Order of the Silver Gryphon, Meeting Minutes for Restday, day 22 of the month Fashanos in the year 5104.

Members in attendance: Sir Cryheart, Dame Deavon, Sir Eahlstan, Goldstr, Guarrin, Sir Kinshack, Metadi, Sir Ruffelin, Shallimar, Strathe, Sir Waldo2, Sir Yarx, Dame Yviara, Xanith

Squires in attendance: Errethe

Guests in attendance: Mourdeyan (with Goldstr)

I. Squire Issues

Goldstr expressed a desire to take the lady Mourdeyan on as his squire. Any misgivings or questions ought to be addressed directly with Goldstr and/or the Council before the next meeting. Goldstr can receive missives at ralphva@lanset.com.

II. Ballista Training

Because we have been unable to get a response from the local authorities, our plan to offer ballista training will be postponed for another month while Guarrin attempts to pin down the appropriate contact.

III. Current Events

Spitfire Mutiny: Shallimar reports that the crew of the Spitfire apparently had some division within their ranks, culminating in the first mate being forced to fatally walk the plank for mutiny. He had reportedly held the captain locked within a chest in the catacombs.

Griffin Sword: The final piece of the Griffin sword is reportedly in transit to Solhaven. Guarrin reports that the final piece of the sword landed in the Dragonspine, was mined by a dwarf, who unknowingly transported the piece southwest and sold it to a human who apparently knew exactly what it was. Ulstram is reportedly able to sense that the human is a merchant looking after his own interests. The Prophet has requested notification if someone should discover anyone matching the as yet limited profile we have on the carrier.

Furthermore, Ulstram has requested support on two other tasks: to unite the divided ranks that wish to combat the dark alliance and its supporters, and to aid in the task of toppling one of the pillars of the opposition's.

IV. Elections

Guarrin finally called for results of the elections from Sir Cryheart who graciously offered his services compiling the votes.

Thirteen sets of votes were tallied. A number of members opted not to vote due to prolonged absence.

Sir Kinshack was elected to the position of Leader.
Dame Deavon was elected to the position of First.
Sir Cryheart, Sir Yarx, and Dame Yviara were elected to the position of Council. Guarrin is the alternate.

V. Forgemaster Q & A

Forgemaster Mikos stopped in to answer some questions:

Kinshack : Mikos do you think we should join the local town hall organization?

Mikos : Meaning become the same as the other organizations that are run by citizens? That is up to the Order. There are pros and cons to that kind of change. One of the distinct pros is that the Order would obtain more consistent support for events. And you would pretty much wipe out any animosity due to the perceived favoritism of having a GM giving the group personal attention. Which may not be favoritism, but certainly is an uneven application of GM time and effort.

Cryheart : Not to say the burden on that GM.

Eahlstan : I belive the hinging point on the entire decision is whether or not you can offer the same level of support as we've had in the past, or whether we are on our own so to speak. Further, the question of whether we will maintain support from the Empire or not, if we were to join the local town organizations. Or at least for me, that is the hinging point.

Mikos : I don't and haven't generally regarded my interaction with the Order as a burden...generally. But there is no denying that I have multiple claims upon my time and almost all of them are and have been regarded by those higher up in these lands as of a higher responsibility than being as focused as supporting the Order. The other aspect of the situation is that the Order was in part founded as a means to make those in the Landing aware of Baron Hochstib's situation as it developed.

Ruffelin : Th' information I was given, an' tha' I relayed ta th' Order was tha' ye'd nae be available at all. Hae tha' changed? Methinks if ye took a vote, we'd all rather hae ye as our sponsor.

Mikos : There may come a time when I will not be available at all, but that time has not arrived yet. To date it has been and continues to be a balancing act. It is simply becoming more difficult to balance. If you look back over the life of the Order, many things have changed. The powers that be, which mandated the original forming of the Order, have changed in outlook and personality. And other chivalric orders have come into existence since the Order was founded.

Yviara : So, do you wish to continue to support us, or are we a burden?

Mikos : I'm afraid it's not an either/or. Honestly, I would say it is a task I would choose to continue to take on, assuming I can enlist some assistance from one or two others of my peers.

Yviara : Thank you.

Guarrin : Woul' it be easier perhaps, iffin der were anotha o' yer peers willin ta aid ye, an' perhaps do ye know o' any tha woul' like ta? Ta make yer job a lil easier, an mebbe em git ta do sometin they wanted...

Mikos : Yes to both questions.

Guarrin : So iffin tings become burdensome ta ye, der woul' be those willin ta help.

Mikos : Well, the downside is that supporting the Order may allow others to do something they would like to, but I doubt it will ever be regarded as part of their normal assignments. They will need to find the time after other tasks are completed.

Guarrin : Regardin tings such as security issues...woul' we be able ta ask fer yer support on such matters? Er perhaps some ...renovations.

Cryheart : Aye..we had some breakins lately.

Mikos : We can look into changing locks.

Cryheart : More specifically, we have had some of the chests down below broken into. Matter of fact, Porcell, had taken a banner made for us by a merchant long time ago..and attempted to ... extort some money. However, he found us to be a stout group to tend with. So..would we have to change where we store stuff...or would the locks on those chests be changed as well?

Mikos : Hmmm, I expect that we should be able to make the necessary changes to keep that from happening again. We could do either.

Cryheart : Just a comment please. Most of us still feel loyalty to you Mikos....And therefore, we wanted or I at least, didn't want to become a burden to you. That was and is my position on that matter.

Mikos : Thank you for that sentiment.

Cryheart : You are welcome..it is a most sincere one.

This comment was met with much agreement among the membership.

Eahlstan : Well, this is a bit of a change in the general topic, but one of interest to most everyone here. Baron Lerep Hochstib fell to the blows of all of us combined, and the final blow was struck by Falicor. I am curious if anything further will progress regarding this, or if things on that matter are considered closed.

Mikos: That doesn't have a short answer, really. Or rather, that question ties into one of the concerns which I have to factor in when I gauge how to balance things going forward...One thing to realize is that the Order has been very much interrelated to Baron Hochstib from the start.

With the spreading of Hochstib's assault to involve the Landing at large and other towns, the responsibility to continue to support other citizens' involvement has grown with it. So I can't really just look at supporting the Order. With the conclusion, as it is so far, of the Hochstib situation I have to also support efforts and interests spawned in Solhaven and by other organizations. So the balancing act becomes more precarious over time.

At the moment I am trying to gauge whether I can get a banquet system together so that the celebration of Solhaven's victory can be as in-genre as it aught to be. The counter side is that that victory is rapidly becoming history.

The result is that likely the final event in the Hochstib situation will be a baronial court during which the last round of honors will be bestowed. And the banquet will happen some time in the future, and likely be based on some other occasion.

Eahlstan : The forges have been slightly wonky as of late. Things are progressing on correcting this situation?

Mikos : The forges are another piece in the balancing act, as has been the Spitfire, as are the support of upcoming events. The forges are a focus of mine as time permits, at this point they're ahead of the Order in priority. And the forges are worse than "wonky" at this point. They're very close to unusable. Moreso than other obligations, my health recently has been a major stumbling block, but I am working to catch up at this point. So things should be improving with the forges soon.

Deavon : Could you make forging easier?

Mikos : That may yet happen.

Deavon : Soon?

Mikos : Not likely soon.

Mikos : I guess my caution would be that as the responsibility to support the outgrowth and conclusion of Hochstib has spread, don't expect future events to be as focused on the Order as they have been over the past few years. Any event which I am able to gain approval for will almost of necessity be pitched to a wider set of participants and may in fact be focused on a similar organization rather than the Order. The key would be that necessary support of the Order is still feasible, but almost cannot be as narrowly focused out of fairness to others.

Kinshack : Will the level of allowable support diminish if we decide to move down the PRO route?

Mikos : Yes and no. The level of allowable support would very likely change in nature to be more generic, but it would be more consistent than what I believe I and one or two others will be able to provide. The one caveat would be that at any time word could come down from on high stating that the time for differentiated support for the Order needs to be ended.

Errethe : Does the current PRO system allow for a given person to belong to more than one registered PRO?

Kinshack : Just can't be a leader of more than one.

Mikos : I will say that hearing the new set of elected leaders tonight caused me to react with a feeling of wanting to continue my invovlement with such a group. I suspect that even if you choose the citizens' group path you'll still be seeing some involvement on my part, even if it is less obvious. This is a group I have literally years of time invested in. That is very hard to let go of, especially considering the caliber of people it involves.

We all expressed our gratitude for Mikos' time and wrapped up the meeting with the following two items on our plates:

Next meeting we will discuss this Q & A and perhaps take a vote on whether to move toward the meeting hall organization.

We will also be ready to designate members to the appointed positions of Castellan, Scribe, and Herald.