disc: ONE Peerage, Different Orders, or No Order

[Lance Harrop <lharrop@mrj.com>]

Poster: Lance Harrop <lharrop@mrj.com>


I see from the addresses above that I am speaking to both fair Atlantia 
and noble East,

Greetings to you all.

Lady Solveig, and others before her, have suggested giving all Peers of 
the Society one common title, Marquis.  Also, that the Crowns of the 
Laurel Kingdoms of the Knowne World have the power to make anyone worthy 
a Peer of the Society.  However, everyone seems to be missing the 
flipside of this suggestion.

We could allow the Orders to make worthy candidates members without first 
having them be peers.

When it comes to the chivalry, I particularly note the words of my 
knight, Syr Strykar, who thinks we should be able to make hedge knights.  
That is, accept that a squire or other fighter has achieved the fighting 
ability and shown the common courtesy we expect, but who has not really 
achieved peer status, by giving him/her a belt and the title (in period 
rather lower then Lord) knight.  Of course, only knights would make 
knights, but it would not take the power of the Crown, nor would it 
automatically elevate the candidate into the peerage.

Now I suspect that every Kingdom of the Society would want to have a 
Royal Order of Chivalry, to which a King might invite a knight or 
candidate to join.  And I am sure that a lot of candidates might not 
accept knighthood until they are offered membership in the Royal Order.  
And of course the Royal Order might automatically include elevation to 
the Peerage.  And I wouldn't be surprised if some humble knights 
currently in the Chivalry decide to keep their title as knight, but turn 
down a distinct peerage, causing their own demotion.

But at least we would have corrected ONE misuse of terms in period, by 
releasing "knight" to idenfity any capable warrior and reducing it in 
rank to less then peerage titles.

As for Masters of Arms, I would expect them to group themselves into 
schools with their own criteria for elevation from student to scholar to 
master.

Pelicans, I expect, would operate much like the Knights, and have a Royal 
Order of their own in each Kingdom.  After all, service to the Crown is 
the highest virtue ;-).

Laurels, on the other hand, I expect to fracture into guilds and schools 
and the like.  Apprentices would become journeymen/women in time, and 
higher titles might await a Royal license to open a shop, the period 
requirement to become a "Master".

I suspect that Archery, Fencing, and so on would rapidly create their own 
schools, with rules for elevation and such.  Atlantia already has such a 
system for Fencers.

In Service
Leifr Johansson
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