Thunder Rivers Althing (Article)
A recent incident at the Barony of Thundering Rivers, a chapter under the Rising Winds, resulted in a visit from King Clyde and an emergency Althing, where he berated the park in hopes of giving them a sense of urgency to improve.
The incident in question is when their (now former) Prime Minister, Clayr, stabbed another park member with a pen after some minor harassment. The victim's name was Casey, and he was not seriously injured.
"I'm not here to talk so much about what happened Last Sunday," announced Clyde to begin the Althing, "I'm here to talk about what's been happening at this park for the last two years. This place has been a prime source of drama that needs to stop. People out of Kingdom know about this park; it's a laughing stock, really. You are very close to getting kicked out of The Rising Winds."
He offered everyone a chance to speak. It was soon known that there were several issues going on at the park; primarily, a rift between the cult-like following of Lucien Firethought, and a larger group whose members are more familiar with how an amtgard chapter is ideally run, but who lacked definitive leadership and organization. This was the cause of constant in-fighting, drama, and problems that extended beyond the bounds of the Rising Winds.
These issues spawned many things that Clyde warned would be red flags. Among which was the shadiness in which the credits were entered into the ORK (something this reporter was an eyewitness to), in which several members would get 3+ credits on a normal park day.
"I will break your park." Clyde proclaimed. "I could drive over here every weekend, and turn it into a ditch park. You will have 5 people in attendance every week, I guarantee you."
Clayr was indeed banned for her attack on Casey, but this was a very brief discussion.
After the althing, the current Monarch, Stefan, walked about 200 feet away from where most of the park was gathered. He then proceeded to talk to what was assumed to be Lucien Firethought on his phone for approximately one hour, much to the berating of Varas.
The general populace of Thundering Rivers, following this althing, were given a much-needed drive to better their park. The new PM, Ardara, quickly gave the park a credit audit for the last 6 months; basically deleting all credits and reentering them according to the sign in sheets she had. A second althing was announced two Sundays from the first; it is heavily rumored that this one will attempt to take Stefan out of office.
Staying later in the park day, this reporter noticed a lot of friendship and comradery among the park's members that were not associated with the aforementioned 'cult', one that was befitting of a true park. It is my hope that these members will be able to overcome all of the drama and hardship that they will have to go through to get their park back on track. -Kaads
