The Pen is Mightier

Three acts of courtesy a good man should strive for: Holding a hearth seat for the cold and weary stranger,  Word fame given wildly for another man’s deeds, Bountiful bread broken with all who come to his table. This is the courtesy of Valerian of Somerset. He offers the gift of abundance. Cordials of cordiality,  provisions of partnership; the communion of community.    He serves the whole Society with his hospitality.  Three animal senses are soothed in Valerian’s mead hall: Our tongues know the sweetness of milk and honey, Our noses breathe the perfume of fire and wood smoke Our ears hear the sizzle-song of meat dripping onto coals. While I with my voice, make a feast with my words, Valerian, with his flame, has made a feast for us all.  Your majesties, one more triad to end this poem: He is my peer, he is my peer, he is my peer. ------- This poem was spoken by me for Baron Valerian of Somerset as a part of his peerage ceremony during his elevation to th...

Since our current King of the East has an Arabic Muslim persona, I got to thinking about how my Hindi or Tribal persona might have interacted with a Mughal Muslim emperor.  Oaths of fealty, which are widely used in the SCA, is a European centric concept, and don't have the same meaning in the parts of the world that interest me.  As an intellectual exercise, I started researching it. I needed to know: Could a Muslim ruler accept an oath from a non Muslim?  And what would an Indian oath look like? Long story short: Yes, Muslim Rulers had to do some mental gymnastics to get it to work, but they did, and they did it in India specifically (Moin).    And then I found a reference to an oath in the Mahabharata which was used to assert the innocence of the person making it.  As I said, an "oath of fealty" was not a concept that applied in ancient India, but certainly swearing that something was true did apply, (Hara).  So I took the Sanskrit which had been tra...

This was one of those speeches that I had a framework for going into court, but it was not written down or rehearsed in advance. I knew the beginning and the end, and I had the base idea I wanted to embed in the middle of the speech, then I noodled my way into connecting the beginning to the base idea, expounding on the base idea and then moving from that exposition into to the conclusion. It works because the conclusion is strong and I can sell the speech with personal magnetism. It is remembered by others in the room as being one of the better speeches of the day for those reasons. That said, looking at it logically once it has been transpired, it is a mediocre speech with many run on sentences, and I injected myself too much. Don’t do this at home, kids. FB link to Anastasia's Vigil My piece starts at 8:05. "I am Countess Marguerite Ingean Lachlainn, (Bows to the Crown). A Lady of the Rose is supposed to speak about Courtesy, but today I am going to speak about ...

I teach a class titled: How to Give a Good Peerage Speech. I have taught it at Pennsic.  I have also taught it one on one to people who are freaking out that they have to give one. As a service to all courts everywhere, I am sharing my notes.  Go forth and give good speech. How to Craft a Good Peerage Speech:  Countess Marguerite inghean Lachlainn -East. In writing: Rule 1: Know the reactions of your candidate. Rule 2: Keep your speech short. No, really. Short.  I don't care if your persona is long winded. Short. There will be 5 or 6 people speaking. It needs to be only 2 to 3 minutes. Rule 3: Address to the candidate, the crown AND the populace. Rule 4: You can keep mundane references in, but disguise them.  No inside jokes unless you are prepared to explain them. Rule 5: Remember which virtue/branch of the society you are representing when you make your speech and speak to that. If you are a populace speaker, then speak of the candidate's in...