Canton Ynys Taltraeth Petition

Countess Megan,
This letter is to introduce us to you, and to petition the Board of Directors for Branch status in the Kingdom of the West, within the Principality of Oertha. We have chosen to submit ‘Ynys Taltraeth’, meaning “Island at the end of the sandy spit” in Welsh. Our first try at a name, Moroedd Oer, submitted in July, 1998 was rejected in January, 1999. Our second attempt, filed in November, 1999 ‘Arthwenog’, failed in January, 2000. There should be 2 similar letters to this in your files. We ask that we become a Canton, as our territories are granted by the grace of Morgana, Baroness Winter’s Gate, from within the ancient borders of the Barony of Winter’s Gate, and we like the idea of a tie between the two groups. Also, keeping as part of the barony allows us to publish in the current newsletter and stay in touch with the Barony e-mail list. If it is decided that the status of “Canton” is inappropriate, we would be happy with “Shire” instead.
Geographically, our group is 33 miles north of the Arctic Circle, in Kotzebue, Alaska, on a "sand spit" on the Kotzebue Sound, which is frozen 9 months of the year, and adjacent to the Chukchi Sea, which is north of the Bering Straits. (this will make us the Northernmost branch of the SCA) We are 200 miles from the eastern tip of Siberia. As with each of the other villages, Kotzebue has no road access to it, and is a small town of 3,000+ souls. Our main mode of transportation out is via airplane to Anchorage or to a lesser degree, Fairbanks. We have 9+ subscribing members, and another 6 or more people interested in SCA activity and attending events. We’ve held the number of members at approximately 10 or more for more than 30 months, even though quite a few folk have come and gone.
At this time we are part of the Barony of Winter's Gate, which covers all of the 997xx zip code, or Northern Alaska, territory (Oertha). Winter’s Gate is centered in Fairbanks, Alaska, about 400 miles away by air. The flights hub out of Anchorage (Barony of Eskalya) is 549 air miles away, however.
Even though all of our current population is in Kotzebue, we thought we'd include more area than this small sand spit, leaving opportunity for future SCA expansion. Staying within Winter's Gate borders, we'd like to include all of the Coastal Villages. On the map (included) that means the lands and seas from Shaktoolik (just southeast of Nome) around the whole coast, past Prudhoe Bay to Kaktovik. Plus, the Kobuk River and it's villages are included. [We also assume the lands of continental Asia to the Ural Mountains as our own.]
We’ve held many meetings, average 4 events each year, and have held several Demo’s since organizing in September 1997. We have held Demos for the entire 8th grade history class (September 97 & 98), held a medieval Dance class (January ‘98) and had our first event on April 4, 1998 “Spring Matsch Kolben”, as well as participation in local Dance activities. We hold weekly bardic and/or arts/business meetings and sporadic fighter practices. There are 3 fighters locally. Many of our populace have received awards during visitations of Their Highnesses of Oertha, and the Baroness of Winter’s Gate.

CC: Viscountess Annora de Montfort of Shadowood, Seneschale,
Principality of Oertha
Lady Magdalena Ochastka, Seneschale, Barony of Winter’s Gate
Mistress Morgana yr Oerfa, Baroness Winter’s Gate
Lord Taran de Montfort, Baron of Winter’s Gate

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Territorial Claims of our Canton

The canton does hereby claim the northern coastal lands of Oertha from the village of Shaktoolik to the village of Kaktovik, the islands off of said coast, and the villages along the Kobuk River. We claim these lands in order that we may be a Canton of the Barony of Winter’s Gate. These lands are represented by the following zip codes:

99723 Barrow
99727 Buckland
99734 Prudhoe Bay
99736 Deering
99739 Elim
99742 Gambel
99747 Kaktovik
99750 Kivalina
99751 Kobuk
99752 Kotzebue
99753 Koyuk
99759 Point Lay
99761 Noatak
99762 Golovin
99762 Little Diomede
99762 Nome
99763 Noorvik
99766 Point Hope
99769 Savoonga
99770 Selawik
99771 Shaktoolik
99772 Shishmaref
99773 Shungnak
99778 Teller
99784 White Mountain
99785 Brevig Mission
99786 Ambler
99789 Nuiqsut
99790 Solomon
99791 Atqasuk

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We have chosen officers as follows:
We have all the officer required (Seneschal, Herald, Arts/Sci, Marshal) for a branch, and we have obtained the soon to be requirement of Exchequer as well, plus the Constable position. All officers have been introduced to their Baronial and Principality superiors either in person or via mail and e-mail.

Seneschal-elect & Herald: Mastyer Khevron Oktavii Tikhikovich Vorotnikov
Don Goertz

Knight Marshal & Exchequer: Lord Hafoc Rhea
James Rea

Art/Sci & Constable: Lord Robert MacGregor
Robert Weldy

A little about the members:
Mastyer Khevron (order of the Pelican –January, XXXIV) has over 9 years SCA experience, the founder of this group, has previously held the office of Marshal, has autocratted several events and is currently Web-minister and Deputy Herald of the Barony of Winters Gate. Lord Robert MacGregor have many years of experience in the Kingdom of Meridies as Demo officer and has Feast/Auto-cratted several events. Lord Hafoc, another founding member, is a Man at Arms to an Eskalya knight and autocrats events. Lady Masrauna recently received her AoA. Marured, Juliana, Caroline, Amy, Patrick, Candice, William, Robert & Eve are fairly new to the SCA or sporadically attend activities.
Several other people here have heard of the SCA or are interested in SCA related activities.

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