The Shire of the Golden Plains

Ravens Cross, Shire

A Shire under the Kingdom of the Burning Lands, located in Amarillo, Texas.

The Burning Lands

Heraldry

History

Golden Plains was founded as a Shire of the Emerald Hills in Amarillo, Texas, in 1988, attaining status as a Barony on March 11, 1989. In the beginning, the group met in an empty lot next to Greywalker's house and had weekly fighter practices in Boldwen Reinholt's apartment complex. Reinholt had founded the Shire after moving up from Dallas, and would serve as the Golden Plains' first (and only) Sheriff, advancing during his second term of office to also serve as the Plains' first Baron. Reinholt's second midreign-- his first as Baron-- was attended by King Landolf and a large delegation from the Emerald Hills. One notable occurrence during Reinholt's term as Baron was the Great Massacre of 1989.

The Golden Plains' first Baronial coronation-- that is, for somebody specifically elected to that title-- was held in September of 1989, when Donar Sean Stone replaced Boldwen as Baron. This coronation was attended by Queen Alessandra Cheetarah Nightowl and another large contingent from the Hills. This event was also noteworthy for being interrupted by a tribe of unusual spell-casting Ogres who had stolen all of the plunder from the Plunder Tourney. At the time it was thought that the Ogre monster class was making its first sanctioned appearance in any Amtgard battlegame that day-- Alessandra promised that it would be included in the next rules update, and although it is no longer a spell-user, the Ogre in today's Dor Un Avathar still bears certain resemblances to the beasts encountered that day in the Plains.

Perhaps no single person had more of an influence on the Golden Plains during its first two Baronial Courts than Sir Flynn Lyton Telemon. Flynn served as Scribe during the Plains' entire period as a Shire, and then as its Vizier for a full year, handling most of the mundane tasks required to keep a chapter functioning. Flynn was often under-appreciated, and never sought direct leadership of the Plains himself, but his diligence and support always made the Monarch's job much easier than it might otherwise have been. The Plains was able to steer clear of many of the pitfalls that killed so many other chapters during Amtgard's formative years, largely due to Flynn's quiet stewardship. Current citizens of the Plains will always owe a debt of gratitude to Flynn Telemon, for in many ways they've inherited the house that Flynn built.

On November 12, 1989, Donar was forced to resign from office due to external circumstances that would have prevented him from attending Amtgard for an extended period of time. Sicarius Ceacus was appointed Baron Pro Tem by a vote at the next Allthing, in accordance with the Emerald Hills' Corpora. In December 1989, after a new round of Qualifications, Dustin Darkenmane became the second person elected to serve as Baron of the Golden Plains-- the third Baron in Plains history. During Sicarius's brief tenure and continuing into Dustin's first few months in office, a controversy erupted when the Burning Lands ruled that Kingdom contracts would no longer apply to subsidiary lands-- meaning that the Plains would have to submit its own contract, under its own name, or risk losing its standing as a sanctioned chapter of Amtgard. Despite initial widespread resistance to the idea, much credit is due to the newly-installed Vizier Desari Sagitar for persuading the populace that entering such an agreement would be in everybody's best interests; perhaps characteristically, the Golden Plains was the last subsidiary land under the Hills to contract with the Burning Lands.

The Golden Plains became the fourth Amtgard Kingdom in 1992, (1 month before the Iron Mountains). A delegation from the Burning Lands was in attendance.

The Amarillo park is was formally known as the Shire of Golden Plains. Formally the home of the Kingdom's Static Crown, the group requested to become a Shire after the Kingdom populace voted to become a Floating Crown. The Shire currently is home to members of many households and companies, including the Nighthawks, Esydra, Corsairs, Church of PIE, Clan Bloodtooth, Crimson Marauders, Black cross and La Cosa Nostra. The Shire lays claim to one of the largest Brownie populations in all of Amtgard. On June 26 2011 the Shire of Golden Plains decided to withdraw themselves from the Kingdom of the Golden plains. Shire Althing Minutes. In February 2012 the land became a Shire under the Kingdom of the Burning Lands.

Changed their name to Ravens Cross on 5/11/15. After the parks attendance dropped to 3 and most players moved onto playing SCA a new group of players, mainly Evermore Hollow members that lived in Amarillo, started to meet at John Stiff park on Sundays for a fighter practice. Sir Nevons and Lady AriahMay started talk of restarting the once great field. Within a year of that talk plans were made and people were contacted. The park soon grew from 5 friends to now 18-24 players, many new to the game. Voting to change name and colors happend 5/11/15. Ravens Cross is now an active field with weekly battle games, fighter practices and craft nights!

Current Monarchy

• Sheriff: Squire Calwyn
• Consort: Zul IronFist
• Prime Minister: AirahMay Melekh
• Champion: Telros

Populace

• Squire Arminius
• Sir Boots
• Lady Callandra
• Squire Calwyn
• Sir Colin
• Squire Grasshopper
• Sir Jeddak
• Sir Katahztrofi
• Naomi Silverflame
• Sir Warblade
• Squire Zander
• SKIT

Directions

The Shire of Ravens Cross meets every Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM at John Stiff park, next to the dog park, sigh #10. Bell st.

---

• ORK