A History of the Consortium of Southern Shires

Based on the theories and facts supplied by Earl Michael Bohun, Lord Laurence the Imager, Lord Frayne, and Lord Madoc

Down river from the baronies of South Downs and Bryn Madoc and east of the shires of Eagle and Thorngill lies a sparsely populated land whose shires depend on the attendance from larger shires and baronies to make their events both successful and profitable.  Yet little was known of neighboring groups who lived outside of individual shire borders.

On the weekend of June 2-3, in the Society's 25th year, representatives from Dragonfly Marsh, Firedrake, Ravenwood, Rivermarch, and Yeoman's Wood met at Grassy Pond near the Trimarian border.  These representatives, accompanied by Sir Michael Bohun, then Crown Prince of Meridies, decided to form the Consortium of Southern Shires.  Their intent was mutual benefit through:

(A) Promoting close bonds among individual members,

(B) Attending each others' events, thus boosting participation and income,

(C) Sharing fighting and non-fighting skills, which could not be found separately in the individual shires, among Consortium members.

The Southern Marches took its name from an earlier nickname for Meridies.  The Consortium adopted as its device "per pale argent and sable, a mullet of eight points counterchanged", though this was never registered.

Three area offices were established: Warden, Chronicler, and Historian.  Sir Michael served as Warden, Lord Laurence the Imageras, Chronicler, and Lord Frayne as Historian. 

Membership
The charter members of the Southern Marches are Dragonfly Marsh, Firedrake, Rivermarch, Ravenwood, and Yeoman's Wood.  Salt Keep joined at the February 1992 practice, following a visit in November 1991.  Rivermarch requested and received suspension of membership during the reign of Richard and Katrina that they could focus on supporting the reign.  Both Camden Tor and Forth Castle were inducted at the June 1995 practice, where Salt Keep officially ended their association with the Consortium.  The College of Atvagas was inducted in November 1995, only to fall prey to the next action.  Both Atvagas and Yeoman's Wood voluntarily dissolved in March 1996 in order to form a larger, centralized shire in central Georgia.  This shire, under the old name of Novus Matisco, continued as a member of the Consortium, and will soon adopt the name "Tir Briste".

Challenge for the Chalice of Chivalry
The Challenge for the Chalice was initiated to perpetuate unity and esprit between the holder of the Chalice and the challengers seeking to gain possession.  This has traditionally been a team melee, using the following rules:

1.) Entry is limited to teams formed by, and entered under the name of, a specific shire.  Shires may field any number of teams from whatever organic assets they can muster.

2.) Teams will be limited to a total of ten (10) skill points under this rating scale:
     Knights = 4 points
     Squires = 3 points
     Fighters = 2 points (authorized or not)
     
Originally a double elimination tournament, Challenge of the Chalice is now a round-robin list where shire teams face each and every other team.  Teams may substitute fighters so long as its point total equals ten or less for each bout.

Mercenaries from throughout Meridies and Atlantia have been used, but their influence has never been strong, proving that it still takes cohesive teamwork to win these challenges.

Competition for the Southern Star
At a special meeting called at Fools' War VII (April 1995) and at two successive meetings, in June and November 1995, the need for an Arts & Sciences award similar in status and competitive nature to the Challenge for the Chalice was discussed and ratified.  The Competition for the Southern Star, under the direction of the individual shire A&S officers, was born.  The rules for the A&S competition were thus:

1.) Entry is open to individuals or teams formed by, and entered under the name of, a specific shire.  Shires may field any number of entries.

2.) Entries will be graded according to the scale used for Kingdom A&S, and may be judged as part of a greater A&S competition.  If this is the case, the Banner will be decided on a weighted point total, taking into account total points and total number of individual/team entrants from each shire