The past few months have been busy, apart from my shoe project. Some of it was planned and some has not been. It’s all good news and good things so I’m going to try and break things down here.
Letter of Intent
It was several months ago when one of my besties, Baroness Marian, approached me with the topic of potentially running as candidates for the baronial seat of Bergental. It was something that I had thought I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do. I currently live in the Shire of Quintavia but only by a couple of miles. This matters as Society Corpora states that baronial heads must reside within the boundaries of the barony that they are heads of. What is lesser known, is that people can apply for a variance from the Board of Directors which, if granted, would allow a person living outside of the barony to run as a candidate.
The Variance Application
Since I live outside of the boundaries of Bergental, I knew that we would have to apply for a variance. Fortunately, Marian lives within the boundaries of the barony and this made this process easier in many ways. I would have an “anchor” so to speak. But how do we begin? Where do we start? This is not something that is widely discussed. Even though there are precedents it’s not something that is common enough to be a topic of discussion. There’s no form or “how-to” to get though this process. We opted to write to the Kingdom Seneschal for further instruction.
We were advised that I should write a letter requesting the variance. The letter should include my history of participation with the group and include signatures from the greater officers of the Barony to confirm my active participation. That wasn’t too difficult and I was able to get the letter done and signed fairly quickly. I did have to use E-sign for one signature which was a non-issue and readily accepted as an alternative. In addition to this Marian wrote a letter of support which we sent in together with my own.
Out of our Hands
Once we had the letters it was a simple matter to turn them into PDF’s and email them off to the Kingdom Seneschal (KSen). At this point it was out of our hands and I can only relay what the KSen reported the process to be.
The KSen reviewed our request and approved it. She notified us of the approval and that she was forwarding it on to the Society Seneschal (SocSen). I knew going in that this part would be the longest. We had already reached a conclusion that this would likely be discussed in a Board of Directors meeting. I still can’t say if it was or wasn’t. What I can tell you is that we heard the verdict a week and half or so after the last BoD meeting. The board granted our request for a variance!
Full Steam Ahead
Now that we had the official okay, it was time to sit down and put words to paper for our letter of intent. I would think it fairly obvious but we had discussed our priorities and interests prior to getting the approval in broad terms. Now we had to sit down and hammer out our points and get more detailed. We also opted to do a photo shoot which I think turned out pretty well. Fortunately, Marian and I are often on the same page when it comes to certain topics. Even we have differences of opinion, we are both level headed enough to have it be a productive conversation. We have always worked well together even under some of the more stressful situations so putting the letter of intent together went pretty quickly.
Next Steps
You can read the letter on the baronial website. As for next steps, I’m not sure. There was some mention of a town hall type Q&A session. Apart from that, we will wait for polls to be mailed out and returned. We will see and I will try to keep on top of the process and post things as we do them.
Another Letter….A Writ
This bit is overwhelming. A little over two weeks ago I was called into morning court at an event called Birka along with Syrine, a friend, and also part of the royal household for this reign. Our Sultan, Mohammed al-Manil Al-Wajdi Al-Abderaffi Ibn-Horrah Ibn-Gowan (Mo) addressed us….well there’s video. He said that we needed to remember what we had done, discussed at Pennsic. Syrine and I searched our brains and drew massive blanks. I still feel like I the principal called me into his office, I’ll admit. I thought I had gone and stepped in something I shouldn’t have, big time. He then informed us that this would then be a surprise and the Herald called in the Order of the Pelican. My eyes nearly fell out of my head. For those that may not be familiar, the Order of the Pelican is essentially a lifetime service award within our society.
Wrapping My Head Around It
It still hasn’t sunk in. I have my vigil in a couple of weeks and my elevation at coronation on April 1st. It’s weird. I’ve been a protégé for three years and while it’s been a goal to be worthy of the honor, it’s not one that I thought I was ready for. For one, I can be about as tactful as a pile of bricks which some people find uncomfortable. I try to keep it in check for the most part. This particular step in my journey was always one of “someday” rather than any time in the near future. Needless to say that my friends, chosen family and sovereign got me good. There is a video that I will try to upload when I get it but Mo really had us going. I’m sure that I will have much more to say after my actual vigil and elevation!