CR - Reasons

[Vicki Marsh]

Greetings, from Zara Zina

I want to thank Gunther, Galen, Amra,and Richard for their logic and honesty in this matter.

I was unable to attend the meeting at Elfsea's College and have yet to listen to the tape of the proceedings, but I did want to put in my observations.

While traveling around our region and realizing how truly large it is, I was struck by the fact that there are so many people who are in the SCA here and just how much bigger we could grow.  We have people in Elfsea who drive over an hour to attend meetings here.  If the infrastructure was stronger, there would be more impetus to build more small groups around the metro-plex.  As it stands, I feel we are reaching our limit for growth as a Region.

Yes, most people want to be a Big Fish in a Small Pond.  That is one of the aspects that the SCA has going for it.  So when a group reaches it's maximum size, either a new group is formed or the population dies off.

You guys talk logic.  I can tell you how I feel.  It is as if our community/region/Kingdom is pregnant woman walking around in her last stages and if she doesn't give birth soon, someone will die.

I like the idea of a Central Regional Principality because:

1- I think it would be cool to have new heraldry to fight under at a war.  While it is good to have a Central Regional Warlord, does it inspire fighters to fight together?  Do they yell "Vivat Central Region!!"?

2- It would give a training ground for Kingdom Offices that have a better title, more responsibility, and more accountability.  If a Regional officer doesn't do squat with their office now, only the Kingdom Officer can remove him or her, right?  And most Kingdom officers are only too glad to have a warm body in the office.
	Having been both a regional officer and a Kingdom officer, I believe that I have the qualifications to make that statement.  And yes, the title of being a Principality officer is better than that of a regional one.  I never heard of a required meeting of the regional officers occuring in either the South or the Central when I worked at regional level.

3-It would give a training ground for the Crown.  While I like the idea of having someone new to be our Crown, sometimes it can be pretty scary when they are a little too green.

4- It would take a little of the workload off the territorial B & B's.  Yes, that is probably the closest thing to a *motive* that I have.
Because I have been in a small group, I understand just how special it is to have the Royals or the territorial's attend our events.  Llywelyn and I have been trying to serve in that function for groups such as Middleford and Black Oak Keep.
If there was a Prince and Princess who could regularly attend shire events or came from a shire, it could cause a growth in population in those areas.

And yes, there would come a time when someone took the Coronet list that was a jerk, or too inexperienced to deal with it...but so what?  That has happened to our Kingdom in the past and we seem to have survived.

5-I don't think there would be more events on the calender, nor more required paperwork.  It would just be done differently and hopefully, there would be more accountability.

6-Yes, we would have more heraldry and more scrolls.  If the groups are growing and people are being trained to do the jobs that they enjoy and find rewarding, where is the problem there?

In watching the patterns of community growth and decline in my 20 years in the SCA, I find that just like any other social organization or pack or rats in an experiment, there comes a time when we must plan for growth.  If we do not, factionalism (and cannibalism) will occur, and it won't be a pretty sight.  Yes, each and every group and individual can work harder to make the existing structure survive, but how long will that last?

Although I have other arguments, I have ranted long enough.

In Service,

Baroness Zara Zina Theanos

"Go Byzantine."
"Keep your kids off artificial colors."
"Life is Good in Elfsea."

zarazina at flash.net

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