[MR] New Principalty

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Lady Margaret,

First, I don't believe I know you at all. Your name doesn't sound 
familiar. But please believe that my words below, though I stand in 
disagreement with some of what you said, are not intended to be 
hurtful. Only to point out some things I feel are important and to 
answer your question.

You ask what pain could come from forming a new kingdom and Cap'n Black 
Jack gave you an overview of what he witnessed in the Mid. Forming a 
new branch in the SCA . . . or any organization, is not simply a matter 
of gathering signatures on a petition and filling out all the required 
paperwork.

What you propose is a divorce. It may be necessary. It may be not. It 
can go well and smoothly and make something stronger at the end for 
everyone . . . or it could go hard and messy and leave all parties 
battered . . . but there will be pain either way.

You ask about pain . . . you've lobbed the first salvo of it and likely 
with no intention to do so.

Ask anyone who knows me . . . ask Duke Logan himself, and all will tell 
you that I have deep differences with His Grace, both personally and 
philosophically. But to say he has no concern in matters of the 
northern end of the kingdom because he does not live there is a slight 
that, I suspect, was not intended to be painful in any way. Yet, it is 
just the sort of statement that will be made which will rend people's 
hearts, divide groups and side-track productive discussions into 
emotional arguments which might leave scars for years.

Duke Logan has served this kingdom in many capacities, north, south and 
central, as have many people. To say he, or anyone in any part of this 
kingdom, has no interest and no say in what happens in what is still 
part of the same kingdom, to turn away the experience and advice of 
folks because they don't live in MD, DC or VA  is to have a very narrow 
view of the task you propose.

The SCA as a parent organization and all of this Kingdom, must know 
that the proposed principality has the support of the overwhelming 
majority of those who live in the geographic confines of the proposed 
branch. We must know that support has the depth of experience, the 
freshness of energy and the financial willingness to assume all levels 
of kingdom leaderships. That the populace of the new group will support 
the leadership and the events, that the events and culture will be 
varied enough to sustain interest . . . and sustain the new branch in a 
way that represents the organization, her populace and our mission well 
for the long term.

As the populace who propose such a split you must find whether there is 
support broad enough in all regions of the new principality to sustain 
that split and there begins a different kind of pain . . . because 
where will you draw the line? Literally. Do you know that folks in 
Black Diamond will support this notion as whole heartedly as those in 
Highland Ford might? What do you do with folks or groups who don't want 
to leave their mother kingdom? Force them? Overwhelm them with numbers? 
Dismiss their passions, concerns and loyalties? You will be taking 
those areas which currently sit in the mid of the kingdom and making 
them the fringe groups. How will you avoid relegating the Shire of 
Berley Cort to a place which rarely sees visitors?

How many people will the new principality be able to field for Crown 
Tourney? How many qualified applicants will there be to step forward 
for kingdom seneschale? kingdom exchequer? kingdom knights marshal? 
kingdom minister of arts and sciences? I'm not saying there won't be 
qualified applicants, I know for a fact there are very qualified folks 
in those areas . . . but are there enough? Enough to run the kingdom 
for the foreseeable future not to burn out in a too short period of 
time because remember these folks also need to sustain their home 
shires and baronies.

In the new principality will you follow the standards set by Atlantia? 
Will you be more an Eastern child? Perhaps you will model your 
philosophies more after our grandparents in the West. In what I'd 
suspect would be the region embodied by the new principality, you have 
a strong tradition of Eastern culture in one area . . . and a strong 
tradition of Atlantian in another. As a child of the East myself I 
stand as testament to the fact that those are two very different 
experiences.

The award structures, the heraldry, the NAME for heaven's sake, will 
take years to find something on which all can agree . . . behind which 
all can throw their support . . . and choosing one name over another 
that had strong support, as we will see play out now in our modern 
national politics, will be extremely painful.

I am not saying the idea should not be discussed. That is a decision 
which must be made by the folks who live there. My point is that there 
are many things that must be discussed and considered which I haven't 
seen mentioned. And, as a person who's been involved in many 
organizations in my life, it concerns me that you, seem to be at a loss 
of how this process could be painful.

I find myself agreeing with Duke Logan in that at this time I do not 
feel a split is needful. The unfortunate reality is that some will 
always be more centrally located and some will always be out on the 
edges. In the East I lived on the left edge of no where. Now I live in 
Sacred Stone and trust me when I say there are times that being in the 
middle isn't really all that much a bonus. I like Dame Anne's 
suggestion of the permanent sites and would be willing to work with 
others to determine the viability of such an idea.

I've gone on long enough and apologize for the length. Be well.

~gise