Is black the new white?

With the closing of the White Scarves and the birth of the Papillon in Artemisia, there's discussion about whether Papillon are the same rank as White Scarves. As I see it, the answer is yes, sort of.

Both orders are grant-level awards for fencing, but the purpose of the two are different. The White Scarf was seen by many (and given out as) the ultimate fencing award. As a result, members of the order were viewed as the personification of fencing within the kingdom.

The Papillon, however, is seen as a stepping stone towards the Master of Defense. It's that last, final step to weed out the merely great fencers from the true peers of the fencing community.

Looking around at my fellow first Papillons, I see a group who has the prowess or the teaching ability or even those graces that define a peer. In fact, odds are that they possess two of the traits, but not all three. At least not yet.

And it's that potential for growth - that acknowledgement of imperfection - that is the difference between the White Scarves and the Papillions.

We are not White Scarves. We will never be. We are a new order. Still young. Still finding ourselves. And, like our order, still growing.