And while we're on the subject

I ran across this quote recently -- don't know who said it, but it's true.

'People will forget what you said. They will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel!'

He who is full of himself

is full of something else too.

Awards and titles don't make you special. Your actions and words make you special. One of the things that helps make a person special, in any context, is respect for others.

How To Be A Bad King In 3 Easy Lessons

It isn't easy to be a bad king in the SCA. If you don't do anything, you're still an okay king. Being a bad king takes active effort on your part. Fortunately you can do it in three easy steps.

1) Start with a bright idea and don't talk to anybody about it.
Well, you can talk to your buddies if you're sure they won't disagree with you. Above all, don't talk to anyone who might not support your brainstorm. Don't mention it to your officers and be very careful not to reveal it to people in general.

2) Spring it on everybody as a fiat accompli. Don't let anyone know about it until you proclaim it. Preferably catch everyone flat-footed at an inconvenient time, like a week before the event where it goes into force.

3) When the inevitable storm of protest starts, try to weasel your way out of it. Lie about your reasons for the decision, try to shift the blame to others, distort and misrepresent the events leading up to it and never, never, never reverse yourself. Throw temper tantrums if possible to demonstrate the wisdom of your decision.

Of course the decision is almost sure to be overturned as soon as the next king takes the throne. Or if you do a really good job of being a bad king, the Board will overrule you and remove you at King.

See, wasn't that easy?

--Ironsteed

The Power Of The Crown

Although I'm often accused of being an anti-royalist, the truth is that I am perhaps the staunchest royalist in the Kingdom of Atenveldt.

What confuses people is that I deal in the true power of the Crown and not in imaginary prerogatives or what's written into Kingdom law.

The Essence of the Crown's power is spiritual -- manna, if you will. The power flows from the Crown's position as the focus for the dreams, ideals and pageantry of the SCA. A king has power not because Kingdom law or the ukases of the Board grant him power. He has power flowing from the belief of the people.

The truth is that the SCA could be a representative democracy and the King would still be the most powerful person in the Kingdom, followed closely by the Queen.

But the true power of the Crown is a subtle power and it takes a certain amount of skill to exercise effectively. You don't exercise it by pulling bright ideas out of your belly button and issuing orders. Or by acting on your own whims and ignoring the needs and ideals of the Society. If you try to do that the power of the Crown will turn around and bite. And believe me, it can bite hard and deep.

"Are you in a play?" The SCA as a performing art.

One of the ways SCA participants participate is by acting the part. This is the whole point behind having a persona, although personas aren't necessary to act the part. By your actions, your demeanor, by everything you say or do, especially in public, you contribute to everyone's experience at an event.

Back in the early days before anyone knew about the SCA it was common for a group of SCAers out in the real world in garb to be asked "are you in a play". The answer was no, followed by overwhelming the questioner with information about the SCA.

However there is a sense in which the SCA is a play, a play performed for the benefit of the participants rather than an audience. Like any play, the more effort the actors put into it, the more satisfying the outcome.

STONE SOUP AND THE SCA

There's an old tale of a stranger who wanders into a village with a magic stone that he claims makes soup. So the villagers boil up a big pot of water and he drops in the stone. He tastes the result and declares it's not bad but it needs salt. One of the villagers adds salt to the pot. He tastes again and suggests some carrots would be nice. Someone else produces a few carrots and cuts them up into the pot. Gradually, item by item, the people of the village contribute items to the pot and eventually everyone enjoys the delicious "stone" soup which they all contributed to.

The SCA is one of the biggest pots of stone soup around. Unlike a Ren Fair, where people go to be entertained, an SCA event is a place people go to entertain themselves. From the King and the Queen down to the newest attendee, we make the experience rather than having it made for us. Almost everything you see, everything you experience at an SCA event is a product of SCA members.

While there are many different motives for attending SCA events, we are the event. Collectively, we get out of it what we put into it.

Every time you show up to an event you add something to the soup. Just standing around in costume contributes to the soup pot. Indeed some members have gotten standing around and looking gorgeous down to a fine, high art -- especially some young ladies, but a few older ladies and some gentlemen as well. That's fine. Pretty people in pretty clothes certainly add to the ambiance.

Like any good soup simmering away on the back of the stove, SCA stone soup changes with time. The flavors blend and marry and the taste as new ingredients are constantly added. What remains constant is that the result is entirely dependent on everyone there.

So the next time you go to an event, strive to add some good memories to the pot of SCA stone soup. For yourselves and others.

IRONSTEED ON THE PEERAGE

(Note: This is exactly what it says. My thoughts and observations on the institution of the peerage. It is in no way, shape or form SCA policy. Further, no one died and made me God.)

A peerage is the King's way of saying "you're what we want to be when we grow up."
Ideally, peers are exemplars of all that is best in the society. This includes character and actions as well as skill.

A peerage is not a merit badge.
It's not a matter of completing a checklist. Character matters, perhaps more than skill. Commitment matters. Just being good at what you do is not sufficient. OTOH, it is necessary. (To make a period distinction.)

To become a peer act like a peer
Strive to practice the virtues of the peer. Those include generosity of spirit, courtesy and trying to live up to the ideals of the Society. Work at your art. Strive to learn and teach what you know. Work for the good of the SCA and its ideals.

Character, actions and skill are everything.
All the junk jewelry in the world does not make someone a true peer.

Being a peer will not improve your sex life, make people love you or even gain you much respect.
You're still you and a peerage doesn't change that. The people who think that being a peer will magically change them are going to be bitterly disappointed.

Making a peer is the most permanent thing a King can do.
Laws can be revoked by the next King. Other actions affect only the current reign. But we're stuck with a peer for as long as he or she continues to play.

The role of peerage circles is extremely limited.
The king decides who to offer elevation. By Aten law he is required to consult a circle of peers, but he doesn't have to take their advice. There is no method for polling the entire order. Circles don't vote, although the King may go around the circle and ask each peer's opinion. A peer can't blackball someone in a circle because only the King decides. There is no such thing as "being passed by the circle". In fact there isn't even a "candidate for the peerage" until His Majesty decides to ask someone if they will accept elevation.

Elevation to the peerage is not fair.
Even with the best will in the world not everyone who should be made a peer will be elevated. Some people who shouldn't be made peers will be through favoritism, politics, etc. It's been that way from the very beginning and frankly I can't imagine any system which would completely eliminate the problem.

WHY I STAY

(This is an excerpt from a letter I wrote someone who was discouraged by the behavior she saw in the SCA. It pretty well encapsulates my feelings on the matter)

I am not going to tell you not to be bitter, because God knows I am bitter about the way the SCA turned out and some of the things that are done in its name.

I will tell you that the SCA does not and never has lived up to the high and noble ideals we profess. As you may have noticed it is frequently a snakepit of backbiting, cruelty, ego and oppression.

So what then is left? Simply this:
Scattered here and there through the group, like raisins in a cheap loaf of raisin bread, are a few people who really are moved by those ideals of chivalry, courtesy, noblesse oblige and true honor. The organization attracts them, even though they remain rare -- simply because they are so rare anywhere.

Those are the people who make it worthwhile and those are the ones you should cling to. Those are the ones who make it worthwhile being in the SCA and even devoting time and energy to making the organization work when you know most of those who will reap the benefits are people who not only don't know what those words mean -- they don't even suspect.

No one can blame you if you choose not to continue to work for the organization, although some of us will thank you profoundly if you do. But find those people, cling to them and enjoy their company. That, in my bitter, hard-won experience, is the only thing that makes the SCA worthwhile.

HONOR AND REPUTATION

A while back someone on the Aten list asked for a Latin translation of the motto "Honor Before Victory." What they got was a Latin phrase that meant, roughly "Reputation Before Victory."

While that may not seem like much of a distinction, it is in fact a critical difference. Reputation is a very, very different thing from honor. In this case the mistake was almost certainly innocent -- a matter of choosing the wrong word. But confusing your honor with your reputation is deadly.

Reputation is what people say about you. Honor is what you are. You don't control your reputation, at least not completely. You are the absolute master of your own honor.

Reputation is fickle. Others make your reputation by what they say about you. Usually your reputation reflects your character, but not always. One or two malicious gossips can spread highly slanted stories, or outright lies, about you and seriously damage your reputation, at least in the short run. (In the longer run, character matters. Your own actions and words ultimately count for more than the lies others tell about you.)

But no one else can touch your honor. Your honor is what you and you alone make it. If you act honorably you enhance your honor. If you act dishonorably out of spite, convenience or to gain the opinion of others, you diminish your honor -- and so diminish yourself.

The secret of being a successful king

One of the Pope's titles is "The Servant of the Servants of God".

Generally the most successful kings are the ones who see themselves as the "Servant of the Servants of the SCA Ideals". (I refuse to use the word 'dream' because for those of us of a certain vintage "the dream" has a really nasty connotation.)

The least successful ones start with the attitude that "I'm the King so everyone is MY servant." They usually end up frustrated, disillusioned and convinced they were the victims of a massive conspiracy.

--Ironsteed