SR - Naming of the Southern Region

[tmcd at jump.net]

On Wed, 15 Sep 1999, Lorraine and/or Kief <deer_kief at hotmail.com> wrote:
> We were told that this "voting" was to narrow the field of name
> choices!!!!NOT to be the petitioned name.

I have a compromise, buy-some-time idea: I think we should first run
the top few candidates past the the Society College of Arms and
Laurel, because it'd be embarrassing to have to retract a recognition
of something that can't pass.  During those 10 months or so, the
region can mull over the ideas and names and perhaps some consensus
will arise about whether to formally rename the region to use the top
passing name.


I'll first note that a regional name is freely changable or
destroyable at whim, since, in the eyes of the SCA, a region is an ad
hoc administrative subdivision that isn't an SCA Inc. Official Branch
(TM).  Official Branches (TM) have far more permanent names.  We are
pretty free to implement a better idea at any time.

I checked the most recent Lion's Tale, and it actually doesn't say
what number of items will be submitted for registration, if any, nor
what will be done with the winner.  Nor does the ballot itself say.

Unfortunately, the Southern list is not archived (mental note: ask Pug
whether there will be enough disk space for archiving the lists on the
kingdom server), so I can't read the previous notes on the e-mail
list.  Not that the e-mail list is the be-all and end-all of the
Southern Region, of course!  The messages I saved just had a few
suggestions, that either the top name could be registered via the
Society College of Heralds, or the top three.  Nothing about
recognition or official renaming.

Lorraine and/or Kief, can you cite any messages you saved on the
subject?


I will give more details of the counting in another message.  The last
5 candidates left standing (reverse order of elimination) were
    Campoleone (last one remaining): 38 votes
    Thornwald: 21 votes when it was eliminated
    Sibila (a write-in): 13 votes when it was eliminated
    Levgorod: 7 votes when it was eliminated
    None of the above: 6 votes when it was eliminated
Nothing else got more than 4 first-place votes before being
eliminated.  There were a total of 80 ballots.

Sosha wrote:
> The Crown has been petitioned for the renaming of the Southern
> Region to Campoleone.  If this is acceptable to them, it will be
> sent up for registration.  If Campoleone does not pass we have three
> other names to be brought as well.

("Has petitioned"?  Have you called the Crown in the last two hours,
then?)

Personally, I suggest delaying any formal recognition by the Crown
until *after* registration.  If Laurel says "Sorry" -- that's
unlikely, but we could have overlooked something -- it'd be
embarrassing to have to retract the recognition.

I presume Sosha, the regional seneschal, will give her own advice to
the Crown.  I know she's very shy and quiet, but I hope that we can
coax her into speaking freely.  My own inclination would be to contact
Twilight Herald, who is the regional herald, and Star Principal
Herald, the Crown's advisor on matters heraldic, and the kingdom
seneschal, and ask whether they have any particular advice.  (This on
the principles of "don't let anyone think they're being blindsided"
and "give everyone plausible their say".)

The problem with submitting for registration only one name at a time
is that if it fails, the second is delayed.  I'd suggest submitting
more than one simultaneously.

My next inclination would be to submit for registration Campoleone and
Thornwald to protect them against anyone else registering them and to
keep them against future use if the p-word happens.  I'd add Sibila
(spelled however) if it can be justified.  (I have yet to find
documentation for Sibila (in various spellyngs) as a place-name,
though I'm told Donal has some.  There's the Sibillini Mountains in
the Roman Apennes (_Webster's Geographical Dictionary_).  That itself
would be a conflict; I don't know whether anything similar could be
made from that name.)  Levgorod ... it's the #3 registerable one, but
it didn't get more than 10% of the ballots before it died ... no harm
in submitting it, I sppose; I'll spring for the $4.

As for actually announcing it as *The Formal Name As Real As You Can
Get For A Region Unless We Change Our Minds* in the Black Star and
local newsletters ... should we put it off until Laurel rules on the
submissions, if not longer?  This buys us time to think about it.
People are free to use any name informally, of course.

(I'm embarrassed to note that the #1 vote getter is the one I lobbied
for on period-style grounds.  I dearly hope people will note that I'm
lobbying *against* its immediate recognition.)

Daniel "Letter from the Crown, October 2000 Black Star: Laurel has
ruled on the proposed names for the Southern Region.  Only one
passed.  We now rename the Southern Region as the Region of None of
the Above." de Lincolia
-- 
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