ANST - Kein's words

Greg Rose greg at bronze.lcs.mit.edu
Tue Apr 7 18:25:11 PDT 1998


I was one of the Lions who were contacted by Viscountess Megan and I was
one of the Lions who spoke with HM Kein before he made his final decision
on the disposition of a replacement for the sword of state.

There are various and sundry traditions in kingdom -- some pertain to the
core of the kingdom, others are special but not essential to the kingdom's
identity, still others are merely the accretions of time (and often sloth).
That the King's word is law is an Ansteorran tradition which defines how
the kingdom operates and what, at its core, the kingdom is.  The tradition
that the Lions receive the sword of state at the closing court of a reign
and present it to the newly crowned King is also such a core tradition,
since it symbolizes the Crown's acceptance of responsibility to maintain
the core traditions of the kingdom.  That this was done with a single sword
which Orm and Megan and the Raven crew obtained and presented to the Crown
in Sigmund's day and that a pledge was made with respect to that specific
blade is not a core tradition, however special it may be.  That sword was
made the sword of state by the fact that the King proclaimed it so.  It
remained the sword of state because each king proclaimed it so.

However attached we may have been to the original sword, as I told HM Kein
in our conversation, if he in open court took up a steak knife and proclaimed
to the kingdom that it was the sword of state, I was obliged to recognize
it as such because the King's word is law.

I have no cause, as a Lion or as a subject, to dispute the good will and
honesty of TM Kein and Alisha in attempting to resolve a difficult and
painful situation.

When I spoke with HM Kein, it was self-evident that he was hearbroken and
ashamed at the tragedy which had befallen him and the realm.  It was also
evident that he was willing to accept any compromise to the solve the
problem, so long as the authority of the Crown was not compromised.  When
I spoke with Viscountess Megan, she showed no inclination to compromise
to anything except her maximal demands that the Crown accede to anything
she wanted in the matter of replacing the sword of state.

An Ansteorra in which the authority of the Crown is restricted by the personal
pique of a single Lion or even two of them is not an Ansteorra I recognize.

If Megan and Orm believe that the actions of Kein and Jean Richard have
sufficiently violated the traditions of the realm, then let them call upon
the Lions to take back the sword of state from the King.  It is only when
the Lions speak with one voice that they may compell anything of an
Ansteorran King.

I do not believe that Kein or Alisha are oathbreakers or have otherwise
injured the realm or any subject of the realm.  And any such claim is
pernicious and without merit.

I, a Lion of Ansteorra, stand with those who were my rightful Sovereign
and Consort, Kein and Alisha.  Let those who do not take counsel of the
tradition which makes Ansteorra itself take cognizance and beware.

Hossein Ali Qomi
Baron, Lion of Ansteorra
(Gregory Rose)



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