SCA awards

[Mark Harris]

Rhiain said:

          Diarmut's persona is not what he believes is a "Lord".  This
          is not a matter of whether or not it fits in with the "SCA"
          concept of an AoA, or even whether or not it's deserved by
          our standards.  I believe he is saying that in his time, a
          Lord or Lady meant something very different than the way we,
          in SCA speak,
          use it.  He has tried to be as fitting for his chosen period
          persona as possible and it seems that to give him an AoA
          makes playing that persona more difficult.

Stefan now replies:

Oops. I knew I meant to mention something more. Yes, this has concerned
others in the SCA before. I have pasted to the end of this message a
message I happened to like on how another Ansteorran handled this. Yes,
I know this wouldn't work for everyone, but it does illustrate how
some have handled it.

To refuse an award in court can embarrassing to all concerned, the
recipent, the royalty, the nominators. I can understand all three
points of view. If the recipent to be has made it known that he does
not want the award, I think their wishes should be repected. However,
I don't think that should prevent those who think the individual should
get the recongnition from trying to get the individual to change his
mind. Perhaps there is something else than will be acceptable 
particularly if the difficulty is over how the victim (er. recipent)
percieves the award.  Perhaps this would be time to work on other
honors than SCA rank as Baron Aodhan has suggested.

And Diarmuit, you stated:
>I have some pretty "carved in stone" opinions about what behaviors should
>constitute the rank of "Lord".  

I, for one, would be quite interested in hearing your opinions on this
subject.

And I still think you deserve this award and wish I could convince you
of this, too. Is there an equivalent honor that you would have found
acceptable instead?

Stefan li Rous
-------------------------

From: Theron.Bretz at f555.n387.z1.fidonet.org (Theron Bretz)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Surprise! Surprise!
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1993 20:39:00 -0500

>From the pen(?) of Etienne de Montagu, good greetings:
Regarding awards that "don't fit the persona", I'd like to share a tale:  
        Many moons ago, there lived in my barony (Bjornsborg, 
Ansteorra) a gentle called Leon Donne, a goodly fellow for yeoman 
stock.  Leon's persona was (still is) an English bowman straight out of 
Henry V.  When he got his AoA, his solution to the problem was to carry 
it (the scroll) around in a leather case at his belt wherever he went, 
so that he could prove his right to hunt the King's deer.  One day, 
some friends of his with more "noble" personas cornered him and 
confronted him about "pretending to be a Lord".  Leon presented the 
scroll to the threesome and the exchange went something like this:
Godwyn (holding the scroll upside down):  Michael, you're a Norman, can 
you read?
Michael:  I thought you could....
Martha (grabbing the scroll away) Here, I can read..... wait this isn't 
Portugese!
Leon grabs his scroll and ducks out 
Exeunt omnes
                                        I remain,
                                        Etienne de Montagu