NR - Discussion of Principality

Leslie Miller Miller at pp.okstate.edu
Wed Mar 18 08:44:56 PST 1998


> Okay, being a local seneschal, I would like to inform my populace of 
> this discussion. Many of them are new and need a better understanding 
> of what a principality is, does and such. I would like to see some 
> serious pros and cons mentioned here. I ask "What are the benefits?"
> Britta the Red
> (who is not-so-secretly for it, but can't come up with a good reason 
> why)

OK, here's the biggest benefit for principalities that I see:

Gnomon Vale has never had the Crown come to one of their events.  
Mooneschadowe will go years between visits.  Wastelands went years 
before a Crown finally came to one of theirs.  Rothund Keep... how 
long will it be before a Crown shows up to something they put on?
Falcon Ridge... Brad Leah...  

I personally hate going through the, "well, I wonder who the Crown 
will send to hold court at our event" process every year.  "Do we 
need to remind the crown they need to send someone?"  Then the Crown 
will often ask, "OK, who do you want?"  Then we have to figure out 
who is most appropriate, who will be most understanding that they are 
not asked, who will most likely be coming anyway, etc. etc. etc.  
Mind you, the landed nobles in the north have all been *extremely* 
wonderful about this, and I am NOT criticizing them in any 
way,shape or form; but the fact is, I have always felt like we were 
kind of asking them to do us a favor (grovel, grovel, will you please 
come to Guardian to hold court for us even though you probably had 
other plans that weekend????).  

And always they come, and always they are wonderful and gracious, but 
always they are the landed nobility of _someone else's group_.    The 
landed nobles of other baronies may be my friends; they may be my 
companions; I may love and respect them dearly; but they are not MY 
Baron and Baroness.  I cannot say to a newcomer at our event, "Look, 
there is Your Baron/Baroness, your Nobility; these are the people to 
whom you owe Your allegiance."  I *could* do that with a 
Prince/Princess.  I think it would be great to receive my AOA from 
the hand of My Prince or Princess. 

In my vision of a Prince and Princess, they would attend the events 
of the small groups in their region. They would go to the Guardians, 
the Wasteland Games, the Margrave/Vormunds, and they would provide 
the pomp and circumstance and magic that goes along with having MY 
Prince and Princess attending MY event.  Maybe that's not important 
to some people, maybe that doesn't matter to them, but for me, that's 
a big part of the dream.  Pomp, pagentry, heraldry, nobility, 
royalty... that's what the game is all about.

Additionally, some Crowns will not allow landed nobles the priveledge 
of handing out grant level awards.  So until you get a Crown at your 
event, people who are deserving of Irises or Stars of Merit will 
just have to wait, or hope that their name is called at someone 
else's event that the Crown is attending.  I would hope that a Prince 
and Princess would be allowed to hand out higher level (grant) awards 
in the absence of the Crown.  

Also, there have been periods of time when the Crown has gone to 
other parts of the kingdom and stayed there for a while.  I've 
heard talk, past and present, about "how hard it is to get 
recognition for doing (fill in the blank) in the north."  Maybe there 
is a problem, maybe there isn't.  But a Principality would enable 
"the north" to take care of its own.  Principalities can establish 
their own awards for service, arts/sciences, and fighting.  If the 
Crown has been in Bjornsborg for three reigns, the Principality can 
continue to provide recognition for those individuals deserving of 
recognition even when the Crown doesn't make it north very often.  

Another possible benefit for small groups would be the opportunity to 
host regional events that will be better attended.  Gnomon Vale may 
not have much of a chance to win a bid for Crown Tournament, but they 
might be awarded the Principality Tournament.  That could bring much 
needed funds into smaller groups' coffers.

As for the drawbacks... well, it will be a lot of work. It will 
probably entail a significant increase in the level of beauracracy.  
It might encourage regional loyalty over kingdom loyalty. One could 
argue that the establishment of principality awards will only cater 
to "cookie hunters."  It will mean adding principality events to an 
already crowded kingdom calendar.   It will add another level of 
politics to an already political game.  

I think all of those are reasonable arguments against it; but I still 
think that the formation of a principality would only help the 
smaller groups in the north, and it would help our region to 
flourish.

Gunhilda
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