[MR] The Whole Peerage Thing (Enough is Enough)

[Alexander Gervais]

As much as the recognition of activities/skills is at the heart of the 
matter, just let it lie, please.  A Peerage plus $3.00 will get you a 
hot chocolate at Starbucks.  The Peerages (just like all the other 
myriad awards) are "atta-boys" of differing levels within the Society.  
Some are direct from the Crown, some are entry into the appropriate 
good-ol-Peers club.

The populace in the SCA needs to get a grip and do a reality check on 
WHY they are in the Game.  If you're in it to learn something about the 
Middle Ages, make great friends, serve others selflessly and have a 
boatload of fun playing the Game then you have your head screwed on 
straight.  If you're worrying about the awards, kudos, Peerage awards et 
al, then you need to rethink what this hobby is for and read (or 
re-read) what the SCA is *supposed to be* all about.

Sure, I got my awards and such from the Crown (in Trimaris when I was 
still active before I moved to NC).  You know what meant more to me than 
that paper though?  It's the fact that my friends and even strangers in 
my kingdom saw fit to make the recommendations in the FIRST PLACE.  
Recognition by them meant more than my AoA, my GoA, my award for 
ramrodding the push of my old group (Oldenfeld) to barony.  I knew that 
the squire's belt and spurs I got from my knight were given to me for 
recognition of my honorable knightly qualities, as well as his desire to 
teach me more about heavy combat.  Even before I hung up my armor due to 
spinal problems I knew I would have never been voted a knight.  Didn't 
keep me from having fun fighting and learning.  The same goes for my red 
scarf in rapier and my protege's belt.  The fact my peers saw fit to 
recognize my best qualities meant far more than the *official* awards 
ever would.

Look at the Crowns of most kingdoms.  Do you really think they need the 
ever-loving headaches that come with the MASSIVE responsibilities, 
political crap and financial drain they take on?  They do this because 
they LOVE this game and the people in it and want to give something 
back.  In many ways the people who choose to fight and serve as Crown 
are the penultimate Peerage.  There are times it's super fun for them, 
but it's also six months of trying to live up to everybody else's 
expectation as as to what the Crown *should* be.  Truth be told, they 
already ARE the fourth Peerage, as they have to exemplify all the best 
that the other three are purported to represent.

Bottom line, if you're not having fun in this game because of some 
award, then you aren't playing this game for the right reasons.

HL Alexander Gervais le Poitevin, currently inactive but living in Elvegast
formerly from the Barony of Oldenfeld, Trimaris