A Bit of History: The “In case of Reign” charters project:
In 2020 at the beginning of the Covid19 lockdowns the Kingdom Scribe initiated a project to create generic charters as a way to keep scribes busy and to provide blank charters on short notice for the new heirs – which at the time we had no idea how it was going to work with no tourneys allowed, they may well have been appointed by the BoD and coronated on the same day. We just didn’t know. But we wanted to do something. So we made them charters to begin a reign with. Many of those charters were painted, and are still available for use by future reigns, should they choose.
Working together in a Facebook group, we made a selection of charters at the Award of Arms level. These charters do NOT have the names of the Royals on them. They instead include a blank space (just as we do for the recipients now) that can be filled in by Their Royal Scribe once we had Heirs in place.
This project brought scribes together during a dark time for our Kingdom. It brought joy, purpose, camaraderie and a lot of laughter – and some truly beautiful artwork. The best defense from any plague.
Over 60 scribes came together to work on this project. Many more awards were painted than the few showcased below, but since we never got to the distribution stage, there is no photographic record of most of them.
Most reigns choose to create their own unique charter designs, and it is unlikely any of these will ever be used. But we wanted to record their existence here, to preserve the wonderful artwork and remind all of us of how things were different in the plague time.
The Idea:
“Greetings Scribes of An Tir,
We are going to take action to insure the next reign has charters to see them through until They can commission their own. This plan has been enthusiastically endorsed by Their Majesties and will be overseen by myself and Their Royal Scribe the Honorable Lady Eden Celeste.
The plan is this: We are going to make a selection of charters at the Award of Arms level. These charters will NOT have the names of the Royals on them. They will instead include a blank space (just as we do for the recipients now) that can be filled in by Their Royal Scribe once we have Heirs in place.
Because we expect that the Crown Tourney and the Investiture are taking place on the same weekend they will have only hours rather than the usual four months to prepare. This is a small way we can ease the burden and help this future reign. Any that are not used will be held for future reigns to use as they see fit.
What we plan to do is make blank charters for each of these awards:
Award of Arms
and these AoA level awards:
Sanguine Thorn – Service
Griffe et du Lion – Arts
Esperon et du Lion – Martial
Sable Pheon – Archery
Eperon et du Lion – Equestrian
These are all of the new AoA level awards introduced by Their Graces Morgan and Livia during Their reign and afford a nice “starter package” for the next reign.
So mighty Scribes of An Tir, are you up for the challenge?
We have a Facebook group set up for this project, please join if you would like to work on this project with us: https://www.facebook.com/groups/283238676173800/
Thank you,
Arnora Sable Sable
Kingdom Scribe An Tir”
The Charters: