RK origins - Clans and the RSA

When RK Scotland formed, the institutions of the RSA and the Clans came into existence at around the same time. They tended, therefore, to be strongly involved in each other's initial development. Moreso, indeed, than the territorial divisions of County and town, as the RSA and the Clans (existing only in the virtual virtual world of the forums) were not bound by a paradigm defined by ingame mechanics (although, of course, the ingame paradigm was very important in defining and functionalising the virtual organisations of clan and army).

Of the two institutions, the national army organisation was more bound to the potentialities of the ingame mechanism than the clans. This was because its reason for existence was to utilise certain of those mechanics for the good of the community - whether that be by patrols (travel, reports), civil order (defending the power), or, eventually, military force (ingame armies). Its Band and Regimental structures were designed around the practicalities of platoons and armies, its Band organisation facilitated the development of individiuals and teamwork which would allow them to contribute to any eventual county based armies (regiments).

The clans, on the other hand, found no direct ingame correlate for their social networking functions. While the RSA would organise itself on the forums but act it out ingame, the clans were far more a nebulous influence on ingame reality. They were more impactful on forum levels of RK reality, in the formation of governance, culture, interaction and group identity.

Being good scottish clans, however, they snavelled as much political power as the could in the important formative stages of the nation's development. Amongst the things they ensured was a ban on armed activity by any but the official national army and themselves. The right of a clan to raise an army was constitutionally guaranteed to the exclusion of all others except the national institution of the RSA.