The official board announcement

Greetings!

I have just returned home from both Great Western War and the October Board of Directors meeting. We did not hold a Meet ‘n Greet at GWW. I myself was not able to confirm my ability to drive out until the Tuesday before – modern world work obligations can affect volunteers at all levels in our organization. I was able to speak with the Society Officers that were there, as well as several people who have applied for Society Offices or who may be on the nominee list for the Board. Commentary on Board nominees from any and all who know the nominees is essential to the Board and the health of the orginization. There are so many excellent people in our organization that could be nominated that the seven current Directors cannot know all of them personally!

The Census Committee has extracted and validated more data for review and release at the Oct. BoD meeting. The two sets of data to be released are the results of questions related to an additional peerage or peeragesand same-sex consorts for Crown/Coronet Lists. This data will be placed on the Census Committee website within the next two weeks. The Board recognizes the possible need for change in both of these areas expressed by participants in the SCA. Such potentially significant change to the structure of our organization would require changes to Corpora. The process for any changes to Corpora requires that the wording changes be sent out for commentary to the SCA as a whole for a minimum of 60 days. Given the interest in these two topics already observed by the Board, I am certain once any proposed changes are sent out for commentary that we will hear from all of you! We want to ensure that we have heard from as many participants as possible before any changes this significant to how our game is played are implemented.

I want to thank everyone who has communicated with the Board in one fashion or another in the last quarter. We all want to hear your opinions, in person or through Comments@sca.org; or through email or letters to Officers and/or Ombudsmen. We are participants in the SCA as well as volunteers for the administration and stewardship of our organization, and we look forward to hearing from everyone.

Leslie Vaughn, Chairman

aka Baronessa Isabeau della Farfalla

Mark Faulcon, Vice-Chairman

aka Duke Martin Lochner

John Fulton, Director

aka Duke John the Bearkiller

Denise Hundley, Director

aka Countess Denise Duvalier

Tim Jennings, Director

aka Master Garraed Galbraith

Lisa A. May, Director

aka CountessMargaret ni Conner

Kim McAuley, Director

aka Viscountess Kaellyn mac Dermott

Comments are strongly encouraged and can be sent to:
SCA Inc.
Box 360789
Milpitas,  CA 95036

You may also email comments@lists.sca.org.

This announcement is an official informational release by the Society for Creative Anachronism , Inc.  Permission is granted to reproduce this announcement in its entirety in newsletters, websites and electronic mailing lists.

Board discusses same-sex consorts

The SCA Board of Directors, at its quarterly meeting Oct. 15 in Seattle, discussed the issue of same-gender consorts in the SCA, and according to several people who attended, the Board seems to want to address the issue, but has some concerns about it.

According to SCA by-laws, when a person fights for a kingdom crown, he or she must fight for "a person of the opposite gender." The Inspirational Equality movement in the society, which first began on a serious basis in An Tir (which includes Seattle) has been pushing for a change in that law.

At the most recent An Tir crown tournament, three peers asked to fight for consorts of the same gender. The king and queen, who strongly support the movement, said they wished they could allow it, but said it was against SCA law.

The board also approved a ruling by the Society Seneschal, confirming that there are no restrictions on same-gender baronages. The specific case involved two of the other leaders of the same-gender consort movement, Baron Giles Hill and  Messire Giuseppe Francesco da Borgia of the Barony of Gyldenholt, in the Kingdom of Caid, mundanely Orange County, Calif. The future barons are married to each other. They are currently the reeves of the barony and will step up in June.

There is a very thorough post by Ariel de Courtenay, who was at the meeting up at http://www.scatoday.net/node/21565

More Crown Tournament results . . .

Eight of the 19 monarchs who will reign at Pennsic 41 have been determined, and many of the rest will be decided in the next several weeks.

Just yesterday,  in Ealdormere,  Count Sir Edward the Red won for Countess  Rylyn Buchanan.


Sir Wulfgar Von Ostrand, won in Northshield,  inspired by the Honorable Lady Devon French. Sir Wulfgar defeated Sir Yngvar inn Heppni, fighting for the honor of Lady Luce Tolle, in the final bout.


Jarl Syr Ailgheanan mac Sithigh was the victor of the Meridies Crown Tournament. His Grace was inspired by Amber. Jarl Ailgheanan was victorious over THLord Ragnarr in the final bouts.  


Sean Kirkpatrick Tarragon was the victor of the Crown Tourney in the Kingdom of Artemisia. Prince Sean was inspired by Qamar un 'Nisa al Anatolia.

Duke Uther Sciemann der Hunt was the vicitor of the Crown Tournament in the Kingdom of the West. His Highness was inspired by Duchess Kara Báreksdóttir. Duke Uther defeated Conor, fighting for Isa, in two out of three bouts to win the Crown. The field consisted of 62 combatants.


In other crown tournaments, already reported here, Captain Savaric de Pardieu became prince of the Middle Kingdom, inspired by Baroness Julianna de Pardieu, defeated Sir Ixtilixochitl Cacique, fighting for Maestra Margherita Alessia, in the final round; Duke Sven Gunnarsson will reign with Lady Siobhan Inghean Ui Liathain in Drachenwald; and Andreas Martin and  Kallista Morganova will be on the thrones of Aethelmearc.

Fascinated by crown and coronet results

As some of you may know, the start of the crown tournament season -- which leads to being king at Pennsic -- got off to an interesting start with an unbelted fighter, Lord Andreas, defeating Duke Timothy of Arindale, formerly of the East in the finals of Aethelmearc crown. The prince had also previously lived in the East. He was recently squired to Duke Henri. Lord Andreas fought for the honor of Lady Kallista Morgunova.
They are from Sylvan Glen in West Virginia.

The same day Duke Sven Gunnarson, who recently stepped down as kingdom seneschal won crown in Drachenwald. He won for his lady, Lady Siobhan, formerly of Aethelmearc. The prince is from Sweden.

This past weekend, the crown of the Midrealm went to Sergeant Savaric de Pardieu, who defeated Sir Ixtilixochitl de Los Indios , the only Aztec knight in the society.

The final was noteworthy, because Sir Ix threw a blow that Savaric declared as good, but Sir Ix felt it might not have been hard enough, offered Savaric a chance to decline, and the fight went on, ending on the next pass when Savaric killed Sir Ix. The prince was fighting for his lady, lady Juliana de Pardieu.

Now, Sir Ix is a dear friend, even though he lives halfway across the country. He is a long-time youth fighting trainer at Pennsic and at home, and I have known him for the better part of a decade, because he helped teach my daughter, Baroness Leonete D'Angely, to fight. He is a classy guy, and honestly, this is exactly the sort of thing I would expect from him.

It's this kind of chivalry that we need to remind ourselves about what the society really means.

Personally, I was ecstatic to hear the results of the coronet tournament in the Principality of the Mists, the area of the West Kingdom around San Francisco.

Lord Ajax Thermopylokles , who has been a friend since I first joined the SCA back in the early 1990s, won the tournament for his consort, Uta. Ajax is one of the good guys, and I cannot wait to see him and congratulate him. He is missed by many of us in the East.

Some thoughts about place and time in the SCA

I think a lot about how I look at things and people in the SCA. The most recent set of thoughts started from something Master Elias Gedney wrote about trying to keep a canton alive when folks preferred to play/work at the baronial level.

It stirred something I have been thinking about a lot lately.

We're getting into some interesting Intra-Kingdom Anthropology questions.

I have not lived there for about nine years, but when I was living in the Barony Beyond the Mountain, what you had was four stable (almost all the time) cantons that made up a unified barony.

There were two levels -- cantonial and baronial -- and they were both very steady.

Master Elias posted about having issues as a cantonial seneschal, trying to keep the canton going while most people wanted to play/work at the baronial level.

Now here's the thing, I am developing a personal philosophy of the SCA that posits that the structures, mores, views, etc. that you encounter when you start in the SCA are the ones that stick with you.

If I had moved to Elias' canton (same state, different barony), I would not have thought twice about taking both cantonial and baronial offices.

I look at this in terms of many things.

Just an example: In terms of knighthood.

Sir Kenric is always going to seem like a "young" or new knight to me. He broke in at about the same time. I put both of the men called Sir Angus into this group, as well as Sir Kai from Bergental. We interacted for a long time as non-peers. Do I respect them any less? Not at all. [Please read knight as "member of the Order of Chivalry."]

There are, then, "old knights." This is where it's a good thing that I do not fight, so they cannot remind me how young they are. 

These would include people who became members of the Order of Chivalry  before I started in 1993 and would include Master Feral, Viscount Edward, Duke Balfar, Sir Stephen, Sir Mord and others. Always been knights. This list also includes men who became knights early in my SCA career, including Count Robin Wallace and Earl Yngvar of Aethelmearc and Sir Torrin and Sir Torvald.

Then there are those I consider "younger knights." This usually includes either people who started in the Society well after me or who have been knighted since I became a peer. This would include our king, Sir Yesungge and Sir Antonio. (Note, Sir Seosamh does not fall in here because while he just became a knight in the last two years, I have always known him as a peer and one of the scariest people in the SCA). [Just kidding.]

This works for me for most peerages, groups, laws, etc. 


Same thing with events. There are events that are still at the same time, at the same site as when I started. (Northern Region War Camp, Fourth of July weekend, Shire of Glenn Linn, for example).


There are events that had traditional sites in the past and have new traditional sites (Great Northeastern War, Birka).


There are events that are no more, and there are new events.

Anyway, I have been thinking on this.

Thoughts?

A few things that make me happy in the SCA

For balance:

The SCA, as a beautiful woman once pointed out to me, is about walking around Pennsic at dawn with the fog slowly lifting and the quiet giving way to activity.

The SCA is about . . . 

• walking into Calontir camp at Pennsic, being greeted like the oldest, best friend in the world, being handed a beer and then stepping into the circle and singing with all the gusto I can muster.
• seeing your friends get awards.
•  seeing your friends become royalty.
• making new friends.
• welcoming new people.
• eating the wonderful food that talented cooks make.
• marveling at other people's crafts.
• hearing the cannon, watching the rush of the armies and seeing the "Toilet Bowl of Death."
• teaching and sharing your ideas and thoughts.

Things I don't like in the SCA

I am usually a very positive guy. I have friends who tell me, "Liam, the cool think about you is that you always see the best in everyone.

Well, I try, but like anyone else, I can reach a point where I need to vent, and that happened a few weeks ago.

My LiveJournal readers will recognize parts of this, but I want to get it to a wider audience.

So I will be re-writing some of my past postings.

Understand that I look at this blog as my living room. Please, go in the kitchen and grab a beer or other tasty beverage.

Debate, disagree, or even agree with me.

I just ask folks to be polite.


These are things that make the SCA less fun than  it should be.


1. People who lose perspective and go on personal vendettas without thinking, "Will what I am doing really help the local group/Society."

2. People who are out-and-out rude to other people. Think before you speak! Remember what it was like to be a newbie. Remember the pain you felt when someone said something about your garb or the way you played. Yes, you can correct people, but approach it the right way.

3. People who make it all about awards. This is a two-way street. There are people who actively suck up or doing specific things just to get awards, and there are those who whine about not having awards. Help your friends folks. If people are doing good work, write them in!

In my book, the "right" way to get awards is as a by-product of doing things you want to do and things that you think need to be done. Did I run the Royal Travel Fund to get an award? No. I did it, because it's something I can do well and something that benefits the kingdom. Was it the basis for the royalty choosing to give me an award? Yes.

4. People who bash peers. Listen, there are assholes in the SCA. Really, Trust me on this. Some of them are peers. Some of them are not. There is no direct relationship, though some people would have us believe that peer = asshole.

I thank Master Pavel from Calontir for the image of being hit with "The Peer Stick." I cringe when people whack me because they think I am using my peerage (or my "sphere of influence" as one guy said), to accomplish things. Will I occasionally sign something with my title, etc. Yes, if I think there is a good, solid reason for it. If I don't sign it that way, don't write back to me Dear "Master" Liam or "Your Excellency."

Yeah. peers do stupid stuff. So do a lot of other people, I think it can be really hard to be a peer (or a duke/count/baron-baroness, etc.). There's a learning cirve.

5. I hate peers who don't act like peers. 

Hey, my blog, so I can be semi-nonsensical and bash peers. ;) Actually, I have a point.

What I mean is that you received an award for skill/work and peer-like qualities. No matter what your peerage is, Chivalry is part of it. Act like a fricking peer. Car about people. Be polite. Don't gossip! Help other people. 

Play nice. It's what we all should do. And it's not that hard.

6. Don't gossip! Don't repeat gossip. If you hear virulent gossip, you might want to let the target know. I am absolutely ashamed by some of the things I have heard people say about other people. It's a Society-wide problem. If it's an issue in doing their iob, that's one thing (assuming you know it's true). But if it's "Did you hear Liam really lives on a mountainside in Vermont and is married to six sheep and a goat . . . ." maybe you don't need to pass that on.

Am I guilty of this. Yes. It can be a struggle. I was turned into a newt once, too. In both cases, I am getting bettah.

7. And finally, people who forget it is a game. 

It's a game. It's a game. It's a game.

See that. It's a game.

It's our hobby. It's what we do on weekends. We could be bowling. We could be flying aerobatic stunt planes. We could be racing boats or showing off our classic Corvettes or driving our matched set of Percherons while riding our buggy.

We do what we choose to do

We do the stuff during the week, too. We have meetings. We do workshops. We write long, tortuous posts about what we do.

But it is a hobby. It is not our life. It's important to us.

But we need to keep perspective.