Greetings, yesterday during Court at Lady Mary, Their Royal Majesties gave permission to Her Excellency Baroness Sciath ingen Chaennaig to retire from the Baronial seat of Rising Waters. Thus begins the election process for the next gentle(s) to sit the seat(s). The timeline agreed upon at this time is as follows:

May 3: Announcement

June 2: Last day for letters of intent to be submitted as per the policy.

June 3: Candidates submitted to their Majesties and Kingdom Seneschal for review and acceptance.

June 9: Majesties and Kingdom Seneschal date to have replied.

June 10-11: Inform candidates.

June 11-13: Meet the candidates meeting at a fight practice (TB Scheduled, currently Thursdays).

June 14: Second meet the candidates opportunity.

June 16-20: Polling meeting at a fight practice (TB Scheduled, currently Thursdays).

June 22: Second polling meeting at A&S/BBQ.

June 23-24: Complete polling and submit to their Majesties for final approval.

June 28: Announce at court at Trillies.

The Baronial succession policy will be posted* for any who are interested in submitting their intention or would like to know how the process works.

We will also work to get the info posted on Discord.

YIS

Dmitri

*Succession Policy below

Barony of Rising Waters, Kingdom of Ealdormere, SCA Inc. Succession Policy & Procedures – revised March 18 2019.

The election being coordinated by the Baronial Seneschal, and overseen by the Kingdom Seneschal, with the ability to coordinate the election personally if they deem necessary.

I. Qualifications for the Baronial Seat.
Any individual wishing to be considered for the honour of the Baron and/or Baroness of Rising Waters:

1. Be acceptable to the crown.
2. Be an international or family member in good standing of the S.C.A. at least 6 months and active in the Barony for 1 year prior to the announcement of the stepping down of the present Baron and Baroness.
3. Be a minimum of 18 years of age.
4. All candidates must meet the requirements as set out by Corpora and Kingdom Law.
5. Candidates may be an individual or a couple.
6. If the Baronial Seneschal and or the sitting Baron and Baroness are running in the election, then the Kingdom Seneschal shall appoint Deputies to run the Baronial Election.

II. Participation of the Barony’s Populace: Populace Poll.

1. Members of the Barony shall have the opportunity to express to the Crown their consensus as to the choice of the Baron/ess in the form of a written poll. Pollers will assign a unique number from 1 to the number of candidates (1 being most preferred, to X being least preferred, where X is the number of candidates) to each of the Candidates listed on the ballots. The ballot is then placed in the ballot box. Incomplete ballots and/or ballots not ranking the candidates as noted will be considered spoiled and not counted. These written poll results shall be provided to the Crown to assist the Crown in the confirmation of Baron/ness but shall not bind the Crown in any manner whatsoever.
2. Only those who are, at the time of the announcement of step down, paid members of the Society who are considered by the definition in this policy to be members of the Barony shall be eligible to participate in the poll.
3. Unpaid members of the barony will be polled separately to be considered.
4. Proxy polls will not be accepted.
5. E-mail or mail-in polls will be accepted only until 11:59 p.m. the Friday before the last day of polling. You must include your full mundane name, SCA name, address, phone number, email, and membership number. We will need to have this information physically in your email or letter for your poll to be counted.
6. Definition of a member of the Barony of Rising Waters – Someone who lives within the boundaries of Rising Waters and does not have a strong affiliation with another Barony. Or a member of the Barony can be someone living outside the borders of Rising Waters who is active within the Barony and considers themselves a member of the Barony, and whose name is listed on the Baronial membership roster.

III. Candidates for the Baronial Seat(s).

1. Anyone wishing to run for the Baronial Seats must meet the requirements listed above.
2. A letter of intent must be given to the present Baron and Baroness and the Baronial Seneschal no later than 30 days after the date of the step-down announcement.
3. With the letter of intent, the potential candidate(s) must include a copy of their memberships.

IV. Order of events.

1. Approximately 6 months before the Baron and Baroness intend to retire, the current Baron and Baroness shall announce their intent to retire in a court. This shall initiate the process.
2. Notification shall be posted in the next issue of The Cataract, The Baronial newsletter or in a special additional Baronial newsletter; stipulating that they will step down and those copies of the letters of intent from the Candidates will be accepted by Their Excellencies and the Baronial Seneschal. At the same time, the Baronial Succession Policy shall be published. This information shall also be made available at all meetings, practices, workshops, local events and on the Baronial newsgroup, or by e-mail to anyone who should wish a copy.
3. At the application deadline, the list of prospective candidates will be sent to the Crown (present and Heirs) and the Kingdom Seneschal for approval.
4. Upon return and approval from the Royals and the Seneschal, the list shall be finalized, and the successful Candidates will be notified.
5. From time of notification of the candidates, over the next several weeks as outlined by the schedule, will have the opportunity to attend at least one scheduled candidate meeting were the populous can ask them questions.
6. The Baronial Seneschal will prepare the ballots and the non-member polling according to corpora and Kingdom law.
7. Polling will occur as outlined in the timelines published. At least two separate opportunities will be given for polling.
8. The polling process will take no longer than 30 days.
9. The Baronial Seneschal, the Baron and Baroness and Kingdom Seneschal shall tally the poll results. If any of the aforementioned parties are unavailable for counting the poll results on the scheduled date, then they shall appoint a deputy who can fulfill these duties. If the Baronial Seneschal and or the sitting Baron and Baroness are running in the election, then the Kingdom Seneschal shall appoint someone to oversee the tally of the poll results.
10. The Baron and Baroness of Rising Waters, the Baronial Seneschal and the Kingdom Seneschal or their appointed representative shall witness the poll results tally and if necessary, verify results.
11. The poll results shall be presented to the Crown for approval. The non-member poll shall also be presented for the Crown’s information.
12. Should the Candidate(s) meet with the Crown’s approval, then the current Baron and Baroness will step down at an event chosen by the Crown, the new Baron and/or Baroness will be invested by the Crown of Ealdormere at their pleasure and in accordance with Kingdom and Society laws.
13. This version of the Baronial Succession Policy for the Barony of Rising Waters supersedes all previous revisions.

Additional Requirements

The following documents outline any additional requirements that sitting Territorial Baronages must follow according to SCA Inc. and Kingdom of Ealdormere policies:

Laws of the Kingdom of Ealdormere (rev. April 2024) – Article 8 – Territorial Baronial Nobles

Laws of the Kingdom of Ealdormere (rev. April 2024) – Section 5 – Baronial Selection Policies

SCA Inc. (rev. April 2022) – Article 5 – Territorial Barons and Baronesses

Duties & Responsibilities of the Baron and Baroness of Rising Waters