Dr. Livingston, I Presume?

[femkes_follies]

Anybody who knows me knows that I have a teeny tiny tendency to grab things and run with them. Today's flavor: Group Dynamics in the SCA.

Or: Why is New Group Formation in the MK the subject of so much hostility?

Cruising through various webbings of Society History has brought me to new imponderables. Bear with me as I wander in disjointed fashion through them.

The western Kingdoms in general seem to be able to spawn Principalities and often new Kingdoms with a minimum of spleen. Some of the Principalities in question remain parts of the parent Kingdom indefinitely. The Eastern Kingdoms seem to approach them with a little more indifference, but in the end manage to foster new groups with a regularity that suggests it's generally accepted practice. The Middle - fights it tooth and nail, then heaps coals on the head of the incipient groups and further tends to drive a wedge that makes peaceful co-existence as Kingdom and subdivision difficult, if not impossible. Interestingly, neither Ealdomere or Calontir has spun off a Principality either. Though I have no idea if this is due to lack of numbers, lack of desire, or an inherited cultural knee-jerk reaction against it from their mother Kingdom.

For whatever reason, new group formation of any kind in the MK seems to be greeted with hostility. Cat-pissing territorial wars, on a regular basis. Nobody wants to give up "power", "land", or "dominion." Arrrggghhhh! And yet, the MK has occasionally allowed the formation of a new group on another groups' territory against Kingdom Law. Even non-official groups in the Kingdom have a knee-jerk reaction to conflict that often involves a spin-off group (guild, household, whatever) followed by attempts at crushing out the life from the parent group.

The "Regions" of the Midrealm are officially "administrative constructs" with no offical status. And yet, they now have a slate of officers and other elements of officialdom. While breathing about forming a principality remains almost enough to warrant Banishment from the Royal Presence with certain Crowns.

The hubs opines that the differences in general attitude vary by how the Society started in that region. The Kingdom of the West began on a college campus. Thus, Multiple Colleges under the Aegis of the University are Acceptable (TM). His suspicion is that much of the formative culture of the MK happened at Sci-Fi conventions. Primarily among those who had nothing that made them feel powerful outside the Society. And so the cling to every scrap of "power" that makes them feel important and object to any perceived diminution of it strenuously. Not sure if he's right or not.

I just don't get it....

Comments

[mistressarafina.livejournal.com]

Hola. Our new group formation is going ok out in these parts. Not sure if you know, but we're creating a shell barony on top of 5 groups in Chicago. The biggest concerns seem to be giving the barony too much power over the cantons or having any one canton be more important than another.

I think it'd be cool if all the current regions were permanent principalities. You'd have more royal presence even in the far reaches and maybe a little more fun. (Well maybe I'm the only one who thinks more royalty would be fun) But I digress, pretend power seems to cause as many problems as real power.

Ealdomere

[estela-dufrayse.livejournal.com]

I can shed some light on this Kingdom...

They probably will not ever break into smaller Principalities. Since the entire Kingdom covers less than the Province of Ontario, there's really no need. You can drive from one end of their Kingdom to the other in less time tham it takes to drive from Halifax to Montreal...The Crown Principality of the Northern Shores is far larger, we encompass Newfoundland and Labrador as well!

[lilacmoon5.livejournal.com]

Atlantia has a lot of animosity regarding formation of new groups/principalities and issues of a large kingdom. Last summer our Barony, 45 minutes from D.C. was the only group to put in a bid for 12th night. We were told no thank you, its too far and the deadline was extended. So someone again brought up (I understand its a 5 year cycle) the idea of a northern principality. About 50% thought of it as a permanent principality and the rest seemed to think a principality was inevitably a bid to break up the kingdom.

On another note, this winter it was proposed by the King or Prince to make a deal with a site and set the crown tournaments at a location in the center of the kingdom. They have a huge problem getting bids because they allow the King and Queen to select their own Crown Tourney Site. Nothing like trying to reserve a place less than a year out. This proposed center site is over 7 hours from the edges of the kingdom. I guess that is an improvement since crown and coronation are usually held 12-14 hours from D.C.

Calontir

[eleanor-deyeson.livejournal.com]

Calontir is not too huge - just 4 states and Fayetteville Arkansas. Even the most difficult group to group distance is only about 9 hours.

Calontir also is not too huge in numbers of people. If you are traveling to events at least 6 times a year, you are known to most of the rest of the traveling kingdom. True, about 1/3 to 1/2 of any and every particular group doesn't travel that much, but the travelers do talk about the noteworthy deeds and skills of the less traveled group members. (When groups have less than 1/4th of their members who are "playing on a kingdom level" then the group's health sometimes comes into question.)

Calontir also has a very strong kingdom identity, built in part by the strong resistance to our birth by the crowns and power-brokers of the Middle. I can't imagine anyone in Calontir wanting to split off.