East Kingdom transportation and distribution

[David KUIJT <kuijt@umiacs.umd.edu>]

Poster: David KUIJT <kuijt@umiacs.umd.edu>




 
> > The East should have been spawning a principality every 5 years starting
> > 20 years ago.  If it had done that, it would not be the impersonal place
> > it is now, where 90% of the people don't know more than a half-dozen
> > people from outside their state. 
> 
> I'm not sure if I see the East Kingdom the same way you do -- I have a
> bunch of friends in the EK who all seem to fall in the 10% who know
> more than a half-dozen people outside their state. I have heard that
> EK peers have been having a problem keeping up with the watchlist
> because there's apparently less travel, but that's something that's
> made worse by forming principalitites.
> 
> Gregory Blount, who goes to a few EK events a year


I simplified my description of the EK situation to avoid obscuring my
argument, which didn't require exactitude in describing the EK.

If I was to try for greater precision, I would observe the following
things about the East:

1. It already has four or five defacto divisions that have little contact
with each other.  The different zones have significantly different values
and cultures -- acknowledgement (both Rapier and Armoured combat) being
just the most obvious.  People in the East largely stay within these
zones. 

2. The bureaucracy of the East is mind-numbing.  It isn't their fault --
it is a side effect of attempting to deal with huge population.

3. The orders are disfunctional, compared to Atlantia.  I do NOT mean this
as an insult; and I hope it isn't taken that way by anyone.  Let me
elaborate and tell you where this is coming from.  I am in every Atlantian
Kingdom Order and Peerage; I have friends who are in every Eastern Order
and Peerage; I have experience with other kingdoms where I have been to
Order meetings and the like.

In Atlantia, I expect to know every candidate who comes up for a Peerage. 
Not well, necessarily, but well enough to have a face for them and know a
little bit about them.  In the East, this is totally impossible.  An
active peer may find himself "abstaining" on half, 3/4 or even EVERY
candidate on a given polling. 

In Atlantia, I expect to know half or more of the candidates for a Gold
Dolphin, Sea Stag, or Pearl.  In the East you would be lucky to know ANY
of the candidates on a Maunche, Silver Crescent, or Tygers Combatant
polling.

THEREFORE, I mean no disrespect to the East when I say their Orders are
disfunctional.  What I mean is simply this -- I believe that an active
member of an order should be able to give a reasonable response to a
polling, and if that is not possible then the order is disfunctional.  It
is not any fault of the East that they cannot; it is just a matter of
size.  The same commentary is true of the Middle Kingdom.

ALSO, I would like to call attention to something that I believe supports
my contention that Atlantia is going that way.  In Atlantia 8-10 years
ago, I would know every peerage candidate WELL.  Now, I hope to be able to
recognize their face.  In Atlantia 8-10 years ago, I would at least know
the face of every Kingdom Order Candidate.  Now, I hope to have a face for
at least 50% of them.

Let me reiterate, my activity level hasn't changed -- I've gone to a
nearly constant 18 events a year for 13 years or more.  The difference is
the Kingdom, and its population, and the number of events.

What do I conclude?  Atlantia is going the way the East is now.  In
another 8-10 years I expect I'll only have a face for 1/3 of the Peerage
candidates, and I'll know only the Kingdom Order candidates that are close
by.


All of which doesn't change my basic statement, that the East should have
spawned a principality every 5 years starting when Atlantia went Kingdom,
and if it had done that, it would be much better off.

Dafydd

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