Cassandra Mikael Deveroux

SCA History

Participant since AS 20/21, being 1985 or 1986

I began participating in the Kingdom of the West as part of a young mercenary unit. Membership grew from just a handful at the time of my joining to approximately 100, primarily new to the SCA, individuals across three kingdoms. Together we learned a lot and passed that knowledge along to the newcomers that followed. In the West we were known both as the young upstarts and the premier mercenary unit that included light fighters. We could get a new person out on the field in short order, hook them into martial activities, and expand their interests from there. A large number of those recruits continue to participate today.

As part of unit leadership, I had the opportunity to organize unit activities including workshops, practices, demos and event planning. A number of people in our unit did not have local family which spawned a year end feast. What started as a small group Thanksgiving grew to have attendance of about 75 people consisting of unit members and guests. I ran multiple of these feasts and took other roles such as planning and delivering the annual Silly Support Awards (recognition given to unit members for actions during the prior year ranging from ridiculous to impressive).

In the modern world I was working in a CPA firm that specialized in not-for-profits organizations. I took the chance to utilize my experience to work with Kingdom Historical Trust, Inc. (formerly the West Kingdom Land Fund), whose mission is to find and manage land for the Kingdom of the West to use for events. Since my unit was not based in a branch and had its own structure it was difficult to break into other volunteer openings. Coincidentally, the first SCA event I attended was Ducal Prize; KHTI’s annual fundraising event.

Moving to An Tir, leaving my unit and friends behind, brought about significant change in how I participate. I began to participate with my local branch, the Shire of Corvaria. Since arriving in An Tir I’ve held many roles within my home Shires of Corvaria and Hauksgardr, the Principality of the Summits, and the Kingdom of An Tir. More detail on those roles is listed below.

By the time my current roles end I will have held a part-time job with the SCA for 30 consecutive years. I’ve held these roles while working full time and attending college, caring for terminally ill family members and working in jobs that required far more time than the standard 40 hour work week. This has worked for me because the time working SCA jobs created a respite from real world responsibilities.

Offices and Other Positions Held

Kingdom of An Tir

Calendar Contingency Deputy, Sep 2016 to May 2018

Maintained the daily calendar tasks for most of my term as the Calendar Deputy was working on automating calendar processes. Monthly, a comparison of the calendar spreadsheet to the website was done to ensure all events were captured for publication in the Crier and for website updates by the event stewards. Trained my successor, the Summits Calendar Deputy and assisted with training the Tir Righ Calendar Deputy. Drafted calendar procedures so that future calendar staff would have written procedures to help them in their roles.

Retinue: Vic & Astrid, Jul – Dec 2012

Attendant, acted as court coordinator for Astrid at Frostbite in Southmarch

Event Activities:

• An Tir September Crown Sep 2021 – Co-steward (cancelled 5 weeks before event due to the pandemic)

This event was about 95% ready to run. Pre-registration was done, site visits made, maps were being drafted, key staff had been recruited, the schedule was in process, etc. I had originally planned to run gate but was asked to step into the co-steward role to help given the extra work needed to pull the event together post Covid shut down. Unfortunately, Canada continued to disallow recreational travel and Crown had to be rescheduled.

•An Tir May Crown Grand Ithra May 2021 – Virtual class moderator

•An Tir September Crown Sep 2020 – Gate head and advisor to the event steward (cancelled 8 weeks before event due to the pandemic)

•An Tir July Coronation Jul 2020

I was called on by His Highness Antoine and the Kingdom Events Deputy to search for an event site for July Coronation. I searched throughout Summits, and a little beyond, for a location to hold the event contacting many sites, all the Summits branches, and spending hours picking through Google searches and Maps for a location. A location was found the same day Tir Righ found a site. The site costs Tir Righ presented was significantly lower than what Summits could present and Kingdom went with the bid from Tir Righ.

•An Tir September Crown Sep 2016 – Gate co-head, site clean-up crew.

I had initially volunteered to do whatever was needed on-site since I was working a lot of overtime and was to assist with gate. At the event it became clear that the person running gate was completely unprepared and overwhelmed. While I had not run a large gate before, I was able to get control of gate, ensure that cash was secured, properly counted and reconciled using what I knew about gate and my modern work experience. In essentially taking over gate, I was careful to make the gate-head feel like I was her partner for the weekend. She finished off the weekend feeling successful in what we had accomplished.

Principality of the Summits

Officer: •Deputy Seneschal, Dec 2021 – Present

Assisting the new Seneschal in learning the role, updating the Summits laws and other governing documents, summarize and distribute quarterly branch member counts, filling in for the Seneschal when needed.

•Principality Seneschal, Sep 2018 – Dec 2021

Served the Principality during the 18 month pandemic shut down. All Summits announcements were drafted and published by me while consulting with Their Highnesses Kenric & Dagmar. I coordinated online activities sponsored by Their Highnesses. I was deeply involved in event planning for the first return Coronet and Investiture – sites had to be found outside the usual branch rotation, managed the shift of the Coronet event from being open to all attendees to severely limiting attendance due to rising Covid cases, worked with pre-registration staff to manage those allowed to attend, drafted and monitored attendance rules, prepared and published announcements surrounding the events.

•Deputy Seneschal, Feb 2018 – Sep 20188

Time spent learning the job from the outgoing Seneschal.

•Calendar Deputy, Feb 2014 – Sep 2016

Reviewed all Summits calendar submissions to ensure they conformed to the reserve and rotation calendars.

Retinue: •Court Coordinator – Ziitos Turk & Seamus O’Caellaigh, Sep 2017 – Jun 2018

At their very first court, and without pre-planning, I worked with the feast steward and ran court between feast removes to avoid having Investiture attendees stay very late into the night to get through court business.

Researched and perfected a low temperature enamel process to color the grails.

After Their Highnesses Scribe broke their ankle, created a process for the Scribe and I to review the charters for distribution and managed the addition of names to charters, signatures, and seals.

At the start of the reign, I inherited a number of completed charters from multiple prior reigns. It took a lot of effort to determine their proper disposition whether it was to find the recipient and give them the charter, determine it was extra, or returning it to Kingdom. The person who followed me did not receive any un-homed charters.

While I inherited two award boxes of mystery, my successor inherited the awards boxes organized, with an inventory and description of what award matched each token.

•Head of Retinue – Tryggr Tyresson & Temperance Trewelove, Mar 2015 – Dec 2015 •Head of Retinue – Laurs surtr & Aetta surt, Sep 2011 – Jun 2012 •Costuming staff, attendant – Brogan O’Bryant & Johanna Kjoppmanndtr, Mar 2009 – Dec 2019 •Grail token enameling for the reigns of Atilla & Eleanor and Kenric & Dagmar using a process learned while Court Coordinator. •Stunt retinue where helpful

Event Activities: •Summits Arts & Sciences and Rapier Championships, Spring 2022 •Summits Spring Coronet, Mar 2021 – Event Steward. Engaged in site planning activities before events were confirmed as cancelled beyond March due to the pandemic shut down. •Summits Fall Coronet, Sep 2019 – Staffed silent auction benefiting the Gryphon Travel Fund. Monitored silent auction during the day, coordinated auction close-out after court. •Summits Spring Coronet, Mar 2019 – Advisor to the Event Steward, Royal Liaison, Social Media updates during the tournament and court. •Summits Fall Coronet, Sep 2018 – Staffed silent auction for Summits Travel Coronets •Summits Summer Investiture, Jun 2017 – Event Steward •Summits Winter Investiture, Dec 2015 – Ran silent auction for the Summits benefitting the Gryphon Travel Fund •Great Western War, Oct 2015 – Camp Master for the Summits •Summits Fall Coronet, Dec 2008 - Event setup/teardown, co-lead of silent auction for the Summits

Shire of Corvaria

Officer: •Webminister/Social Media, Jun 2020 – Present (unofficially in these roles Jun 2020 – Dec 2021 due to being Summits Seneschal) •Preparer of Exchequer quarterly reports, Sep 2018 – present •Preparer of Seneschal reports, meeting organizer, Sep 2019 – Sep 2021 •Deputy Seneschal, Jan 2010 – Dec 2010

Event Activities: •All Fools Reunion – Event Steward, Apr 2022

Planned as a low key reunion of Shire participants after the long pandemic separation.

•Murder in the Desert; Summits Archery & Thrown Weapons Championships, Aug 2019 – Event Steward

The Shire had seen declining attendance at this event since it lost a popular location. I had a vision for changing up the event, running it with all activities contributing to a team competition. Attendance at this event doubled over the prior year. Multiple attendees stated that they really enjoyed it and participated in different activities because of the event structure.

•All Fools, Apr 2012 – Co-steward, Acted as co-steward with the purpose of training another person to run events. •All Fools, Apr 2011 – Event Steward •Harvest Tourney & Summits Archery Championship, Aug 2010 – Event Steward •Harvest Tourney, Aug 2009 – Event Steward

Other: •Created and maintain a text group for all participants to share activity updates and discussions as there are multiple individuals who do not frequent Facebook. •La Pine Parks & Rec Scholarship Fundraising dinner, Apr 2019. Welcomed and mingled with guests at the beginning of their medieval themed fundraising dinner and auction. •Christmas Parade, Dec 2017 – Parade participant, held the Shire banner while walking the parade route. •Coordinator and co-host of fighter practice and other gatherings held at our home. •Storage of Shire equipment and supplies, Jan 2010 - present

Shire of Hauksgardr

Officer: •Preparer of Exchequer quarterly reports, Jan 2019 – present •Deputy Seneschal, Aug 2015 – Aug 2017

Demos: •Gorge Fall Fair demo participant, Oct 2018 and Oct 2019. In 2018 the demo was planned with stations and I ran one of the stations with books and photographs. In 2019 the weather changed up activities last minute so I talked with the crowds that accumulated during the bouts of heavy fighting. •Farmer’s market demo participant, Oct 2011 to 2015, 2017 (not held in 2016)

Kingdom Historical Trust, Inc. (aka West Kingdom Land Fund) Chief Financial Officer, Audit Committee Chair, Treasurer, Jan 1994 – Dec 2006 Continued with projects through Nov 2009. KHTI continues reach out for assistance on a periodic basis.

KHTI’s mission is to hold an manage land, a permanent site, for the West Kingdom. The BoD required that the West Kingdom Land Fund be spun off from the West Kingdom into its own entity. In my roles I helped setup policies, procedures, and the accounting system as well as presenting financial reports and analysis, calculating/receipting auction donation values, preparing tax returns and review vetted land leads. A Leaf of Merit was bestowed upon me for this work in 1999.

Other Blackwood Brigade, Lieutenant, 1986 to 1995: Helped initiate new members, teaching them costuming and event skills, introducing them to light fighting (primarily as javelineers) and assisting them in creating their own armor and weapons. As part of the unit Light Combat leadership, took on a project to prove that throwing axes and throwing maces hit true – a serious concern of the armored combatants at the time. I was part of the team that updated the Light Combat rules on two occasions.

McCollam Elementary School Demos, 1992 & 1993 – Primary planner and recruiter for activities to compliment a middle ages unit. Most of the day was spent with two classes encompassing grades K-4, however the armored combat portion of the demo was open to the entire school.

Boy scout demo

Other activities •Volunteer for gate, sign-up tables, feast kitchen and serving help, hall setup and take down. •Inter-kingdom events: Pennsic - worked lost & found, golf cart security; Great Western War – sat gate; TYC – Constabulary, sign-up tables; An Tir West War – gate shifts, sign-up tables, tea setup/clean up; Recruited to run exchequer activities for Fifty-Year as part of the West Kingdom’s event bid. •Provided items for auctions

Awards

Goutte de Sang
Leaf of Merit (West Kingdom)
Award of Arms
Forget-me-not
Heart of the Summits (3)
Order of the Astrolabe of St. Brendan
Gryphon's Paw (2)
Silver Berberie (4)
Summits Throne Favor (2)
Raven's Friend (Token, Shire of Corvaria)
Professorship, College of St. Brendan (West Kingdom)