Principalities

[Mike Baker]

Aethalstan, you have captured the essence of the emotions fairly well, and 
certainly improved the level of information being presented in the 
discussion.

Please to allow me a moment as Der Teufeln-Advokat, and so respond as well 
to some of the more heated of the rhetoric I have seen in this thread so 
far:

We are soon to be twenty years a kingdom. As did Atenveldt beforehand, and 
the West in ancient days, is it not time that we consider once again the 
founding of a principality within -- and still a definite part of -- this 
kingdom called Ansteorra?  A *true* principality, with coronet tourney and 
all the associated ceremony & glory?

The thought _has_ been raised among us from time to time over the years. In 
the earliest times, too often it was advanced whenever some small faction 
felt that they were being slighted by the current administration (whether 
Crown or GOofS).  It would seem that perhaps we have grown beyond that level 
of pettiness.

The Crown Principalities proposal appears to have been largely advanced in 
the belief that administrative functions would be improved / streamlined. If 
this means that we reduce from five regions back to three, I can't but 
expect this will happen. Better / more stable pools of potential 
office-holders, less expectation of burn-out. However, if this be only for 
purposes of administration, why not leave the "region" nomenclature in 
place? Could it be - politics? (Small voice from back of the circle 
stage-whispers "Almost assuredly!")

Songs are important mirrors of our existence as a Society of anachronists. 
If I have learned anything at all since A.S. XIII, it is that Ansteorra 
especially is mirrored and defined by its songs. But even our most-loved 
songs are capable of being expanded by new verses, as they have been over 
the years. (Consider "Rising of the Star": the published version I first 
encountered was five or so verses, the version in Stephan the Juggler's 
widely-available electronic collection has about a dozen, and I have heard 
another dozen or so verses over the years.)

Imagine the possibilities involved in being able to sing about those darn 
"kids" (and "their" responses).

>                     One Star........One Kingdom
>      "...So when you think they've crushed you down,
>         Your spirit's sinking low,
>          Your enemies so numerous that only God may know,
>          Keep your eyes upon that banner boys and think of
>         this refrain, and like the star of Ansteorra...."
>                              RISE AGAIN!!!

     And now the lads are cheering loud
                  The lassies laughing bright
                   And fair's the sound of revelry that echos in the night
                   Keep our thoughts on Crown and Kingdom
                   And the Prince who'll one day reign
     Ansteorra *and* her children
          RISE AGAIN!


And all that being said, I too will resist any attempt to impose these Crown 
Principalities from above unless and until the concept is far better 
explained and the populace has had a voice in the process -- and the chance 
to turn aside potentially unwanted & unwarranted interference in regional 
affairs.

If, on the other manipulative appendage, this is being imposed upon us in 
some way by "other powers", methinks that there will be some very serious 
consideration of words the reeds of Runnymede still whisper to the Thames...

Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra
     currently residing in Barony of the Steppes, Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mike C. Baker                      mbaker at rapp.com
Any opinions expressed are obviously my own unless explicitly stated 
otherwise!