As much as the Gazette would have loved to send its intrepid reporter across the kingdoms to fair Atenveldt, Baroness Leonete spent Saturday in the frigid north, waiting for news from the BoD meeting to inform you, our dear readership as to the goings-on of our great and noble society.

As was already reported in the Gazette, The Shire of Endewearde was approved to become a Barony. The news filtered from the Gazette to the populace at Birka, creating much celebration among the members of the newly created Barony.

The Social Media Policy was approved, on its fourth draft. Stay tuned for another feature with Tobias Morgan, Deputy Society Seneschal for Social Media. A new Kingdom Seneschal’s Handbook was also approved, pending changes suggested by the BoD.

The BoD discussed the creation of a Society-wide Lifetime Achievement Award, which was also referenced as a “Hero of the SCA” award. BoD member Marc Faulcon discussed the idea to create a structure of recognition that cuts across kingdom, state, and international boundaries to create a kind of hall of fame of those members of the society who truly make a difference. The BoD plans to use social media to gauge the interest of the populace on this idea, and then form a committee to look into it.

Another new project of the BoD is a youth and family badge system to encourage participation from younger SCAdians. This system will have activities to keep children engaged and be broken into three age groups. The material for the activities will be similar across all kingdoms and be managed at the corporate level. The current plan has 7 topic areas across 3 age groups for a total of 21 badges. More information about this initiative will be forthcoming.

The BoD is looking at creating more oversight for the largest wars. This will affect events of over 2,000 people and needs to include evacuation procedures, water sanitation procedures, and other considerations. There is also a need for financial oversight when events are handling monetary amounts over $75,000. The need to look into these items is coming from both insurance and legal counsel, as well as the BoD itself.

In another reminder of how real life politics affect the SCA, the BoD created a new policy prohibiting marijuana at all events, even in states where it is legal. Because federal law prohibits it, the SCA will do so as well.

Many thanks to Lady Astrina de la Meuse for providing notes, and to Don Wyllym for canvassing Atenveldt to find us a note-taker.