King's & Queen's Rattan Championship Summer 2014 Omega & Etheldreda

In the summer of 2014 AS 49 my Barony of an Dubhaigeainn won the bid to host the K&Q Rattan Championship.

This was a Royal Progress event, (RP) meaning that the sitting King and Queen as well as the sitting Heirs,  come to your local area and attend the event...

The Royals need a space of their own (the Royal Room) that is not needed at Non-RP events.
If the Heirs attend they need space too, that is not needed at Non-RP events.

There will be at least 2 courts (local and Royal).
There may be Vigils and Elevations; these usually mean a morning court as well as the evening court.
Vigils require extra space that is not needed at Non-RP events.

Local people will receive awards.
Non-local people will receive awards.
Royal Entourage people will receive awards.
The Royal Heralds need space that is not needed at Non-RP events.

There are usually Merchants selling things.
Merchants require extra space that is not needed at Non-RP events.


There is MUCH more stuff for court, and much more time required for court

There is usually a larger than normal feast.
There may be 'Special Guest Feastocrats' (folk who normally wouldn't cook for a Non-RP event.)
There is usually a special menu, with items that are not usually available at Non-RP events, like Duck, Venison, etc.

There will be extra people coming for the special Feast.
There will be the people that come with these extra people.

There will be extra people coming to participate in the Main Thing (in this case the Rattan fighting.)
There will be the people that come with these extra people.

There will be extra people coming because It's An RP.
There will be the people that come with these extra people.

There will be extra people in the Entourage for the Royals, and for the Heirs.
There will be the people that come with these extra people.

There will be extra people coming to Shop at the Merchant Booths.
There will be the people that come with these extra people.

There will be MORE CHILDREN among all these extra people.
There will need to be children's activities.
We usually have this, even at Non-RP events, but this will need to have larger capacity.

There will be A LOT more cars.

All of this requires a LOT more space, time, organization, and (you guessed it) people that are not needed at Non-RP events.

The autocrat for this event was Thorolf Egilsson, the real life husband of then Baroness Mistress Suzanne Neuber DeLondres.  I volunteered to be his assistant. The assistant is the Autocrat should the regular autocrat need to go offsite (which he did.) The assistant basically is a second set of eyes, ears, hands as needed during the event.  You spend a lot of time waling around the site. Either you are on a mission to find a particular person, or an answer, or a thing; or you are checking on your Marshall's, retainers, liaisons etc. to make sure that all is well with them. You also have to fix it (or find someone who can, or get the autocrat in on it) when all is NOT well.

I also wrangled the merchants.  This was not really a big deal as we didn't need to charge them anything  extra. It was mostly serving as point of contact before and on the day, and showing them where to set up, and making sure they closed during evening court. I did have one merchant who was a last minute entry, who was told by the Baroness that she could set up in a spot that was actually reserved for someone else, and had a bit of a kerfuffle when I required her to move.  She was a local who actually should have known better, but it all worked out in the end.

I also did my favorite thing to do at an event, Retain!!!  It was at this point that I met and served then Princess Caoilfhionn and Prince Brennan, and their children Girl C and Boy B.  The Princess and I hit it off very well, and became quite friendly.  It is only geography that gets in the way of becoming closer friends... she's in Jersey and has 2 young kids, I'm on Long Island with teenage/20's kids... different mundane worlds, similar personalities... Brennan and Caoilfhionn went on to sit the thrones 3 times, and I retained for them in each reign.  They are 2 of my "I would love for you to speak" for my elevation (if it ever happens)

The event went well and helped establish An Dub as a good RP location.  I got more Autocratting experience and learned a lot about an RP and how it works. I met more folks from off the Island and had a lot of fun.

Spring Schola: Russian Exchange Ducklings March 2014

Later in March of 2014...

Back at home in An Dubhaigeainn... 

My Peer had me co-Autocrat something with him earlier... now it was my turn to take the reins.  I was still not comfortable doing it alone, so Lady Juliana le Chaluner decided to sign on and do it with me.

Spring Schola:  Russian Exchange Ducklings!

The Ducks of the Barony of An Dubhaigeainn have turned 22 and are soon to graduate college.  What are we going to do?!  We have mastered Swimming, Waddling, Quacking, & Rolling Water Off Our Backs, so it's time for some fun traveling.

We are excited to announce this year's annual Spring Schola and Feast inspired by the faraway lands of Russia!  Learn to cook the "local" cuisine, classes in fiber arts, silk painting, scribal arts, and perhaps even learn some nefarious uses for medieval herbs.  Get your hands dirty with woodworking and blacksmithing, or put on those gauntlets for some martial instruction in both heavy list and archery.  Exact class schedule TBA, See www.SCADucks.org or this listing for updates


Baronial Champions Lady Juliana le Chaluner and Lady Galle Amsel will be stepping down from their posts after a long hard winter, calling for new Arts & Sciences and Bardic Champions to be named on this day.  All are invited and encouraged to participate in these Annual Competitions that welcome Spring's Beauty back into the lands of our Barony.


https://eastkingdom.org/EventDetails.php?eid=2580

It was a great event... classes, martial stuff... it was fun.  I did well as an Autocrat, and gained the confidence needed to do it again, on my own.

Biggest lesson learned is that the Autocrat CANNOT sit troll.  I knew there was a reason for me to sit in for Lorenz back at Yule, but I tried to sit troll anyway.  It worked only because I had a co-autocrat in Juliana, and had further assistance both at troll and in ther rest of running things from my lord husband and my Peer.

SCA Invades Genericon March 2014

My daughter, Miriam Giant Slayer, was an Undergrad at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. They have an annual Sci/Fi,Fantasy,Anime,Geeky stuff convention and in March of 2014 she was on the staff... so she posted on our local FB page for folks to come up and help... of course the Family FitzRobert couldn't resist.  

My Lord Husband, Ronan FitzRobert and I drove up to Troy NY for him to Fence & Fight, and me to Chatelaine. Baron Don Jean Xavier Boullaine and his Lady wife Baroness Gianetta also went up for the same reason... They were socially close with Miriam, and wanted to help her.  

We spent the day fencing, schmoozing, helping folk try on chain mail and helm, heft weapons, hit a pell... Ronan also made an "Emergency Brisket" for Miriam (which she and her friends enjoyed for the next 2 days) and we had fun demonstrating our hobby to a bunch of our Target Audience... college kids and local Geeks/Nerds... we helped to Recruit for the local group (Anglespur) with no net gain for an Dubhaigeiann...except good will.... and a daughter's smile for her parents.

Totally Worth It.

My first time Autocratting -Before I got my Belt, June 2013

On June 8, 2013 there was an event held in the Barony of An Dubhaigeainn called The Test.  It was the first of a planned annually recurring friendly competition between the An Dub Ducks and the OstGardr Seahorses.  The name would later change to The Challenge
It was all Ateño's idea, and since he had just consented to take me on as his protege he decided to ask me to assist him in Autocratting - basically running the thing.

It was also sort of a test for me.
Could I handle working with him?
Could I handle an Autocrat role for an event of this type?
  It required
a) getting the various champions (Heavy List, Fencing, Art & Science, Bardic, Archery, Thrown Weapons, and Brewing) to co-ordinate a contest for a Tournament, and
b) running the event so that
c) the Coronets of both locales would be able to watch the competitions, and make judgments on them; and
d) also having things for the general attendees to do; and
e) stuff for the kids, too.

It ended up going very well.
I made the site tokens for the event.
They were wooden disks which I sanded down the front, back, and edges, and then stamped with either a Duck head and Seahorse tail, or a Seahorse head and a Duck tail.
I made about 120 of them, 60 of each, so that the token could reflect to which side the wearer was allied.
They also had some wording on it.  It was all done with ink stamps, the words one letter at a time... it was time consuming, but came out well.
People seemed to like them.

I learned enough to be comfortable with working with/for Ateño, and he must have liked what he saw of me.
We had our little ceremony not too long after, and formalize our relationship.

June 29 2013 The Start of the Journey

At an annual event in the Barony of An Dubhaigeainn, (Suffolk County, Long Island) after being involved with the Society for Creative Anachronisms for about 5 years, I was honored to enter into a Master/Protege relationship with Baron Master Ateño of Annun Ridge, OP, OL etc.

The event was called Potted Arms and was held at the UU Church in Huntington. In a semi-public ceremony, Ateño took on an Apprentice, Onora inghean Ui Ruairc, and myself as a Protege. We refer to each other as "Belt Siblings."

Above L-R Master Vettorio, Me, now THL Onora, Master Richard the Poor of Ely and an Unidentified populace member.

He presented each of us with a Contract, ably scribed by Master Vettorio Antonello, with the terms of the agreement, Ateño's Arms, and our Arms respectively.  The space for my Arms was left blank because they had not passed yet.


The SCA has a College of Heralds, which, among other things, checks each person's proposed name and armory design to make sure it is not too close to ones that already exist.  In the Society, one never HAS TO have their name registered, or even come up with armory.  But if one DOES, it keeps anyone else from getting too close to yours.

Mine have since passed and I'm using my Arms as my Profile picture.  It is supposed to represent ME so... why not.

After the signing of the document by Ateño, myself, and three adult witnesses, Ateño called forth a local child.  He said that in period, documents would frequently be witnessed by a child so that, many years later, presumably even after the Principal signers were long gone, the now Aged Child would be able to say "I Remember"

This was the Formal beginning of my Path of Service, but I had already taken some steps upon it before I formalized it.

Flashback to Pennsic War XLI (41) in 2012.  The Prince and Princess of the East were Edward II and Thyra I, and did not have enough retainers in Camp.  A retainer is someone who follows the Titled Leader (Royal, Heir, Coronet etc) around, carries their things, keeps them on Schedule, holds the gifts they receive and the favors they give out, keeps them fed and hydrated, etc.  Retainers help keep the Dream alive by making their principal look unburdened by the minutia of the mundane, up on the proverbial pedestal, and able to focus on the folks in front of them.  It is a lot of fun, for me.

I didn't know that what I like to do was actually a JOB. I didn't know it was actually considered something important, that needed to be done, that it was SERVICE. I had read about the East Kingdom award structure, and about the Peers, and what they do, but I did not connect a Pelican to being a helper.

At that fateful Pennsic, Baroness Gianetta announced to Camp that Their Royal Highnesses needed more retainers. I volunteered and she took me over to EK Royal to introduce me. I met Princess Thyra, and her staff, and started retaining.  I got to hang with the Royals, meet more people, be privy to what was going on.  During EK Court later that week, I got to be in a physical position where I could SEE and HEAR everything!!! It was AWESOME... I could see the look on the faces of Award recipients, get a really good look at the fantastic scrolls and awards that the Eastern Artisans create, and then Give Away!! I could hear not only the Herald making his pronouncements, but also the sotto voce sideline stuff.  I could see (and be part of) the stage magic that goes into any type of performance. (And, believe me, Court is as much of a performance as any play, but with more audience participation and less script.)

Back home, after Pennsic, I started to officially retain for our current Baron and Baroness, none other than Ateño, and his wife Lassar.  I got to know them both, learned more about the society, and discovered that I was On this path, and I realized I wanted to Formalize it.

Ateño did not want to take on dependents while he was the Coronet.
I asked him to consider me just before he stepped down.
Onora had already had the discussion with him about becoming his apprentice.  She is a phenomenal artist.
An apprentice's path is more about the physical art they can produce, and the research and work that goes into it.
An apprentice is less oriented toward service, and more toward art.
An apprentice may become a Maunche (which Onora has) and may also become a Laurel.
That is the highest Society Level Recognition for Art.
The mentoring of an apprentice is a little different from that of a protege, because the focus is different.
My request to Ateño to become his Protege was asking him to a) take on a second dependent when he might have been looking for a break after 5 years in Service as Coronet, b) take on a differently focused mentee, and c) take on well...me. I am a whole different ball of wax.

Above L-R Master Richard, me, Ateño and Lassar

He (obviously) accepted, and the summer after he stepped down, we had our ceremony.