[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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