[MR] Coronation Curia - New Orders?

[Edvard Gayer]

Gang:

With much of the bandwidth on the Merry Rose of late having been consumed by 
matters relating to the NYC/DC tragedy, I fear that a post made a few days 
ago by Pedro might have been lost in the noise.  :)

To try to get the discussion jump-started, I will attempt to provide an 
easier-to-digest version of the award proposal put forth by Their Royal 
Majesties (TRMs) at Curia a weekend ago, together with an alternate that was 
proposed by members of the audience.  :)

Oh, before I get rolling, please note that TRMs have stated that They are 
very interested in your comments and opinions, but you will need to write 
directly to Them ... discussion on the Merry Rose or other lists are fine 
and encouraged, but They want to hear directly from you if you have an 
opinion specifically to share.  Their addresses are king "at" 
atlantia.sca.org and queen "at" atlantia.sca.org.

Okay, here we go:

First, it was proposed that a new tier of awards be created, and that these 
awards convey Grants of Arms.  The current Kingdom Orders of Merit (Pearl, 
Golden Dolphin, Sea Stag, and until recently White Scarf) all convey an 
Award of Arms.  (At Curia the week before, Havordth and Mary-Grace elevated 
White Scarf to the Grant level.)  Here's the current award structure, taking 
into account the Scarf's elevation:

Society        Orders of          Orders of
Peerage   ---  High Merit   ---     Merit
(PoA)            (GoA)              (AoA)

LAUREL    ---    (none)     ---  Pearl (A&S)

PELICAN   ---    (none)     ---  Golden Dolphin (Service)

CHIVALRY  ---    (none)     ---  Sea Stag  (Marshal: Education)
          ---  White Scarf  ---   (none)   (Marshal: Rapier)

(PoA = Patent of Arms, GoA = Grant of Arms, AoA = Award Simple of Arms.  For 
simplicity, I have lumped the orders together, based on which of the Three 
Paths to Glory -- A&S, Service, Marshal -- that they happen to fall into.  
It is not my intent to imply that membership in any particular order is a 
prerequisite for membership in any other.)

Besides these orders, the following sub-AoA awards exist that also fall into 
one of the Three Paths:

A&S:     Silver Nautilus
Service: (none)
Marshal: Kraken (Prowess), Yew Bow (Archery), Sharks' Tooth (Acts of 
Heroism/Valor)

(There are other sub-AoA awards in Atlantia, but none of them happen to 
align particularly-well with any of the Three Paths.)

Besides the creation of new GoA-level Orders of High Merit, TRMs also 
expressed Their wish to elevate the Kraken and Yew Bow from their current 
sub-AoA level up to the AoA-level, and make them polling orders like the 
Pearl, Dolphin and Stag.  The resulting award structure would look something 
like this:

Society        Orders of          Orders of
Peerage   ---  High Merit   ---     Merit
(PoA)            (GoA)              (AoA)

LAUREL    ---  (new order)  ---  Pearl (A&S)

PELICAN   ---  (new order)  ---  Golden Dolphin (Service)

CHIVALRY  ---  (new order)  ---  Sea Stag  (Marshal: Education)
          ---  (new order)  ---  Kraken    (Marshal: Prowess)
          ---  (new order)  ---  Yew Bow   (Marshal: Archery)
          ---  White Scarf  ---   (none)   (Marshal: Rapier)

This proposal generated much discussion. :)

A suggestion was put forth by members of the crowd which supported a 
modification to the original proposal.  This modification would elevate the 
current orders to become Grant-bearing orders of high merit, and would cause 
the creation of new AoA-level orders below them.  That structure might look 
somewhat like this:

Society          Orders of         Orders of
Peerage   ---    High Merit   ---    Merit
(PoA)              (GoA)            (AoA)

LAUREL    ---      Pearl      --- (new order) (A&S)

PELICAN   ---  Golden Dolphin --- (new order) (Service)

CHIVALRY  ---     Sea Stag    --- (new order) (Marshal: Education)
          ---    (new order)  ---   Kraken    (Marshal: Prowess)
          ---    (new order)  ---   Yew Bow   (Marshal: Archery)
          ---    White Scarf  ---   (none)    (Marshal: Rapier)

Notwithstanding the discussion about whether to make the existing orders 
Grant-bearing ones or not, there was a different but related, topic that 
TRMs raised.  To wit, "What should we call the new orders?"  The following 
six names were proposed by TRMs, although none of these were specifically 
paired to any of the five new orders.  The names are:

Nereid, Narwhal, Conch, Opal, Ibis, and Manatee

For those not fluent in award-speak, some abridged defintions from 
dictionary.com are in *order* (pardon the pun!):

- NEREID (NEER-ee-id) n : (Greek mythology) any of the 50 sea nymphs who 
were daughters of the sea god Nereus
- NARWHAL (NAR-wal) n : small arctic whale the male having a long spiral 
ivory tusk
- CONCH (konk, konch) n: a brightly colored spiral shell, also, in works of 
art, the shell used by Tritons as a trumpet
- OPAL (OH-pal) n: a translucent mineral of variable color; some varieties 
are used as gemstones
- IBIS (EYE-bis) n: Any of various wading birds of temperate and tropical 
regions, having a long, slender, downward-curving bill.
- MANATEE (MAN-a-tee) n: Any of various aquatic mammals, having paddlelike 
front flippers and a horizontally flattened tail and found in warm coastal 
waters of Florida, northern South America, West Africa, and the Caribbean.

To conclude, please consider TRMs original proposal, as well as the 
alternate put forth by several at Curia.  Also, please consider whether or 
not there may be a completely DIFFERENT proposal that may make more sense to 
you, or even whether you believe it best to leave things as they currently 
are.  Lastly, if new orders are indeed to be created, please give the 
suggested order names your thought and try to form an opinion as to which 
ones should be used where.  If particular ones do not seem well-suited to 
you, perhaps you might suggest other names that you may prefer to see used.

The Merry Rose is a dandy place for these issue to be bandied about, and I 
believe that discussion/education should always be encouraged.   And as 
stated above (waaaay up near the top!) Their Majesties are VERY MUCH 
interested in your opinion, but you must contact Them DIRECTLY if you wish 
your voice to be heard.  :)

I hope this clarification has been of some service.

Yours,
// Vard //

Lord Edvard Gayer, Pursuivant
Atlantian College of Heralds

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