[MR] On Titles,

[Siegfried]

 From my experience in Atlantia:

> First, the question... are Grants of Arms without any other award (such as a 
> Court Baronage) common in these parts? 

'Bare' grants of arms do happen, but are rare.  Typically the few times 
I have seen them given out, it was because it was given to someone who 
was WELL overdue for getting an AoA, so instead they were given a GoA as 
kind of a 'sorry we never got around to this'.

It also of course depends upon who is sitting the throne, and their 
preference for such things.

However, a Court Baronage only comes with an AoA by default.  Often 
GoA's are silently (or audibly) given to the person at the same time. 
But a Court Baronage doesn't come with a GoA.

On the other hand, in Atlantia we have orders of high merit (Pearl, 
Golden Dolphin, Yew Bow, etc) that all come with GoA's, and that is how 
most people, with GoA's earned them.

>   So if folks want to use a different title for 
> independent GoAs (which are also certainly hard to achieve, hands down),

Well, there ends up being a slight problem on that front.  Since as 
stated a 'bare' GoA is rare.  And once someone would happen to already 
have a GoA through an order, they won't be given a bare one.

>    Sorry for the air of sarcasm but in my old 
> Barony (Carolingia, EK... which I love dearly but getting awards in a Barony 
> that size was no small feat) no one ever got an AoA unless they'd been in 
> for at least 4 years and highly visible (lesting they walked on water) so we 
> took them to heart and think of them as things that we should be "rightly 
> proud" to have as well.

Yes, I originally came from AEthelmearc in an area that was quite 
similar to what you have described.  However at least here in Northern 
Atlantia ... time to AoA for a 'very enthusiastic and active member' can 
be as short as 9 months ...

Siegfried