[Ansteorra] Royalty - Same Sex Consorts‏

[Miles Grey]

Ian Dun Gillan wrote:
> Lords and Ladies, Nobles, good folk all isn't that moment at the height of
> glory the very heart and soul of the dream that is the SCA? All I have to
> say is why steal that away from someone just because the sex of the person
> who inspires is the same as the hand that wins the honor.

Because no matter how much it means to the people who become our Crown,
it's not really about them.  They assume the throne for us.  That's also
why we still have the Ducal privilege.  That's why so many of us close our
postings with "In Service."  While they should be treasured by those who
earn them, the Royalty, Peers, and Nobility do not exist primarily to
reward those who receive them.  They exist first and foremost because we -
the ordinary populace - need them.

We play this game in large part to escape the mundane world.  To change
this would be just one more bit of conformity with the current political
and social pressures of the mundane world.  Shall we really be just like
everyone else?  I can get that dose of mundanity at a local bar.

I choose to live in this part of the country because it is different than
the rest.  I travel to Los Angeles frequently, and one thing I hear from
ladies multiple times on every trip is the lamentation that they no longer
receive the special treatment and attention that ladies used to expect. 
Here in Ansteorra, here in what is often seen by other Kingdoms as a
"Barbarian Kingdom," should we really be looking to dissolve all these
distinctions?

I do my best to ignore the inevitable politics that exist in the SCA while
knowing full well that any group of people will have them.  The mundane
world has made me jaded and cynical.  I've found myself feeling a bit
burned out toward the SCA as well, in part because so much of the real
world intrudes.  I purchased a period pavilion and try to improve my garb
to help create the atmosphere that will banish the mundane world, if just
for a few hours at a few events.

Once we let enough of the mundane world into our game, it ceases being The
Dream and becomes just another costume party.  Once winning Crown becomes
more about rewarding the victor than about serving Kingdom and populace,
then it becomes just another sporting event.  We're close enough to those
lines already.  So go ahead, sacrifice yet another part of The Dream to
the mundane world.  Given the realities of today's economy, how much more
can be sacrificed before The Dream becomes the memory and it just isn't
special enough to justify the expense of a 3-8 hour drive?  Change this,
and you will drive away a few more.  Maybe they should be driven out. 
Maybe to some it will be fun to figure out precisely what level of
participation is critical mass, the dividing line between just enough for
it to work and not quite enough to sustain this thing.  Have fun with
that.

  In Service,
    Miles Grey