Dearest People of Blackspire,
I come to you today to speak about awards – the heart of what helps our Monarchy recognize the good and noble works of the populace. It has come to my attention that some of you have concerns surrounding my previous decree regarding awards under 8 during my reign. I have heard rumors that my decree will be problematic for our Shires and Baronies, may create attrition for those holdings, or cause discomfort or distress for holding members who don’t feel comfortable awarding members they have close ties with locally.
I want you to know that I hear your concerns, and I apologize for any misunderstanding or miscommunication related to this decree. It was absolutely never my intention to cause any harm to smaller holdings or to make smaller holdings think I do not care about them! The truth is quite the opposite –
I find our default system to be supremely unfair to smaller holdings. The level of award you can earn should not be dictated by where you happen to reside and play Amtgard geographically. In reality, certain holdings, based on the size of the city they are in, or the proximity to a college, or the political leanings of the area, will inherently be larger or smaller in population. The populace in a Shire should have the same opportunity to locally earn awards up to 8th level as the populace of a Duchy, without having to catch the attention of the Kingdom Monarchy – which can be a difficult task for those members who cannot travel or attend KLEs and campouts.
I’ve also heard concern about the real authority of holding Monarchy, and the practical logistics of awarding ladder orders above their cap as listed in our Constitution. I want to take this opportunity to reference section 17.9, which describes the maximum award level holdings can give by holding status for Shire/Barony/Duchy – but also point out that under each officer’s section that is empowered to give awards, it states “May hand out up to level 8 awards with Monarch approval for anything above what their holding status is normally granted per 17.9 of this document.” (Example: 17.12.6)
Section 2.4 reads, “Titles and honors may never be awarded to members of another kingdom without that kingdom’s Monarch’s permission.” This passage is why I stated that the appropriate Monarchies of both holdings should agree before awards are bestowed between holdings. I do want to acknowledge this is implicit authority, not explicit, and I understand the discomfort some folks may have with that.
In order to alleviate this discomfort, I am hereby giving my blanket approval for all Holders, Viziers, Guardians, and Sheriffs, to hand out up to level 8 awards for anything above what their holding status is normally granted per section 17.9.
I trust our Holding Monarchies to follow the standards and use their best judgement, as I believe their populace did when electing them. I know that the local monarchy knows their populace better than I do, and will have a much better grasp on who is deserving of recognition than I would on the grander Kingdom scale, and I am empowering them to ensure those recognitions are given and celebrated by their home park.
To reiterate from my original decree, the kingdom will not be handing out awards below 9th, except in a few special cases. To expand upon this, if a holding’s monarchy member is uncomfortable giving awards to individuals they are close to in some way, they have the ability to have those awards bestowed by the monarchy of any other holding. If they cannot do this for any reason, they may bring those requests to the Crown and we will make our decision from there.
My ultimate goal for these decrees is twofold: to empower local holdings to celebrate and recognize their members, and to help maintain timely courts at Kingdom Events so we have more time to play the game we all love, and keep Kingdom Court special for those who are receiving Kingdom-level accolades and acclaim. I respect the time and authority of my monarchy team and the volunteers at all levels serving in office, and want to make sure we all have the opportunity to celebrate our accomplishments together.
In service,
King Brodar of Ashlark
Emmering Rook, the KPM has some information given below to discuss the logistics of entering awards in the ORK for those who had concerns or questions about the administrative side of things.
KPM here with some exciting news for you! The ORK already allows you to enter awards up to 8, regardless of your Holding status! If you have awarded someone at your own park, just enter the order as normal. If you have awarded someone from a different park, their Chancellor will need to enter the award, but will put in your holding’s awarding officer and your holding as the “Given At” location. If you need assistance with any of these first few, please don’t hesitate to reach out! I am excited to see these changes and look forward to seeing a lot more ladder awards going out!
Yours in Service,
Emmering Rook, KPM