Archive : Minutes : 5-22-02 Letter from the Kingdom Seneschal

Here is the letter from Kingdom Seneschal in its entirety :

Greetings unto the populace of the Barony of Cleftlands from Rosamund Beauvisage, Seneschal of this Middle Kingdom.
I have asked Lord Nial to read a missive to you all and to post the same to your Baronial e-mail discussion list so that will be as little ambiguity as possible from this point onward about the Baronial polling process in Cleftlands. And no matter how you may feel about me taking this step or about what I say, please pay careful attention to the content of my missive, both in its detail AND in its spirit. I would come tell you these things in person but my teaching schedule precludes me from attending your business meetings and personal family obligations prevent me from attending North Oaken War Maneuvers. This is the best I can do to give it to you first-hand, from the "top", straight from the horse's mouth (not the other end, despite some rumors) without attending in person.
The following is VERY lengthy (hence the request that it also be posted ASAP), but I humbly ask you all please to bear with me. Also, please bear in mind that since the procedural chain of command ends with me, I take full responsibility at the outset for any failures of communication that have occurred, whether or not they originated with me. Please also bear in mind that I have been able to identify no malice in any of the real and perceived "mistakes" that have occurred in this process. Yes, mistakes have been made, both simple accidents and errors of human judgment, but I repeat that I have been able to find no malice in those errors.
Two such errors occurred early in this process, and although apparently without intent to harm, the fallout has been unfortunate. The first was that Mistress Kirsten, the Kingdom Deputy Seneschal for Group Transitions, put the wrong return deadline on the initial confidence. This was simply an accidental error, caused in large part by me working her too hard with several polls virtually simultaneous with one another and her modern job running her ragged. SHe has apologized to me about this several times. This error inadvertently slowed the process down and narrowed the time frame. After she informed me and Their (then) Majesties Ragnvaldr and Arabella of the results, Their Majesties decided to ask Their Graces (then) Baron Laurelen and Baroness Ithriliel to step down and informed me of Their decision to do so.
I, as procedural advisor to Their decision, asked Them to make it as quick as possible so that it would be conclued in Their reign, given that this is the home group of Their Heirs, and to follow it up in writing per Corpora and Kingdom law if it came down to a removal situation. I also asked Them to summarize for me what had happened. In what I consider to be a well-intentioned but unfortunately handled decision, after much time was taken up deciding what to do, His Majesty Ragnvaldr determined to talk face to face with His Grace Laurelen, man to man, Chiv to Chiv, King to His Baron, as the only honorable thing to do. This could not be accomplished without contacting His Grace via telephone to set up a meeting, which His Majesty unfortunately did not make until three days before Coronation. His Grace naturally inquired as to the reason for the meeting. According to His Majesty Ragnvaldr, when He told him, His Grace's response was "since it was his King asking, the two of them would step down effective immediately." In His summary to me after events at Coronation, His Grace Ragnvaldr also described the meeting with at Coronation, still held so that it "could still be done officially and face-to-face." He characterized His Grace Laurelen as "extremely and justifiably upset, [but] he remained reasonable yet resolute" and went on to say that His Grace expressed his profound disappointment, and offered the opinion that removal of himself and Her Grace Ithriliel would destroy the Barony. His Majesty Ragnvaldr also said that His Grace also asked that they not be brought up in court and recognized for their years as Baron and Baroness. Lastly, in his summary to me, His Grace Ragnvaldr wrote "A testament to his [Laurelen's] rationality at the time, he came to Us and explained beforehand that he was unable to attend Our morning court because of mundane family responsibilities. He did this to make sure that no one would get "the wrong idea".
Those are the events as they were relayed to me by Their Majesties Ragnvaldr and Arabella, and confirmed by His Majesty Valharic upon my asking at Curia the day after Coronation. Their Majesties Valharic and Alys attended the Baronial meeting the following Wednesday night to discuss the confidence poll results and subsequent actions. The polling process got underway with a call for nominations and/or self-nominations for Baron and/or Baroness. A deadline of 1 May was set to expedite this. Response was such that an internal polling became required to narrow the field. Otherwise, the concept that any candidate or candidates received "significant" support or did not have "significant" opposition would become statistically insignificant. The policy of my predecessors has been that a maximum of five choices be on a slate, but that three or four choices is STRONGLY preferred. Policy also dictates that an outside (i.e. not a member of the Barony) individual acceptable to both the Kingdom Seneschal and the local Seneschal act as moderator for the process, working with said local Seneschal to conduct said internal poll. The results of the internal poll will then form the basis for the final poll conducted through my office by my Deputy for Group Transitions. Their Majesties and I will be informed of the results and Their Majesties will appoint Their new Baron and/or Baroness as officers of the Crown.
Now that I have given you the Reader's Digest Condensed Version of the events leading up to Coronation and the outlines of the polling procedure, let me move on from there. As is your right as residents of this Kingdom so to do, I have received a number of letters about all this, both in support of and in angry rejection of all or parts of it. As a result, I contacted Lord Nial by phone on a number of occasions to inquire how he was doing and what I could do to help. He has always seemed to be level-headed, in control, and providing concerned, effective leadership in this difficult situation. I offered to meet with concerned Cleftlanders at Baron Wars if that would help, and I did meet with a few, explaining things from my point of view and answering procedural questions. The question I got most often was "who would be allowed to vote?" and I said that at minimum all paid members within the lands of the Barony were eligible, and that if anything else was desired it was up to the Barony to decide how to proceed. I said also that my **personal** opinion (as opposed to a mandate from The Kingdom Seneschal) was that any paid member who played on a regular basis and was in the Baronial directory should also be granted a voice in the polling even if they were not residents of Cuyahoga county because I **personally** held that inclusion was better than exclusion.
Another series of inadvertent, completely accidental errors followed immediately in the following week (last week) which have muddied the waters enough to prompt this letter. Apparently, there was a major misunderstanding at the Barony's business meeting last Wednesday night, 15 May. Lord Nial announced that the one-week turnaround time for responding to the internal poll was insisted upon by Their Majesties and me. This was a misinterpretation of a couple of things. First, His Majesty apparently did indicate to Nial that He wanted it done as "expeditiously as possible", and that he wanted the whole thing wrapped up by Pennsic. Nial looked at the calendar and saw what time was left for both the internal and final polls and came to the conclusion that there was only a week for responding to the internal poll after the 29 May "Meet & Greet". He and Mistress Kirsten discussed this, and based on what he thought His Majesty had said, Nial indicated to her that the one-week deadline was desired by the Royals. Kirsten agreed that while short, that it was technically possible. Nial then informed me that he and Kirsten had firmed up the procedure and timetable, and that's when *I* heard about the one-week deadline, which was presented to me as agreed upon by Nial and Kirsten. I then made the error of assuming, not asking, if this had been mutually agreed upon and whether or not Kirsten was okay with such a tight timetable. The next thing I start hearing is that the Royals and the Kingdom Seneschal had insisted on this and that this was "set in stone". Some people immediately reacted with "That's not what she said at Baron Wars! She said we could decide what we wanted to do!"
The fact of the matter is that NEITHER is this timetable is "set in stone" NOR did I every say the Barony could proceed however it wished in this process, EXCEPT on the issue of who got to vote. I have had subsequent conversations with Their Majesties, with Lord Nial and others involved, and the following is the broad framework of the timetable we have worked out:

Internal polls asking respondents to rank their top three choices will be created by Lord Nial and be handed out to all paid members who attend the 5/29 meeting and who are in the Baronial directory.
Polls will then be sent with pre-printed labels to those paid members in Cuyahoga county, and Nial will have to hand-address polls sent to all paid members.

All polls will be returned to the outside third-party moderator. Those handed back at the 5/29 meeting will go straight into an envelope addressed to the moderator, and someone other than Nial will be asked to seal the envelope and sign their name across the flap. The moderator will tabulate all polls received or post-marked by 8 June 2002 (see below) and send the results to Kirsten and to me. I will then inform Nial.
As of this writing (Monday, 5/20, 3:30 pm), we are going to ask His Grace, Finn Herjolfsson, KSCA, OL, three times King of the Middle, fellow resident of the Oaken Region, to act as that moderator, but we've not been able to do that yet. That should be resolved by this evening and Nial will update you on that score.

The top vote getters will be put on the final poll. This number is probably going to be three since we are asking people to rank their top three choices, but if there is a natural division that makes four a more natural split, Kirsten and I, in consultation with Nial, could choose to have the fourth-place candidate or pair of candidates on the final ballot. Those on the final ballot will be presented alphabetically. Their position on the final ballot will in no way be any indication of the votes they received on the initial poll.
Okay, here again is the official answer to the current question of when these are due - the internal polls must be EITHER returned by the end of Northern Oaken War Maneuvers OR postmarked by that date (8 June 2002). That's the official scoop based on phone calls between me, Their Majesties and Nial Sunday night and on the e-mail recommendation from Mistress Kirsten. Kirsten will request labels for the final poll to coincide with that deadline and the final poll will be mailed as rapidly as possible after the outside moderator reports the results of the internal polling to Kirsten, Nial and me. A response deadline of one month will be set from the mailing of the final poll, which should put the final tabulation somewhere around mid- to late July, i.e. before Pennsic.
I hope this clears up any confusion that might have inadvertently occurred. I am convinced that these errors have been simple accidents or errors committed in well-intentioned attempts to do jobs to the best of various people's abilities. As I stated at the beginning of this tome, I have found no malice in any part of this procedure. Mistakes and errors of information or interpretation have been committed on both sides, exacerbating a painful process, but I reiterate I can find no deliberate malicious intent in those who have set this process in motion, those trying to conduct it, or those angry with it. I believe with all my heart that we are all trying to do the best we can from our various perspectives, and I hope this clarification of my position and the official procedure will in some small way add to our ability to continue to do so.
In service to Crown, Kingdom and populace, I remain
Rosamund Beauvisage
Seneschal of the Middle Kingdom