almost no use (no offense, I'm majoring in Roman History myself). Our market doesn't carry books on Roman History, besides general things like "Roman Empire for Dummies." The few specific books get real expensive because they need to be shipped overseas. A book I wanted which had an okay translation Gallic Chronicle of 452 and Hydatius of Gallaecia cost almost 200 dollars with sales tax. My copy of Aetius: Attila's Nemesis cost 40 Dollars here, without tax, when it's only 30 online and in Europe. (in other words about 25 Euros for you guys and about 33 Euros for me). Getting access to the sources to accurately make a product can be highly expensive, and even for people who hand make them.

So really, I feel that misunderstandings on both sides caused this unfortunate event. Negative criticism can be just as helpful as positive criticism in my opinion, but the problem is that it might be taken the wrong way.

In the future, I can probably convince Rusty to rejoin us. SOTW is vital to the US community and the input from this forum is in turn vital to helping improve the US community.