On Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th January 2015 (AS 49), the Twelfth Night Coronation of Lochac was held in the Canton of Stowe-on-the-Wowld. The event was held at the Harold Corr Community Centre, Cottage Street, Werrington, Sydney NSW. The event steward was Lady Tatianitska Iaroslavna. The feast was Byzantine themed.
Niall inn Orkneyskii II and Liadan inghen Fheradaig II stepped down at this event, with Kinggiyadai Ba’atur I and Altani Khaligu I crowned the 26th King and Queen of Lochac.
The two pairs of Royalty decided to add some theatre to make their changeover entertaining to the gathered populace. It began in the lead up to Coronation when Their Majesties Niall II and Liadan II mentioned in several Courts and missives that there were signs of an imminent Mongol invasion. The final missive was documented in the January 2015 edition of Pegasus (the Kingdom of Lochac’s monthly newsletter):
Greetings to the Proud and Prosperous Kingdom of Lochac,
To Our noble populace, we must inform you that the great mongol horde
gathers on the horizon and will be with us within the month, they come, it
seems to join with Our lawfull heirs! Fear not, the succession of the Crown of
Lochac is secure. Our Kingdom is strong, led by Our Barons and Baronesses
and administered to perfection by Our tireless Kingdom Officers who work
for their love of Lochac and the stability of the realm.We cannot express Our thanks enough to all those who have served Us,
whether it be as one of Our Huscarls, Our household, as an event Steward, as
an Officer, those who have stood with Us in war, Our Peerage orders or
simply someone who has offered us a kind word. We thank Our Kingdom.
We thank those who are Our closest brethren who have supported us and on
who we have leaned and make special mention of Our Hirðmaðr Mästarinna
Sabine du Bourbonnais and all Our Thegn’s.The horde comes, do not fear, Lochac is strong and will forever remain so.
Niàll – King
Liadan –Queen
The remaining theatre played out as follows, as described by Duchess Liadan inghen Fheradaig (with minor edits by the Lochac Historian):
At 12th Night, Court started with King Niall sitting on the Thrones but not me (Queen Liadan). Just after it started, I strode in with my Guards and with Princess Altani and announced that I had been off raiding in a foreign land, and had come across a number of strange circular longhalls. During the raid I had found a beautiful woman and had decided to bring her home to join our household. Altani was with me looking very cranky the whole time. We (Niall and Liadan) then sat down (Altani sitting next to me) and commenced Our business. We didn’t have our physical royal cyphers yet, but I had a number of small skull shaped beads. So each time We awarded a royal cypher, we would hand them a skull bead and say that it was the shrunken scull of a Mongol warrior we had found on the nearby hills and killed. This tied into the theatre nicely. We let go all of our Royal household and Guard except for Countess Engelin, Niall’s squire, and Lord Farulf, Neil’s man-at-arms. After we had completed our business, Opening Court was closed.
For Coronation Court, Niall and I sat on the thrones with Altani seated next to us and the Baron and Baroness seated either side of us as is customary. Just after we started Court, Kinggiyadai stood up from the back of the audience and demanded to be heard. He was carrying a sword and his bow. As he came forward, so too did many of his Guard – they were spread around the room including behind the thrones on the stage (so that they were higher than us) and from the sides and back of the room. They were all dressed in their matching dels and hats and were armed with bow and arrows. Prince Kinggiyadai was cranky that he had returned home to find his wife missing, and he said that he had come to claim her and insisted we must make up for this error. I explained what had happened and said that clearly I did not realise who she was, nor that stealing her would bring upon us the might of the Mongol army. During this exchange, Engelin and Farulf came from the back of the thrones to stand close to us, and Engelin was holding an axe at the ready. Baron Stormhold, Olfus, also put his hand on his sword and stepped forward, so we had to tell him to restrain himself. At the same time, all of the Guard had their bows drawn (without arrows nocked obviously) facing us. The option of relinquishing the Crowns was mentioned. I said that, as Vikings, our preference is always a fight to the death, but (and l was looking around the room at my lack of Guards at this point) as we were far far outnumbered, it looked like we might have no option but to relinquish them. Niall was displeased but agreed with me. We then stated that we had no choice but to relinquish the thrones, and so we called off Engelin and Farulfr. At this point the Baron and Baroness of Rowany stood up and put on matching Green and White dels in the style of Kinggiyadai, clearly showing their new allegiance (this got a good laugh). The Coronation ceremony then began.