One of my primary goals for having this book was the need for a handy list of the Order of March of the Baronies of the Midrealm. You'd THINK that the Barons and Baronesses would know what order they go in, and you'd THINK that that information would be easy to find in the existing documents that the Midrealm maintains, but I was surprised to find that neither condition was the case at Pennsic a few years back during the line-up for opening ceremonies.
It was a right mess. I had to borrow someone's cell phone and find it on the internet with poor reception, and then herd everyone to their respective places while the Dragon Herald went and dealt with the allied Kingdoms and THEIR line up.
You could say that this was the one thing I KNEW I had to have in my book. I wasn't going to get stuck again, thrown into a situation where I was poorly prepared and with nobody present who knew the order. We can't always simply pray to St. Vorlin for guidance, sometimes we have to take things into our own hands.
I knew that I wanted that page to be the most accessible one in the book. Putting it at the back of the book made sense. I added, as well, the order of the Kingdoms. That's helpful, too.
It occurred to me that this would be a nice place to put a compiled list of the traditional honorific titles that you might announce a foreign Crown with in court. THAT was a harder task - where would you find that information? The answer is, no one had it all in one place. My friend Katerinka had a partial list, so I set about gathering up that information, as well as the honorifics of the Principalities and Heirs of the various Kingdoms.
Here that is, if you'd like it!
Since this was shaping up to be the section on Precedence and Order, I added also the Order of Precedence of the Middle Kingdom, and a section on toasting customs. I like to think that we have a fairly typical order for toasting, but I've never actually sat a feast in another Kingdom, so I don't really know. Anyhoo, it seemed like good information to write down. As a Baronial herald, I've been asked frequently to figure out who is supposed to do the toasts at feast, and maybe someone else would need it someday, too.
After I added one simple page for how to call the fighters to a tourney, and the Litany of Arms, I had one last section to write, and the whole book would be ready!
(to be continued....)
