Fenix’s first unsuccessful attempt to succeed from Flaming Gryphon can be traced to a large extent to the near disastrous Coronation of Talymar and Eislinn in 198?. But in some respects, the unhappy relations between the two groups has its roots as far back as the earliest days of the founding of Flaming Gryphon.

When Flaming Gryphon was formed, it was something of an experimental idea: instead of a local group grown large, for the first time in the history of the Society, several smaller groups would combine to form the new barony. Obviously, this required the hard work and co-operation of many key people in different local groups, each with their own unique character. The Fenix was demographically different from the other charter groups in that it was the only chapter not closely related with a college campus. As a result Fenix’s average age, financial/social status, and general outlook on the Society was markedly different from the rest of the barony, who early Fenixers were prone to dismiss as mere "kids". Needless to say, the "kids" (who dominated the baronial offices) were not amused, and there was little interaction between the groups.

As the consolidation moved forward, many of the more involved individuals thought that they would be the logical choice to be the founding Baron/ess. Baron Rashid from Fenix in particular was profoundly disappointed when Sir Lorimer was chosen instead of him, in a large part because he claimed the very idea of the formation of the new barony as his own. Whatever friendship the two men had before vanished in bitterness after the investiture and Rashid soon dropped out of sight altogether. Lord Budhach Houndmaster was a favorite in the Fenix at the time, both for his generosity and general good nature, but Budhach wasn’t terribly interested in politics. Lady (later Baroness) Anne of Winterskye was extremely active in the formation of the barony as well. Even though Lady Anne’s ties were mostly with the college groups to the north, many in the Fenix considered her passing over as yet more proof in the conspiracy to marginalize the group and it’s members.

The fact that Sir Lorimer was close personal friends with the Cleftlands ruling clique at the time did little to win the confidence of Fenixers in the fairness of the system. From the kingdom’s perspective, although there were many viable candidates, the high-profile nature of the experimental barony, coupled with the fact that Sir Lorimer was the region’s only peer (Duke Andrew had left the group by this time) and a former kingdom officer, made him the logical choice. To most Fenixers however, the fix was in, completely overlooking Sir Lorimer’s legitimate record of service on behalf of the forming barony. It was common knowledge that Lorelien and Ithriliel’s Earl Marshal/Seneschal power bloc had been dominating Curias (and rumor had it, many Crowns) for some time and it just assumed that they had arbitrarily chosen "their man" over any favorite son candidates.

With all these factors in the background, the tensions came to a head at Coronation, which Fenix had put in a bid for. One of Sir Lorimer’s less popular edicts as Baron was that all events by groups in his lands would be "baronial" events. The event staff in Fenix was irritated at having "help" from outside foisted off on them and took the news in bad grace. Unfortunately, some of the promised help did not arrive on the day of the event. It is unclear what actually happened, but in the minds of the Fenix, many of the "kids" gave only a token amount of effort in support of the event and then took off at the earliest opportunity to party. To make matters worse, the feast was a total disaster. The fact that the Feastocrat was a Fenixer was conveniently ignored in the scramble to place blame and diffuse the embarrassment.

Recriminations and finger-pointing was the order of the day for many months following. Angry words were shouted on both sides of the Hamilton-Butler county line, and as often is the case, the lion’s share of the blame eventually settled on Sir Lorimer—- at least as far as the Fenix was concerned. The Fenix Seneschal, Lord Christophe van der Ross was removed from office for intemperate personal remarks he had made about Sir Lorimer. The Baronial Champion, Lord Avatar of Stonehelm (the future Viscount Myles Blackheath) was put forth as a possible replacement due to his perceived political neutrality, but the Fenix was reluctant to have a "kid" Seneschal who spent most of his time in another group (he was then a student at the March of the Unicorn). Lord Avatar turned down the offer when he realized that he would widely be seen as the Baron’s puppet and countered with an offer to replace Lady Anne as Baronial Seneschal. Lord Avatar was under the somewhat naive impression that since he had friends on both sides of the border, he could act as a peacemaker and bring the feuding barony together. Sir Lorimer didn’t quite completely trust Lord Avatar due to his close ties to his roomate, Baron Dur of Hidden Mountain, a Hoardsman whom everyone suspected of having a personal political agenda. The only other popular "neutral" candidates, Lord Budhach and Lady Cleo, flatly refused to accept the office, wisely seeing it as a no-win situation.

It was during this impasse that Sir Lorimer made the curious decision to make Lady Gheronda Gwynth the new Seneschal.* Lady Gheronda was relatively new to the SCA and had already made her personal dislike of Sir Lorimer quite public in open meetings. Once in office, she wasted no time in stirring the pot. Riding the wave of popular resentment in the aftermath of the Coronation disaster, Lady Gheronda and Baron Dur convinced the respected Lord Richard Ironforger, Lady Genvieve Marie de Chanson (later Mistress Ingrid DeMarksbury), and Lord Karl von Kugler to privately approach the new King Talymar with a petition to allow the Fenix to advance to baronial status and break free of Sir Lorimer and the Flaming Gryphon.

HRM Talymar was being widely hailed as the Champion of All Things Anti-Cleftlands, due to many reforms he was making in the kingdom laws to break the stranglehold that the Seneschal and Earl Marshal’s offices had on the Curia.** It was rumored that he was also challenging Lorelien and Ithriliel’s personal dominance of the peerage orders deliberations and encouraging others by his example. He had successfully championed the movement of Calontir to kingdom status during a previous reign and had already in this one restored Earldormere’s rights for regional identity—- both over the objections of the Cleftlands power bloc. In this environment, it was easy for the seccessionists to convince themselves that the Crown would be sympathetic to the cause of oppressed groups everywhere.

Their Majesties were, in fact, somewhat sympathetic to the plight of the Fenix, but they told the seccessionists that they were going about it in exactly the wrong way. One of the reasons HRM Talymar’s political opponents had never been able to overturn his reforms was due to his careful and scrupulous adherence to the laws. The process, as written in Corpora, required that all such petitions for advancement would have to first get the approval of the Kingdom Seneschal before being presented to the Board of Directors. In quiet consultations with friends on the BoD, King Talymar looked in vain for a loophole that the Fenix’s petition could slip through. HRM was not above changing kingdom law in a just cause, but he could do nothing about Corpora or the Society’s By-Laws without being on the Board himself.*** Finding no elegant solution, He had no choice but to turn the petition over to the Seneschallate.

The reaction was swift and furious. Lorelien and Ithriliel were also Baron and Baroness of their own lands and had very definite ideas as to the proper behavior of dutiful subjects. Duchess Ithriliel squashed the petition and immediately fired Lady Gheronda from office. Pressure was put on each of the kingdom officers to remove their subordinates in Fenix and there was talk of demanding banishments for the chief conspirators. Their Majesties refused to even consider banishment and intervened in Curia on the behalf of the other officers, some of whom didn’t even know of the plot until told of it at the meeting that Lady Gheronda was forced to step down. As the Crown saw it, the seccessionists were only guilty of political clumsiness (and bad manners) in the service of a just cause, not treason.

Sir Lorimer was understandably hurt by the secrecy (the petition was presented when he was away on honeymoon) and by what he considered a stab in the back by his subjects. It must be mentioned in all fairness that Sir Lorimer and Their Graces Lorelien and Ithriliel were sincerely appalled by the actions of the seccessionists. In their view, the conspirators had behaved dishonorably and were only worthy of full and just punishment. Whether he appealed to his friends in Cleftlands for justice or not (as was the rumor in Fenix) the next move by Duchess Ithriliel caught everyone off guard—- if she couldn’t get the group officers fired directly, she would pull the Fenix’s charter and it’s right to exist as an SCA chapter. This was a tactic Cleftlands had used to deal with recalcitrant groups before. Indeed, TRM Talymar and Eislinn had only recently given the group charter back to Tyrnewydd (formerly known as Thor’s Anvil) after Lorelien and Ithriliel had revoked it during their second reign.

There followed an emergency meeting between the Crown and the Greater Officers on Curia. No compromise could be reached as the Seneschal was legally within her rights to pull the charter of any group she pleased. Their Majesties were determined to protect the officers who had known nothing of the conspiracy and the group’s very existance. Both sides were at an impasse, as the other kingdom officers demurred to take sides and get involved in what was promising to become an ugly political showdown.

Finally, according to popular legend,**** Their Majesties, Duke Lorelien, and Duchess Ithriliel went into a back room for a private meeting behind closed doors. When they emerged, Duke Lorelien and Duchess Ithriliel appeared shaken, King Talymar looked grim, and Queen Eislinn was near tears. It was announced to a subdued Curia that the Fenix would retain its charter as a group, but it would still be subject to its Baron and would have to remain part of Flaming Gryphon. Only those officers who had been directly involved in the seccession attempt would be asked to resign, but could be asked to be re-instated at some future date.

It was a compromise that pleased nobody. The Fenix felt they were right back where they had started and minus a few officers in the bargain. The consensus in Flaming Gryphon is that the conspirators had merely had their hands slapped for secretly attacking the Baron and a few hotheads were openly talking of the Fenix’s "treason" and what could be done about it. Relations between the Fenix and the rest of the barony steadily worsened.

If the Fenix was still subject to it’s sovereign baron, it was in name only. At the following Pennsic War, the nascent Fenix Fighting Force rallied to Lord Avatar’s banner instead of the Flaming Gryphon’s-- so that they could fight as Talymar’s personal guard. In a particularly insulting move to the Baron, the Fenix tried to institute their own shire award, "The Fenix Flame". It was given to only one person (Lord Budhach) before Sir Lorimer put an end to it and asserted his rights as the only person who could legally give awards in the group. There was yet another mini-crisis when Lady Gheronda was removed as Chronicler (by a "Cleftlands King", HRM Emerys) for publishing some of Lord Avatar’s derisive songs about Sir Lorimer in the group’s newsletter, the Flammeus Alles.

It was some time before anyone could agree to a new Seneschal for the group. Finally, Lord James Edward DeMarksberry, another relative newcomer, was selected. Lord James was a better choice than anyone could have hoped for. Mundanely a hospital administrator, Lord James was used to getting warring factions to work together for a common goal. He arranged for King Talymar to visit the group for a small event in Lord Christophe’s backyard. A small court was held and many overdue awards were given out to group members, including several of the seccessionists.

Slowly, the poisoness atmosphere began to dissipate as newcomers came into the group and the principle antagonists either left or were diverted into other interests. TG Lorelein and Ithlriliel resigned from their offices shortly after TRM Talymar and Eislinn passed new laws on term limits for kingdom officers. They retreated more and more into Cleftland’s internal affairs and were rarely involved in kingdom matters thereafter. Duke Talymar also largely withdrew from the kingdom scene after the heartbreaking death of HG Eislinn shortly after their third reign. Lady Gheronda and Lord Richard left the SCA for good after her removal from office for the second time. Lady Genvieve and Lady Cleo began to get more and more involved in culinary arts, vowing that Fenix would never suffer another feast disaster like the "Coronation of Doom" if they had anything to say about it. Baron Dur took another job and moved to the East, rising there to become Khakhan of the Dark Hoard. Lord Christophe began to get serious about his woodworking and went on to hold several other offices. Lord Avatar (now squired to Duke Talymar) moved out of the kingdom after graduation, not to return for several years. Lord Karl and Lord Budhach all but dropped out of the SCA, only appearing at local events every once in awhile. Lord James had done a remarkable job keeping the peace in Fenix, but he was burnt out by the effort and dropped out of the Society shortly after stepping down as Seneschal.

The epilogue came shortly before Lord James left. Some say Sir Lorimer had a change of heart and forgave his most troublesome shire; others insist it was a final rude gesture. Whatever the interpretation, Sir Lorimer showed up unexpectedly at a Fenix meeting after years of absence and announced that he was stepping down as Baron, due to accepting a mundane job offer in the East. Before the Fenix could absorb that bit of news, he went on to announce that, as of that moment, the Fenix was a free shire and no longer part of the Flaming Gryphon. He then gathered up his new bride and walked out of the Fenix forever.

There was not so much celebration as stunned silence. But before the evening was over, there was talk of trying again to become a barony, maybe, in a few years…

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*These maneuverings by the Baron may seem odd to the modern Fenixer. At this time in the kingdom’s history, the authority of the Territorial Baronage to place and remove officers was the accepted norm. Although it still required by the law the final approval of the Kingdom Officer, it was pretty much acknowledged that the baronial officers were the "staff", serving at the pleasure of the Crown’s appointed representative. The current Fenix insistence on decision by consensus (and arguably its general distrust of the Nobility) is a direct reaction to the perceived "high-handed" actions by the powers-that-were during this period.

**As kingdom law was written at the time, almost anything of lasting significance done on the kingdom level required the approval of one or the other of these offices. Such was the personal domination of the Duke Lorelien and Duchess Ithriliel over the kingdom at the time that to challenge their decisions was seen as political and social suicide—even for a sitting Crown.

***Which he did, after being selected to the Board years later. As a result of changes to Corpora, Kingdom Seneschals can no longer arbitrarily deny a group’s advancement to baronial status. They can only review a group’s petition for completeness before passing it on to the BoD.

****None of the principle parties will confirm or deny any such meeting taking place. In later years, HG Talymar would only say that "we all got together and talked it out". There are no minutes of that meeting.