Iron Enough to Make a Nail...
Sep. 12th, 2010 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
femkes_follies(yes, the Pratchett references continue. Though bonus points for identification of the totally unrelated icon image).
Words of Wisdom of the day:
"Of course, I haven't been around when a Principality has been formed, but in my mind, it's a little like a peerage. I think that in a perfect world it's recognizing something that's already happening informally. "
We've all been round and round the discussion about "What does it take to become a Peer?"
So, in a metaphorically similar vein... What does it take to make a Principality? Not the official requirements, but the less tangible - more important - essence of the thing. Sort of a list of PLQ's - Principality-Like Qualities. And the conditions that allow them to exist.
1. Territory. This isn't as obvious as it looks on the surface. For some nascent Principalities, it's a difficult question. Not just "Do we want to?" but "Who should we invite?" as well. For that matter, any nascent Principality in the Mid isn't necessarily limited to a single Region or an entire Region. However, that's the most likely scenario here, because we've been lumped into these regions for such a very long time. Which brings us to:
2. Identity. "We're Us." A bit like School Spirit or Hometown Pride. Sometimes it works better than others. It isn't necessarily exclusive either. You can be part of your town. And your county, and your state. Some loyalties are firmer than others. But they don't necessarily have to split. So we can be part of our local group, and our Barony, and our Region, and our Kingdom - all at the same time. The question is - has the loyalty of the Region for the Region become strong enough to warrant a physical manifestation? Because that's what a Principality is - the physical aspects of that Loyalty. The equivalent of college sweatshirts, painted faces, and pom pons. With its own home team, and its own dean - and hey, maybe they're not perfect but they're OURS.
3. Drive. There is a heck of a lot of grunt work involved in setting up a Principality. Possibly even more in maintaining it. For every person who has an idea for the new Principality's arms... there needs to be someone willing to sit down and write its laws. For each person who wants to embroider the throne cushions... there needs to be someone who'll solicit and review event bids. For every fighter who wants to stand for the Coronet... there needs to be someone who will wrangle local officers and make sure the work of the Principality runs smoothly. In fact, before any of the shiny is needed - there is a lot of talking, and writing, and basic infrastructure that needs to be created.
4. Environment. All of this needs to happen in a social environment within the Kingdom that is conducive to it. Particular grudges on either side can derail the whole business. Ideally, the Kingdom Curia is composed of people who keep their eyes clear and be willing to try to really determine what's best - their own empire-building "personal power" trips and personal grudges aside. Sometimes, for the incipient Principality - this will mean waiting out somebody's term. Especially if the Kingdom Seneschal is openly hostile.
5. Impetus. Even if all the other factors are present, the population of a potential Principality may choose to forgo all the work, pain, and trial of formalizing their nature if they are comfortable as they are. This is where the Peerage metaphor kind of falls apart on us. It is the nature of people to want to continually advance. It is the nature of groups of people to resist change as long as they are not too uncomfortable. Therefore, no motivation will exist to do that work unless the situation has become such that people begin to believe they are in a worse position when compared with the rest of their Kingdom. It can take a number of forms - a feeling of isolation from the Kingdom, political monkey-business for silly reasons all there own, even the economy causing people to cut back on travel and feel a need to stay within their own borders more.
Words of Wisdom of the day:
"Of course, I haven't been around when a Principality has been formed, but in my mind, it's a little like a peerage. I think that in a perfect world it's recognizing something that's already happening informally. "
We've all been round and round the discussion about "What does it take to become a Peer?"
So, in a metaphorically similar vein... What does it take to make a Principality? Not the official requirements, but the less tangible - more important - essence of the thing. Sort of a list of PLQ's - Principality-Like Qualities. And the conditions that allow them to exist.
1. Territory. This isn't as obvious as it looks on the surface. For some nascent Principalities, it's a difficult question. Not just "Do we want to?" but "Who should we invite?" as well. For that matter, any nascent Principality in the Mid isn't necessarily limited to a single Region or an entire Region. However, that's the most likely scenario here, because we've been lumped into these regions for such a very long time. Which brings us to:
2. Identity. "We're Us." A bit like School Spirit or Hometown Pride. Sometimes it works better than others. It isn't necessarily exclusive either. You can be part of your town. And your county, and your state. Some loyalties are firmer than others. But they don't necessarily have to split. So we can be part of our local group, and our Barony, and our Region, and our Kingdom - all at the same time. The question is - has the loyalty of the Region for the Region become strong enough to warrant a physical manifestation? Because that's what a Principality is - the physical aspects of that Loyalty. The equivalent of college sweatshirts, painted faces, and pom pons. With its own home team, and its own dean - and hey, maybe they're not perfect but they're OURS.
3. Drive. There is a heck of a lot of grunt work involved in setting up a Principality. Possibly even more in maintaining it. For every person who has an idea for the new Principality's arms... there needs to be someone willing to sit down and write its laws. For each person who wants to embroider the throne cushions... there needs to be someone who'll solicit and review event bids. For every fighter who wants to stand for the Coronet... there needs to be someone who will wrangle local officers and make sure the work of the Principality runs smoothly. In fact, before any of the shiny is needed - there is a lot of talking, and writing, and basic infrastructure that needs to be created.
4. Environment. All of this needs to happen in a social environment within the Kingdom that is conducive to it. Particular grudges on either side can derail the whole business. Ideally, the Kingdom Curia is composed of people who keep their eyes clear and be willing to try to really determine what's best - their own empire-building "personal power" trips and personal grudges aside. Sometimes, for the incipient Principality - this will mean waiting out somebody's term. Especially if the Kingdom Seneschal is openly hostile.
5. Impetus. Even if all the other factors are present, the population of a potential Principality may choose to forgo all the work, pain, and trial of formalizing their nature if they are comfortable as they are. This is where the Peerage metaphor kind of falls apart on us. It is the nature of people to want to continually advance. It is the nature of groups of people to resist change as long as they are not too uncomfortable. Therefore, no motivation will exist to do that work unless the situation has become such that people begin to believe they are in a worse position when compared with the rest of their Kingdom. It can take a number of forms - a feeling of isolation from the Kingdom, political monkey-business for silly reasons all there own, even the economy causing people to cut back on travel and feel a need to stay within their own borders more.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-14 06:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-14 06:31 pm (UTC)Which area do you think they fall apart on?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-14 07:28 pm (UTC)I just think that the whole discussion in Atlantia is a bit premature. For example, in the Mid, you have defined regions, with their own identity. You have a northern end of Atlantia, but it’s not a defined region. Well, maybe it is on the administrative side, like for regional deputies, but it’s not glaringly apparent to the average player.
As a side note, while I’m a peer, I’m way less involved than the average player at the moment. I’ve been largely an e-SCAdian for the past year, focusing instead on family, our house, and our living history commitments. Some of these things that *I* think are missing might very well be in existence. I just am not there to see them.
But I think it’d be more apparent, in areas other than just administration. Another example, in the East you have things like the EK-South mailing list, specific “Southern Region” events, and the like. I rarely hear any talk in Atlantia of a Northern-region event, a Northern-region list, etc. I just don’t think that we have the culture and identity of our own.
I think that if people are really serious about getting together a northern principality here, they should first get serious about establishing some regional institutions.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-14 08:16 pm (UTC)As to the rest - we're getting there, but we have a ways to go, too. We have SOME regional champions - but we need to do more regional events, too. Piece by piece, it's coming.
However, nothing happens that somebody doesn't MAKE happen - which seems to be an alien concept to some folks.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-29 08:02 pm (UTC)Interestingly Raito, who was the Prince that did made the final push to make us a Kingdom says the one mistake he feels he made was not to invite the Midlands to join us. It would have been interesting and you might still hear the echoing howls from some Midrealmers.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-29 08:09 pm (UTC)Midlands and Pentamere are the two who sort of teeter on the brink already. However, joining forces would require bringing a piece of Indiana with us. Which then starts to make things very dicey indeed.
Plus, at this late juncture - the social order and identities of the Midlands and Pentamere are pretty darned distinct.
I can see the Midlands having gone with Northshield had it happened early on in the proceedings. In spite of shrieking regarding Tree-Girt-Sea being the founding group.
The harder bit right now is turning the ball of string over and over to find an end to start on. Whose permission do we need to get started? Most Principalities seem to start with an investigatory committee. Who appoints it? Does it appoint itself? Then what authority does it have? *confusion*