[Vindheim] Updated and New Principality Awards

Princess of Vindheim princess at vindheim.ansteorra.org
Thu Nov 17 15:15:18 PST 2022


We are sure many of you have seen or heard about the recent Letter of
Acceptances and Returns (LoAR) by the Laurel Sovereign of Arms which
included the first batch of awards submitted by the Principality. There
have been so many people and so much time spent on brainstorming,
discussing, researching, and submitting awards for the principality - it
would be impossible to recount the names or summarize the time. Let's just
stick with it's been a ginormous effort and will continue to be a
gargantuan task for a couple more years.

No matter how much time is put into awards, there are no guarantees all of
the submitted ideas will be accepted by Society nor by future Coronets or,
even more importantly, the populace of the principality. Awards and
recognition are important to everyone (justifiably so) and emotions can be
frayed when something you have put time and effort into gets returned or
changed. As we have mentioned many times over the past few months, the
principality is still growing, learning, and becoming. The process of
awards and recognition is no different. Some things will change and some
things will stay the way they are. We can all still be friends.

One of the difficulties in the award process is the lengthy amount of time
the process takes. This is not to say that any one person or position is
holding up the process - that is absolutely not the case. Just as there is
a requirement for how long an office can be open for applications, there is
a requirement for how long heraldic items can be reviewed and commented on.
Anything that is submitted to the College of Arms for approval and
registration could take six to nine months to go through the process. The
Ansteorra College of Heralds is supporting and facilitating the process by
allowing the principality submissions to skip the kingdom-level discussion
and commentary phase. This has cut a month or two off of the timeline, of
which we all should be (and are!) extremely grateful! By the end of the
typical process, the idea or implementation of the award or recognition
could have changed due to many different factors. We would recommend to not
get too attached to anything until it has been accepted by the College of
Arms *and* has subsequently gone through two coronet reigns.

Yes, that's a long time. Yes, that's a lot of potential change. But the
stuff that sticks will be really stuck and closer to tradition than law. We
all know how important tradition is!  :)  While we have changed some of the
awards and award names from Romanius and Deanna, their good intentions and
solid foundations for recognition within the principality remain intact.
Recognizing the people, abilities, and aspects of the SCA that often get
overlooked was one of the many good intentions which Romanius and Deanna
had as they created awards for the new principality. The elemental theme
for awards and recognition was one of many solid foundations put in place.
In case you need a refresher, the elemental theme is: Art = Water (Blue or
Green), Service = Earth/Stone (Black or Brown), and Martial = Fire (Red or
Sanguine).

They created the Silver Fountain and the Wellspring to recognize Art as
Service and Performance Art as Service. We like this idea and wanted to
expand it to include other aspects of the SCA. But, we had a lot of
problems coming up with other ideas to flesh out this range of awards into
the three aspects of the SCA (martial, arts, and service). So, we have
combined the Wellspring and Silver Fountain into the Fountain of Vindheim
and created two new associated awards, the Pillar of Vindheim and the
Brazier of Vindheim. All of these awards will be able to be given multiple
times to the same recipient.

The Fountain of Vindheim will recognize those who use their art to support
the other two aspects of the SCA - service and martial. Fountains are
people who share their art to inspire others or to make others look better.
Those who create scrolls, regalia, or insignia. Those who paint or sew
banners for processions or campsites or to decorate halls. They can paint
shields or craft weapons or targets. To find a Fountain of Vindheim, all
you have to do is look around any event at anything that adds to the
pageantry or atmosphere that is the SCA.

The Pillar of Vindheim will recognize those who use their service to
support the other two aspects of the SCA - art and martial. Pillars are
people who use their skills to enable artists to make art or organizing
something so flawlessly it becomes an art. These are the people who are
feeding those who are painting pavilions or watering those who are fighting
or throwing weapons. They can run lysts, set up pavilions, or marshal
tournaments and melees.

The Brazier of Vindheim will recognize those who use their martial skills
to support the other two aspects of the SCA - art and service. Braziers are
people who are a joy to watch when they are fighting or doing other martial
activities. These people will also be the ones who constantly share their
marshal knowledge with others. They are the ones who fall down hundreds of
times at demos to excite the crowd and recruit new members of the SCA.

We believe it will be remarkably easy to find reasons to give out the
Fountains of either type. Artists in the SCA are constantly giving of
themselves, their art, and their time. Reasons to give out the Pillar are
there, but they may take more explanation and looking at a bigger picture
rather than a specific item or task. The Brazier has been more difficult to
find recipients. It may just be that there are fewer of these. Statistics
show that only 1 in 10 attendees at an event are there for marshallate only
endeavors. While marshallate activities can be a big draw at demos, it is
the other aspects of the SCA which keep people returning.

This grouping of awards leans towards the arts and service aspects of the
SCA. There are solid examples of martial skills being used to benefit
artist communities or to serve the principality and SCA, but not as many.
However, the next grouping of awards we will unveil at BAM will lean the
other direction. It will have many more martial related examples and fewer
arts or service examples. But that’s okay. We can all have fun in our own
ways and support one another as we are able.

Their Sanguine Highnesses,
Jean Paul and Gilyan
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