[ANSTHRLD] Second Draft of Achievements Proposal Online

[Lisa Theriot]

Adalia wrote:

I have to disagree slightly.  When I brought up achievements here, I was
given the express reason of not being able to register the "cool stuff"
and, in the words of the five people who actually seemed interested "why
bother until I can have the cool stuff".

 
Indeed.  I HAVE a full achievement on my Pelican scroll, which
coincidentally was done for me by a former Laurel Sovereign of Arms.  It is
not registered in Ansteorra, because under current rules, I'm not entitled
to my supporters.  (As Andreas shows in his research, knights are oodles
more likely to have supporters than baronets, so it would make more sense to
restrict supporters to peers rather than nobility.) I also prefer to display
my arms on a lozenge, which complicates the whole matter further.

As someone who has lived in a LOT of kingdoms and dealt with a LOT of
frankly silly stuff, let me say this-- display, whether heraldic or
sumptuary, is a fashion, and legislating fashion is dumb.  Reaching back to
old Atenveldt, I draw the example that because some ladies of the Rose chose
wire fillets over heavy coronets, ANY metal on the head was restricted to
nobility.  (I was so confused, as a visiting foreigner, to find people
bowing to me because I was holding my veil on with a circlet lovingly
crafted by myself out of a wire hangar.) Contrast with Caid, where there are
no sumptuary restrictions, and there are some personal circlets that would
pass for ducal coronets.  Perhaps neither case is perfect, but the lesser
regulation is far more comfortable for the populace; at least in Caid you
can hold your veil in place.

Call me crazy, but just as I think we should encourage people to design
heraldry appropriate to their persona, I think we should encourage them in
display appropriate to their persona, and the more we regulate, the less
free individuals are to do what's correct for their recreated culture.
England and Scotland cannot even agree on achievements.  We have no business
conflict-checking mottoes and supporters as there is no evidence that it was
ever done mundanely, in period or today.  Even the registration of
supporters should mandate a revision of scroll wording so that they are
expressly granted, else how does it concern us at all?

 I wonder how it would impact the registration of supporters if they were
bestowed, like an augmentation.  I'll wager the percentage of people
entitled to augmentations who have them registered far exceeds the
percentage for supporters.  Few people ennobled waste much time before
acquiring a pretty coronet, which is an outward show of rank that travels
with you, far more in the SCA than it would have in period (when coronets
were worn primarily for formal ceremonies; most noble heads were more
frequently adorned with attractive but ordinary hats).  It's much less sexy
to have stuff that hangs on your wall at home.  There are very few styles of
portable display that bear a full achievement (a gonfannon-style banner,
what else?).  Whatever rules we decide on, our education plan needs to
include specifics on what you can do with the achievement once you register
it.


Adelaide