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Wow - I think my most backlogged dates from 18 years ago. She's got me beat!

Well, the West is like that; one of those vicious cycles. Getting a scroll isn't part of an award, so the scribes (and their work) aren't regularly noticed, so few people become scribes, so scrolls aren't made, etc.

I'm glad she's getting one, though. She is a good teacher.

That isn't really an accurate description these days. The backlog is much smaller than it used to be. Scribes get quite a bit of attention these days (and have for some time now). And it's becoming a much more regular occurrence to have the "real" scroll finished for awards above the AoA level. There aren't very many items left in the backlog as old as mine was except for recipients who haven't been active for a long time.

If I'd made an active fuss about wanting it done, it would have happened earlier -- I just always figured that with all the scribes I hang out with, somebody would have wanted to do it. (And besides which, I take the position that scrolls are gifts -- not something owed. And then there's that little issue of my own backlogged scroll assignments ....)

The "owed" part of mine is that I paid at a fundraiser auction to have it done by a particular scribe. If it were a regular old backlog, I suspect I could dragoon my protegee, or one of several other scribes who might see this conversation, into doing it. Oh well, I got the pretty hat (it's my court barony).

Ah yes, that was during the Reign of No Scrolls. : ) I'm still waiting on my Manche scroll from the same Court.

Damn, and I was rather proud of the wording I did for that.

You wrote the wording, I found a couple of illuminations in the general style I am dreaming of - it need not be a copy of any of them. AFAIK it's all in the hands of the scribe. I have vowed never to mention it again to R since she started flinching when she saw me. But I am delighted you kept a copy of the text!

I'm very glad to hear that the situation has improved since we left!

We hung out often with many of the Mists scribes, when we were there, and it was generally held to be like my former description, at that time. (My lord was, for a time, the head of the Mists scribes; I forget the position name.)

Even "raised" in the East, I agree that scrolls are gifts.

That would be "Seawolf Scribe" ...

At the time, things were different. Juana made some inroads in fixing the backlog, but Aja really hit it hard, and then Eliska, the current Chancellor has followed Aja's lead, and has been quite innovative in handling some of the issues.

Juana made some inroads in fixing the backlog,

Yeah, so did I, with the Mists backlog. I did scrolls more quickly than was the average at the time (plus I could assign to myself, which cut down on turnaround time :-), and I got some help from friends in Atlantia and the East. After about 6 months as Seawolf Scribe, I found that I had run out of the subcategory "backlog scrolls for which we actually have contact info", and had to post asking people to come ask for their scrolls.

That (I presume) was why I got my GoA, and wound up on the backlog myself. ;-)

We've just commissioned a friend's Laurel scroll - he got the award November of 1988.

The West Kingdom's backlog is pretty big, but with, at one time, four Principalities (although Lochac has taken responsibility for their award scrolls, including ones given by the King and Queen of the West), it's bound to be. There are only so many scribes out there.

That said, the current Chancellor here has done wonders in trying to reduce the backlog, as have her predecessors ... so it's something. I actually have several of my scrolls, so I am not too worried about the others (I think I am still owed three).

Heh. You're the one with an AoA scroll with your current coat of arms, but a Laurel scroll with your old arms, right? :-)

At least you know about the award. I wasn't told I'd been made a court baron until almost a year after the fact.

Granted, it was from Atenveldt, and done after I moved to the East in order to provide support to my position as ambassador to the East based on an aspect of Atenveldt kingdom law, but you'd think someone would have thought to tell me about it at the time.

I owe a few really old ones, such as Thora Sharptooth's Laurel.

I thought I had an unbeatable record. At Coronation, I was informed that my Silver Crescent scroll had turned up and was being finished. Can you say "December of 1989"??
-- Dagonell

Back when Johannes von Narrenstein was Tyger Clerk, there had been an extensive backlog, which he spent a good part of his tenure clearing up. He eventually did clear up the entire list, and to signal it, he saved the best for last. He entered Royal Court, removed the scroll from a case, and blew on it, scattering the "dust" (talcum powder, I think). I got to read it: it was Adrienne of Toledo's county scroll.

Now, you have to understand, Maragorn and Adrienne were the first king and queen of the East. (I've heard some kingdoms acknowledge M&A's successors, Bruce and Florence, since M&A were actually appointed by the kingdom seneschal, to preside over the first crown tournament. But I digress: we count M&A as first). Now, there's no record of M&A bestowing any awards. Nor is there any record of awards from B&F, and in any case, the comital ranks of M&A would have been the first award bestowed in their reign...had comital rank existed then, which it didn't. So, when you parse it all out, in theory, this would have been the earliest award in the history of the East Kingdom, ever.

Adrienne, sadly, wasn't there, but folks who knew her were, and the scroll did get to her.

'Speth and I were staying at a B&B run by a Scadian-friendly lady and her (then) husband. Turns out they're fringe-Scadian themselves. They only attend Pennsic, due to the business, but she's the daughter of a very well-known peer in another kingdom. Her husband tells me on the sly that she got an AoA in her youth, but never got a scroll, and since I'm a big-shot herald %^) can I do something about it as a surprise to her?

Turns out I could: I confirmed the AoA on the Other Kingdom's order of precedence. I was close to the king and queen that reign, Brigantia Herald was my former protege, and everyone readily agreed to issue the backlog scroll. But it gets better. The king of Other Kingdom was in the Eastern king's household, and was planning to attend EK court anyway.

I composed, not a backlog AoA, but a confirmation of arms, attesting to the fact that the heralds of the East, having been directed by their Oriental Majesties diligently to enquire of our colleagues in Other Kingdom, had confirmed that there was recorded in the archives of the Other Kingdom College of Heralds, yadda-yadda-yadda. It had spaces for the signatures of the crowns and principal heralds of both kingdoms. Not something you see every day.

Sorry, those anecdotes were supposed to be hidden behind two lj cuts.

Yeah, I don't think cuts work in comments.

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Reducing the backlog

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Cuts