[MR] Why new crowns?

[egeorges]

More than one person has expressed a wish for clarification on this issue,
so I'll try to address it.

Keep in mind, that on this particular issue, I am speaking as an individual,
not on behalf of the New Regalia Committee as a whole.  Other members of the
Committee, and those that appointed us to this task, as well as the Finance
Committee who is overseeing us, may wish to chime in here as well with their
thoughts to give a more complete picture.

Currently, there are 3 sets of Royal Coronets in the regalia -- the "Sea
World" crowns, the "Sea Shell" Crowns, and a set of crowns with green
stones.  Each of the crowns suffers from various design flaws that
exacerbate the wearability and durability issues.  The Sea Shell crowns are
very heavy and are prone to losing stones out of the settings.  The Sea
World crowns have a curious weight distribution issue that tends to send
them tumbling off the wearer's head at inopportune moments.  The green stone
crowns are very fragile, and do not travel well, so are of limited use.
None of our current crowns are adjustable to the wearer save by padding the
inside.  

All of these crowns are currently sevicable, but all of them have been
through quite a bit of wear and tear over the years and all have been
repaired several times.  Remember, these are items that generally get
transported around a lot, worn a lot, and worn by a new person every 6
months.  Unlike a piece of personal jewelry, these crowns get subjected to a
significant amount of wear and tear in a very short timeframe.  Yes, we can
continue to repair over and over again the crowns we have, but with each
repair the crowns become weaker in construction, less durable, and even more
prone to breaking.  This is the simple, irrefutable fact of metallurgy --
every time you resolder a joint or re-set a stone, the metal gets a little
weaker in the wearing.  Sooner or later, the cost and inconvenience of
continual repair begins to exceed the cost of replacement.  Replacement of
one or more of these crowns is, in some respects, inevitable.  None of us
wants to wait until the crowns are irretrievably broken before replacing
them.  To do that would mean that we would lose even the ability to display
some of the older regalia for future generations of Atlantians.  Good
husbandry of our regalia requires that from time to time we create new
crowns and retire old ones.  The seashell crowns, which are our newest
crowns, are at least six years old, probably older, I think.

The New Regailia Committee was created by Cuan and Padraiga during their
second reign to solicit designs and oversee construction for a new set of
crowns for the King and Queen (no decision has yet been made to create new
crowns for Their Highnesses).  They solicited membership for the committee
via the Acorn.  The Committee is being overseen by the Kingdom Seneshal,
Their Majesties, and the Kingdom Finance Committee and the creation of the
new crowns will be done in accord with the Kingdom Financial Policy.  If you
have questions about the financial end of it, I'm unfortunately not an
expert on that.  I do know that Kingdom Financial Policy has been carefully
crafted to avoid abuses of Kingdom resources by making sure that major
expenditures are carefully reviewed by a range of individuals.  Someone else
may want to provide more information on that end of things.

I hope this helps clarify it a little.

In Service,
Luce Antony Venus