With Their Majesties’ encouragement, and to the members of the Barony of Three Rivers, greetings!
We are Dame Gwynneth wraig Rhys and Lady Dagny ingen Murchada (both she/her) and we are publishing this, our Letter of Intent for the Baronage of Three Rivers. Gwynneth’s persona is a late 10th C. Welsh widow who is running a small land holding, given to her by her mother. Dagny is an 11thC. Hiberno-Norse woman whose backstory is in development (formerly Eleanor of Shrewsbury). We have lived in the Kingdoms of Meridies (Shires of Hammerhold and Evensong Forest), Gleann Abhann, Atenveldt (Shire of Burning Hands) and Calontir in the Barony of Three Rivers.
Our vision of the future of the Baronage, if selected, is to continue our welcoming atmosphere as a component of growth:
- We will reach out to those individuals who have historically contributed to the excellence of the Barony, who may not be participating at the local level since we resumed meetings, fighter practices, etc., to see what might be contributing to their non-participation at this time, and remove barriers, if possible, to them rejoining us.
- We will work with the Demo Coordinator to increase the Barony’s visibility in the greater St. Louis community by disseminating our literature (trifolds, bookmarks, etc.) to more public areas and participating in more public-facing events, such as demos and/or information booths at festivals and local Cons.
- We will work with newer members to find “mentors” so they will feel more confident to accept positions within the Barony for officers, event staff, etc.
- We envision having more regular Baronial courts to recognize our members for their service, excellence in A&S, prowess in the martial arts, and general good deeds, both in and out of the Barony. These mini-Courts would be opened at a general populace/fighter practice weekly meeting, to share good news with our Barony members in a bit more formal setting than as a general announcement.
- Importantly, we will be mindful of our members’ outside time and lives, and work to avoid burn-out by the same people over-committing for responsibilities in the Barony, and from over-commitment by the Barony itself.
As active Baronial participants, we regularly attend weekly fighter practice/populace meetings. We both have worked in some capacity, as the pandemic slowed and events resumed, at all our local events and demos and at other events within the Kingdom. We have both read Kingdom Law and the SCA Organizational Handbook (Governing Documents), as well as other pertinent SCA and Kingdom policy documents.
Gwynneth held the Baronial office of deputy Chronicler, ending as Acting Chronicler when the Chronicler was unable to fulfill the remainder of the term. She served as deputy, then Seneschal from April 2022 through June 2024. During Gwynneth’s time as Baronial Seneschal (during and post-Covid protocols), we welcomed many newcomers, helped them find others in their “niche” and checked in with them at subsequent meetings to be sure they were finding what they were interested in and felt comfortable as a part of our group. Gwynneth is the deputy SMO for the Barony, a moderator for the Kingdom Facebook group, and the Deputy Earl Marshal – Kingdom List Minister.
Dagny handled the SCA, Inc. Covid-policy check-in compliance documentation for the Barony (2022-2023), has worked continually to set up for and clean up after weekly meetings and especially Site Dinners, and has worked Gate and other team positions for Barony-hosted events. She has become our Baronial visual chronicler, providing photos of our weekly meetings and demos, and contributes regularly to the Kingdom’s ongoing documentation of events via our Facebook groups and pages. Populace members have often commented that her photos help participants feel “seen” as an accepted group member. Additionally, the Kingdom Chronicler has used Dagny’s photographs as the cover art for The Mews, and other Kingdom groups have used her art in their publications and social media.
We believe this “hands-on” approach contributes significantly to our high retention numbers for newcomers to our group and game.
Before Gwynneth’s (Cyn Wise’s) retirement from Saint Louis University in Aug. 2020, she was the senior Post-award Grant Specialist in The Office of the Vice President for Research. She administered post-award grant financial and HR activities for approximately fifty-five (55) federal and private research grants and contracts with award amounts in the order of $8M. She was also the Chair of the SLU Staff Council (SAC), the official representative for all classified and unclassified staff within the University. She worked with the President, Provost and Vice-Presidents on all initiatives concerning or affecting staff. Gwynneth set the agenda for and conducted monthly meetings open to all SLU staff. She served on several sub-committees of the Board of Trustees.
Dagny (Gabie Everett, SCCT) is a tenured Professor of History with 34 years of classroom experience. Her many skills include time management, interpersonal communication, and speaking effectively to large audiences. She has been twice President of the Jefferson College National Educational Association (union) and President of the Faculty Senate. She continues to serve on the JCNEA executive council. Gabie received the Emerson Excellence in Teaching award from the Jefferson College Foundation in 2012.
Past SCA experience:
- Lady Dagny joined the SCA in 1995 in the Shire of Hammerhold – Meridies, received her AoA (Meridies) in 1997 and her Order of the Torse (Calontir) in 2024. She held the offices of Herald, then Seneschal of the large Shire of Hammerhold, Meridies (Oxford MS) in 1997-98. She has received the Baronial awards of Tributary and the Order of the Garter from Their Excellencies of Three Rivers, Giacomo and Nadya.
- Dame Gwynneth started in 1993 in the Shire of Hammerhold – Meridies, received her AoA (1995), Argent Comet (1997), and GoA (1999) from Meridies, Marble Chalice (2003) from Gleann Abhann, Torse (2022) and Calon Cross (2024) from Calontir, and was inducted into the Order of the Pelican (2024). She served the Shire (former Barony) of Hammerhold as Herald, Chronicler, and Seneschal several times from 1996-99, and the Shire of Evensong Forest as Exchequer, 2000-01. During that time, she worked with many others to create the region, Principality, and finally Kingdom of Gleann Abhann. She also served the greater SCA as Clerk of the Grand Council from 1997–99, responsible for all correspondence between the Council and the Crowns and Seneschals of the “Known World”.
Our overall goal as the Baronage is to have a joyous Barony! We want to be that place people look forward to going, with both newcomers and established members interacting, sharing ideas and knowledge, skills and service; a place that folks throughout the Kingdom want to come, knowing they’ll be truly welcome by all of us. There is much in our Barony’s past that informs our identity, and we respect those traditions; we also want to ensure that we continue to grow and meet the needs of a wonderfully diverse fellowship.
Vivat, Three Rivers! Huzzah, Calontir!!
Ever in Your Service,
Lady Dagny and Dame Gwynneth
Gabie Everett, she/her, #254048, exp.1/31/26
Cyn Wise, she/her, #100399, exp. 1/31/26