jamesq | Kingdom of Avacal?

Lets get the important stuff out of the way first: I think we should do it and I think we should do it now. Endlessly arguing over something is just wasting effort that could be better used in achieving our goals. Now having said that, let me waste some effort. :P

A bit of background about me, to provide some context about where I'm coming from: I have no illusions about the SCA. It's a club and a volunteer organization of like minded folks. Talk of "Kings" and "Kingdoms" is just an elaborate fiction that we all subscribe to. It's fun and, as games go, it's one I play seriously, but it's still just a game. The "Kingdom of Avacal" will have as much reality as the "Principality of Avacal" - exactly the same amount that we pretend it means something.

That's one of the reasons why I think we should go for it. Failure has no cost beyond our own effort. Hell, our cachet in the known world can only go up just for trying, regardless of the result.

If we do it, let it be for the right reasons.

It shouldn't be because Kingdom Core is so far away. The reality is that An Tir and Avacal are friggin' huge and scarcely populated. We're not (in the short term) going to get more people or branches simply because we call ourselves a Kingdom. It's still 1500 Km from Cold Keep to Sigelhundas. Smaller, outlying branches are going to have the same complaints about being ignored. Borealis and Montengarde are still going to be the 600 pound gorillas of Avacal.

It shouldn't be because a minority of Knights would like to be King instead of Prince. And if I thought that was the main reason this is being pushed, I'd be ignoring it completely. Still, being told "buy your memberships and we'll do the rest" is a poor choice of words when people don't know who you mean by "We" if you're not talking about Avacalians in general.

It shouldn't be because "we" think we're different from "them". We have far more in common with the people at Kingdom Core (or the Kingdom of the West) then we do with many of our coworkers. Our differences are trivial and only seem huge because we look at them with magnifying glasses.

We should do it because it mean we make our own decisions. I too would like to see Quad War moved so that it doesn't conflict with Clinton War. It's not going to happen so long as the only other decent weekend of the summer conflicts with An Tir/West war.

But don't get your hopes up, we'll still have to answer to the BoD. Likely we'll have a "King's Word is Law" rule in our new Kingdom's laws too.

Aside 1: Of course, it would be an excellent time to introduce that very period document, the Magna Carta, to Avacal. ;)

Aside 2: I'd love to see an SCA Canada, separate from SCA Inc in much the same way that Australia and New Zealand have done it. Mind you, if we don't have the will to make Avacal a Kingdom, I doubt we'll have the will to make an SCA Canada

So what needs to be done?

Publications: Making the Avante Garde do everything The Crier does probably isn't that difficult. The infrastructure is already there.

Education: THUA seems to be doing a decent job of duplicating Ithra. We'd probably have to change the name to TMUA though.

College of Heralds: I'd like to be the first to request that they be accessible and sane.

Officers: Mostly the Principality officers get their names changed. Seneschal and Exchequer get larger work loads and will need to delegate more. Also, they'll need to withstand the blistering attention of the BoD.

Peers: The impression from this non-peer is that it's stupidly difficult to become a peer, and getting harder and harder as time goes on. Possibly this is because of the rarity of Crown visits, but I think the deeper problem is the current peers. When getting a Laurel is akin to a thesis dissertation, it's too hard for a volunteer organization. I'd love to see twice as many peers of all kinds.

I doubt we're going to see any relaxing of the peerages though. Too much "I paid my dues, so those bastards after me are going to pay theirs". There was a time when this was a backyard party with carpet armour and plywood swords.

Lets pretend we succeed. What does that mean?

First thing is that we'll be calling a lot of people "Your Majesty" that we were previously calling "Your Highness". We're likely to get some "foreign Kings" until such time as Avacal's own can hold the throne from outsiders. Reigns, good, bad or indifferent, will still last six months.

The Baronies will remain Baronies. The Shires will remain Shires. Your friends will remain your friends. If you like to bash, or poke or shoot, you'll likely still enjoy those things regardless of the titles of the royals above you.

If you enjoy playing the game now, think of it as "levelling up". If you think it's worth your time and effort to get some cool fictional stuff, then lend a hand. If not, stay out of the way, because becoming a Kingdom won't hurt you any.

Me? I think more cool fictional titles are worth some effort.

/ A question whispered to me: Are we jumping, or are we being pushed?
// I read too much Fark.
/// Slashies!