From: vader@meryl.csd.uu.se ("]ke Eldberg")
Subject: Kingdom timing
Organization: The Internet
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 14:58:02 GMT

Greetings from William de Corbie. Hoppla!

Bertram writes:

>Talking to various folks from Nordmark I gather that the average
>"SCA-age" or length of time people have been part of the organi-
>zation in their barony is under two years (please correct me if
>I'm not on target).  Given that rather "low" average "SCA-age" is
>_now_ or a year from now really the right time for Drachenwald to
>become a kingdom?

I dont know how anyone would arrive at that number, and I am not 
at all sure that it is correct. It is true that Nordmark has grown
very rapidly. Many new groups have appeared suddenly and spontane-
ously in various remote parts of the country (Sweden is ca 1,000
miles from north to south as the swallow flies (a European swallow,
and *not* carrying a coconut)). 

Many newbies makes for a low average SCA age -- but then, most of
the oldies are still around, too. At a guess, there are at least 50
people in Nordmark who have been here for 7 or 8 years. The German
part of Drachenwald also has a cadre of experienced SCAdians. The
native Germans have been here for some three years, and the Dutch
(Polderslot) even longer.

>I'd love to have it explained why my concern is ill-founded,
>if it is, since I deeply believe that the "right" size for
>an SCA kingdom is closer to 500 than 1000 people (the more
>kingdoms the merrier). But I'd hate to see a new kingdom
>in Europe go through massive hassles caused, in part, by
>separating too soon.

I am uncertain what you mean by "massive hassles". I *can* see
some possible problems, e.g. that we are short of peers (at present
there are 10 knights, 7 Laurels and 6 Pelicans in Drachenwald), and
we are short of competent heralds. But Drachenwald has been function-
ing pretty much like a Kingdom for a long time, and managed well.
 
IMHO, the main problem is that our members are scattered over
at least six different countries, and there is no natural "centre"
anywhere. Communications are a problem since (1) mail is international,
expensive and slow, (2) people cannot afford international phone calls
at a dollar per minute, (3) domestic & inter-European air fares are
outrageous, (4) petrol is a dollar per liter (0.264 gal), an average
car costs $30,000 (only some 30 out of 550 people in Nordmark actually
own a car)...

We will need to organize ourselves in a truly feudal manner here,
with small self-sufficient groups (baronies?) everywhere. The
Kingdom organization will forever remain comparatively weak; but all
this has to do with the geography, not the age and experience of our
members. 

There is a tendency for requirements to go up, as the Society grows.
100 people used to be the minimum for a Kingdom; now it is 400. The
same goes for orders and peerages; it takes a lot more today than it
did in A.S. <10. None of these things are absolutes. I think you will
find that any group which has a core of serious-minded people who
really want to work for a common goal, will manage.
 
 
On a similar note, Seamus Donn (in Ireland) writes:

>Although in a minority I remain opposed to Drachenwald going kingdom.
>...
>I still think from our experience that Drachenwald has a way to go
>before it is organised enough to be a Kingdom. Whereas the bulk of
>our population is now native (vivant Nordmark) the vast majority of 
>our principality officers are American (and a good proportion of
>those are married to each other).

The concentration of Principality officers to Germany has to do with
geography, not the skills and experience of the people. No matter
where a Drachenwald officer lives, he will not be able to travel
thousands of miles to take part in events in remote corners of
Drachenwald. With a Kingdom, I believe we will see an extensive
use of deputies. There is no way around geographical circumstances.

With time, the number of American military in Europe will go down,
the rulers of Drachenwald will be natives, and officers will be
scattered around 6 countries; this is a big change from the days
when Drachenwald was firmly centered in the US military bases in
southern Germany, and other groups were only "fringe". We are now
slowly adapting to these changes. Whether or not we go Kingdom
has little to do with these problems. Indeed, creating a new
organization now would be a Good Thing because it can be done
according to the present situation.

William