Category: Royal Peer

Board of Directors · Caid · Community Standards · King · Potrero · Royal Peer · Sanctions

Snarky amateur critics ousted from Caid royal court; replaced by the insightful social commentary of puppets

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BARONY OF ALTAVIA, CAID — Two months ago, in an attempt to conduct a more dignified court, the King and Queen quietly banished those individuals who are known for making sarcastic, albeit hilarious, remarks from the back of royal court.

“To me, the SCA is all about pageantry and ritual,” remarked Their Majesty in an interview conducted just after the banishments had been announced, “When certain people make unsolicited comments from a partially obscured place in court, it really takes from everybody else’s experience. Oh, I know many people claim to enjoy the comments, but they’re just being nice. What the people really want is a court that conducts itself with the utmost seriousness.”

“That having been said,” interjected His Majesty, “We are well aware that the populace enjoys the social commentary, so we have invited two individuals new to our kingdom to provide this commentary while conducting themselves with the utmost courtesy and decorum. Lords Statler and Waldorf are certain to add the solemnity our courts so sorely need.”

Since then, it has been noted amongst the Caidan populace that Their Majesties are at the moment regretting this decision. Seemingly ignorant of Lords Statler and Waldorf’s modern occupation, the Crowns have spent subsequent royal courts on the receiving end of an amount of mean-spirited heckling never before observed outside of discussions regarding the Board of Directors.

During a point of the primary royal court at Consort’s Champion, in which the king held forth at length about how unusual it is for him to get choked up while presenting an award (despite getting choked up at EVERY royal court, sometimes on multiple occasions), Lord Statler was heard to stage-whisper to Lord Waldorf, “Do you believe in life after death?” Lord Waldorf responded: “Every time I leave one of his courts!”

This behavior was repeated two weeks later at Potrero War, where the lively lords broke up a particularly tedious knighting with their inimitable brand of heckling. When reprimanded by Their Majesties, Lord Statler again stage-whispered to his companion, “The SCA is a completely different culture isn’t it?”

Lord Waldorf agreed, declaring, “You said it! Everything here is immediately followed by sarcastic comments and nasty responses!”

“Yup,” replied Lord Statler, “We’re finally where we belong!” As is becoming habit, both lords proceeded to burst into obnoxious laughter.

The SCAllion asked the lords about their new roles following the royal court at Lyondemere Investiture, Lord Statler commented on the court experience under Their Majesties: “You know, there’s nothing like a truly decorous court.”

“Yep, and that was nothing like it!” answered Lord Waldorf.

When asked whether they were concerned that their remarks would end in banishment, Waldorf remained confident. “It’s not going to happen. Maybe if the Crown had minions that weren’t so utterly lazy or useless with simple tools like screwdrivers…” Lord Waldorf continuing “We can’t be kicked out! We’re bolted to the seats!”

“Besides,” added Lord Statler, “After sitting through a few of their courts, banishment would be a reprieve!”

“We could really go for a good R&D right about now,” asserted Lord Waldorf.

Despite the established conflict between the two parties,The SCAllion is certain that, on this point, Their Majesties would agree. The SCAllion has also noted that despite the rather zingy one-liners, even then it is not clear whether or not Community Standards would apply as a reason for any sort of Revocation and Denial of Benefits or if it would apply to Lords Statler and Waldorf.

P.S.: Jaws says we should note that Statler & Waldorf are owned by Disney, and not by us.

King · Queen · Royal Peer · From the Newsroom · Advice · Knowne World

Goody Advice: Allies, royalty, and more

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Do you have a burning question about a situation that happened in the SCA and want to ask Goody? You can write to Goody at this form. Questions may be truncated for publication, and submitted questions may not be answered.

Dear Goody, 
I’m not part of the LGBTQIA+ community myself, but I want to support my SCA friends who are part of that community, particularly during Pride Month.  What are some good substantive ways to do that?  
— I Know That the A in LGBTQIA+ Isn’t For “Ally” 

Dear Ally, There are so many ways you can help, but I can think of two really important ones:

First, make sure people know that you are an ally and that you are a safe person. Possibly find a way to display a rainbow or other ally token to make it very clear. Recently I have seen new rainbow peerage medallions, rainbow knight chains, rainbow ribbons and brooches being worn by LGBTQIA+ and allies. This visibility brings a lot of comfort to those who could use it. 

The second way is to help call out bigots when they are being awful, especially during Pride. It’s sad, those who need to hurt others just to feel better about their own lives, but they are always out there. When they speak, answer louder. There are more allies than deeply terribly people and it might be good for them to know they are in the minority now. Maybe it will be helpful for them to experience some of the discomfort they enjoy causing so they can learn a little empathy. Well, we can hope.

Hope this helps,

Goody Advice

Dear Goody, 
I’ve been playing in the SCA for many years now but I am still confounded as to proper interaction with royalty. I cannot keep straight how to address them and what the protocol is, and by and large try to steer clear of them as much as possible, as they seem to be this rarified and unreachable group who swanks around events in a cloud of retainers. Any words of advice? 
Thanks, 
Stupefied Serf

Dear Stupefied, 

It happens to the best of us. There are a lot of royals and royal peers, especially if you attend an interkingdom event. At wars it’s just hats galore and with standards of different kingdoms, well, good luck? If you are ever stuck, try this absolute truth: “Hi Your… um, I’m sorry, I don’t know your proper form of address, will you please tell me so I have it correct?” Trust me, they will tell you and probably won’t be dicks about it. If they are, note that name and let a few of your friendly neighborhood peers know about it and the problem will magically work itself out.  

Also, there are some good guides on hats and regalia available online. Print them out and play “Royal & Count” (yes, that is a pun) with your friends. Rack up points for each bestowed peerage, Roses, Count/ess, Duke/Duchess, Prince/Princess, King/Queen, Territorial Noble and Court noble. Maybe the winner gets help striking camp or a nice beverage of their choice. 

Hope this helps,
Goody Advice

Dear Goody, 
People keep asking how a friend introduced his wife into the SCA. Truth is she started playing 35 years ago, and he found it through her 8 years ago, people keep referring to her as Ulric’s Wife and forget she has a name. Is this a common problem? 
-OfAethwulf

Dear OfAthelwulf, 

Fantastic Atwood reference there. Seriously, <chef kiss>. Now, on to the advice: It really sucks when one member of a couple or family becomes more SCA-famous than the other or others. The best rebuttal to this is that any time you hear someone referred to as “Ulric’s wife” or “Caitlyn’s kid” interject the person’s name and interrupt the conversation. “Alys, you mean Alys, Ulric’s wife. That’s her name. Let’s use it.”

It seems painfully simple and a bit rude, but sometimes you have to squash down the polite and just make a firm point. Everyone deserves to be their own person, with their own agency, and their own name. Humans are not accessories and good on you for paying attention to this issue. No matter if m’lady “Alys” has been in society for 35 years or 35 minutes, she still gets to have her own name rather than just being someone’s other. 

Hope this helps,
Goody Advice

Arts and Sciences · Chivalry · Defense · East · Laurel · Pelican · Queen · Rose · Royal Peer

East Kingdom princesses announce that there will be no polling order awards during their reign

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BARONY OF I’ÎLE DU DRAGON DORMANT, TIR MARA, EAST – Heirs of the East, Princesses Melodie and Jade, have announced that the only awards for their reign will be non-polling only. The announcement comes after the Heirs’ revealed that the first 4 months of polling discussions broke both their email boxes and their sanity. When reached for comment by The SCAllion, Princess Melodie, KSCA stated that “No seated royal should have to deal with this level of absolute chaos during their reign.” 

“There are plenty of ways to recognize good people and their service without having to deal with committee discussions for any award we want to give out. I have to deal with business by committee enough in the real world, this is just too much.” said Princess Jade, OL, OP, OD.

The announcement caused a firestorm on each of the East’s twelve polling order email lists. (No satire here, the East has twelve polling orders.) The lists stopped processing emails entirely after four hours. The SCAllion reached out to the East Kingdom Webministry, who provide the space for the mailing lists. When our call was answered we could only hear eldritch screams and distant fire alarms. 

The East Kingdom’s College of Scribes are celebrating the move as they will finally catch six months of breathing room to explore other arts, as they anticipate only half the number of scrolls as usual for a reign. When The SCAllion noted that the Order of the Rose is a polling order in the East, Her Highness Jade stated “If Our heirs want to poll me for the Rose, fine. I’m a triple peer in my own right and in my mind, this decision should make me a shoo-in for the Rose anyway.”

Armored Combat · Board of Directors · Chivalry · Community Standards · Royal Peer · Sanctions · Viscounty

Count facing R&D wants to turn Board’s evidence in Viscounty mill scandal

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BARONY OF BODLINGTONE, KINGDOM OF BODLANDIA – Count Rupert the Weasel, currently facing a revocation and denial of membership for his role in the “Viscounty mill” scandal, has approached the Board seeking a plea deal. 

The “Viscounty mill” was a pay-for-peerage scheme run by the Count when he was King of a kingdom whose name is not being released by the Board since the investigation is still ongoing.  The scheme hinged on the fact that the length of a principality reign is not defined in Corpora. King Rupert used this fact to alter the length of the reign to thirty minutes and restricted each Coronet tournament to two entrants. This enabled him and his co-conspirators to conduct 33 principality reigns over the course of a weekend event and invest 40 new viscountesses and 26 new viscounts.

Rupert has offered to grass up the names of the officers who helped him design the scheme, as well as the names of the Crowns of six other kingdoms who expressed interest in the idea. He has also volunteered to forfeit the profits from the scheme to the kingdom travel fund. In exchange he would like to retain his membership in the Order of Chivalry, while being stripped of all other honors.

The Board has already received a petition seeking clemency for the Count which was signed by 40 viscountesses and 26 viscounts. No word has been provided to The SCAllion yet if the 66 individuals are considered to be acting within Community Standards.

Chivalry · Defense · East · King · Laurel · Peerage · Pelican · Queen · Rose · Royal Peer

East Kingdom peerages agree on standard fealty oath

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BARONY OF SETTMOUR SWAMP, THE EAST — In a move which has been met with surprise and astonishment, the combined peerage orders of the Kingdom of the East have unanimously approved a standard fealty oath for use by all peers throughout the kingdom who wish to swear fealty.

 According to sources in-Kingdom, King Báetán mac Fergaile and Queen Coblaith ingen Fechtnaig asked their peerage orders to create a standardised oath in the aftermath of the specialised, incredibly lengthy,  fully-documented period oath given to them this weekend by Magistra Ahelissa de Glack.  Now known widely as The Oath of Two Score Terms And Twelve, it was 20 minutes long and kept Their Majesties from badly-needed bathroom breaks.

The official form of the new standard oath is recorded in several languages, to enable some flexibility for peers of different cultural personae.

For example, the Latin form of the oath is thus:

Non te dedam
Non te deficiam
Non vagabor et deseram te
Non te lacrimabit
Non dicam vale
Non mendiar et laedam te

For those peers with Jewish personae, the Hebrew form of the oath reads:

לעולם לא אוותר עלייך
לעולם לא אאכזב אותך
לעולם לא אתרוצץ סביב ואעזוב אותך
לעולם לא אגרום לך לבכות
לעולם לא אומר להתראות
לעולם לא אספר שקר ואפגע בך

Peers from the Arabic-speaking regions may enjoy this version:

لن أتخلى عن الأمل فيك
لن أخذلك
لن أركض وأتركك
لن أجعلك تبكي
لن أقول وداعا
لن أقول لك كذبة وأجرحك

The Middle English form of the oath is as follows:

Ich schall relinquishe þe nevere
Ich schall faile þe nevere
Ich schall rave awei nevere, nor leve þe
Ich schall encausen þe wepest nevere
Ich schall sprece ileve niminge nevere
Ich schall sprece gabbe nevere nor bane þe

Translations in other languages are available from Baroness Theodhild, Brigantia Herald.

Asked to explain the words chosen, Lærifaðir Gunni Stillingr, a member of the Order of Laurel who assisted with the translations explained, “It’s not that strange a move, it’s important that everyone involved knows what the rules are.   Fealty is about making a full commitment.”

Despite the unanimous vote, some peers are not entirely on board with the new standard wording.  “This is against all the traditions of the East,” complained Baron Estienne Flambard, a long-time Pelican. “But their Majesties know the game, they’re going to play it, and we have to go along. If you ask me how I’m feeling about this whole situation, well, my heart’s been aching since it was announced.”

Master Ricardus de Asteleghe, a Bardic Laurel, was more enthusiastic.  “We’ve known this move was coming for so long,” he gushed.   “I love it, and I’m not too shy to say it.  I never want to give this up.”

Sources close to Theodhild Brigantia report that she spent the day after the announcement staring into the middle distance with a bottle of wine, muttering, “So it’s come to this.”

Bardic · Board of Directors · East · Knowne World · Midrealm · Mists · Royal Peer · Sanctions · West

Zero Tolerance Policy yields baffling results; Literally no one surprised (except maybe the BoD)

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BARONY OF AYRETON, MIDDLE KINGDOM – In a story that has become entirely too common in today’s Society for Creative Anachronism, Their Majesties of the Midrealm pronounced a Banishment from the Realm for Jacob and Ellwood Blaüen on Saturday. 

While the Board insists that officers and crowns do not disclose the reasons for a banishment, The SCAllion’s inside mole, Deep Gorget, says that the Blaüens were banished for advocating that people should punch Nazis when they announce themselves, and that Nazis and white supremacists should be removed from participating in the Society. Deep Gorget also made clear that Their Majesties and the Kingdom Seneschal of the Middle were given no choice about levying these sanctions – they were given a mandate from above.

Lords Jacob and Ellwood made their statements after a run-in with a visitor to the open bardic evening they hosted at their home last week: someone identifying himself only as “a newcomer” walked in wearing khaki fatigues with lightning bolt collar pins and armbands bearing the Nazi flag and the Confederate battle flag. According to witnesses, the brothers initially asked the person politely to leave their home. When the person asked why they should have to leave an open Baronial bardic event, Ellwood replied, “I hate Illinois Nazis, and I don’t want them in my home.” The person left after verbally insulting the brothers and their guests. The Blaüens then posted about the encounter on Facebook, as described above, leading to a bullying and harassment complaint being filed against them with the Society Seneschal’s office by the angry “newcomer”.

Opinions around the kingdom were largely in support of the brothers Blaüen, elevating them to status of folk heroes. Crown Princess Carolina Piscatrix loudly publicly disagreed with the sanction. “We must stand together as an alliance to protect our game from the harm being done by the few who want to use us to live out their white supremacist fantasies. Those people should have no place in our Society.”

After some cajoling, Deep Gorget revealed that the incident with the Blaüens is not the only example of the anti-bullying policy being weaponized by actual bullies and white supremacists.  Sir Stephanus filius Rogeri of the East is facing a threat of banishment for posting the following on Facebook: “It’s our duty as peers, and especially as members of the Chivalry, to always punch Nazis.” Complaints of bullying have also been made against Princess Diana of Ephesos, the current Princess of the Mists, because her Facebook banner is an image of Wonder Woman punching Hitler from Wonder Woman #2 (1942).

“It’s a sad day,” Deep Gorget complained between drags on his unfiltered cigarette, “when wishing you could punch Nazis is punished more harshly than being a Nazi.  But that’s where we are, at least until the BoD gets its head out of its ass.”

Avacal · Drachenwald · East · Insulae Draconis · King · Knowne World · Lochac · Queen · Real Life · Royal Peer

Coronation fealty snafu in UK and Lochac

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BARONY OF POLITARCHOPOLIS, LOCHAC – The Crown Prince and Princess of Lochac, Ruodeger Angist and Kiterna de Kaxtone, have stated that they were inspired by the example of King Charles III of England to call for all members of the Kingdom to swear an oath of allegiance at their upcoming coronation.  “We thought it would be fun,” said Prince Ruodeger, “and since Charles had already scheduled his Coronation on top of ours, we felt fine about nicking his idea.”

The idea has not been well received, either in the UK or in Lochac. However, it seems likely that more people would be willing to swear such an oath in Lochac than in the UK, since a SCAllion poll suggests that as many as 15 Lochacians said they might consider it, which is a significantly higher number than in  the United Kingdom. 

The most common response on the poll in both Lochac and the UK was “I’m on smoko, leave me alone.”

The Kingdom of Avacal also has a coronation in May, and The SCAllion asked them to comment.  Oddly enough, they didn’t seem to care.  The East does not have a coronation in May. The SCAllion did not ask them to comment, but they keep calling and leaving messages on our voicemail saying that the East, too, is on smoko.

Armored Combat · Arts and Sciences · Atlantia · Crown Tournament · King · Laurel · Peerage · Queen · Royal Peer

Duke Juiced: the SCAllion Investigates

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Atlantia has recently seen a succession of Crowns all belonging to a single household, with three of the five couples achieving their duchy. We sat down with the original duchess of the household, Her Grace Emmeline Neuburg, OL, to ask her how the household has managed seven consecutive reigns. 

The SCAllion: Your Grace, the Neubergs have had seven reigns in a row, and today the seventh steps down from the throne. Duncan and Rhiannon are both members of the household, correct?

Emmeline Neuburg: Yes, they are. Duncan was my late husband’s squire, and Rhiannon is my apprentice. 

S: How does it feel to be at the end of a four year run of your household supporting royalty? 

EN: I think it has been very helpful to everyone in the household to understand exactly what it means to sit on the thrones before they fight in Crown, because we’ve all been very involved from the beginning. I’m just sorry that Michael passed away last spring and didn’t get to see our plan through. 

S: Your plan?

EN: Of course. In many ways, this has been a culmination of both his training methods and my A&S project into appropriate period performance-enhancing supplements. 

S: Can you explain further? 

EN: I’m a Laurel now, but when Michael and I were first getting serious about Crown Tournament, I hadn’t found where I wanted to focus my research. Now, being a Queen is disruptive to actually getting research done, but after the first time, I decided I wanted to look at the work of women herbalists and midwives. I found one “recipe for soldiers” that I thought looked interesting, and made a batch to enter at Pennsic A&S. Well, Michael, bless his heart, grabbed the wrong bottle just before the field battle. He came back in such a good mood and not at all tired! 

S: So, the effect was to give him more energy? 

EN: In so many ways. He’d fought in the front of every battle and said it was like he’d just finished warm ups. Of course, now I didn’t have an entry, but we’d found something worth knowing. 

I kept refining the recipe, looking at other similar examples, and he used it before every Crown he fought in and won. 

About 5 years ago, his former squires were starting to get really serious about Crown, so he stepped up the household practices and we talked about what it would look like to have a solid bloc of royalty with the same philosophy about reigning and the continuity we could bring. We had also never tried “Duke Juice” on anyone else! 

S: This is when you brought the rest of the household in on your secret?

EN: it wasn’t really a secret, most people just didn’t believe it was a period recipe, or if it was, that it did anything! Getting the correct dosage such that someone gets the benefits but not the side effects has turned out to be a little trickier than we thought, but we experimented first at fighter practices, then events and war. It was at war when their ladies started coming to me too – it let them party half the night and still be up to go to 9am classes or volunteer all day. 

At which point, the household got together and decided that we were going to see if we could put together a ruling bloc for long enough to effect real change in Atlantia. 

S: What were your goals, then? 

EN: Oh, making sure that most of the household got their peerages as soon as possible, and that we had fewer restrictions on the marshal orders. Some minor changes in law and policy- I can’t remember all of them now, we changed them over 3 years ago, and people have become accustomed to the new ways of doing things

S: I take it your entire household is on “Duke Juice”, then?

EN: Yes! At different dosages and concentrations, that’s a lot of what my research has been! I’ve refined the recipe, now it’s about the effects on a wider group! And, really, we wouldn’t have survived four years of always having someone on the thrones without something. 

S: So, what’s in your Duke Juice? 

EN: I mean, my research is entered in Kingdom A&S tomorrow, so I can tell you that it’s an alcohol extraction of arctic root, Siberian ginseng, hemp, valerian root, rose root, and willow bark. It helps with anxiety, pain, energy, and the ability to get things done! I am looking forward to seeing what the rest of the kingdom does with it! 

S: Thank you, Your Grace, for speaking with us. 

East · King · Queen · Royal Peer

“Running on Dunks”, East Kingdom Style

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BARONY OF CAROLINGIA, EAST KINGDOM – Just a week after East Kingdom Coronation, the reign of King Báetán mac Fergaile and Queen Coblaith ingen Fechtnaig was thrown into turmoil at their Curia, when the King’s squire, Noble Sigelint de Fresia, mistakenly picked up the wrong Dunkin’ Donuts order, grabbing the one intended for the Drag Brunch at the Boston Public Library instead of the one intended for the Crown. King Báetán stopped the Curia during Kingdom Officer reports shouting “Where the hell’s my Dunks?!”  

Queen Coblaith, who was severely under-caffeinated, noticeably perked up when Noble Sigelint came in with the order.  However, several librarians had followed them from Dunks and started shouting that the SCA had stolen their coffee. Order was eventually restored as everyone swapped their coffees, only for Curia to fall into disarray once again when the Queen declared, “There’s a Drag Brunch at the Boston Library? I’m out of here.”

Queen Coblaith, who didn’t bother to change out of garb, eventually came back to Curia with two Dolly Parton impersonators wearing Laurel Wreaths and announced Curia was closed and reopened as Drag Curia. King Báetán tabled the rest of the agenda and agreed to a new agenda focusing on actually getting things done in the East. The first order of business was to contact Dunkin’ Donuts and open talks into a sponsorship deal with the tagline “The East Kingdom Runs on Dunks.” 

Aethelmearc · Arts and Sciences · Laurel · Queen · Royal Peer

Kingdom Laurels shocked to learn that nasty, mean commentary during A&S judging isn’t actually helpful

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BARONY OF RHYDDERICH HAEL, ÆTHELMEARC: At Ice Dragon last weekend, people witnessed an unusual and surprising revelation: Laurels were shocked when they came to the sudden realization that mean and nasty commentary during A&S judging wasn’t actually being at all helpful to the artists being judged.

Mistress Anastasia Potter was heard to say: “I just don’t get it. I really thought telling these artists their work was utter garbage was a good thing, you know? It was supposed to be encouragement to do better! I really never understood why people would just burst into tears, or throw their projects in the trash as they stormed out. We’re being helpful, right? Right?” 

The matter came to light when several of the participants publicly petitioned the organizers at lunch to exclude Laurels from the judging pools. Her Majesty, to whom the petition was eventually brought, is a member of the Order of the Fleur d’Æthelmearc (the GoA for Arts and Sciences in the kingdom). She agreed with the petitioners and the judging pools were hastily reconfigured.

“Why can’t people take valid criticism in the spirit it’s meant?” Master Aaron the Bagmaker objected. “When I was an apprentice, being told my art made the judges physically sick and violently angry made me want to make better art! Art is supposed to evoke an emotional reaction. Artisans at these things need to toughen up and take on board the critiques so that one day we will discuss them in the Laurel circle.”

The SCAllion hopes this new understanding regarding A&S judging spreads from here out beyond the borders of the Æthelmearc and can help Laurels of other kingdoms come to the same realization for themselves.