Autocrat

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An Autocrat is the person in charge of organising and running an event.

Also known by the more medieval terms of "Steward" or "Warden".

The duties of an Autocrat include:

  • arranging for a venue
  • handling event paperwork, finances and reporting
  • organizing and scheduling event activities
  • if food is to be served, arranging for a feastocrat
  • advertising the event
  • taking bookings
  • ensuring that everyone involved in the event is doing their job
  • and doing everything they can to ensure that the event runs smoothly.

If the event is small, the Autocrat may do everything her/himself; if the event is large, the Autocrat will recruit a team of deputy autocrats to assist them.

Want to become more involved? Offer to help the autocrat.

At the first few events, there were apparently "Supreme Autocrats" who were acting sort of as the local rulers. As the winners of the tournaments came to be called kings (late in A.S. I), these kings supplanted the autocrats as rulers, while the autocrats remained in charge of specific events as event planners.

The suffix "-ocrat" is often tacked onto other types of activities to indicate the person in charge of that activity. For example, "Feastocrat" is the person in charge of a Feast. With larger events, one might even have an Autocratocrat, who is in charge of making sure that the Autocrat (and other staff) eats, sleeps, relaxes, etc. This sort of usage is not remotely period.