Society for Creative Anachronism

There has been a greater emphasis on transparency in the SCA. The Board of Directors, President of the SCA, and Society Herald would like to address the membership on the creation of the ranged peerage, the process so far, insight on the decisions, and what happens next.

First and foremost, it is important to all of us to see the ranged peerage created as quickly as possible.

The Society has been working on implementation since June of 2024 to create a ranged peerage, which stemmed from a proposed Fifth Peerage that had been advocated by a group of members for over a decade. To help the membership better understand how things work on the Society level, here is a breakdown of the people involved in the process:

The Board of Directors: They are the seven volunteers who make the final decision on many things in the SCA and have a fiduciary responsibility to the organization. They provide administrative oversight, are the final arbiters of membership disciplinary actions(sanctions), and are responsible for the financial management of the SCA. They are also responsible for long-term strategy and planning of the organization. A new member of the Board rotates in every 6 months.

President of the SCA: This is an employee of the SCA who facilitates the decisions of the Board of Directors. This position leads the Society and Corporate Officers and is responsible for the legal and risk management of the SCA. Part of the responsibilities includes advising the Board of Directors in meetings as an advocate for the membership while balancing the goals and corporate interests of SCA Inc.

Society Herald (Also known as the Laurel Sovereign at Arms): This is a volunteer position that leads the College of Arms as the chief heraldic officer of the SCA. They also advise the Board of Directors on matters related to heraldry.

The initial plan after the approval of the Ranged Peerage in June, by the Board of Directors in consultation with the Corporate Officers (President, VP Corporate Ops, Society Seneschal), was to follow a similar path as the creation of the Order of Defense by having multiple options to choose from. This is a large, primarily volunteer organization and sometimes miscommunications occur. It did in this case.

The Board of Directors were waiting for multiple options. The Society Herald worked with the understanding that the Board was looking for one proposal. The President of the SCA pushed to involve the membership in the decisions with more open communication during the process. Everyone wanted to move the process forward as quickly as possible, and still do.

The College of Arms initially drafted a single proposal for the name, badge and regalia. At the same time, the President pushed for communication with the membership so that they could present multiple options, get feedback, and generate excitement over the new peerage. The College of Arms announced Esperance as the singular proposal without sufficient prior consultation with the Board of Directors in August. This then created mixed messaging to the membership through public announcements and online meetings about whether or not there was a singular proposal or if there would be multiple proposals.

The College of Arms used their expertise to make a singular proposal and promoted it to bring awareness to this being the most viable path forward for the peerage. The Board of Directors attempted to make it clear in Society announcements and via internal communication that the expectation was to present multiple options. Multiple options are important to the Board of Directors and the Corporate Officers because they believe the membership deserves to be involved and have a say in a new peerage. This was further emphasized in October after the Board meeting. Afterwards, several options were submitted to the College of Heralds, and the membership was given the opportunity to send in suggestions.

At the most recent quarterly meeting in January 2025, the Society Herald provided the Board of Directors with the final list of possible options. All the options in the polling came from this list. Prior to the release of the official poll, upon consultation with the Society Herald, several name options were removed and only four were found registrable. The proposed name developed by the College of Arms was then removed by the Board of Directors during a special meeting before releasing the poll. Although the College of Heralds advised that Esperance is a registrable name, the Board of Directors objected to having the peerage order sharing the same name as a historical order of chivalry.

It was a major decision, one that was discussed at length. The Board of Directors is not a monolith. Together they are the Board of Directors, but they are still individuals from different backgrounds and experiences debating and discussing these major decisions in consultation with the Corporate or Society Officers. Collectively, the Board of Directors makes the final decision. That is how from the options provided by the College of Heralds, we ended up with the final three options for the name of the new peerage and the options for the badge and insignia for the new Order.

The Society does not create new peerages often, and multiple challenges were created through miscommunication and misalignment of expectations. The SCA moves slowly due to processes, rules, and competing priorities. Decisions are generally made by the Directors at Quarterly meetings (these occur in January, April, July, and October) or on the monthly conference call. In rare exceptions there are special or emergency meetings. In between that time, the Officers handle the day-to-day operations and prepare items for these Board meetings. There is a special meeting scheduled to discuss the results of the current poll to expedite the process. The poll has had a fantastic response rate so far, and the Board of Directors eagerly await the results to review and come to a decision as soon as possible.

It has been less than a year since the new peerage was announced, but this process is in the final stages. We are on the cusp of having a new peerage. The Society has been moving as quickly as it could have to create a new peerage for the ranged community.

The Board, Corporate and the Laurel Sovereign are all committed to reviewing the entire process once the new peerage is in place and documenting key learnings and decision points for the future.

The emphasis here is that the SCA is full of volunteers or individuals who are trying to do the best that they can. This was a major project. Mistakes and misunderstandings occur and as an organization, we need to move forward. It has taken the SCA eight months to get to the point of polling on these options, a major factor weighing on the deliberations of the Board and Corporate Officers. If these options were found to be unacceptable, we would have to spend significant time accepting new options from the College of Heralds. Those options would have to go through the heraldic process. We would then need to poll on those options. Then we would need to have a decision on the polled items for the ranged peerage. Then we have some corporate processes to work through before a new peerage can officially be rolled out. All of that takes time. We do not want to reset or further delay the process.

The SCA is committed to moving forward with the proposals as presented. That is primarily why there is not a none of the above option on the poll. The SCA does not want to delay the creation of a ranged peerage. Though we all serve the Society in these roles, we are a part of the SCA as well. We all want to see our friends receive their well-deserved recognition.

We would like to thank the College of Arms for working through this process to come up with worthy options that any member of this peerage should be proud to be associated with. Though there have been some missteps in the process, at this time we will move forward and put the ranged community first by making a decision on the new peerage using the options as presented to the membership.

We hope this statement provides some clarity on the situation and the process. The poll is currently open, closing on 7 March 2025. During that time, we would encourage the membership to make their opinions known at [email protected] or by their participation in the poll.

Ranged Peerage Update – Joint Statement

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