I started working with Marcus Blackheart about being his deputy herald, when I moved from Lewiston back to Portland.  I was actually excited about this process, to learn what it takes to be a successful herald, learn about things from those that came before me, and to assist those that wish to get their names and devices registered (because like Lay’s Potato chips you shouldn’t really only have one).    Within a couple of meetings working with him I was given my first project.  “Hey the Chronicler is going to need the Order of Precedence (OP for short) update so they can publish the POMP for an upcoming Moonstone newsletter.”  He says to me.

“Hmm ok I can do that.” I reply thinking that I should just take last years, update for the current year, and all is grand.

“Ok, here is the POMP from four years ago, all the Pike Staffs from this last year, and what I am looking for is an excel sheet that we can add as needed, move things around easier,  like that.”

“Ok, so what you are saying is that this hasn’t been worked on for a bit.”

“Yep.”

“How long do I have?”

Wait for it, cause trust me you can almost hear the trumpets in the background playing that solemn tone of impending doom.  “Four weeks.”

So my mind is racing, the OP has not been updated in a while, he has taken the office back in January, or back then whichever time frame it is, has sat on this request, and at the eleventh hour handed this off to his deputy to make happen or see him sink in progress.  Ok let the motor run cause I soooo got this.

So after looking over the last Pomp and disregarded all the devices to be used for later use, I quickly saw how the OP was set up like.  (Royalty, peers, high merit) etc.  With this I set up the excel sheet to reflect the lineup of the information I have.  Once that was in place, go through all the pike staff, try to pick from the current OP and other articles who currently a part of the Province, who I recognize so I can add them, update for their current honors, and then reorganize the whole thing to everyone’s current at that time frame current positions.  (Oh did I happen to mention I am doing all this while between calls at the call center that I am currently working at)

When the process started to find a rhythm to it than the mountain of information has turned into a nice grassy hill.  After three days of organizing, updating, shifting, and double checking (using the East Kingdom version where all the court reports are reflected) came up with a home run of an Order of Precedence that I still update to this day.

(Feel free to check it out here) http://malagentia.eastkingdom.org/main/malagentia-order-of-precedence/