January 22, 1980 XIV

LETTER OF ACCEPTANCES AND REJECTIONS

ACCEPTED SUBMISSIONS BY KINGDOM

Kingdom of Ansteorra

Janet of House Morningstar. (Correction). Tierced per chevron throughout azure, gules, and vert, overall an Egyptian hawk displayed Or crowned of a bezant and maintaining two bezants.

Kingdom of Atenveldt

Aelflaed of Duckford. Vert, a duck rampant argent, billed and membered Or, above a ford proper.

Note: any animal with four limbs can be rampant if the limbs are arrayed that way. A ford is a base barry wavy argent and azure, representing water. See for a real world example the arms of Oxford. If the ford were placed upon a metal field the colors would be reversed to azure and argent.

Barony of al­Barran. Badge. Sable, a plate argent, overall a scorpion Or.

Note: the default position for a scorpion is tergiant displayed, with the tail pointing to the sinister.

Aleen du Varnay. Or, a rose gules, barbed and seeded proper, pierced by a sword inverted argent, fimbriated sable, all within an ivy vine in orle vert.

Note: the fimbriation must be wider than drawn in the picture.

Artos Griffaunt of Ravenwoode. Per bend sinister sable and argent, a dragon counter­passant counterchanged.

Bronwyn Benairuidh. Argent, a panther sejant erect pean, armed and issuing flames from the mouth and ears gules, orbed azure.

Edward Halrim. Quarterly azure and gules, a saltire between in pale two crescents argent.

Geneviéve de Water Wood. Per fess rayonny argent and azure, in chief a dolphin embowed and in base a lyre counterchanged, the lyre bridge Or.

Juan More del Leon. Vert, two wings conjoined in lure inverted gules, fimbriated argent.

Keridwen Gwenciffelcydio. Purpure, in pall a horse's head cabossed argent, crined Or, between three escallops inverted Or.

Note: the surname was submitted as Guenceffylcicio, which is meaningless in Welsh. Gu doesn't exist in Welsh. Gwenci means weasel, ffel means cunning, and cydio means bite or take hold, so Gwenciffelcydio means cunning weasel bite, which is a good Welsh sobriquet. If she doesn't like it she can choose another surname, so long as it is proper Welsh.

Courtesan's Guild of Caerthe. Badge. Argent, a butterfly bendwise wings elevated and addorsed Or perched upon a garden rose slipped purpure.

Sikhijvala. Badge for House Gehe Candra. (Change of blazon). Argent, within a wall­less onion­domed pavilion an increscent doubled arched sable.

Sybilla Keisalovitch. Argent, an Isis counter­close reguardant, dexter leg upraised, gules within a bordure compony gules and argent.

Thomas the Mute. Barry argent and sable, a Latin cross Or, surmounted at each tip by a mullet of six points gules, within a bordure gules.

Thorad Bjorgsson. Argent, a drakkar reversed gules, charged on the sail with a crab Or, all within a bordure sable.

Note: This was submitted as Thorad son of Bjorg, and intended for an Icelandic person, so I have corrected the form. I suspect the actual correct form would be Bjørgssonr, but Bjorgsson is close enough.

Trude Lacklandia, (change of blazon). Sable, a domestic cat couchant guardant chased argent.

Note: chased means voided but with the interior details and lines still showing as well as the outline.

Ushi Kirai Tokoyo No Koku . Gyronny argent and sable, a roundel sable voided and fimbriated argent.

Kingdom of Caid

Annalind Airamid the Healer. Vert, on a bend argent a caduceus palewise vert between a sprig of white willow (Salix alba) and a foxglove slipped and leaved (Digitalis purpurea) palewise proper.

Note: only a mundane MD (which Annalind is) can use a caduceus or be "the Healer."

Arianyn du Penryn. Per chevron wavy throughout azure and Or, in chief two escallops argent and issuant from base a demi­mullet of ten points elongated to chief gules.

Note: only five of the mullet's points show.

Bernadette du Barra. (Name change from Janet von Hoenne of Elsinore).

College of Scribes, Caid. Or, a seal (Calophus californianus) sejant gules, maintaining in its mouth a quill pen fesswise argent, fimbriated, veined, and dripping three gouts sable, all within a bordure embattled ermine.

Queen of Caid. Azure, a rose between three crescents, all within a bordure embattled argent.

Queen of Caid. Badge. Argent, on a pale azure a rose Or.

Crown Prince of Caid. Argent, three crescents and on a chief azure a dolphin embowed argent.

Crown Princess of Caid. Argent, three crescents and on a chief azure a rose Or.

Edward de Anvil. Sable, a pall azure fimbriated and in chief an anvil Or.

Note: the anvil must be a period anvil, which is double­pointed, rather than the modern anvil shown on the drawing.

Barony of Gyldenholt. Azure, three trees conjoined in fess Or, surmounted on the foliage by a laurel wreath vert, within a bordure Or.

Shire of Heatherwine. Or, on a fess embattled vert between two clusters of grapes crossed in saltire at the stems (Vitis vinifera "caringnan") and a sprig of heather (Calluna vulgaris) proper a laurel wreath Or.

Hugh the Undecided. Badge for the Brotherhood of the Blade. Gules, a base Or, overall a sword inverted counterchanged.

Joscelyn Elspeth Fitzharry of Gillyflower. Badge. Per fess arched, azure mullety argent, and gules, semée of apples, a sun in splendour Or between the horns of an increscent moon argent.

Note: moons with faces are now acceptable. It is best to specify the tincture of moons and suns.

Leonid Groznye Petrovich Kievnaya. Per bend gules and argent, a compass star elongated to base and a patriarchal cross calvary orthodox bottonny counterchanged.

Note: by default the star is in sinister chief and the cross in dexter base. The cross has three horizontal bars, the middle is wider than the top and the third is bendwise sinister, all are bottony, and the whole cross rests on three steps, hence the calvary. The term orthodox means you add the third slanted crosspiece.

Luxandra of Altumbrea. Sable, semée of suns in splendour Or.

Note: the semée must be drawn in a regular pattern as if the shield were cut from a piece of patterned cloth. Therefore there should be partial suns at the edges of the shield.

Barony of Lyondemere. Argent, a fish­tailed demi­lion hauriant grasping in its dexter paw a laurel wreath proper, within the laurel wreath a crescent voided; a base engrailed azure.

Note: a made­up monster can be proper if the individual pieces all have a natural coloring. Here you have a lion and a fish, so the colors are Or and vert.

Lyrel­Phillippa of Eden's Hall. (Substituting "of Eden's Hall" for "of Essex.").

Michael Maggotslayer. Azure, a European owl (Bubo bubo) displayed, wingtips inverted, proper grasping in its talons a lightning bold bendwise sinister Or.

Note: This is as close as I have come to rejecting a name as offensive and still letting it go through in the end, on the basis that at least that's the right thing to do to maggots. Please try to keep people from registering names like this, as it cause indigestion to anyone else hearing it.

Persephone of Woodland. Vert, a column between two swans rising and counter­rising, wings elevated and displayed, argent, beaked, membered and gorged of chains Or involved bendwise sinister about the column.

Tryggvi Halftrollson. Azure, on a bend gules fimbriated Or a bendlet potent in point Or and gules, in sinister chief a torteau fimbriated and charged with a cross potent arched Or.

Note: Halftrollson is an accepted Viking nickname indicating fierceness, and not parentage. Halfelfson would not be acceptable.

Kingdom of the East

Adrienne of Huntington. Sable, on a hurt fimbriated three endorses couped argent.

Queen's Bard. (Incorrectly listed before as Queen's Guard). Per bend azure and argent, a maunch vert charged in base with a harp and in canton an Eastern crown Or.

King's Bard. Per bend azure and argent, a sword vert, hilted sable, debruised by a harp and in chief an Eastern crown Or.

Freyjarthe na Barra. Vert, three bars vair, overall a golden Dryas flower (Dryas octopetala) proper.

Note: appeal accepted. Dryas flowers come in both white and golden forms. The documentation was sufficient.

Ianthe d'Averoigne. Sable, on a cartouche purpure, fimbriated argent, a rose slipped and leave inverted dismembered sable, fimbriated argent.

Note: this was passed in March of 1978 but didn't make it into the letters.

Barony of Storvik. Azure, on a pale wavy argent in chief a laurel wreath vert, overall a drakkar proper sailed argent, the sail charged with three pallets gules.

Note: appeal accepted. Striped sails were period. I would prefer it if an even number of stripes were used so it could be called paly.

Kingdom of Meridies

Alainn Aodhmoira Bean Larren. Azure, a chevron argent, overall a winged catamount sejant affrontée, wings elevated, sable.

Kingdom of the Middle

Jessica of the Willows. Or, a weeping willow tree eradicated (Salix babylonica) proper, in chief an escallop purpure.

Jessica of the Willows. Badge for service to her as Queen. Or, in cross five escallops purpure.

Kingdom of the West

Aaron of Wolf's Krag. Or, a wolf statant, head raised, upon a sinister base quarter sable, in canton a torteau.

Ahmed ibn Tr'bai. Quarterly sable and Or, a Lebanon cedar tree vert, in chief a crescent argent and a Phoenician longship reversed, sails to dexter, purpure.

Note: for the benefit of the Ordinary, all trees should have the word tree at the end, hence cedar tree instead of just cedar.

Anthony Shadowtrapper. Sable, a saltire arrondí argent, on a plate a sword inverted sable.

Anthony the Sinister. Badge. On a mullet of ten points argent a pheon sable.

Bidaan. Change of name from Bergan von Rauch.;

Brandon D'Arindel. Per bend azure and sable, a compass star of sixteen points elongated to base within a bordure argent.

Note: A compass star has alternating greater and lesser points, with a greater point to chief. To be proper the number of points should be divisible by four.

Cadwalladyr Stone of Stonecroft. Household Badge. Checky azure and argent, on a lozenge throughout erminois a fusil throughout in pale of the field.

Clarissa of Red Crab Manor on the James. (Change). Argent, a crab gules, in sinister chief an escallop gules chased Or.

Note: by default, the crab is tergiant displayed. The escallop has red lines, with the interior between the lines Or.

Dailina Catriona. Per bend sinister vert and Or, in bend four fusils in cross, those in chief and dexter Or, those in sinister and base gules, between two crescents fesswise counterchanged.

David of Dragon Run. Azure, a fess ermine between a broken tip­less sword proper and a mullet of four points argent.

Note: a broken sword frequently has both pieces. This doesn't.

Däwyd Suomalainen von Markheim. Badge for Sesem Gerh. Vert, an Egyptian phoenix counterstatant proper between three ankhs Or. (Ardea purpurea)

Note: this is a real bird, not a classical phoenix. The College allows one to register a badge for an alternate persona, but the badge is registered under the name of the main persona. No more than one file per person.

Donna of Willowwood. (Change of name from Donna of Rollingwood).

Eleazar Graymalkin. Per bend sinister, per bend argent and sable, and purpure, a compass star of four points argent.

Eric von Steinhaus. Azure, two swords inverted in saltire proper between three mullets of four points, overall a mullet of four greater and eight lesser points Or.

Francois of Three Hills. Argent, a bend sinister sable voided, overall on a wyvern couchant, wings addorsed, vert a tower gules, fimbriated argent, in base a fleur­de­lis sable.

Fritha of Caer Bannog. (Adds surname, changes blazon). Vert, on a fess between two catamounts sejant erect guardant Or as many gules.

Gabríelle Cynara Prouste. Argent, a fess dancetty, fleury in chief, azure between a frog sejant vert and a daisy azure, slipped and leaved vert.

Note: this means a fleur­de­lis is issuing from each of the upper three points.

Janeltis Karaine, Stargazer. (Change). Azure, a horned pegasus counter­salient, wings elevated and addorsed, argent between in chief three mullets of eight points and in base two of the same in bend sinister Or.

Note: she cannot be Janeltis Karaine, Starfarer, as that would imply the non­mortal ability to fare among the stars.

Jessica of the Old Forest. Argent, two pantheons combatant azure, mullet argent.

Note: these are beasts, not groups of gods.

Johannes the Minstrel. Per fess argent and sable, two lutes bendwise sinister vert and a thunderbolt Or.

Katrozina Warszawarski. Per bend sinister azure and vert, a dragon sejant affrontée, wings displayed, tail curled to dexter around its feet, argent, gorged of a chain sable bearing an acorn proper, within a bordure argent.

Note: the eyes, teeth, and tongue are gules. It is assumed that small details like these will be colored differently to show, and they should not be specified in the blazon. The exact color for such trivial details is a matter for the artist, no the ordinary.

Liesel Alpenblum von Langenthal. Ermine, a cross azure entwined with a vine vert flowering gules.

Note: this is your basic non­descript flowering vine.

Office of the Lists, West. Azure, a scroll unrolled bendwise Or, overall a dexter gauntlet, grasping a sword argent, hilted and fimbriated sable.

Maelen of Kynges Lea. (Change of blazon). Vert, on a chevron cotised argent three fir trees palewise proper.

Note: on this scale it is impossible to tell which fir tree they are, so one does not have to give genus and species. Calling it a fir tree does give the fact that it is a conical evergreen.

Marja Nordana. Or, a dragon counter­courant, wings elevated and addorsed, gules, a base of flames proper.

Barony of Montengarde. Argent, semée of wild roses (Rosa acicularis) proper, a bull's head erased sable, armed, orbed, and gorged of a chain gules, within a laurel wreath sable.

Morguesa McKenna. Argent, a heart gules pierced by a sword inverted proper, entwined with two garden roses gules slipped and leaved vert.

Note: the use of the roses is a nicer way of providing contrast for the sword than the usual way of fimbriation.

Neythan Pen­An­Vre. Argent, a pile inverted throughout vert, overall a winged unicorn forcenée, wings addorsed, counterchanged.

Note: The winged unicorn should have a beard.

Owen of the Dales. Per bend sinister vert and azure, a scarpe and on a canton sinister argent in bend sinister a bow and arrow, each bendwise, vert.

Note: the scarpe must be wider than drawn, as it should be 1/9 of the width of the field. The combination of the scarpe and the canton makes it clear that this is not an augmentation.

Patrice d'Cilla. (Change.) Sable, in base a horse passant argent, in canton a dove descendant gules, fimbriated argent.

Robert of Wildewood. Badge. Or, a chevronel surmounted by a chevronel inverted azure, within a bordure gules.

Shamus of Gunn. Plumetty azure and Or, a parrot, head to dexter, perched affrontée on a branch fesswise throughout proper. (Amazona finschi).

Shara Tunoy. Gules, ermined Or, a bend Or, overall a unicorn trippant argent, armed and unguled azure, fimbriated sable.

Sigurd of Enchoergaard. (Change of name from Sigurd von der Nordencrasse).

Stephen of Westmarch. Argent, on a saltire sable between four crosses crosslet fitchy gules two swords inverted in saltire enflamed at the blades proper.

Note: Stephen is not related to Robert of Westmarch.

Tara nic an Fhleisdeir. (Change of blazon). Per pale sable and argent, a Siamese cat's head counterchanged, orbed vert, pupilled of the field.

Ulrich von Matanuska. Per bend sable and gules, a bendlet Or between a wolf's head erased argent and a tower sable, fimbriated Or.

Shire of Vinhold. Sable, a puncheon barrel affrontée proper, charged with a laurel wreath above the spout Or, on a chief wavy argent two wreaths of grapevines vert.

Note: a puncheon barrel is elliptical in shape, as opposed to the normal round barrel.

Office of the Order of the Wooden Spoon. Vert, a wooden spoon inverted proper.

Note: the default position for a spoon is handle up. This has handle down.

REJECTED SUBMISSIONS BY KINGDOM

Kingdom of Atenveldt

Alberecht von Heldenkreis. Your Purpure, a cross Or differs only by one point from all other crosses Or. In addition that is the arms attributed to St. Helena. You will have to have another point of difference.

Aldanar Halrim. Your Quarterly vert and sable, a chevron between three crescents argent conflicts with Babthorp: Sable, a chevron between three crescents argent. (Papworth). I suggest a chevron cotised, or else a different line of division on the chevron.

Asad Ud­Din. Your Quarterly vert and sable, in bend sinister a hawk's claw Or grasping a pomme fimbriated Or is in violation of the edict prohibiting all followers of Islam from bearing or making representations of living objects. That is a hawk's claw, not a harpy's claw. A harpy has the lower body of a hawk, and so you cannot tell by the claw that it comes from a harpy instead of a hawk. The edict versus representation of living things is a part of Islam, not a made up rule of the College, but we follow it for personas claiming to be of Islam.

Kathryn of Iveragh. Your per bend sinister wavy sable and gules, in bend sinister enhanced three passion nails bendwise gules, inflamed Or, in sinister base a cross couped within and conjoined to an annulet Or violates the rule against astrological symbols because the cross within an annulet is the astrological symbol of Earth. A true sun cross has the annulet on the cross, so the arms of the cross extend beyond the annulet.

Tammerlayne of T'Kal. Your Sable, platey­bezanty, a maned sea­horse counter­rampant argent is not correctly drawn. There is no such thing as platey­bezanty. You could have a semée of roundels alternately argent and Or, but this would mean a regular pattern of roundels, every other one being argent, with an Or roundel in between. This is not what you have drawn.

Kingdom of Caid

Jayne O'Darcy of Glen Laurie. Your Argent, a horned pegasus rampant sable, armed, crined, winged, unguled, and orbed argent, fimbriated sable, is in conflict with Aurelia de la Licorne: Argent, a winged unicorn rampant sable, armed, crined, orbed, and unguled Or. The difference between a winged unicorn and a horned pegasus are the beards and the cloven hooves, very tiny differences indeed. The difference in the details being argent instead of Or is a half point of difference.

Mistral de l'Isle sur Tarn. Mistral was not a given name in our period, although it is fine for a nickname. Add a given name. I would blazon your device as Per fess vert and azure, issuant from chief a mistral and in base four piles inverted wavy conjoined at the fess point argent. The device looks acceptable.

Nyla of Woodlyn. Your Per bend wavy gules and azure, a bendlet wavy argent between a spray of Lily­of­the­Nile (Agapanthus orientals) and a heart gules violates color on color with the read heart on azure, plus the bendlet is too narrow. It should be 1/9 of the width of the shield. There is no such thing as a heart proper. That is a conventional charge, and can be born in any tincture. A true human heart would have a aorta showing, and would be basically white. Its the blood in it that is red.

Thomas of Whitelow. Your Per bend sinister sable and vert, a Chinese dragon argent entwined about a greatsword Or is in conflict with Starkad Maledon, who has Argent, a Chinese dragon vert entwined about a sword Or. The counterchange of his device is only one point away from yours. A Chinese dragon is a wingless dragon.

Tyra Stuart of Moray. You have Azure, a python glissant palewise argent, winged and gorged of a collar trailing a chain of two solid and one broken links Or. You want to change to Azure, a fanged bat­winged green tree python (Condropython viridis) erect proper, armed, winged, gorged and chained of three kinks Or. The addition of the wings and teeth removes any resemblance of a python, and gives you a monster. You cannot have vert on azure, even if you try to use proper. Proper only allows one to violate the Rule of Tincture in those cases where there is still sufficient contrast, such as gules on sable, or brown on green. If you want a green snake, use an argent field and fimbriate the wings.

Kingdom of the East

Triste of the Sanging Sword. Your Sable, goutté de eau, a heart gules pierced by a sword inverted Or violates the rule of tincture by having a gules heart on a sable field. If you changed to a counter­ermine field you could get away with it. There is no such thing as heart proper, it is a conventional charge.

Kingdom of the Middle

Ann of Seldom Rest de Fountaine. What you have is Tierced per pall purpure, gules, and vert, a roundel azure charged with four bars wavy argent, between in chief a selle (saddle), in dexter base a rest (clarion) and in sinister base a dome (mount) Or. The roundel violates the rule of tincture. If you change it to have six wavy lines, the topmost being argent, then you will have a proper fountain. The order of blazoning is first chief, then dexter then sinister, so if you want it to come out right you must interchange the positions of the bottom two charges. Then you could have: Tierced per pall purpure, gules, and vert, a fountain between a selle, a dome, and a rest, one and two, Or. The use of archaic terms for canting purposes is acceptable.

Orson die Grosse Mauer. Your Sable, a fess embattled argent, masoned sable conflicts with Osney: Sable, a fess embattled argent. (Papworth p. 709) This is only a half point of difference. You need another full point, such as changing the field to counter­ermine.

Kingdom of the West

Brigid of Roene. You have Quarterly pean and Or, on a torteau a herd of seals proper (Otariidae calorhinus), all within a bordure sable. You must put the seals in a standard heraldic arrangement.

Gabríelle Henriette de Navarre. You have Vert, a Siberian tiger's head erased close reversed proper (Pantera tigres altaica) and in sinister chief a lozenge concave argent. This is acceptable, but your name conflicts with Gabrielle, the mistress of Henri of Navarre, who could easily have been styled Gabrielle Henriette de Navarre. Changing from Gabrielle to another different name would suffice, as would a different place name.