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
============================================================================
Go to http://www.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.
More information about the Northern
mailing list