Cave Virum Silentem

Tag: Wordsmithing is not scary

Back after a Break — How to start an assignment

October 13, 2024 /

Been busy and then recovering since last May but still did a lot of wordsmithing assignments that I’ll be sharing some in the coming weeks.

I took a little time to reflect back. First scroll text I did was in June 2018 over that 6 years I’ve worked on 93 scroll texts and I doubt I’m the most prolific wordsmith out there.

Still that is a decent number and I thought I give a few tips on getting started I’ve picked up.

  1. When I get the assignment my first stop is to check in with the scribe to see what thoughts/requirements they have. I’ll ask about the following
    • When do they need it by?
    • General length if they have it?
    • Starting letter, or letters to try and minimize
    • Anything else they want to mention.
  2. Next I’ll turn toward the recipient
    • What type of award it is is obvious,
    • Does the person have a wiki, even better does it have persona and/or notes on what type of scrolls they like to receive?
    • Is this an aoa, grant level or patent award? Let’s turn to the OP and see what awards the person has to see if we have to award, grant, give a patent of arms.
      • If this is the first aoa/grant/patent level award and arms aren’t on the wiki lets turn to the oanda to look up if they have registered arms.
    • If there is time reach out to the person that wrote them in , friends, baronial seats etc to see if there is anything particular interesting to work in. Sometimes you get fun Easter eggs like in here.
  3. Once that is in place time to turn to the sources and start looking for an appropriate text to use as a starting point or even to lift a couple phrases from.

Do and Don’ts when writing in someone for an award.

March 4, 2023 /

Writing Award Recommendations

What is an Award Recommendation? 

Within the SCA, awards are given to people for accomplishments — being good at rapier combat, for example, or serving as a local officer and/or running/helping at events. An award recommendation is a written suggestion to the Crown or Baronial Nobles that a particular person has done something commendable and is worthy of recognition for whatever area it is that they excel in.

Why Should I Write an Award Recommendation?

There are four main reasons that writing an award recommendation can be a good thing. 

  • One: The Crown cannot be everywhere at once! By writing an award recommendation, you are alerting the Crown to good deeds that they may not have been otherwise aware of. 
  • Two: The more recommendations the Crown gets about a person, the more likely they are to act on the information. A single letter about a person is all well and good, but if multiple people support the idea of an individual receiving recognition, the better it is. 
  • Three: You get to see terrific people receive awards that they well deserve!
  • Four: The SCA is a volunteer organization, a diverse group of people writing folks in helps those doing the quite work get recognized.

So, How Do I Do This? 

Writing an award recommendation is much easier than it would seem! There is a handy form on the East Kingdom website (URL listed at the end) that will send your recommendation directly to the Crown. There are a few pieces of information that you will need: 

  • Your mundane and SCA names
  • The local group you belong to
  • Your phone number and email address
  • The mundane and SCA names of the person you’re recommending.
  • The local group of the person you’re recommending.
  • The award you’re recommending them for
  • The reason you’re recommending them..
  • Links to their EK wiki page, photo of the person, and any relevant blogs they have.

If you’re missing a piece of information about the person, that’s okay; just fill out what you know. The most important parts are the person’s SCA name, and why you are recommending them to be recognized. The why is especially important and needs to be taken seriously. Here are a couple of examples of good and bad reasoning when writing recommendations:

  • Bad: I really like Lord MacGuffin he’s my friend and a nice person and I think he deserves this award
  • Good: Lord MacGuffin is always volunteering at events. Not only is he always helping out in the kitchen, but he also makes sure to aid those around him with whatever they may need. He also serves as our local chatelaine and was the feast steward for our Twelfth Night event.
  • Bad: Angus is great at fighting 
  • Good: Angus is a great new fighter. He shows a significant amount of prowess on the field; he takes time to teach and always treats his opponents with the utmost courtesy. He came in second during the Baron’s Champion list at Twelfth Night and won the Ice Weasel Tournament. 

The more information that you can supply about the person’s achievements, the better! Having multiple good points about an individual can help the Crown decide what award is appropriate for them.

Points to Consider

  • Write someone in early. If it is for an Order of High merit or above the person will have to be polled by the crown so advice can be given. Beyond that scheduling an award takes time and general the Signet and scribes of the East Kingdom should be given at least eight weeks to work their magic.
  • Please check to see if they already have the word by checking the order of precedence.
  • Don’t be surprised if it takes some time for the award to be issued. Crowns can receive quite a lot of recommendations at once and sometimes must push some awards to a later date to make sure that they are not overloading their court/scribes; other times, a person recommended to them may have just gotten an award. 
  • Please don’t tell the person in question that you have recommended them for an award. It sometimes happens that the Crown may choose a different award for the person, or may choose not to give them an award at that time. By telling them that you have written in for them, you are getting their hopes up for something that may not happen. 
  • Keep a list of people who you have / should write in and for what award. If helps you to remember to do it (and who you wrote in).
  • Keep a copy of your award recommendations. As with any writing review and practice helps you get better at it and for many reasons you might have cause to resubmit the person at a later date, so will save a lot of time editing/updating a previous submission then starting over.

Pertinent Links

Potential sources for scrolls for people with Indian Personas

October 11, 2022 /

There is a fascinating number of styles during the medieval time period of the SCA on the Indian subcontinent. A bit of information I found that just scratches the surface of what is out there.

– Written recognition of titles and accomplishments is more likely to be on copper plate or stone, because India weather makes it, so most permanent records get put on inorganic materials. 

– More iconic for SCA use would be stuff that resembles illustrations – like books or other illumination. Of that we have a bunch of options:

    – South India – mostly produces hard, narrow, palm leaves, where the surface is enamel like, and the writing is mostly text. 

    – North India, pre-Mughal – grows way better palm leaves (different plant) that an actually be drawn on.  There’s a LOT of Jain manuscripts of this sort, but also Hindu ones, with some really great images.  Imitating the shape / layout of these scrolls but using paper/paints for ease might be a really interesting way to create Indian themed award recognitions. The amount of fine detail in some of these manuscripts is really astounding.

     – The Mughal conquest of India (1500s through 1800) – really changes the game entirely.  The material includes paper – there’s actual books, and actual book binding, as they are bringing tech from the Middle East with them.  There’s also a concept of 3D perspective, and a whole lot more realistic rendering.  The tricky spot on this genre is that because the era goes way beyond period, you gotta get into the zone of staring at pictures from 1500-1650ish, as the art really is evolving substantially.  Good news is – this is probably the most accessible art style and there is lots of images around

    -A great example from the Mughal era is the Hamzanama – the version made by Akbar is a set of gorgeous illustrations made to be viewed at a distance, with text for the storyteller to read on the back, so you hold up the picture and read the story out loud while the audience sees the picture.  They are big (~27″X20″) and in insane gorgeous detail. 

For museums the V&A in London, the Met in NYC, the MFA Boston all have some interesting pieces.

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