[Artemisia] An Open Letter Re: Ibrahim and Ileana and the Board of Directors

[Dan S.]

An Open Letter Re: Ibrahim and Ileana and the Board of Directors (ver 1.0)
Greetings,

My name is Sir Daniel d'Antioche (once known as Thegn Sir Dan 
Halfhand-Second Baron of Sentinels Keep)
At the Third Quarter of 2005 meeting of the SCA Board of directors we have 
heard that the following business did occur:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Executive Session
Kingdom of the Outlands Request for Sanction of Previous Crown
By consensus, Chairman Williams directed the Society Seneschal to begin an 
investigation into possible violations of Outlands Kingdom traditions and 
customs by Ibrahim and Ileana as Sovereign and Consort of the Outlands, 
pursuant to the request of Hoegaarden and Chiara, King and Queen of the 
Outlands.
Chairman Williams further directed that the minutes reflect that the Board 
recognizes the challenging position of Their Majesties Hoegaarden and Chiara 
in this matter, and commends Their actions in bringing it forward.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Upon reading this, I was quite shocked. I have known Duke Ibrahim since he 
was 15. I was at his first fighters practice, and watched him from afar over 
the years after I moved to An Tir. Although we were not close friends, I 
have always like and admired him and his brother, and have been very pleased 
to see him mature into the man and the knight he has become within the SCA.

Understand, that since this has been sent up to the BoD, it is no longer 
just an Outlands issue. Any decision rendered on this case will have far 
reaching ramifications beyond the Kingdom of the Outlands, and once again, 
we may see possible further broadening of the powers and authority that the 
BoD has continued to invest in itself.

Upon reading the above missive, I set out to establish the facts around the 
incident that gave rise to the situation. Below I have listed them 
categorized as Facts, Informed Opinions, Unanswered Questions, and Personal 
Conjecture.


Facts:

1-Just before stepping down as the Crown of the Outlands, Ibrahim and Ileana 
conducted a ceremony for one Duke Lycurgus to re-invest him with Knighthood.

2-At that Ceremony, the then-Crown Prince, Hoegaarden, was the person who 
went out into the audience to escort Duke Lycurgus before TRM's for his 
ceremony.

3- Duke Lycurgus, sometime after an incident at Estrella War in 2001, 
submitted a letter to the BoD relinquishing his Knighthood. On 7/2101 an 
investigation was launched, and on Oct 20 01 he was sanctioned for 2 years 
from date. (No mention that I can find that the BoD officially recognized 
him giving up his belt-but I could be wrong)

4- The relevant Outlands Law regarding this issue are as follows: (from 
http://www.outlands.org/Library/lawweb.html)

E. The Crown shall confer awards upon individuals. Only members of the 
S.C.A. may receive armigerous awards. No award, whether armigerous or not, 
may be conferred upon a subject of any realm outside the Kingdom of the 
Outlands without the prior written consent of the Crown to whom the 
individual is subject.
 I. The Crown sets the Order of the March for their Courts and for Kingdom 
events.

5- The Relevant Society rules regarding this issue are as follows: (from 
http://www.sca.org/docs/govdocs.pdf )

I. GENERAL C. Role of the Board 2. Relationship with branches -
The Board will maintain a policy of non-interference with branch activities. 
The Board reserves the right to intervene in branch affairs if:
a) The events leading to such intervention appear to cause a threat to the 
integrity of the Society or the SCA, Inc.;
b) The governing documents of the Society appear to have been violated;
c) There is a threat to the SCA's legal standing; or
d) The Board is asked to become involved.

6- Meg Baron (recently retired President of the SCA) Lives in the Outlands.

7- It is a long recognized process that giving out Peerages is a decision 
made at the Kingdom level.

Informed Opinions:

1-There is a group of Peers and populace in Outlands that are unhappy with 
the re-Knighting.

2- There is a smaller group of Peers and populace that are happy with the 
re-Knighting

2-Meg Baron is among the Peers who are unhappy

3-Ibrahim and Ileana are in trouble for violating the 'traditions' of the 
Outlands, *not* Kingdom Law and *certainly not* Mundane Law.

4-These 'traditions' are not written anywhere that I've been able to find 
online.

5-Although many people I've spoken to claim that the Outlands is a 'The 
Kings Word is Law' Kingdom, that phrase does not appear in Outlands Kingdom 
Law, unlike many other Kingdoms in the SCA.

6- Duke Lycurgus's name was discussed inconclusively with many Crowns since 
he gave up his belt in 2001. This includes many discussions both public and 
private with Ibrahim while he was King.

7-One of the people who was in favor of the re-knighting before the fact was 
the Current Crown of the Outlands Hoegaarden.


Unanswered Questions:

1-While I have been able to determine that Duke Lycurgus did send in a 
letter relinquishing his belt to the BoD, I have been unable to determine 
from the minutes (that I've been able to find) what, if any, action the BoD 
took at that time other than the Sanction listed above. Anyone with actual 
facts regarding this issue is encouraged to send them forward to me. It is 
likely his request was accepted, but, if for some reason the BoD did not 
take action on this issue, then by the letter of the law this entire 
situation and point is moot since that would mean Duke Lycurgus was never 
properly degraded by the BoD in 2001.

2-It is VERY possible that any ruling regarding this issue will restrict ALL 
other future Crowns from making peers as they see fit. According to the 
Governing Documents any ruling by the BoD applies across the board to *all* 
Kingdoms.  If Ibrahim and Ileana are sanctioned for this action, then will 
we require Peerage Council approval and consent for all future Peerages in 
ALL Kingdoms?

3- How is it that the current Crown pushed for Duke Lycurgus to get his belt 
back but then sends up Ibrahim and Ileana to the BoD for discipline for an 
act that he himself championed?

4-Why is it that the Outlands seems to be so willing to send up internal 
matters up to the BoD that would be handled internally at the Kingdom level 
by so many other Kingdoms?

5- Is the above question related to the fact that the President of the SCA 
lived in the Outlands during this incident?


Personal Conjecture:

Ibrahim and Ileana are possibly about to become collateral damage in a fight 
that is actually aimed at re-stripping Duke Lycurgus of his belt. In order 
to get that belt, first they have to go after the Crown that gave it to him. 
Another casualty in this fight will be future Crowns' heretofore (in many 
Kingdoms ABSOLUTE) held right to be the final judge on who gets peerages and 
who doesn't.

It is also become increasingly clear that the BoD, although they claim to be 
hesitant to get involved with local issues, has no compunction whatsoever 
into wading into local medieval issues that are far beyond the scope of 
their original mandate:

"The Board is the final court of appeal for disputes that have escalated 
beyond the ability of the participants or the officers to handle. However, 
it is reluctant to play that role because its rulings affect the entire 
Society - often by restricting everyone's freedom and reducing their 
enjoyment of the organization. Corpora provides an unlimited right of appeal 
to the Board, but members should make every effort to work out their 
disputes at as low a level in the organization as possible. "
How is the BoD being 'RELUCTANT" when they repeatedly and actively pressure 
Crowns into sending up charges in order to give the BoD the opportunity to 
intervene in local issues?

I would invite anyone who has any more actual factual information to send 
this to me and I will be happy to revise this list. I realize that since 
these actions mostly took place nearly halfway across the continent that I 
have had to rely on second hand information.  If any of the above points are 
incorrect please let me know. It is not my intention to spread incorrect 
information regarding this or any other issue.

I am sending this open letter out to many different public areas, but I am 
also cc'ing it to each and ever member of the BoD at directors at sca.org   and 
would encourage you to do the same. It is important to speak out if you feel 
as strongly about this as I do, or feel it's important that the BoD hears 
other voices outside the corporate echo chamber on this issue.

To be clear, the objective of this letter is to encourage the BoD to NOT get 
involved in this local Kingdom matter. Secondarily the objective is to 
encourage other 'members' of the SCA to also publicly encourage the BoD to 
stay out of the medieval side of OUR game.

Permission is not only give but encouraged to re-print or forward this 
letter ONLY in its entirety anywhere by anyone, anytime.

In Service,

Sir Daniel d'Antioche


Cc:
directors at sca.org
Outlands List
Known World Chivalry list
Various An Tir Lists
Artemisia List
Kingdom of the East list
(possibly others as I think of them)