I'm not sure how many of you are terribly interested in hearing about my plans for uber-geekery that can also be described as creating a household within the S.C.A. As such, this may just end up being my way of organizing my thoughts.
This week, I've put a lot of thought into how I want to set this up. I've come up with a few goals, and the beginning of what I'm calling the "Charter". Essentially just a fancy name for a code of conduct and behavior. More importantly, I've got a name. All households need a name, and I've already picked the one for mine. The North Seas Trading Company. The reason I picked it is twofold, though to be honest the second reason was purely incidental. The first is that my persona, one Ruadhan macLochloinn, is a Scotsman and as a merchant ship commander would do most of his business in the North Sea area. The second is that the area we live in, the Barony of Thor's Mountain, is very obviously tied to Norse culture. In this way I make a connection between the house and the barony.
As I've stated, I do have some goals already penned for the household. Primarily, it's about having fun. More specifically though, it's about bringing people together who share an interest/love of the nautical cultures of the period. It's about bringing to life the personas that all of us in the society work so hard to put together. At least I would think the nautical aspect is a natural match for the people of the area, given the Norse penchant for exploration and sailing. The other might be a bit more difficult as it would call for those involved in the house to actually act out their personas as opposed to simply stating what that persona is and then behaving as normal.
The Charter is still very much in the works. I have a few things jotted down that I would like to hope are common sense. Mostly about respecting others, helping those that need it, and keeping mundane issues in the mundane world. Generally speaking, I see the S.C.A. as a world unto itself, and want to try as much as possible to keep the separation between mundane and Scadian in place. So the Charter will be written in a manner consistent with the period, and not simply as a set of mundane world rules brought over into the period.
Then there's the matter of structure. I know that some houses are uber-structured, while others resemble not much more than an amorphous entity where friends can have fun together. Both are fine, though I personally want to have at least a little structure to help when the household gets together for larger events. The way I envision doing this is fairly simple. I've looked at the way ships were manned back in the late 1500's and intend to model the house's staffing after it. Ships of the day didn't have a rigid military ranking system. Instead, they had positional titles and responsibility. The ship's master and commander was equivalent to a modern day ship's captain. As head of the household, I would serve in that capacity, though I would use the title of "Flag" since the idea is to be head of an entire trading company. As such, I would certainly expect others to join as masters of their own ships. Other positions include the cooper who would have been responsible for the upkeep of stores barrels. I see this as analogous to a logistics person or quartermaster. The carpenter of the day would have been responsible for repairs to the ship, though I would probably shift the focus to more of an A&S focus... perhaps coordinating the A&S efforts of our various members. A ship's pilot would be responsible for navigation, though I'm not sure how I would use it in terms of the household. There was also a barber who would work as doctor/dentist/surgeon and in general keep an eye on the crew's well being. Again, I'm not sure how to parley that into a position for the household, but I'm sure I have time to figure it out. Cooks weren't specifically a position so much as they were sailors who were physically incapable of doing much else. I'm not going to use that as a criteria however. Instead, it would be someone who was genuinely interested in the food of the period, and cooking/coordinating meals for the household.
All of the positions I come up with, whether they were listed above or something else I come up with will be purely voluntary. I would only want someone to hold a position if it was something they were interested in. You see, beyond simply holding down a position and fulfilling the associated duties, I would want those in a specific position to become very familiar with all aspects of the actual position as it was performed in the past. For those who don't want to hold a position of responsibility, there will be a kind of informal rank system. Essentially, everyone who joins would start out as a simple sailor. Those who show a willingness to go above and beyond being just a sailor, who exemplify the values I'd like to see in members of the household, would be able to achieve a promotion of status within the household, with names like Bosun or perhaps Gunner, depending on how they distinguished themselves. The ideas are there, but it's still rough. In time I hope to come up with something a bit more definitive, but I'm in no hurry.
I've also come up with a rather interesting way to induct new members, should they choose to accept induction in this way. It's something in keeping with both the period, and the theme of the household. However, as I'd like to keep at least some air of mystery in place, this is one idea that I want to divulge only to those who actually join the household... whenever it is that I manage to start it up.
One more thing I'd like to mention before I wrap this post up, is that I would very much like to put some of the house's efforts into greeting new people and visitors at events. I'd like to have a hospitality tent set up so that people have a place to go for munchies, fellowship, and perhaps to ask those questions that are burning at the back of their brains. Someplace where new people feel welcome and not overwhelmed by all the garb and whatnot. I'm honestly hoping that, by being in character full time during events, we would be able to pique the interest of others with our stories and our living personas.
So far, it seems to be coming together. Given time, who knows. It might turn out to be something fun.
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