From: WHITE@DUVM.BITNET (Avid Reader - Fledgling Writer)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Pennsic Land Allocation
Date: 28 Aug 92 18:20:47 GMT
Organization: The Internet

>From: Wilson Heydt <whheydt@pbhya.pacbell.com>
>
>In article <mjc.714928428@NL.CS.CMU.EDU> mjc+@cs.cmu.edu (Monica Cellio)
>writes:
>>whheydt@pbhya.PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt) writes:
>>>      Divide it in half.  Allocate each half to the King of one
>>>      of the belligerants.  Let each King divide it among his
>>>      allies and other forces.
>>
>>All well and good, except for one little detail: only about a quarter of the
>>people who attend Pennsic fight. ...
>
>...  Let the Barons figure out how to divide what they have among
>those of their Barony--and use the choicer parts to entice the
>powerful fighters (or the most neccesary and effective supprt
>personnel!) to come and support their side.  Let enterprising folks
>use good camping sites and amount of space as a bargaining chip for
>allies.  In short, let the maneuvering for advantage involve
>*logistics* as well as moving an army around the field.
>
>        --Hal
>
>        Hal Ravn, Province of the Mists, West Kingdom
>        Wilson H. Heydt, Jr.,  Albany, CA 94706,  510/524-8321 (home)
>--

      Good my lord,

         I know that in the latter part of your message that I removed,
you stated that your plan was impractical and unweildy.  Still, this is
not the first time that the plan has been proposed, and I would like to
be the first to give a reason (this year at least) why this method is
best left on the shelf of 'gee wouldn't *that* be neat' ideas and never
even once put into practice.
         You've been in the SCA longer than I have, Hal - I've only been
attending meetings and events since 1977.  As such, I'm sure that you've
seen this certain little monster that seems to have a rather tenacious
hold in various parts of the known world - its called *politics*.
         Yes, it would be 'cool' to see feudalism at work.  However, I
personally don't think it *would* work.  I have seen politics split
friendships faster than an axe in a rotting log, and this over such
'ephemera' as an office in a shire.  Just think of the spectre of the
monster politics if there was a tangible reward available in the
*Immediate* future - such as prime camping land at Pennsic, or even any
camping land at all.  Imagine a King/Queen playing favorites (and
ignoring all those cool logistical factors you talked about) in
allocating land to his friends, with those barons he doesn't even know,
or much worse, actively hates, getting less than short schrift.  Imagine
a Baron/Baroness allocating land to all of *their* friends in their
group, currying favors, improving their 'power' in their office.  Imagine
a disgruntled group of members, seeing their baron ignoring them, start
a drive to depose said Baron.  See people driven from the SCA right and
left as they are slighted (either for real, or imaginedly so) by all of
this politicing and power-grabbing.  Imagine, then, the death of Pennsic.

      Well, that's the worst-case scenario, but I truly doubt that its
impossible.  Give politics a chance - there are enough big fish out there
just looking for a way to get a bigger pond.  Let them have some *real*
power - deciding the fate of those who wish to attend Pennsic, whether
they can even go, much less camp in a reasonable manner - and you'll see
some monsters like you've only had nightmares about.

      So, what if the politics monster can be kept in abeyance, by some
miracle?  Well, for starters, where do shires come in?  We're not truly
feudal, in that shires are under Baronies (are under Principalities) are
under the kingdom.  Shires are autonomous.  Where do they fit into this
plan?  (Enter politics again - how do you decide which Baronies to place
the shires under, should you wish to go that route?)  And then there are
the people who are not active members of any group - who stand outside
this structure for whatever reason.  Where do they go?
      You mentioned that the Barons could compete for the best support
staff.  Well, there are only so many cooks that are needed - what about
the ones not chosen?  Not everyone goes to Pennsic to serve - some just
go to lay around, soak up the atmosphere, observe, and maybe shop.  Where
do these people fit into your plan of a Baron optimizing his land usage?
If you start to say 'they don't belong', you're gonna start a *huge*
fight, I can tell you.....

      In closing, I would like to recommend again that this idea never,
ever be seriously considered for use by anything.  While there might be
some big boys and girls that would get a huge kick out of being able to
wield amazing power (and we all know what is said about 'power' and
corruption, right?) - Kings and Queens and Princes and Princesses and
Barons and Baronesses and even large household heads and good task
organizers.  But it would put a hell of a lot of people - the majority
of the attendees at Pennsic - out in the cold.  Like Ellisif said, 5-6K
people are a lot to deal with, and most of them don't fit into any
'support personnel' structure, nor do they want to.  Life may not be
fair, and neither may Pennsic - but we don't have to intentionally create
more hard feeling and ill will for the sake of realism.  Its just not
worth it.

            Dafydd Cyhoeddwr
            white@duvm.bitnet
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca