Minutes from 9-18-99 - Armorgeddon

In Attendance:

Absent:

Lesser Officers in Attendance:

I. July 11 Minutes

• Heading: The WW site is technically within Jararvellir, not Rokeclif, due to a specific territory exemption.
• IV.C.5 -- The second sentence should read as follows: "…a replacement as Principality Equestrian Marshal, as she has completed her term."
• V.A.1 -- The article should read: "Their Excellencies expect roster warrants at Investiture in November, and this will be expected at each Investiture in the future. Mistress Guenievre requests job descriptions at Coronet/Investiture from all great officers, who are reminded to begin writing them, including actual duties vs. ideal duties…"

II. Their Serene Highnesses

• A. His Highness Alasdair discussed issues and concerns regarding the office of Exchequer. The Stallari differ with Lord Balthazar as to the job description and job priorities. Specific issues of reimbursements for receipts, access to financial figures, and communication with the Stallari, group exchequers, and the Northwatch were discussed. Communications between Lord Balthazar, their Serene Highnesses, their Excellencies, Mistress Guenievre, Their Royal Highnesses, and HL Arthen (Greg Rowlands, Day ton, OH), Midrealm Exchequer, are ongoing.
• B. Law Change: Their Highnesses are concerned that the wording of the law regarding principality moots is unacceptable, specifically that the Coronet is required to hold moots. Lady Elaine read the law (II-900) aloud, and the current wording states that the Coronet shall "maintain" the custom of the moot "when necessary," which is acceptable to Their Highnesses.
• C. Pennsic: Their Highnesses attended two Midrealm curias, with highlights as follows.
  1. The Kingdom will donate $500 per reign to Northshield's travel fund, in perpetuity. The Kingdom will take care of the accounting, and leftover funds will roll into the next reign rather than being returned or absorbed into the general fund. His Excellency Gaylen asked if the rest of the travel funds can roll over as well, and HSH Alasdair recommended that we move towards this procedure. Sir Wulfgang noted that the reason the unused travel funds currently roll back into the general fund is that Nort hshield has no steady income; however, he agrees that the idea should be implemented when the income situation is more stable.
  2. The Kingdom Minister of Arts and Sciences, HL Charles Oakley (James Winkler, Metamora, IL), donated $150 of extra funds from his office to the Principality MOAS' office.
  3. HSH Alasdair commented on the great support and friendliness towards Northshield among the Midrealm Royalty and curia, and the added strength this gives us. The Midrealm recognizes our eventual goal of kingdom status, and wants to work with us toward a successful transition at such time as we wish to pursue it.

III. Their Excellencies the Heirs

1. Web Server - in order to have a standard, continuing set of e-mail addresses for Royalty and officers, can Northshield get its own server? Lord Roger volunteered to speak to Lord Own Alun (Ben Tucker, Minneapolis, MN) for help with this, possibly in the form of space on one of his servers.
2. Coronet Tourney Status - In reply to TE's inquiry, HSH Alasdair and Mistress Guinievre reported that the site will be the University Center in Falcon's Keep, which features a gym with a mat floor, separate royalty rooms, and a centralized location. Planning is going well.

IV. Great Officers

• A. Seneschal

  1. Chatelain: There are two applicants - Lady Gwenhyvar verch Owen ap Morgan (Regina Simmons, Waukesha, WI) and Lord Arnbjorn of Burning Stone. Lord Michael of Stonehaven (Peter Handberg, Duluth, MN), the outgoing chatelain, recommends Lord Arnbjorn. The Stallari's priority for this office is the revival of the Newcomer's Seminar. The Stallari supports Lord Michael's choice, and Mistress Guinievre recommends that Lady Gwenhyvar could be the deputy for chatelain publications, since these need re -vamping.
  2. Coldedernhale - The proto-incipient group in Pierre, SD, is going strong, with about 12 people under the leadership of Lord Julio Gavan. They are working out borders with Trewint (Huron, SD.)
  3. Pipestone, MN - Including Lady Tarja and Lord Gevehard (Gayle and Garret Bitker), there are eight people in Pipestone who wish to start a group. This is somewhat nebulous; the Pipestone group would like to know the proto-incipient shire of Bal na Loch's borders (southwest Minnesota), and Lady Tarja requests a border work session. Rivenwood Tower is sponsoring Bal na Loch, and HSH Alasdair has volunteered to mediate with Bal na Loch. Rockhaven (St. Cloud, MN) is willing to sponsor the Pipest one group as necessary.
  4. Rockwall - Rockwall is re-forming, with slightly different geography, new members, and the support of the old members. Their territory (southeastern Wisconsin) is large, and there is a group 1.5 hours north of the basic Rockwall population who would like to split off into their own group. The potential officers of the new group may work as deputies of the Rockwall officers for experience; there is also a possibility that the new group might start as a canton of the Barony of Caer Anterth Mawr (Milwaukee, WI.) Mistress Guenievre will speak with members of the groups at Coronation.
  5. Althing - Lady Lewina (Lauretta Wenger, Milwaukee, WI), deputy seneschal, has written a proposal for the Althing, to be centrally located in Northshield (preferably not in Nordskogen) and designed as a "think tank" to discuss any topics people wish, in order to generate future projects. Officer meetings are not included in this proposal; several suggestions for officer meetings were brought up, including holding them at other events, having officer roundtables during breaks at the Althing, hav ing a separate segment in the morning at Althing for officer meetings and nothing else to eliminate conflicts, and also an SCA-con specifically for officer meetings. The last SCA-con was approximately 13 years ago. Guinievre will discuss the meeting ideas with Lewina.
  6. Northshield Table - Sign up to sit at the table! Slots are available at Armorgeddon, Coronation, and Jubilee in Florence. The opportunity to talk to the officers at the table is a big focus - please sign up.
  7. Stallari Listserv - The list is caput. We will be changing servers for functionality. Lady Gweniver Kenwyn of Rosveth (Jennifer McNitt, Minneapolis, MN) has offered to find space for the list and administer it, all for free.

• B. Minister of Arts and Sciences

  1. Northstar - The second issue of the Northshield Arts and Sciences newsletter, the Northstar, is out. It needs more subscriptions, which Mistress Libbet is confident it will get.
  2. Succession - There is one applicant for MOAS, Viscountess Fiona nic Aoidh. She is Mistress Libbet's choice, which is supported by the Stallari.

• C. Polaris Herald

  1. Administrative - HL Richard has the Herald files and is sorting them, which they needed. Lady Moraig is finishing some work on new ceremonies, and drafts are on the web site for perusal (Viscounty and Affirmation of Baronial Support ceremonies). Please comment on these new ceremonies so that HL richard can send them on to Kingdom and get them published.
  2. Badges and Awards - HL Richard has a good picture of a crwth to use in badge design. It has been suggested to put the registered badges on the website. The names for Athena's ring, Persephone's Circle, and the Guide star have all been returned and need to be revised.
     Regarding Athena's ring and Persephone's Circle, the problem is that in mythology, neither of these characters had a ring or a circle as a traditional prop. Using something more standard, such as an owl or a helm for Athena, could pass, or we could retain the "ring" and/or "circle" parts, or we could start over with new concepts. These names were created during the reign of Conn and Kassandra, related to Kassandra's Byzantine persona, and consensus is to speak to them before making a final decision to ada pt the names or start over with something new. HL Richard will discuss this with them. Athena's Ring is a priority now, while Persephone's circle can wait. HE Kelinda brought up the question of what to do with the Order of Persephone's Circle when we go kingdom, considering that the Order of the Rose will come into play then.
  3. Vacancy - Caer Anterth Mawr's pursuivant's office is vacant.

• D. Exchequer

  Lord Balthazar could not attend the event; no report was submitted and no reporting deputy was sent.
  1. Concerns - Kingdom suggests that the Stallari should be very clear in defining the job description for the Exchequer in our laws and policies, including such things as providing copies of quarterly reports on demand, reports for Stallari meetings as scheduled, etc. Midrealm Seneschal Master Aaron (George Reed, Grosse Pt. Woods, MI) is checking with HL Arthen to see what reports Lord Balthazar has filed.
  2. Receipts - Viscount Tarrach and Viscountess Fiona have some outstanding receipts from their reign and have been counseled to aggressively seek reimbursement. There is some confusion concerning both the window clings and tabards as payables, since Lady Tatiana hasn't received bills for these items yet. There are also issues with the travel fund for Their Highnesses Alasdair and Isabelle, which HSH Alasdair will attend to.
  3. Pavilion - Not all shares have been sold, so the pavilion account is in the red. The general fund needs reimbursement from the pavilion fund, since loans from the general fund were used to pay for the pavilion.
  4. Risograph - According to the last reports we have from Lord Balthazar, there would be enough cash in the general fund to purchase the risograph except for the amounts outstanding on the pavilion, window clings, etc. Lord Roger noted that the Northwatch fund currently has enough cash to put down about $1000 for an initial payment, and that we need to do this soon in order to retain the original price quote. Savings created by using the risograph can then be applied to the Northwatch fund. Move d, seconded, and passed to do as Lord Roger suggests, making the first payment from the Northwatch fund and obtaining the risograph as soon as possible.
  5. Window clings - 200 of 750 Middle Kingdom clings have sold, which does not provide enough profit to run the next Northshield batch of clings yet. Some people have bought batches of clings to re-sell at events, and Lady Tarja is tracking this. There will be a big push to sell these at Coronation, and they will ask Mistress Dore (Kathryn Gomm, Whitefish Bay, WI), Midrealm Information Officer, to sell clings at the information table at Crown Tourney. Another suggestion was that we might sell the clings to the Midrealm via Mistress Dore at a discount; we would get a profit and so would the Midrealm. Questions arose about the original involvement of the Midrealm in deciding to order Midrealm clings first - was profit or cost-sharing involved?-- and the relevant article from the June Coronet Tourney minutes was read by Lady Elaine, showing that no sharing of costs or profits was involved as it seemed too complicated.
     
     (At this point, HRH Finn joined the meeting.)
     
     
  6. Nordskogen donation - Lady Elaine reported that the Barony of Nordskogen has $1000 of profits from Warriors and Warlords VI that they wish to donate to Northshield, and they're looking for suggestions as to where the money might be needed most. Suggestions will be discussed and fund distribution voted on at the next Nordskogen meeting, October 20. Consensus was that $500 to the risograph fund and $500 to the window cling fund was most preferable, with the general fund and trust fund also impor tant. A motion passed that if Nordskogen donates the money to the cling and risograph funds in the way we suggest, the Northshield cling order will be sent in and the money applied to the risograph account.
  7. Current Reporting/Records Issues - No written figures are available from Lord Balthazar since the June report. Verbally, her reports that we have $1,600 in the checkbook and that there are no significant changes since the June report. Mistress Guinievre has specified a date of October 16 (Jubilee in Florence, in Nordskogen) for a written report, which Lord Balthazar has yet to confirm. Offers of assistance with reporting have been made by Lady Jondalara (Laura Fenske, Mequon, WI), deputy exch equer, and Master Antonio di Casa l'Aqua (aka Price) and Mistress Alice of Kent (Robert and Barbara Kearns, Brookfield, WI), Lord Balthazar's Laurels, though Lord Balthazar's schedule has not allowed this assistance. Master Antonio is a retired professor of accounting, and has told Mistress Guinievre that he will be glad to handle the books in an emergency, though he cannot take on the office. There is consensus that the problems relating to this office need to be handled immediately, and that all actions necessary to stabilize the Principality's exchequerate will be taken, up to and including legal actions. Mistress Guinievre continues to communicate with Lord Balthazar and is documenting these conversations.

• E. Marshal

  1. Scouting - No problems, since there are no scouts. Many ideas for recruiting new scouts are in the works.
  2. Archery - Situation is good. All the deputies are in place. Support levels are good.
  3. Rapier - The fencers are extremely happy with the new rapier guild.
  4. Equestrian - Viscountess Kassandra Tenebrosa (Kristina Charron, Madison, WI) has no applicants yet to fill the Principality Equestrian Marshal position; she will serve until a replacement can be found. Sir Wulfgang has the highest praise for Viscountess Kassandra's dedicated and exemplary service in this position. The Middle Kingdom Equestrian Marshal, Lady Mathilde of Jararvellir (Kim Kreuger, Madison, WI) also lives in Northshield, so support is available.
  5. Armored Combat/Minister of Lists - Sir Wulfgang's report was on time. He is also very happy with the Marshallate section on the Northshield web page. There is one applicant for the Minister of the Lists position, Lord Odo Uthyr (Wayne Clingman, Racine, WI). His Highness Finn mentioned that the Kingdom Minister of the Lists office is being divided into two segments, similar to what Northshield has already done (Minister of Lists and Minister of Tournaments.) Lord Uthyr was approved for the p osition.
  6. PEM Succession -There are two applicants: Viscount Cnut Ragnarson (Dutch Carpenter, Madison, WI) and Lord Julio Gavan (James Kruse, Mission, SD) Lord Julio is currently the PEM regional deputy for Western Northshield, and is a former Principality Marshal of Fence. He has also worked with scouting and does some archery, and has held numerous non-martial offices, including group seneschal. He is currently the acting seneschal for the proto-incipient shire of Coldedernhale. In Sir Wulfgang's e xperience, he is very proactive, conscientious, and is excellent with paperwork.
     
     Viscount Cnut has been a shire marshal, is a frequent field marshal in Northshield and at Pennsic, and ran the marshals' inspection tent at Pennsic this year. He has also been a chronicler. He is an authorized fencer and an active archer. Mundanely, he has been a police officer and is a field services engineer, with organization, discipline, maturity, and public relations experience.
     
     Both candidates have some very good qualifications. Both have been approved by Kingdom. Lord Julio has more group marshal and other officer/administrative experience, and an advantage as far as paperwork is concerned. Lord Julio is also in the Dakotas, improving the geographical diversity of the Stallari. He is Sir Wulfgang's choice. The Stallari agrees with the choice of Lord Julio.

• F. Chonicler

  • Risograph concerns and business were discussed during the Exchequer section.

• G. Chirurgeon

  • Lady Sian could not attend. Sir Wulfgang noted that she has nothing new to report at this time.

V. Old Business

A. Officer Job Descriptions

When descriptions are finalized, they will be entered in the policies (not the laws) and put on the web site. Great officers are reminded to keep pushing their deputies for descriptions. HRH Finn would like to see copies of any drafts that are ready before Coronation.

B. Coronet Tourney

There are differing reports on Rockhaven's readiness for Spring 2000 Coronet; Lord Pasquale (Patrick Serrano, St. Cloud, MN), Rockhaven seneschal, was to have presented a re-bid at this meeting, but has not presented himself to do so, and members of the Stallari have been told negative things from other Rockhaven members. Stallari consensus was to request a re-bid by the Jubilee in Florence (10/16/99); if no bid is submitted, bids will be solicited from the rest of Norths hield, with a new deadline of Coronet tourney (11/20/99).

VI. New Business

• A. Seal

  Her Excellency Kelinda has commissioned a Northshield seal from Lord Gevehard.

• B. Sheriffs/Constables

  There is a meeting today to discuss heraldic modifications to the Sheriffs and Constables. The Sheriffs and Constables are opposed to the proposed idea to make them into one order with two ranks. A final decision regarding changes will be made at Coronet tourney.

• C. Next Meeting

  The next Stallari meeting will be at Coronet tourney in Falcon's Keep, Sunday, 11/21, at 10:00 AM. We will try to find a conference room.

• D. Ceremonies

  A copy of the ceremonies, written by Lord Adrien des Troyes (Chris Olson, Madison, WI), Northshield Minister of Protocol, and Baron Lewys Blackmore (Columbus, OH, formerly of Minneapolis, MN), was passed out for comment. It has been edited and corrected from previous editions. Please comment by Jubilee in florence, 10/16/99. The final publication will also include sample scroll texts for Principality awards.