The Founding of Dragon Coast

I previously wrote of my search for the perfect kingdom. Let me tell the tale of my search.

One day, our realm of Kincora was visited by a mighty warrior from the northlands. His name was Squire Ike (he was later knighted by his home kingdom). He performed marvels at our tournaments, leaving us in awe of his prowess. I asked him whence he came and he told me of his home the lands of Belegarth. His stories enthralled me; I wondered if this could be the kingdom of my dreams.

I decided to pay visit to the nearest outpost of Belegarth, a small fief known as the Lowlands. It was bravely led by a warlord named Teej. When I arrived, I was heartily greeted by a mountain of a creature named Togur. I say creature because, to my astonishment, Togur was not human. He was a bugbear! I had not experienced what I thought were mythical races in my travels in Scadia and Adria, but I found out that they were common in Belegarth!

Anyway, the populace of the Lowlands welcomed me warmly. I was impressed with my visit and returned home with the intent to start a new Belegarthian chapter. I struck out from Kincora and found some unsettled land. I put forth a call for assistance and four valiant warriors joined me. They were Emrys, Selina, and Matsu. We also had assistance from a fifth warrior, Eowyn, from a local Scadian outpost, On the Feast of St. Patrick, we formed a sovereign kingdom, to be known as Dragon Coast.

The original heraldry of Dragon Coast
It was meant to be worn on a green tabard

But who would reign? We held a tournament, with the winner being proclaimed the Pendragon, the monarch of our realm. Despite suffering a wound to the leg, Selina bested us all. We enthusiastically proclaimed her Queen of Dragon Coast.

Queen Selina I

I was appointed chancellor of our new realm. My role was to attend to the day-to-day administration of the realm. Although we maintained cordial relations with the Lowlands, we pledged allegiance to Dagorhir, another empire filled with "mythical" creatures. My ideal kingdom had been founded!

We would experience ups-and-downs,as any new realm. Emrys and Matsu would move away from the kingdom, but other warriors would join us. A new spurt of growth began when we were joined by a warrior named Harlen. He founded an outpost of Dragon Coast on our northern border and began recruiting more warriors to our banner. The kingdom began to grow and flourish.

OOC Notes:

• Dragon Coast was officially founded on March 17, 2009 (Anno Draconis I)
• My original intention was to form a sub-chapter of the Lowlands. However, I feel that it is detrimental for a group to be ruled from afar so I opted for independence. (With regards to voluntary organizations, I am a firm believer in decentralization and local autonomy).
• We decided to be chartered under Dagorhir rather than Belegarth solely so that we could advertise on their national boards (which prohibited mention of other organizations). I believe it worked; I think Harlen found us through the Dagorhir boards.
• When I drafted the bylaws for Dragon Coast I purposefully designed them to avoid the pitfalls I saw with the SCA and Adrian Empire. Some features of our bylaws included:
• A weak monarchy - I witnessed what I considered abuses of authority by organizations' "monarchs." I think it is especially true because titles like "King" seem to attract the power-hungry. My solution was to make the monarch a mere figurehead. Authority was vested in elected officers and a council made up of the citizens of the realm.
• No formal rank structure - Because different people have different idea on what the standards should be, I liked Dagorhir's approach of allowing units decide on ranks and the standards for rewarding titles. Thus, Dragon Coast did not have formal ranks or titles (aside from the monarch - the Pendragon).
• Because we were small, our bylaws did not really make provisions for multiple parks. My unwritten vision was that when we grew, we would form a governing council made up of representatives of each park (like a Congress) that, alongside elected officers, would rule the kingdom. Kingdom government, however, would be sparing, focusing on safety regulations and coordinating events. Each park would be largely self-governing in all other matters. I am still convinced that this is the best structure even though most organizations tend to be more centralized. I believe that my oversight in not formalizing this structure helped lead to the difficulties that Dragon Coast experienced in later years.