Will the next Rising Winds monarch help Western Gate? (Article)

At the end of next month, a new monarch of the Rising Winds will be crowned. Many wonder: How will the new monarch shape the future of Western Gate?

Western Gate, a large duchy in St. Louis, Missouri, has more than enough members for Kingdom. The reaction to their bid, when brought up to the Circle of Monarch's meeting, was one of "Curiousity and Apathy", according to the RW representative, Clyde.

"They asked how it would affect the Rising Winds," Clyde said, "But most of them will not be voting on it next year so there was a general sense of apathy."

This is because of a more recent rule that states a kingdom cannot be voted on the same year it was proposed. Thus, Western Gate was proposed this year of 2008, and it will be voted on next year of 2009.

Therefore, while it's worth mentioning that this reign's upcoming monarch won't have as much impact as the next upcoming monarch; who's in charge for the next 6 months could very will have a surprisingly large influence.

With that said, there are three candidates for the next Monarch of the Rising Winds: Kathrynn St. James, Thorvald, and Tusocks.

Kathrynn is from Phoenix Tears, a Duchy in Springfield, IL. It's said to be "on the border, split 50/50" between WG and RW. Kathrynn is a Big Fish in PT, and is well known throughout the kingdom. She's been the Kingdom Prime Minister twice, and has been in charge of many recent kingdom A&S competitions.

When asked about the impact Western Gate will have on the Rising Winds if they become a kingdom (and vice versa), she replied with:

"I don't know. I know that when WG becomes a Kingdom I will be attending both kingdoms' events - unless they are scheduled over each other's events, or if they schedule over Discord. We will probably lose a few of Western Gates members at the RW Kingdom events, but probably not significantly, since the ones that usually come also do a lot of amt-traveling, and are likely to be in positions of authority, where taking a break and being at a nearby kingdom level event where they don't have to care about the Althings, COMs, COKs, and Internal politics might be quite needed. But that is a ways off. It isn't going to happen this reign, and it is unknown how many parks will want to go be part of the Kingdom of Western Gate."

Thorvald is a member of Blackfire Pass, and the only knight on the list running for monarch. While this will be his first kingdom position, he has held many offices in his home chapter. Furthermore, this reporter has heard many good things said about this man.

When asked the same question as Kathrynn, he replied with:

"I feel that Kingdom status is a major step in any group's existence. It will definitely have an impact on both groups (theirs and ours). The actual effects will depend on how the people, in charge of each group, react to the obstacles that arise.

I have full faith in the members of Western Gate. Most of them grew up with us, and I consider them friends.

I would work diligently with them (with ideas similar to what Tanath already posted) to ensure both groups cross-pollinate to keep all of us close, and make each others' events better by keeping numbers as high as possible. Will the numbers go down at any given event? Possibly.

Will numbers go up at other events? Also, possible.

It is nearly impossible to speculate on the specifics, but I'm optimistic that both groups will help each other out when and where they can to make any given event the best it can be."

Tusocks has also not held a kingdom office, and was unavailable for comment. However, I can make my own speculation of her; there are two qualities that follow Tusocks around like a bad penny: Passion, and Controversy.

Tusocks is FROM Western Gate and would, without question, aid them into Kingdom Status. However, this could be both a blessing and a curse, depending on how she reacts to being monarch. It's said that being the monarch of the Rising Winds; a kingdom that, without question, uses just as much, if not more, drama as glue as any other long standing amtgard kingdom, is one of the most stressful voluntary positions one can have. When Warbird was Monarch, it is said that the phone bill his first month was around $300-$500 dollars.

If Tusocks, as queen, were to react negatively to said stress, she could make it MUCH harder for Western Gate to regain it's reputation by next Clan.

On the other hand, Tusocks is very passionate about her home chapter. If she were to become queen and maintain a positive attitude, then she would probably help pave WG's kingdom status well more than the other two monarch candidates.

It's said that the Rising Winds is spoiled. As the largest kingdom in Amtgard (about a 6 hour drive from it's center to it's farthest point in any direction), we get about 300+ people every event; about as much as most inter-kingdom events. It's said that when places that have spawned from the Rising Winds; such as the Frostlands, Western Gate, etc. Decide to become kingdoms of their own, that the RW will see a decrease in their gargantuan event numbers; and many members of the populace find this unacceptable.

Though possible solutions have been found to this end-- such as WG and RW sharing event locations... many more people believe that more chapters breaking off and growing in this way would more greatly benefit amtgard as a whole, and all three candidates for monarch seem to believe the same.

Thus, it is this reporter's opinion that Kathrynn and Thorvald would definitely help Western Gate, and Tusocks could really make or break them.