Aelis de la Rose

Photo
An Tir/West War 2017
Information
Resides: Currently residing in Three Mountains, formerly in Adiantum then Briaroak Pronouns: she/her Date Started: 2001 Awards: Order of Precedence Name pronunciation: Not specified Prefered Title: Her Ladyship Offices: Baronial Court Coordinator/ Herald (Adiantum, 6 years) Other Positions Held: Kingdom Regional Herald (Summits region, 1 reign), Summits Royal Herald (7 reigns), Summits Assistant Royal Herald (2 reigns), Summits Court Coordinator (2 reigns)
Heraldry
Azure, on a compass rose Or a rose gules and on a chief invected Or three ships proper sailed argent

Meet Aelis de la Rose- bard, herald, teacher, and chaos coordinator.

Aelis' name comes from one of her favorite books growing up- "Catherine, Called Birdy" by Karen Cushman. Her formative years in the SCA were spent onboard a sailing ship (the finest ship on all the dry seas), and her love of roses influence both her name and device (where you can see many other ship-related elements).

Bardic

Bardic at Egil Skallagrimsson Memorial Tournament

Performance of "Your Reign," a filk by Aelis for Turk, Vesta, Tryggr, and Temperance

Aelis has been a performer since entering dance classes at the age of two. She started sharing her love of Middle Eastern dance when she started attending events in 2001, but what really caught her attention was learning about filks.

She started writing filks shortly after joining the SCA and hasn't stopped. She has written filks about friends, royalty, events, camp happenings, and even donated a bespoke filk to a Baronial fundraiser for Glyn Dwfn.

One piece she wrote was a Shakespearean-style sonnet that Rickrolled the entire populace- this piece gained her entry into the finals of the Summits Bardic Championship. She then took the next 30 minutes to compose and rehearse a filk about the Summits, accompanying herself on her ukulele. This is the piece that won her the Championship that year.

Heraldry and Court Coordination

Heralding court during the reign of Turk and Vesta

It was after her first ten years in the SCA that she got involved in official activities, stepping in as court coordinator for Luciano and Elizabeth. This opened the floodgates as she discovered her skills in public speaking and organization had a very fitting home behind the thrones. As her wordfame in court heraldry grew, so did requests for her to take on the mantle of Royal Herald from those stepping up to wear the Coronets of the Summits. The next ten years looked like this:

2012-2013 Court Coordinator, Luciano and Elizabeth (Summits)

2013-2019 Court Coordinator/Herald, Durin Oldenmoor and Ceridwen ferch Morgan (Adiantum)

2015-2016 Royal Herald, Turk and Vesta (Summits)

2016-2017 Royal Herald, Tjorkill II and Alina (Summits)

2017 Royal Herald, Durin and Ceridwen (Summits)

2017-2018 Royal Herald, Turk II and Seamus (Summits)

~ After heralding four reigns with only one break, she was asked to take on the next reign but recognized she needed to step back a bit in order to avoid burnout. As a result, she offered to assist as needed but was not the primary herald on the reign. ~

2018 Assistant Royal Herald, Attila and Eleanor (Summits)

~ And then she was ready to go again! ~

2018-2019 Royal Herald, Njal and Sif I (Summits)

2019 Court Coordinator, Antoine and Kathren (Summits)

2019-2021 Assistant Royal Herald, Kenric and Dagmar (Summits)

2021-2022 Royal Herald, Luciano and Tessina (Summits)

2022 Royal Herald, Bato and Emma (Summits)

In 2024, she was given an opportunity she had not yet had- she joined the herald team for the reign of Eirik Daegarsson III and Brynhildr Ansvarsdottir. Under the guidance of the wonderful Giata Magdalena Alberti, Aelis was assigned as the Regional Herald for Summits, thereby taking on the duties of Royal Herald at all Summits events which Their Majesties attended. It was a great experience to work with such a positive core team, and fascinating to note the similarities and differences in how court heraldry is run at kingdom as compared to principality.

Teaching

Aelis has been a teacher in mundania since 2007, primarily teaching high school theatre. She loves to teach and has offered classes at events in a number of areas. Some examples of classes she has offered over the years, many of which she has taught multiple times:

• African Hand Drumming
• Middle Eastern Drumming
• Bardic Workshop (performing a piece and getting constructive feedback, much like in a performing arts class)
• How to Bard Better: Elevating Your Works
• Gettin' Down to (Court) Business: A Court Coordinator's Primer
• Yelling at Your Friends for Fun and Profit: A Herald's Primer
• From Lesson Plans to Peerage Paths: The Syllabus of Success (AKA Teaching People How to Teach Better)

Chaos Coordinator, or: Shenanigans for the Good of the Realm

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Aelis volunteered to take on the task of compiling and editing videos for several inter-kingdom challenges. These challenges varied in timing and style, but all were designed to keep everyone's spirits up.

The largest of these compilations was the An Tir Dance Off, which consisted of videos that featured a full 100 people and animal friends. She selected prime portions of each clip, ensuring that every individual got equal screen time, and also timed each clip with the song so that every moment matched up musically. Some time after this video premiered, she had to change the link location to a new Youtube page, but before moving the location it had received over 10,000 views.

She also did the same work of compiling and editing for the An Tir Glow Up- so many submissions were received that she split this into Part 1 and Part 2. Not long after, the An Tir Smolder was born.

You can view her complete SCA Youtube playlist here.