Minutes from 11-15-98 - Northshield Coronet

Attending:

Also attending:

I. Amendments to October 10 Stallari meeting minutes

• HSH Fiona noted that the Order of Persephone's Circle is not closed, as was described in the Herald's report section, and that further discussion must take place, as not all of the Viscountesses have been consulted.
• Regarding the WWV raffle funds - the actual distribution will remain the same as stated in the 10/10 minutes, but it was noted that there was a misunderstanding between the people running the raffle and Their Serene Highnesses Belrix and Prism, which led to confusion regarding distribution of those funds. No slight to Their Highnesses was intended - it was an honest mistake.
• The following paragraphs in the Herald's report have been amended as follows. The first paragraph, last sentence should read: "Lady Moraig would like to call and pull #2 and #4, and she will discuss this with Lord Adrien, including the fees for these submissions." The third paragraph should read: "Lady Moraig will discuss with Lord Adrien, Minister of Protocol, the current submitted draft for Principality Ceremonies. Any suggestions are welcome, and Lady Moraig will bring suggestions to next Stallari meeting.

II. Their Serene Highnesses

III. Their Excellencies the Lord and Lady Heir

IV. Great Officer Reports

• Scouting - The office of Chief of Scouts is vacant, as the incumbent has mundane responsibilities which conflict. Sir Wulfgang is handling the reporting. Applications will be solicited, with a view towards selecting a "fireball" to re-energize scouting in Northshield.
• Rapier - There are 90 authorized rapier fighters, with a very good percentage of marshals and MIT's. The rapier people are very happy with the opportunities and acceptance they are receiving in Northshield, and the community is active and energetic.
• Equestrian - There are 39 authorized equestrians (9 advanced, 16 intermediate, 14 beginner), 4 equestrian marshals, and 4 MIT's in Northshield, with 14 gentles authorizing this year and 7 events involving equestrian activities. However, there are not enough horses to go around. Viscountess Kassandra is putting together a videotape which will be available to group seneschals, etc., and is intended to be used to recruit horse owners; we are all encouraged to do what we can towards such recruitment.
• Armored combat - we have 347 authorized fighters and 52 marshals, which is a 15% ratio and consistent with the overall Midrealm fighter/marshal ratio. We can always use more marshals, but the ones we have are very good and active. Sir Wulfgang was very pleased with the performance of his deputies and the other marshals who oversaw the Coronet Tourney. Sir Wulfgang has discussed his proposed changes to the format of the marshals' warranting procedures with our KEM, Viscount Myles, and the response has been very positive, to the point where the Midrealm may adopt these revised procedures when they're ready. In addition, Viscount Myles has asked Sir Wulfgang to keep a database for the marshals' test.
• Archery - Sir Wulfgang is a tester for an experimental form of combat archery. Regarding the archery marshal positions: our current Northshield Archer General, Lord John Bartholomew of Flanders (David Thompson-Hall) is stepping down and is taking applications. He has one applicant so far, THL Robin Kyrke. Lord John is also the retiring WI regional archery marshal, since Northshield is divided into three regions under the Midrealm's hierarchy (the other two are MN/ONT/MI, with Lord Theoweard l'Archer [Terry Glidden] as marshal, and MAN/ND/SD, with THL Robin.) Sir Wulfgang would like to propose making Northshield one big region within the Midrealm's system, with any deputies at the discretion of, and reporting directly to, the Northshield Archer General, to eliminate confusion and streamline things. As far as candidates for Archer General and current regional marshal positions, we are looking for enthusiastic, energetic, "cheerleader" types to fill these positions; unlike armored combat, which is wel l-established, archery needs lots of recruitment and publicity.
• Minister of Tournaments - Sir Wulfgang would like to note that the new MOT, Lady Katriona ni Chonarain (Katherine Kretchmar) did a fine job with her first Coronet Tourney.

• Mistress Elysabet distributed a handout containing her report to Meistara Thorhalla, outgoing KMOAS, and a listing of all local MOAS's in Northshield. While not every group has an MOAS, Mistress Elysabet has contacted every group and gotten names where MOAS's are present. The reports she has seen further convince her that "Arts up here are kick-ass."
• Coffee Houses - following a successful performing/culinary arts coffee house at Nordskogen's Silk Road event on 10/10/98, Mistress Libbet would like to encourage other event staffs to provide a space for this sort of thing, since it allows performers and cooks to show their work in the same way that other artists/scientists can at typical displays, bean counts, etc. The response to this idea on the MOAS electronic mail net has been very positive. A possible coffee house at Nordskogen's Twelfth Night w ill not be happening after all, but discussions about others are in the works. Mistress Elysabet wished to emphasize that this was not her personal project, but rather that she was encouraging it and talking it up with event staffs for execution by those people. Following some confusion among the populace, HSH Fiona wanted to make clear that the Stallari never said events were required to have coffee houses, and that coffee houses are not required to be principality fundraisers, although if the people ru nning the coffeehouses wished to donate proceeds to Northshield they would not be discouraged from it.

• Status of the submission discussed at the last meeting: One device has been returned due to a conflict with the rules of submission; it may be re-submitted later. The other three have been withdrawn. The misunderstanding with Lord Adrien de Troyes (Chris Olson) in this matter has been resolved.
  Lady Moraig hopes to have a set of Northshield ceremonies written up for review at the Twelfth Night meeting. She will look into issues of language with Master Dmitrii Volkovich (John Polzinetti), Dragon Herald, and Lord Thorvald Redhair (Ron Sargent), Minister of Protocol.
• Lady Moraig will have a proposed list of herald deputies and their specific duties ready by Twelfth Night.
• Our Signet, Lord Gevehard von Baden (Garret Bitker), is doing a fantastic job submitting reports and keeping track of what awards are presented where. Lady Moraig would like to change the reporting procedure so that the Signet collects and submits court reports, rather than having group heralds send them directly to kingdom. This should help greatly in maintaining a current, accurate Order of Precedence. She reminds Their Serene Highnesses and Their Excellencies to communicate regularly with the Sign et towards this goal.
• There is a significant backlog of unreported awards, such that Their Serene Highnesses have no reliable way to know whether an individual already has an award. Lady Moraig will ask group heralds to do a thorough investigation within their groups and get names, dates given, etc., for awards in order to compile a current, accurate list. This sort of survey was done under the auspices of THL Richard Morgan of Cumberland (Richard Darnell) as Dragon Herald, and it worked well then. Her Highness Fiona emph asized Their need for a reliable list to help when deciding on awards. They have a good list from the reign of TE Belrix and Prism, and several good reports from the former Clerk of Precedence, Baroness Anne Geoffreys of Warwick (Nancy Cuno-Schmitz), but there are sizeable gaps to be filled. The new COP, Lord Jean-Guy de Bayeaux (Michael Hughes), is believed to have done an update, but this update has not been submitted to either Lady Moraig or Their Serene Highnesses. Lady Sian and THL Aleksandr (John K owal) have volunteered to work with and energize Lord Jean-Guy, since they all live in Castel Rouge. Lord Balthasar suggested that when doing the heraldic survey for awards, Lady Moraig should produce a form to make it easy and quick for people as well as to make sure the correct information gets included. It was also noted that all officers should be encouraged to help the heralds in this endeavor (i.e., seneschals, chroniclers, etc.)

• Lady Sian inquired into proper financial practice for re-selling Chirurgeon and Marshal handbooks, since she has required them and wants to make them easy to obtain. Lord Balthasar advised that she should purchase the necessary books with her own personal funds and then re-sell them at the purchase price (with no profit), and then all the money she receives is hers to keep. Lady Sian agreed to go with this idea.
• A proposed written test for chirurgeon certification has hit some logistical snags and will not be happening soon.
• Midrealm Chirurgeon Mistress Katharina spoke on the subject of medical professionals as chirurgeons. She emphasized that most medical professionals are specialists and, as such, have liability issues as to what care they can provide, and that experience with SCA situations and combat are just as important as medical training for chirurgeons. Therefore, regular apprenticeships will continue to be required for medical professionals. As to special cases, such as renewing lapsed warrants for experienced SCA chirurgeons who happen to be medical professionals, one problem is that Northshield's records are seriously incomplete, and so there is no legal proof that these people have ever been warranted, unless they have documents themselves. This is a complex issue and the chirurgeonate at the Society level is working on a satisfactory solution.
• Lady Sian noted that the structure of water-bearing in the Society is more complex than we understood, with officers at Kingdom and Society levels, and so the Water-bearing Guild changes discussed at the last meeting cannot be implemented until further work has been done on the issue. There is a problem with the Northshield Water-bearing Handbook; until further notice, people are instructed to use the Midrealm Handbook, which is available on the web site.
• Chirurgeon Education: Lady Sian noted that there are some big gaps in chirurgeon training, especially in working with the marshallate. To remedy this, she is arranging for a panel discussion on the subject, to be tried at Nordskogen's Twelfth Night (Jan. 16, 1999) and Windhaven's Fighters' School (Mar. 6, 1999.) The panel will consist of Lady Sian, Sir Wulfgang, and possibly Lord Gevehard von Baden and Lord Gaius Niklos Luctator (Jim Walls). The object is to encourage teamwork, answer procedural qu estions, discuss issues, and clear up the adversarial atmosphere which exists in some places. If this is successful, they will train "seminar leaders" to continue it across Northshield. Lady Sian reminded all that the Marshals' Handbook is required for all chirurgeons, and that it is available on the web site. She has also begun emphasizing immediate, direct reports to her and to Sir Wulfgang on marshal/chirurgeon conflicts.
• Many chirurgeons have complained about "parachuting" at events. This occurs when there is no designated chirurgeon at an event they are attending, and they are approached to provide help in emergencies and get stuck working the whole event. Their Excellencies Katharina and Myles pointed out that we cannot require event staffs to provide a chirurgeon on duty, since this obligates us to provide care. Meanwhile, groups should be aware that having a chirurgeon present is the best idea, even if it is not r equired; and chirurgeons asked to "parachute" in should either just refuse to help or help joyfully, rather than complaining. Lady Sian will survey the chirurgeons to see if any particular groups are consistently lacking chirurgeons at events, and will work on keeping events properly staffed.
• There are currently 21 warranted chirurgeons in Northshield, and 12 apprentices; these numbers are way too low.
• Lady Sian is looking into new warranting experiments, along similar lines as Sir Wulfgang's proposed marshal warranting procedures. She wants to be sure to include specific skill reviews and cover both melee and regular chirurgeon scenarios.
• Lady Sian will be publishing a list of people who might believe they are warranted chirurgeons, so that these people will realize they need to renew their certifications and warrants. They will be allowed some time to re-submit paperwork and get certified, and those who don't will be dropped from the list after a specified probationary period. There will be active maintenance of the chirurgeon roster to prevent the records from being missing again, as they are now.
• Mistress Katharina discussed treatment of minors. When a minor receives care at an event, the forms must be forwarded as soon as possible, including a signed minor site waiver, and copies must be kept for seven years after the age of majority of that minor.

• To better catch errors or omissions in meeting minutes and avoid amendments, Lady Elaine will send a draft to the Great Officers (rather than just to the Seneschal) before sending it to the entire mailing list.
• Coronet Bids: The Falcon's Keep bid is being re-worked to iron out some details. We need to further publicize bid requirements to avoid situations like this.
• Griffin's Gate: The proposal for an autocrat for our Pennsic encampment is in the draft stage - please let Lady Guenievre know your expectations for this position. A call for applications will go in the Northwatch before the end of 1998.
• Third Quarter Report: 6 groups didn't report, but overall, a good job. Windhaven is awaiting the choice of their Baron and Baroness, and when that is decided they will also choose a new seneschal.
• Azur Mere/Rockwall: Earlier this year Azur Mere rolled into Rockwall, but there are serious problems here. Azur Mere group funds were used to purchase rattan for individuals, and the group closure papers have disappeared. Lady Lewina of Sussex (Lauretta Wenger), deputy to the Northshield Seneschal, is working with remaining members of Rockwall to see what can be saved and healed. On a positive note, Sir Wulfgang indicated that their group marshal has reported consistently and well, so there is some interest and energy remaining there to build upon. Lady Guenievre will continue to monitor and report on this situation.
• Ealdormere border change: A firm boundary between Ealdormere and Northshield has been drawn, and we get more land in Ontario. There are no groups there at present, but the people of Mare Amethystinum, led by their seneschal Lord Doneuuald of Arth Wen (Don Hupe), are embarking on a "pilgrimage to the out-lands" project to contact people in this area and drum up interest.
• Bal na Loch: Our proto-incipient group centered around Fairmont, MN, did not report this quarter, but they are still alive, if slow due to mundane conflicts. Lady Guenievre will continue to encourage them to submit their paperwork, as will Lady Moraig.
• Stallari Council Secretary: The official word from Master Aaron, Midrealm Seneschal, is that there are no legal/procedural conflicts with appointing Lady Elaine to this position. She will be included on the next roster warrant.
• Althing/Officer Meetings: Our previously-scheduled Althing was postponed. Lady Guenievre and Lady Lewina are working with Border Downs, the original host, to get things re-organized, and would like to separate the officers' meetings from the Althing, which would be more of a brainstorming session. At this point it appears that Border Downs will do an Officers' Retreat, and this will include success stories, "meet-and-greet," and brainstorming. Lady Lewina, a facilitator and "Seven Steps" presenter, is working on a proposal for this. When the Officers' Retreat is set, we'll focus on the Althing as more of a public forum, and Lady Lewina would like to autocrat this event. HSH Fiona emphasized that dates for these events must be set soon, as Their schedules are already full until May of 1999.
• Laws Review: There will be no Stallari meeting after Boar's Head (Dec. 5, Barony of Caer Anterth Mawr), but there will be a session addressing the Northshield Laws and Policies. Lady Lewina, a resident of Caer Anterth Mawr, is making arrangements for this meeting. Should we open this discussion up to the general populace or limit it to the Stallari? Should we invite specific people who were involved in creating the laws? Should we do a run-through with just the Stallari and then take it public? The re was a consensus that we could open it up to anyone who wished to come, but that reservations would be required so a proper size site, etc., could be arranged. It was emphasized that we would need lots of structure for this, and possibly it could follow the BOD meeting structure.
  
  (At this point, Viscount Myles and Viscountess Katharina took their leave.)
  
  The officers are requested to review the laws and policies, especially the ones pertaining to each person's office. Lady Guenievre will address the officer changeover requirements.
• The next meeting of the Stallari Council will be after Nordskogen's Twelfth Night (Jan. 16, Minneapolis, MN.) Officers are asked to post a summary of their reporting prior to the meeting; if no summary is received, it is assumed that you have nothing to report and you will not be allowed to report, except in the "New Business" section. Lady Elaine will help post a reminder in mid-December to make this easier to remember.

III. Lesser Officers

• A. Lord Michael of Stonehaven (Peter Handberg), Northshield Chatelain, has asked to extend his warrant from the original expiration of June 1999 until December 1999 or June 2000, in order that he may wrap up his Pennsic duties and foster deputies. This is acceptable; Lady Guenievre will check on this warrant process.

IV. Old Business