Levels of Participation
Feb. 12th, 2010 10:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
femkes_folliesWarning - I have a long commute, and it affords me time to Think(TM). This is a double-edged sword. You have been forewarned.
I hardly qualify as an SCA "old-timer". I attended my first event in 2001. So, nine years hardly amounts to toddling down the hallways in a dusty circlet with a cane. And, some years are more active than others, it must be admitted. But I've sort of been around a few blocks. And I'm still on a lot of E-mail lists - some a result of having been on all the local lists in the state whilst I was Regional Signet. I've taken notice of an interesting phenomenon.
There are different levels of participation in the Society. I know, not very profound. But I'm not talking about how much time or effort you expend, nor to how many events you may go. I'm talking more about where your "eye level" is.
Level one: We all start here, for the most part. You meet the local folks. You go to a Sewing Garb night or a fighter practice. You bring a dish to pass at the revel. You might even join a household, try to register a name, and decide "what you want to do." There are a lot of people who start here - and stop here. For them, the SCA consists almost entirely of local people. Only rarely do they attend an event, other than the annual one their local group is required by Kingdom Law to hold.
Level two: You develop influence in your local group. Maybe even hold an office - Herald, MoAS, whatever. Or authorize as a fighter. The Baroness knows your name!! You might travel an hour or so to events held by neighboring groups. And, Oh, the excitement every year or two when Royalty progresses nearby! Maybe even get a chance to stand guard at the Royalty Room or retain for Her Majesty. Your local group puts together a goody-basket of "taxes" for Their Majesties, and you go up with the entire group to present it in Court.
Level three: You become aware of things going on slightly over the heads of some of the locals - at the Baronial or Regional level. Maybe you're group Seneschal. Or a Baronial Officer. Possibly you contribute regularly to Court, in terms of award scrolls, or tokens, or Heralding when TRMs are in the area. You start to become aware that there are some people who are rather "persona non grata." Or that there may be tensions between adjoining Baronies. Hmmmm, larger things are afoot. Awards given at Court sometimes become headscratching. "Lord Doofleschmirtz got a Dragon's Heart? But he's such a back-stabbing Boob!!" You may start to be told that "the knights" or "the Laurels" are watching you!!
Level four - You begin operating on a Kingdom level. You hold a Regional or Lesser Kingdom Office, or now know enough people to be present in the Royalty Room for one reason or another. The machinations that keep the gears of the Kingdom running become less opaque. Conversely, some of the people who run them (or throw monkeywrenches in them) become more than distant figureheads and morph into actual people. You find that some of them you like a respect - and others make you cringe whenever they win another Crown or take up another office. You're a cog in the wheel - with a view up and down the entire clocktower. It's fulfilling, you feel useful - but some of the gleam and sparkle you saw and magic you felt at Level one are gone. The Society hasn't changed any - but your perspective on it has.
Level five - Crowns, Great Officers, Curia members, and Peers who really make things move around. You know how things work. And how they don't. You are aware when things in the Kingdom are broken - even though sometimes you'd rather not. People come to you with problems you'd have preferred to live in ignorance of - and expect you to solve them. But you're now those Bright, Shining People worshipped largely from afar by level one... Which can be a heady perfume, indeed.
More thoughts on this later....
I hardly qualify as an SCA "old-timer". I attended my first event in 2001. So, nine years hardly amounts to toddling down the hallways in a dusty circlet with a cane. And, some years are more active than others, it must be admitted. But I've sort of been around a few blocks. And I'm still on a lot of E-mail lists - some a result of having been on all the local lists in the state whilst I was Regional Signet. I've taken notice of an interesting phenomenon.
There are different levels of participation in the Society. I know, not very profound. But I'm not talking about how much time or effort you expend, nor to how many events you may go. I'm talking more about where your "eye level" is.
Level one: We all start here, for the most part. You meet the local folks. You go to a Sewing Garb night or a fighter practice. You bring a dish to pass at the revel. You might even join a household, try to register a name, and decide "what you want to do." There are a lot of people who start here - and stop here. For them, the SCA consists almost entirely of local people. Only rarely do they attend an event, other than the annual one their local group is required by Kingdom Law to hold.
Level two: You develop influence in your local group. Maybe even hold an office - Herald, MoAS, whatever. Or authorize as a fighter. The Baroness knows your name!! You might travel an hour or so to events held by neighboring groups. And, Oh, the excitement every year or two when Royalty progresses nearby! Maybe even get a chance to stand guard at the Royalty Room or retain for Her Majesty. Your local group puts together a goody-basket of "taxes" for Their Majesties, and you go up with the entire group to present it in Court.
Level three: You become aware of things going on slightly over the heads of some of the locals - at the Baronial or Regional level. Maybe you're group Seneschal. Or a Baronial Officer. Possibly you contribute regularly to Court, in terms of award scrolls, or tokens, or Heralding when TRMs are in the area. You start to become aware that there are some people who are rather "persona non grata." Or that there may be tensions between adjoining Baronies. Hmmmm, larger things are afoot. Awards given at Court sometimes become headscratching. "Lord Doofleschmirtz got a Dragon's Heart? But he's such a back-stabbing Boob!!" You may start to be told that "the knights" or "the Laurels" are watching you!!
Level four - You begin operating on a Kingdom level. You hold a Regional or Lesser Kingdom Office, or now know enough people to be present in the Royalty Room for one reason or another. The machinations that keep the gears of the Kingdom running become less opaque. Conversely, some of the people who run them (or throw monkeywrenches in them) become more than distant figureheads and morph into actual people. You find that some of them you like a respect - and others make you cringe whenever they win another Crown or take up another office. You're a cog in the wheel - with a view up and down the entire clocktower. It's fulfilling, you feel useful - but some of the gleam and sparkle you saw and magic you felt at Level one are gone. The Society hasn't changed any - but your perspective on it has.
Level five - Crowns, Great Officers, Curia members, and Peers who really make things move around. You know how things work. And how they don't. You are aware when things in the Kingdom are broken - even though sometimes you'd rather not. People come to you with problems you'd have preferred to live in ignorance of - and expect you to solve them. But you're now those Bright, Shining People worshipped largely from afar by level one... Which can be a heady perfume, indeed.
More thoughts on this later....
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-12 10:16 pm (UTC)It's like finding out that the Wizard is just some shmuck who got lost.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-13 02:10 am (UTC)I remember one particular reign in which the Royalty Room degenerated over 6 months' time from tense to shouting, snapping, and flying four letter words.
I, being a mere peon, was apparently part of the furniture. I was reminded of the "help" in English period dramas. Of no more thought than the davenport or the sideboard.
I was so very unimpressed. It was the first time I really came to the conclusion that some people utterly do not belong on the thrones. And frequently they're the only people who don't realize it.
I've also found that the older I get, the less patience I have with that kind of adolescence. I just have to walk away. I've also come to note that rapidly changing, small, or cranky royalty staff is a sign that you ought to run away. ;-)
In the same way that I am glad I no longer work at the practice in which I cut my teeth and made my wet-behind-the-ears new grad mistakes... I think it might be no bad thing for me to make the leap from 4 to 5 in a different Kingdom. O_o