Ironsteed Chivalry

And while we're on the subject

2008-08-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-15T21:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-13T06:09:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-08-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

(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

2008-07-18T06:44:00.000-07:00

(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

2008-01-13T01:27:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-03T17:56:00.000-08:00

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

GIVING OFFENSE

2007-12-22T13:53:00.000-08:00

To quote Heinlein's famous inversion of the dictum from the Officer's Handbook:
"A gentleman is someone who never unintentionally gives offense."

There are times when it is appropriate to give offense -- usually over matters of principle. Most of the time it is highly inappropriate. Part of being a gentleman or a lady in the SCA is in recognizing the difference and acting on it -- no matter how much petty personal satisfaction we might gain by doing otherwise.

--Ironsteed

IRREGULAR SCHEDULE

2007-10-08T10:57:00.001-07:00

I'm not going to be posting regularly for October and possibly the first part of November.

A combination of work, travel and some rather arcane teaching is going to be eating a lot of my time, so posts will be catch as catch can.

For which my apologies. But I should be back, better than ever (?) after the first week in November.
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--Rick Cook

PREROGATIVE CREEP -- AND PREROGATIVE CREEPIES

2007-09-29T13:27:00.000-07:00

Recently the question came up in an Atenveldt forum from a relatively new member who wanted to add a jaguar-skin sash to his outfit (Aztec persona). He was afraid he'd get in trouble for it because the Masters at Arms or squires might take offense.

Legally, of course, he had nothing to worry about. Society-wide white baldrics (sashes) are reserved for Masters at Arms and in Atenveldt (at least) red baldrics denote squires. But he was still afraid someone might hassle him about it.

And I'm afraid he might be right. In spite of the fact that he is within his rights, there may well be some pompous jerk who will inform him that he can’t wear a sash of any color because baldrics are the mark of Masters.

This isn’t theoretical. In Atenveldt we’ve had people try to extend the circlet of yellow heraldic roses reserved for ex-queens to a lady wearing roses of any color.

These are examples of prerogative creep: Taking a right or custom and trying to extend it to cover things it was never intended to.

I'm sorry to say that this has even been enshrined in Aten law. Coronets, circlets with strawberry leaves for dukes, embattled for counts, and pointed for barons, are reserved for their respective classes of peers. However society-wide, there is no restriction a metal circlet of plain outline.

But in Atenveldt plain metal circlets are forbidden to the general populace. The reason, I am told is that years ago two or three high-ranking ladies objected because plain metal circlets might be confused with coronets and some people (horrors!) might actually mistake the person wearing a circlet for a duchess, countess or baroness. Their subsidiary reason, I am also told, is that the proper coronets were heavy and they wanted to wear something lighter.

When this nonsense was first proposed, the College of Arms attempted to stomp on it by issuing a ruling that plain metal circlets were permitted to anyone in the SCA. Unfortunately the Board overruled them on the grounds that this was a matter best left to the kingdoms.

First off, the justifications given for restricting circlets are nonsense. Even a blind man can tell the difference between a plain circlet and one with points, strawberry leaves, etc. The chances of legitimate confusion are just plain nil. Second, if the coronets are too heavy, then either get a lighter one or don't wear one. It's not going to kill you for people not to realize immediately you're a duchess or whatever.

This is an example of prerogative creep driven by the prerogative creepies' own rather pathetic sense of inadequacy. They do this sort of thing because they're terrified that without all the jinglies they won't get the respect they deserve. (What they miss is that they tend to get exactly the respect they deserve - i.e. not much - no matter how much junk jewelry they can hang on their person. With sane human beings respect flows to the person, not the awards. The ones who respect the awards above the people are likely to have other problems anyway.)

There is another kind of prerogative creep that often doesn't even owe anything to the people it allegedly honors. This is the made-up tradition.

Sometimes the tradition is made up out of the whole cloth, as the long-ago notion that dukes have a royal presence and should be bowed to within a certain distance. Sometimes it is a weirdly distorted version of a legitimate tradition.

Because Atenveldters historically have had an exaggerated respect for dukes, due to the outstanding examples who regularly visited us from the West in the early days, a lot of these phony traditions center around dukes.

One that has proven just about unkillable is the notion of Ducal Privilege.

In its fairy-tale form Ducal Privilege claims that a duke has the right to enter or leave the crown lists at any point he chooses. ('He', because there are no female dukes in Atenveldt.) This is a total misunderstanding of the tradition and even some dukes believe it. We actually had one try to enter the lists by claiming Ducal Privilege a few years ago and at least one Duchess (not his) claimed to me privately that such a privilege exists.

It does not. This is a complete and utter misunderstanding of Ducal Privilege and it has never been applied to entering the Crown Lists in Atenveldt that I am aware of.

Ducal Privilege as it legitimately exists in Atenveldt was inherited from the West. It is the privilege of a Duke to withdraw from the Crown List at any time, not to enter it at any time!

Rumor hath it that the reason this privilege was established in the West was that there were certain fighters no rational person in the West wanted to see on the throne. Since aside from being acceptability to the Crown there were no bars on a belted fighter fighting in the list and since rationality was no more thickly spread in the West than it was in any other kingdom, the better fighters, dukes included, tended to fight in the lists whether they wanted to be King or not. Rather than feign injury, the Western Crown and the Dukes chose to establish the principle that they could withdraw at any point - when the idiots had been eliminated, in other words.

To my knowledge this real form of Ducal Privilege was exercised in Atenveldt precisely once. One of the visiting Western Dukes withdrew from a (non-crown) list simply to establish the principle.

So how did this nonsense about entering lists get started? The answer is that someone half-remembered an old custom and embellished it in repeating it. The person probably wasn't a duke, but he or she was a committed royalist and wanted to build up the image and prestige of dukes in Atenveldt.

I don't think this rumor was even started for political gain. I think it was just an 'old-timer' sitting around shooting the breeze pulling stuff out of his or her belly button. Of course the royalists seized on it and repeated the notion as if it were undisputed fact.

It's worth noting that the duke that attempted to apply this a few years ago and both his ardent supporters on the Aten list in the discussion that followed are royalists of what passes for an extreme stripe these days. (By the way, even if Ducal Privilege in that form had existed, the Duke couldn't have exercised it. Traditions are overruled by law and Aten Kingdom Law has very specific requirements for entrants in the Crown List and their Consorts. This is result of a long run of bad kings and the realization that anyone who might be king needs to be able to handle the job.)

Of course as the Most Ancient of Atenveldt I find prerogative creep highly annoying. I know it's nonsense because I was there. Often I'm the one who explained these things to the other founding members.

I find it really annoying when prerogative creep is used to buttress a particular political/social position, such as the phony Ducal Privilege, and it drives me to foaming fury when it is used for the sole purpose of lording it over other SCA members as in the circlet silliness.

Prerogatives, like traditions, have real uses in the SCA. To the extent that they support and embellish the goals of the organization they are worthy and should be followed.

To the extent that they are used to set up artificial divisions, create useless privileges or are used to try to exalt one person by stepping on others, they are to be ruthlessly rooted out.

To me that is a form of bullying and I utterly despise bullies.

On Correcting Gaffes

2007-09-21T01:51:00.000-07:00

Most of us don't get it right the first time. In our early days in the SCA everyone blunders. We do things, say things or wear things that aren't appropriate and when we do that it helps us for someone to point it out.

That is it helps us unless the person doing the pointing comes across as a nasty, overbearing jerk. Done as an exercise in social superiority or putting someone in their place it is destructive. It has also cost the SCA a lot of potentially good, productive members.

In a number of cases I would much rather have had the innocent newcomer who got driven away from the SCA than the twit who drove them off. Unfortunately there are some people who seem to get off on making others feel small. We don't need them, but we've got them and the best thing you can do is keep them away from newcomers.

So how do you handle a situation where someone says or does something inappropriate out of ignorance. The key word is 'gently'. You want to make the correction with as little ill-feeling as possible. If you can't make your point without being hostile, superior or just plain snotty, then leave the correction to someone else.

Remember the idea is not to make the person feel bad. It is to let the person know how we do things.

As part of this, make the correction privately. Doing it publicly, especially in front of the person's friends, causes unnecessary embarrassment and hurt.

And if you can, offer some positive reinforcement to the person. Surely you can find something they're doing right to compliment them on.

Finally, if you're a peer or otherwise loaded down with jingly trinkets, remember that you're probably pretty awesome to a newcomer. You may feel it's silly, but it's a fact of life. Consider the effect you're likely to have on that person because of the weight of all that metal.

High ranking peers need to be especially gentle in their approach for exactly that reason. Everyone who knows Duke Poohbear of Fuzziecuddle knows he's an absolute sweetheart. But someone meeting his 6-foot-4, 250-pound grace in full regalia for the first time won't know it and his rank and appearance are going to magnify the effect of his words.

Now there is one exception. When someone is behaving like a jerk and disturbing or annoying others a sterner tone is often called for. A non-confrontational approach is still best, but I'm a lot firmer with someone like that.

The Most Important Question

2007-09-02T01:48:00.000-07:00

Since I'm a triple peer (royal, chivalry, pelican) I've had a number of people ask me over the years how to become a peer.

I usually answer with a question of my own:

"Do you want to be elevated to the peerage or do you want to be a peer?"

That's not a trick question. Well, actually it is, but the trickiness comes from the nature of the peerage.

Most of what a peerage brings you doesn't come from the symbols of rank or being entered into the order of precedence. In fact a lot of the formal duties of a peer are boring when they're not frustrating. (Try sitting through a couple of two-hour circles back to back while everyone else is having fun at the event.)

The good part of being a peer, the fun part, comes from the fact that people look up to peers. They tend to respect them, value their opinions and hold them in regard.

But that isn't conferred with a peerage. Ideally, a peerage is the SCA's way of saying "you're what we want to be when we grow up." It is a recognition that someone has achieved the skill and displayed the personal characteristics that represent the ideals and aspirations of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Again, ideally the peerage recognizes these characteristics, but it does not create them.

I've pissed off a couple of kings, and not a few peerage circles, by pointing out that neither the king nor a peers circle can create a peer. They can only recognize that one exists in our midst.

The other hard fact is that elevation to the peerage is not a fair process. Most kings at least try to make it fair and some strive mightily to find and elevate deserving candidates, but at the end of the day and with the best will in the world, good people get overlooked.

And of course not all kings are good and not all peers deserve the honor. That too is a fact of life. Favoritism, political considerations and good, old-fashioned sucking up all play roles in who gets elevated.

Of course there are always people for whom the symbols are more important than the thing. They are desperate to have that medallion or belt or baldric or whatever, to be addressed as "sir", or "master" or "mistress", to be seen hanging around with the others with similar accouterments, to get a special place at court.

Mostly those people want to be peers because they think it will fill a gaping hole inside them. That being made a peer will make them better, wash away their inadequacies and make people respect them.

They're wrong. And many of them end up being very frustrated.

The choice is simple. If you want to be a peer, act like a peer. Display the virtues of honesty, chivalry, noblesse oblige, and support for the goals of the SCA and your Crown (the institution, not the person currently wearing it). Further yourself in your chosen art or skill. Teach others as you can. Learn from those who are better than you are, eagerly and humbly. Avoid excessive pride and overbearing behavior.

And guess what? You will receive the respect and the other important things that go with a peerage whether you are ever elevated or not.