I think Johanna & Aquel have done a wonderful job and 
I admire them
enormously. Due to the history of old Carolingian 
Rapier Company, they
chose not to have a baronial guard, emphasizing the 
baronial champions
instead. I would probably have a guard again (in 
addition to the
champions), but do it differently than we did under 
Patri. I would like
it to have 2 people from each of the martial arts 
(rattan, fencing,
archery, thrown weapons), who would be nominated by 
the marshalls of
those activities. These people would not be the most 
experienced or best
fighters, but the "up and coming" types who showed a 
lot of promise.
They would serve for a year or two, and then new 
people would replace
them. That way the guard wouldn't get to be a stuffy 
organization. It
would add some nice pagentry to our events, and 
hopefully be a learning
opportunity for the people in it. I was also thinking 
of having a couple
of baronial "pages" who would be A&S or service 
people, which would work
the same way. It would be a chance for a little 
mentoring.
