This FAQ is intended to explain many things about the SCA in a short and concise manner. You can find more verbose FAQs on the Official SCA FAQ and everywhere on the internet. Another helpful article is Wikipedia.
Awards
What is an award?
Awards are recognition for skill, effort, or contributions to the Society.
Who can recommend an award?
Anyone can recommend anyone else for an award. There’s even a handy online form for it.
What kind of awards are there?
There are Kingdom and local (in our case Elfsea’s) awards. Each barony and province has one kingdom level award, the rest aren’t recorded in the kingdom order of precedence.
What is the Order of Precedence?
The order of precedence, for most kingdoms in the SCA, is a listing of all the awards given to an individual. Ansteorra Order of Precedence.
Groups
Breakdown of the SCA groups
Kingdom: area ruled by a King and Queen (typically covering several U.S. states or Canadian provinces, and can be as large as countries or collections of countries). Minimum members required 400.[15]
Principality: area within a kingdom ruled by Prince and Princess (large area sometimes comprising entire states). Minimum members required 100.
Region: equivalent of principality without ceremonial representative
Barony: area administered by a Baron and/or Baroness, the ceremonial representative(s) of the Crown (small chapter typically occurring in an urban area). Minimum members required 25.
Canton: local branch reporting through a barony (local chapter, which may be on the way to becoming a shire)
Province: equivalent of barony without ceremonial representative
Riding: local branch reporting through a province
Shire: local branch reporting directly to a kingdom or principality (local chapter typically occurring in rural areas). Minimum members required 5.
College: institutional branch based at a school, research facility, etc. (may be a part of a larger local group or report directly to a principality or kingdom)
Stronghold: institutional branch based at a military installation (may be a part of a larger local group or report directly to a principality or kingdom)
Port: institutional branch based at a military installation in situations where groups of members will be detached for long periods, as with ships at sea (may be a part of a larger local group or report directly to a principality or kingdom)
Non-official groups
Other than the actual representative groups described above, there’s two common versions of unofficial groups:
Guilds: Usually a group dedicated to some kind of artisan pursuit. Like a blacksmithing guild or some such.
Household: The catch-all term for ‘other’ groups. Could be a group of friends or a group of students and masters of a fighting art.
So why aren’t we a barony
Because Dragonfire Tor’s population varies far too much to stay above Barony levels. And falling below the 25 for any amount of time required is frowned upon. Additionally, we’ve been friendly with the Barony of Elfsea for so long and have been mutually beneficial that no one really pushes for it.
Officers
Who determines officers
The next officer up in the hierarchy. Local < Region < Kingdom < Crown.
When the local Seneshal office is up for grabs, people send in their resumes to the Regional Seneshal. He then determines who he thinks is the most qualified after consulting with a few members of the group he’s deciding for. And that’s how it goes.
Deputy
Deputies are accepted or declined by the individual officers. They are assistants to the officers.
I want to be an officer
If you want to be an officer then you should check our Officers page and see if the position is open to bids. Anyone can bid on any officer position, no matter how inexperienced or young. If it is open to bids then contact the officer that currently holds the position and the local Seneschal so that you can learn more about the duties and application process.
Dragonsfire Tor
Lands of the Tor
The Kingdom divides its lands among its regions by zip codes. The zip codes that make up Dragonsfire Tor are ….
Population
The population of Dragonsfire Tor tends to vary between 10 and 40 active members depending on the year and depending on if the college students are in.
The Barony of Elfsea
The Barony of Elfsea is the barony that we are a part of. This makes the Baron and Baroness of Elfsea the Lord and Lady of Dragonsfire Tor.
The Stellar Kingdom Ansteorra
The Stellar Kingdom of Ansteorra is made up of most of Texas and Oklahoma. The Kingdom itself is divided into three different regions. We are a part of the central region.
What about the other kingdoms?
There are 20 kingdoms in the SCA. There are groups in North America, Australia, Europe, and Asia.
