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

Sondra Gibson sgibson at edulog.com
Tue Aug 2 13:33:04 CDT 2005


Based on what I know about this issue, I strongly agree with Sir Daniel.  

Baroness Gefjon Hrafnardottir, OL
Barony of Sentinels's Keep, Artemisia

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


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