CR - Central Principality

[Mike C. Baker]

Galen, ol' bean, it looks as if you may have addressed most of my
own reservations. (Check prior traffic, folks: never said I did NOT
support a principality, now did I? <VBEGryn> Timing and expected
prep work is another matter...)

Caveat to all: some of what I say in the following may sound peavish
or confrontational -- please, be assured that I am only trying to
speak from my convictions and knowledge and bear no ill-will toward
Galen or to the proposal of pushing toward Principality. - Amra

To address a few of Galen's specific points, and give more body to
one item or another:

---Paul Mitchell <pmitchel at flash.net> (Galen of Bristol) wrote:
> Mike C. Baker wrote:
> > ---nolen dale <fairborn at swbell.net> wrote:
> > > Is there enough time to have ameeting <SNIP>
> If the people will be there, I'm sure we can find time 
> for a meeting.

Announce it well and widely, when & if.
 
> > > I could call the other seneschals tonight(if I don't see them at
> > > coronation) and start asking.
> I bet most are planning to attend, or could do so without too much
> trouble.  Representation from the shires would be the most difficult
> to ensure, if anyone's attendance is difficult.

Agreed. I'm planning a mailing within the week to advertise this
mailing list. If I can get it out the door by Monday noon, should I
include mention of a "Central Region bull session"?
  
> > Maybe a more appropriate response / first step would be a
> > meeting to set up a meeting? I know, I know, redundancy piled
> > upon complication, but I doubt that there will be sufficient
> > advance publicity to pull this off on the needed scale by the 
> > time of Elfsea College.
> A pre-meeting?  Let's get together and see if people like the 
> idea of doing a principality this year. If so, we'll need a
> _lot_ of meetings; if not, we can just move on. 

Move on to what? Region identity building, I could hope... (see
extended comments below)

Oh, yes: if the sentiment runs strongly toward a Principality based
upon Central Region within the year, we'll have several wagon-loads
of paper to process and words to exchange before it is all over and
done.

> My research last year led me to believe
> that there is a _lot_ of support for this idea.

Galen, I haven't really seen much strength of support or depth of
conviction at the root levels, the recently-arrived or younger folk
who are still feeling their way into the SCA. May be a reflection of
the people I've talked to more than a general sentiment, I grant
you. But I can't say that the support runs all that deep based upon
personal knowledge, and it is these newcomers who will be called
upon to become future event workers and leaders...
  
> Oh yes!  Elfsea Baronial college is a major recruiting opportunity!
> Please be ready to talk to college students.

Looks like I just added another event to my probable travel plans
(I'd already been considering attendance, but with everything under
discussion plus recruitment booster needs, I'll do my best to be
there).
  
> > > How can we make the job of an officer easier and more
> > > pleasurable for all (big topic, but essential)
> > Absolutely. Better / more structure regional support?
> Oh yeah.  These are all important.  And with the leadership of
> a Prince and Princess, and the incentive of having them to please,
> I believe these things will happen much more easily, and in more
> rewarding fashion.

Another set of potential danglies to seek out...

Personally, as much as I enjoy receiving awards, I'm not in the SCA
to please any specific individual in high place or low. I'm here for
the ideals, the ideas, the opportunities to enjoy MANY of the things
I have interests in, my friends, and "the Dream". I realize that
this may not be the same for others, that they may have a real need
to please individual and specific persons. Good for them.

Now, will a Principality allow me more venues for performance, more
opportunities to teach, and more chances to see others performing
and teaching? Not necessarily that many more than a "fully active"
Region might. We'll see what we see, certainly. 

A Principality *would* allow for more pageantry and possibly shorter
courts at non-Principality events...and longer courts at certain
Kingdom-level venues.
 
> > > Principality for the future(how far?) When we will know?
> > Get the region fully-functioning first, don't set a timeline but
> > consider a "progression-line", and we'll know when we know.
> Region "fully-functioning"?  What's that mean?  The Regions exist
> to make life easier for kingdom officers.  You guys are talking
> about projects that would be a lot of work for a lot of people, and
> which would happen almost automatically if we were a principality,
> but for which there is very little incentive or reward while we're
> a region.

Yeah, you have a point there. The rewards would have to be
self-satisfaction, with Kingdom-level as the formal recognition if
granted by others, now wouldn't they?  For some, that would be more
incentive to work regionally than locally, actually...

> > ("Progression-line" example: 
<SNIP>
> If Ansteorra itself had been held to this standard, we'd still
> be trying to upgrade from region!

Well, I did say "example". Besides which, do you think Atenveldt
could ever have imposed anything approaching that tight a structure
twenty years ago? The progression-line was thrown out as an ideal.
Actually, I'd say that we're pretty close to fulfilling most of what
I tossed into it already. Still painfully short of trained deputies
for some offices, though.
 
> > > (when all the groups have a stable populace of no less
> > > than 25 members?)
> > Perhaps not all groups, but at least the major,
> > long-term branches.
> > Adjust for lower-population and / or more rural areas, perhaps.
> > Don't insist on *paid* membership to find those participants.
> I think by this definition, this qualification is satisfied now.

Probably so. I need to personally get around to more of the shires
and cantons in Central, I know, but I'd guess we are well above 25
on an average basis. (Steppes skews the average mightily, I know...)

> > > The central needs to start working together 
> Why?  When I was regional seneschal, I was bluntly told that the
> region is not a branch, just an administrative convenience.  I'm
> supposed to have loyalty to that?  Let's have a real SCA branch,
> a principality, and I think you'll find crowds of people leaping
> to work together.

Galen, frankly I think in terms of using what works elsewhere, and
I've seen what is working in the North. There is a distinct regional
identity which they should be able to convert into a Principality
with no more than a (relatively) few hours work. Nordsteorra is not
something that magically sprang into being overnight: long years of
effort have gone into making Northern Region capable of working
together consistently and over the long term.

Central does not have that "identity" established, and no particular
basis upon which to pound out such an identity other than the
boundaries of that "administrative convenience". Certes, should we
be thrust into the position of sustaining a Principality I've no
doubt that we could do so. For now, though, it is my personal belief
that we could use some "seasoning" as a cooperative region before
making the full leap... I Could Of Course Be Wrong.
 
> Llywelyn has suggested that the best vehicle to help the local
> branches in the fashion that's been discussed is not a region,
> but a principality.  If the region could do all these things we're
> talking about, we'd have no need of a principality.  I believe
> the region will never be able to do these things, but that a
> principality would inspire the sort of loyalty, focus and incentive
> that is necessary to the goal.

Darn it. Let me try and restate the matter this way: we've a region
without a basis for identity other than administrative boundaries,
and a possible proposed principality based for now on those same
boundaries. Without proof that the regional infrastructure can be
made to work, how do we convince the populace that a Principality is
good for them? How do we train / recruit competent staff for the
requisite offices? Upon what basis do we petition the Crown, and the
BoD?

If we had a clearly-definable geography to drive the issue, be it
physical or political in nature, I'd waste less effort in advocating
a slower course of development. If we had social structures in place
which strengthened the sense of regional identity, I'd be more
sanguine in aiding the push for early conversion to elevated status.

We don't, and we don't. Yet. And I fear that we have a *lot* of
conservative, never-had-one, don't-need-one-now, residents in
Central who would somehow consider themselves diminished instead of
potentially enhanced by the addition of a principality.  

Hmm. Err. That might actually be one of the best reasons of all to
push for Principality, and as soon as possible.
 
> Here's another relevant question:  
> WOULD IT BE FUN TO HAVE A PRINCIPALITY?  
>             ^^^
> I think it would be.

I am more than reasonably convinced that it could be a great deal of
fun indeed. Might be even _more_ fun were we in Central Region to
beat Northern Region to the punch, as it were...
 
> My baron asked for suggestions of name and arms.  I note that no
> SCA Kingdom or Principality has the horse as its totem animal.

Knock me over with a feather! I would have sworn that someone did...
or am I remembering a unicorn as a supporter for one of the older
SCA kingdoms? (Else an *avoidance* of horse as too similar to the
unicorn and thereby too suggestive to some of fantasy elements...)

>  Well, this is Texas, and horses have been an integral part of
> our economy and identity, just as in the middle ages.  I 
> suggest, "argent, a fess azure, overall a horse rampant gules, 
> and in base a laurel wreath vert."

I'd add a saddle blanket Or charged with an Ansteorran sable star to
this design to convert it to an unofficial Principality battle
standard, perhaps. (Not registerable -- too many layers). 
I'd like to see an emblazon...

> The name should be something like "Equerria", "Equiterria", 
> or "Equestria".

Hmmm. Latinate basis. May be more in keeping with current proposals
to tie more closely to Ansteorra by translation into Old English,
but these three alternatives are not a bad place to start. 

I'd appreciate feedback on my alternate proposal for heraldic stuff
(device and name).

> My opinion.
> - Galen

And we know you've always got one. (And you also present your
arguments well, my friend -- it helps, it really does...)

Thanks, Galen. This isn't *quite* the direction I was expecting from
my original suggestions & queries related to developing the Central
Region, but I believe that it will be worthwhile making the journey
to see what develops from these discussions. 

===
Adieu -- Amra / Pax ... Kihe / TTFN -- Mike
(al-Sayyid) Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra  /
Kihe Blackeagle (the Dreamsinger Bard) / 
Mike C. Baker: My opinions are my own -- no one else would want them!
Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/8661
Alt. e-mail: KiheBard at aol.com, MikeCBaker at aol.com

_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

============================================================================
Go to http://www.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.