Greetings to all these letters find, and special thanks and salutations to everyone who helped the Law Council and the Kingdom by studying the initial drafts of our first law proposals and seeing how they could be improved.

The proposals have now been revisited based on the feedback received, and, with a summary of your feedback, given to Crown to decide how they wish to proceed with them.

Addressing the feedback on July draft proposals

The first proposal - removing gender requirements from participation in the Crown List - received no critique, only some encouragement, so we have advanced it to their Majesties as it was.

The second proposal - rather extensive update on the descriptions of the awards and orders of our Kingdom - generated more comments from the wider court. The feedback was in favour of the overall direction of the changes, and we received some suggestions for improvements as well as questions regarding unclarities.

Many remarked on something which we had overlooked in the draft proposal, that while Crown Tournament gender requirements are proposed to be removed, the law still refers to “the Crown Prince and Princess” in 9.03.4. In the updated version this now reads as “Royal Heirs”; a descriptor also used in Corpora (see the Governing Documents of the SCA). Related to this, and particularly regarding changing “King and Queen” in several parts of the law into “Sovereign and Consort”, we wish to stress that ‘Sovereign’ and ‘Consort’ are roles related to the SCA Crown, and the holders of these roles will also hold titles of King or Queen (or equivalent title) based on their own choices. There is absolutely no intent in the proposal to retire titles, only clarify the law text to not use titles when referring to roles.

In the same context some commenters were also asking about gender neutral titles. In our Society all titles are controlled at the Society level. Corpora reserves this power to the SCA Board of Directors that has delegated the practicalities to the SCA College of Arms. Thus creating new titles is not appropriate for kingdom legislation. There are initiatives in the College of Arms to find gender neutral alternative titles; in English such have so far been found for the armiger titles (Award or Grant of Arms). Reflecting the options, in this proposal “Lord or Lady of the Rose” and “Lord or Lady of the Edelweiss” are now accompanied with “or an equivalent title” to allow for regional or gender neutral variants of ‘Lord’ or ‘Lady’. The full listing of alternative titles in various languages is published at http://heraldry.sca.org/titles.html.

The question regarding gender neutral titles was also raised in relation to the Sigillum. In both the current law and the proposed law the variants of this award are named using the Latin translations of the titles King and Queen; so far no gender neutral options are available. To change the overall naming of this award is beyond the scope of this particular proposal.

Another widely made comment addressed the curious way that the heraldic tincture ‘Or’ (yellow/gold) is capitalised in blazon (armorial description). The law text uses blazon when describing most symbols for the orders and awards because those symbols are heraldic insignia registered as such with the SCA College of Arms, and the Kingdom law ought to strive for consistency with the official registrations. In SCA blazon this particular tincture ‘Or’ is capitalised to differentiate it from the English conjunction ‘or’. The proposal retains this while removing erroneous capitalising of other tinctures (“Sable”).

We also received most welcome guidance in some German and Latin grammar used in the law text. In the updated proposal Orden des Linguistringes is consistently capitalised correctly according to German practice, and instead of using an incorrect plural form of the Latin word ‘sigillum’, the text sticks to singular; this makes more sense when discussing an order name.

Some commenters found it odd that closed orders occur in the middle of the fuller list of orders. In the law the orders are divided into armigerous and non-armigerous orders, chapters 10 and 11. The closed orders are armigerous orders and thus appear in the law text at the very end of chapter 10.

A symbol has not yet been chosen for the Order of the Dragon’s Pride, and so the current law text names it as “(reserved)”. Suggestion was received to replace it with “has not been chosen”. Trusting that the law will be updated properly once the symbol eventually is chosen, the proposal does not include this suggested change.

Compared to the July draft proposal, the following changes have been made:

  • (9.03.4) “Crown Prince and Crown Princess” was changed to “Royal Heirs” that is also used in Corpora.

  • (10.02.1.2, 10.02.2.1, 10.03.4.1, 10.03.5.1) The word “people” was removed from some award texts as unnecessary.

  • (10.02.3.1) In a feedback “prowess at arms” in the description of the Order of the Silver Guard was interpreted to exclude archery. To prevent this, “martial prowess” replaces it in this proposal.

  • (10.02.4.2, 10.04.1.1) “Lord or Lady of the Rose” and “Lord or Lady of the Edelweiss” are now accompanied with “or an equivalent title” to allow for regional or gender neutral variants of ‘Lord’ or ‘Lady’.

  • (11.04.3.1.1-4) English translations have been added for the Latin names of the Sigillum.

  • Some minor grammar corrections.

Once again, our most heartfelt thanks to all who commented and helped us either with suggestions, advice or encouragement. Please find the updated proposals below.

As always, you can reach the Law Council at .

1 Proposal to change Drachenwald law 7.02.2.1 (August 17)

Reasoning

The purpose of the proposed change is to have the kingdom law reflect Corpora regarding the removal of gender requirements for participating in Crown List. Additionally the word “Consort” is changed to “consort” for consistency.

Corpora IV.B.1 used to be:

Each competitor in a Royal List must be fighting for a prospective consort of the opposite sex unless the Crown has elected to permit a competitor to fight for a prospective consort of the same sex.

On 19 October 2019, Corpora IV.B.1 was changed to:

Each competitor in a Royal List must be fighting for a prospective consort.

Formatting

In the proposed law text below, added text is marked with bold and removed text is marked with strikethrough. All other text is unchanged from the current law text.

Proposed law text

7.02.2.1 Each competitor in the Crown Tournament must be fighting for a prospective consort of the opposite sex unless the Crown has elected to permit a competitor to fight for a prospective consort of the same sex. The competitor and prospective consort Consort are referred to as “Participants” in these laws.

2 Proposal to change Drachenwald law 9-11 (August 17)

Reasoning

The award sections have gone through some reworking to achieve three things.

  1. The most important changes acknowledge that the roles of Sovereign and Consort are not gendered although the titles King and Queen are. One important consideration in the proposal has been to not change the existing awards but prepare as much as possible for events that were not considered when the award was created.

    • The Order of the Companions of Albion (11.02) has in fact been registered with the SCA College of Arms without the word “King” in it and won’t need further actions.

    • The Queen’s Order of Courtesy of Drachenwald (11.03) is called The Order of Courtesy in the proposed text. The purpose of the award has not changed. As before, it is conferred by Consort.

    • The Sigillum is and has always been awarded either jointly by the Crown or separately by Sovereign or by Consort. The proposed changes in the law text do not change this, nor do they change the symbols of the award variants. The original law text presumes King Sovereign and Queen Consort and fails to address Queen Sovereign, King Consort, and situations where both of the rulers use either King or Queen as their titles. The proposed law recognises the difference between the role (Sovereign and Consort) and the title (King/Queen) of a ruler of the kingdom, and provides the appropriate award names for the various combinations. The name of the award reflects the title of the one bestowing it (King’s -> Regis; Queen’s -> Reginae). The symbol of the award, however, reflects the role (Sovereign or Consort, or both together). This is the case currently, and is merely clarified in the proposed text. This award was originally created in principality days. When Drachenwald became a kingdom, some other – and potentially more gender-neutral – options were considered but were turned down by the SCA College of Arms.

  2. The second change was to unify the style and way how the awards have been written to the law. The most significant change is related to Ordo Annuli (10.03).

    • A style issue was observed in capitalisation related to awards. In the current law the use has been very mixed even within the same sentence. In the proposed text, “award” or “order” are capitalised as part of the name of an award/order, for example the Order of X. When writing about awards and orders in general, no capitalisation is done unless the word is at the beginning of a sentence.

    • Awards and orders have symbols, but only some of those are registered badges. To avoid confusion the proposed law uses only the word “symbol”.

  3. The third part of the changes includes correcting the language to use better English as well as some added clarifications to some of the awards.

Formatting

In the proposed law text below, added text is marked with bold and removed text is marked with strikethrough. All other text is unchanged from the current law text.

Proposed law text

9.00 GRANTING AWARDS

9.01 Only the Crown of Drachenwald may grant kingdom awards in accordance with Kingdom law.

9.02 Both the Sovereign and Consort must agree upon any awards given by the Crown, except as specified below.

9.02.1 The Queen’s Order of Courtesy is granted solely at the discretion of the Consort Queen.

9.02.2 The King’s Order of the Companions of Albion is granted solely at the discretion of the Sovereign King.

9.02.3 The Sigillum is are granted jointly for the joint award, or at the sole discretion of either the Sovereign King or the Consort Queen for the individual awards. awards

9.03 The Crown may elevate subjects to the Peerage by granting membership in one of the orders Orders conferring a Patent of Arms, after polling the members of the order Order, and in accordance with these laws and the customs of Drachenwald.

9.03.1 Any polling for a candidate must be sent to all members of the order Order residing in Drachenwald. The members of the order Order must be allowed at least thirty days to reply to the polling. If a member has not responded to any pollings in the last two years, or not responded to three consecutive pollings, then they shall be considered inactive and will no longer be sent pollings until they ask the secretary to be reinstated.

9.03.2 The original polling for each individual must be in writing. Subsequent polling need not be, although the Crown is urged to do so.

9.03.3 Since people and membership in orders change, in order to give a polling award to any person, the polling on the person must have been done in the last year. If at least 80% of the circle is present at a given event, a decision to elevate can be made with a verbal polling of the circle even if the last written polling is more than 1 year old.

9.03.4 In order to be best prepared to assume the Thrones, the Royal Heirs Crown Prince and Princess may conduct pollings.

10.00 CONCERNING ARMIGEROUS KINGDOM AWARDS

10.01 The Crown may confer an Award of Arms, and/or a Court Barony and and/or a Grant of Arms Grant-of-Arms at their discretion upon to those of their subjects they deem members of the Kingdom Populace deemed worthy.

10.02 The following awards confer an Award of Arms upon the recipient if they are not yet armigerous.

10.02.1 Orden des Des Lindquistringes

10.02.1.1 This award was established to honor a former member of the Principality/Protectorate, Fahrquar Finley Fahrquarson (John Lindquist).

10.02.1.2 Presented to those people who have distinguished themselves by long and extraordinary services to the Kingdom.

10.02.1.3 The symbol badge of this order the Order is (Fieldless) a ring A ring formed of a wingless dragon in annulo widdershins Or, maintaining in chief with all four legs and mouth a gem gules.

10.02.1.4 Members of this order Order shall rank equally with members of the Order of the Panache and the Order of the Silver Guard.

10.02.2 Order of the Panache

10.02.2.1 Presented to those people who have distinguished themselves by long and consistent excellence in arts and sciences the Arts and who have also constantly made their expertise available to the various subjects members of the Kingdom.

10.02.2.2 The symbol of this order the Order is (Fieldless) issuant to chief from a torteau charged with a bezant pierced sable three feathers gules, Or and sable Sable.

10.02.2.3 Members of this order Order shall rank equally with members of the Orden des Lindquistringes and the Order of the Silver Guard.

10.02.3 Order of the Silver Guard

10.02.3.1 Presented to those members who have distinguished themselves by chivalry and martial prowess. prowess at arms.

10.02.3.2 The symbol badge of this order Order is (Tinctureless) a silver wrist-guard bearing engraved with a dragon passant coward, wings addorsed, maintaining in dexter forepaw a sword erect.

10.02.3.3 Members of this order the Order shall rank equally with members of the Orden des Lindquistringes and the Order of the Panache.

10.02.4 The Order of the Rose

10.02.4.1 This order shall be bestowed upon former Consorts of Drachenwald at the end of their first reign.

10.02.4.2 Companions of this order Order may be styled as Lord or Lady of the Rose, or an equivalent title, Rose as is appropriate.

10.02.4.3 The symbol of this order the Order is (Tinctureless) a wreath of roses.

10.03 Ordo Annuli (Order of the Ring) - Ordo Annulorum (Order of the Rings)

10.07 The following awards confer a Grant of Arms upon any recipient who does not already hold a Grant of Arms. Together named Ordo annuli - Ordo Annulorum, the (Order of the Rings), they share a badge of (fieldless) a ring sable.

10.03.1 The Order consists of three parts (companies) with equal rank described in sections 10.03.4 - 10.03.6: Ordo Hirundinis (the Swallow), Cygni (the Swan), and Alae (the Wing).

10.07.1 The Order comprises three orders or companies described in sections 10.08, 10.09 and 10.10. Membership in one of the Ordo Hirundinis (the swallow), Cygni (the swan) or Alae (the glove) automatically confers membership in the Ordo annuli.

10.03.2 This order confers a Grant of Arms upon any recipient who does not already hold a Grant of Arms.

10.03.3 The symbol of this order is (Fieldless) a ring sable.

10.03.4 Ordo Hirundinis (the Order of the Swallow) (Grant of Arms for service)

10.03.4.1 Presented to those people who have distinguished themselves by superior service to the Kingdom.

10.03.4.2 The symbol badge of this company of the order Order is (Fieldless) (fieldless) a martlet volant Or.

10.03.5 Ordo Cygni (the Order of the Swan) (Grant of Arms for Arts and Sciences)

10.03.5.1 Presented to those people who have distinguished themselves by superior achievement in arts and sciences Arts and Sciences in the Kingdom.

10.03.5.2 The symbol badge of this company of the order Order is (Fieldless) (fieldless) a swan sable.

10.03.6 Ordo Alae (the Order of the Wing) (Grant of Arms for martial activities, such as armoured combat, fencing and archery)

10.03.6.1 Presented to those members of the Drachenwald martial community who have displayed superior abilities in their respective field or fields of martial activity in the Kingdom.

10.03.6.2 The symbol badge of this company of the order Order is (Fieldless) (fieldless) a wing terminating in a hand gules sustaining a sword fesswise reversed proper.

10.04 Closed orders

10.04.1 The Order of the Edelweiss (formerly Marguerite)

10.11.1.2 This Order is closed.

10.04.1.1 Companions of this order Order may be styled as Lord or Lady of the Edelweiss, or an equivalent title, “Lord/Lady of the Edelweiss” as appropriate.

10.04.1.2 This order was for the former Consorts of the Principality of Drachenwald.

10.04.1.3 The symbol of this order the Order is (Fieldless) an edelweiss Or, seeded gules, within and conjoined to an annulet amulet argent.

10.04.2 Order of The Dragon’s Steel

10.11.2.1 This order is closed.

10.04.2.1 This order was established as a polling order for presented to those members of the period fencing community, who had displayed superior abilities in period fencing. fencing, prior to the creation of the Order of Defense.

10.04.2.2 The symbol badge of this the order is Or, three pine trees in fess eradicated gules, overall a dragon passant coward sable, and on a chief gules a rapier argent.

10.04.2.3 The members of this order traditionally wear a red-gold-black braid around their off-hand upper arm/shoulder.

11.00 CONCERNING NON-ARMIGEROUS KINGDOM AWARDS

11.01 The Popular Company of Sojourners (PCS)

11.01.1 Presented at the discretion of the Crown to those who have contributed to Drachenwald and will soon depart, or have already departed, the Kingdom.

11.01.2 The symbol of the order badge is Barry wavy argent and azure, two flaunches vert.

11.02 The King’s Order of the Companions of Albion Albion.

11.02.1 This order is conferred by the Sovereign upon those subjects of Drachenwald The Albion is presented by the King to those of His subjects that He may deem worthy of recognition for exemplary chivalry, courtesy or service. It is recommended that the Sovereign presents this award no more than one time per reign.

11.02.2 The symbol of this order Companions of this Order shall have the right to display the regalia of the Order, which is (Fieldless) a dragon’s claw inverted sable within and conjoined to an annulet per pale Or and gules.

11.03 The Queen’s Order of Courtesy of Drachenwald

11.03.1 This order is conferred by the Consort upon those subjects of Drachenwald worthy of recognition for exemplary chivalry, courtesy or service. The Queen of Drachenwald shall confer the Order upon such people as She deems worthy, by reason of their exemplary chivalry, courtesy or service to the people of all ranks in this Kingdom and in the Society at large.

11.03.2 The Consort may, whenever they deem necessary, call upon the members of the order for aid or advice in encouraging courteous behavior. The Queen may, if She sees fit, call upon the members of the Order to assist Her with their aid or advice in encouraging Courteous behavior, whenever She may deem this necessary.

11.03.3 The symbol of for this award is shall be an Edelweiss with a red center to be worn on a pin or silver chain.

11.04 The Sigillum Regis of Drachenwald, the Sigillum Reginae of Drachenwald, and the Sigillum Regis et Reginae of Drachenwald

11.04.1 The Sigillum Regis of Drachenwald, the Sigillum Reginae of Drachenwald, and the Sigillum Regis et Reginae of Drachenwald is awarded for personal service to the Crown(s) that far exceeds any expected measure.

11.04.2 It is recommended that each Sovereign and Consort consort present this award no more than three times per reign. Joint awards count as one each.

11.04.3 The name and badge of the award these awards are: depends on who bestows it.

11.04. 3.1 For the King and Queen The Sigillum Regis et Reginae of Drachenwald: A white edelweiss surmounted by a black dragon’s head bearing the sigils of the Crown bestowing it.

11.04.3.1 When the Sovereign and the Consort bestow the Sigillum jointly, the name of this award mentions first the title of the Sovereign and then the title of the Consort, in Latin.

11.04.3.1.1 A Queen Sovereign and a King Consort jointly bestow Sigillum Reginae et Regis (the seal of the Queen and the King).

11.04.3.1.2 A King Sovereign and a Queen Consort jointly bestow Sigillum Regis et Reginae (the seal of the King and the Queen).

11.04.3.1.3 A Queen Sovereign and a Queen Consort jointly bestow Sigillum Reginarum (the seal of the Queens).

11.04.3.1.4 A King Sovereign and a King Consort jointly bestow Sigillum Regum (the seal of the Kings).

11.04.3.2 When either the Sovereign or the Consort bestows the Sigillum alone, the name of this award mentions their title in Latin.

11.04.3.2.1 A King Sovereign or a King Consort bestows Sigillum Regis.

11.04.3.2.1 A Queen Sovereign or a Queen Consort bestows Sigillum Reginae.

11.04. 3.2 For the King The Sigillum Regis of Drachenwald: A black dragon’s head charged with the sigils of the King bestowing it.

11.04. 3.3 For the Queen The Sigillum Reginae of Drachenwald: A white edelweiss charged with the sigils of the Queen bestowing it.

11.04.4 The symbol of the award depends on who bestows it.

11.04.4.1 When the Sovereign and the Consort bestow the Sigillum jointly, the symbol of this award is a white edelweiss surmounted by a black dragon’s head bearing the initials of the Crown bestowing it.

11.04.4.2 When the Sovereign bestows the Sigillum, the symbol of this award is a black dragon’s head charged with the initials of the Sovereign bestowing it.

11.04.4.3 When the Consort bestows the Sigillum, the symbol of this award is a white edelweiss charged with the initials of the Consort bestowing it.

11.05 The Order of the Dragon’s Tears

11.05.1 This award Award is given at the discretion of the Crown to the organizer(s) autocrat(s) of an extraordinarily successful event.

11.05.2 The symbol of this award Award is (Fieldless) on a goutte per pale Or and gules a dragon passant coward sable.

11.05.3 Subjects Members of the Kingdom may receive this award Award more than once.

11.05.4 Recipients of this award Award may be styled as styled, Holder of the Dragon’s Tear (or, if they have more than one, Holder of the Dragon’s Tears).

11.06 The Order of the Dragon’s Bowle

11.06.1 The Order of the Dragon’s Bowle is awarded at the discretion of the Crown to those who have displayed notable attention to authenticity.

11.06.2 The symbol of this award Award is (Fieldless) a dragon passant coward sable charged with a bowl per pale Or and gules.

11.07 The Order of the Dragon’s Jewel

11.07.1 This award will be given to children (under 12 years of age) who have distinguished themselves through exemplary behavior or service.

11.07.2 The symbol of for this award is will be a crystal jewel other than black suspended from a red, black, and gold ribbon or cord.

11.08 The Order of the Dragon’s Pride

11.08.1 This award will be given to children (under 12 years of age) who have distinguished themselves through exemplary work in the arts and sciences.

11.08.2 The symbol of for this award Award is shall be (reserved).

11.09 The Hospitallers of Albion

11.09.1 The Hospitallers of Albion is presented by the Crown Crowns to those persons or groups who have shown unselfish service to Crown and Kingdom of Drachenwald during their travels to events outside the Kingdom of Drachenwald.

11.09.2 The symbol of this award is (Fieldless) on On a dragon passant coward sable a wake knot argent.

11.09.3 Only persons/groups residing/based outside the Kingdom of Drachenwald may receive this award.

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