The Kingdom of Atlantia

Atlantia is one part of the Society for Creative Anachronism's Known World: a kingdom with defined lands, a published body of law, and a royal year shaped by tournaments and coronations. For a newcomer, these three things provide a useful starting map. Geography explains the region; the law explains how successors are chosen; the calendar distinguishes the occasions that can otherwise sound rather alike.

Atlantia in the Known World

The SCA's account of its history and organisation describes a society that has existed since May 1, 1966. It reports over 30,000 paid members and twenty regions called kingdoms. Within those kingdoms are local chapters known as Cantons, Shires, and Baronies. A kingdom is therefore a regional division in this educational society, and its crown belongs to that setting.

According to Atlantia's description of its lands, the kingdom includes Maryland, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, together with a small portion of Georgia. Its stated focus is education, research, and the re-creation of pre-seventeenth-century skills, arts, combat, and culture. Keep that regional description in mind when reading about an Atlantian event: it supplies the geographical context for the kingdom's name.

How the Crown Is Won

Atlantia's published law, effective September 12, 2026, requires a Crown Tournament to choose successors. It specifies double elimination. The victor and consort together become the heirs, with the titles Crown Prince and Crown Princess as appropriate to gender, or alternatively Crown Victor and Crown Consort.

The partnership matters in the rules as well as in the ceremony. Either combatant or consort may withdraw during the tournament without Loss of Honor by notifying the Crown or Minister of the Crown Lists. If either withdraws, both are eliminated. The law also says that heirs must vacate other offices when assuming the office of Sovereign or Consort, allowing the interval before coronation to divest themselves of those offices. Selection and assumption of the crown are distinct stages.

Arms Before the Lists

The law includes a requirement to have been subjects of Atlantia for at least one year immediately before Crown Tournament. It also requires registered arms or proof of a heraldic submission through a warranted herald before the tournament. Both requirements may be waived at the Crown's discretion. These provisions are useful to read together: the published wording includes both the requirements and their qualifications.

For registration itself, the Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory, updated September 8, 2026, are the authoritative submission standards. They define period as pre-seventeenth century and generally allow elements and patterns documented between 1600 and 1650, the grey period, on the grounds that they might have been used earlier. A plausible-looking design and a submission that meets the standards are different questions; consult the criteria when planning names or arms.

The Kingdom's Year

The law places coronations on the first Saturdays in April and October. Spring Crown Tournament falls on the first Saturday in May. Fall Crown Tournament normally falls on the first Saturday in November, but moves to the second Saturday when the first is November 1. Other protected occasions include Twelfth Night on January's second Saturday and the Kingdom Arts and Sciences Festival on March's first Saturday. These are recurring calendar rules, rather than a list of particular event arrangements.

Pennsic has its own longer span. The Pennsic history and future dates give July 24–August 9 for Pennsic War 53 in 2026, and July 30–August 15 for Pennsic War 54 in 2027. The event runs for seventeen days. Distinguishing that full span from the kingdom's single-Saturday occasions helps a reader understand the scale of the calendar.

A First Step

The SCA lists the Known World Newcomers' Symposium for Saturday, November 28, 2026, as an entirely free online event with classes and roundtable discussions for newcomers and veterans. It offers a place to begin learning the vocabulary behind the calendar. For the ceremonial side of the subject, continue with Coronations & Royal Courts.