ENCOURAGED AND DISCOURAGED PRACTICES
This is a summary of the practices members of the College of Arms suggested
should be either encouraged or discouraged for heraldic submissions. This
list should not be taken as official policy but rather as a set of guidelines
reflecting the feelings of the members of the College of Arms.
ENCOURAGED PRACTICES
A) Names: Reasonable orthographic variants; registration of formal birth
names; real names in European languages; geographically probable names; pronounceable
names; sufficient documentation on names; names that sound right.
B) Devices and Badges: Euphonious blazons; sufficient documentation; short
blazons; use of correct blazonry; charges drawn in standard heraldic style;
use of standard charges; simple, clear and elevating devices; charges used
in default positions and arrangements; multiple charges of same type and position;
symmetry and balance; generic beasts rather than a certain species; two-color
devices; simple counter-changing; canting arms; good contrast; use of charges
recognizable at a distance.
DISCOURAGED PRACTICES
A) Names: Registration of informal names; far-reaching name combinations;
Elvish names; geographically impossible names; made-up names; false documentation
on names; weird epithets or descriptives; alternate persona names; names that
are hard to pronounce; multiple given names and surnames; names with three
languages.
B) Devices and Badges: False documentation; registering non-heraldic badges
such as maker's marks and monograms; registering devices for infants; secondary
arms for alternate personae; overuse of proper; Linnaean names in the official
blazon; non-European animals and plants; natural objects; natural objects
proper; using both natural and heraldic creatures in one device; landscapes;
fimbriation; fimbriation of chiefs and bordures; thin lines used as field
variations; furs used on minor charges; combinations of furs; poor-contrast
uses of ermine variants; divided fields or charges of all colors or metals;
multiple lines of division (other than straight); use of overall with poor
contrast; complex counter-changing complex semé; semé of non-standard
charges; op art devices; comic-book art style; clutter; complex rebuses (as
opposed to canting arms); use of charges to make a cartoon; charges conjoined
in weird ways; overlapping of ordinaries and subordi-naries; combinations
of ordinaries and subordinaries (such as chief and bordure); couping or erasing
formless charges like clouds, flames, or mountains; use of devices to tell
one's life story; charging secondary charges; miniscule objects; beasties
clutching miniscule objects; lightning flashes; morbid heraldry; skulls (whole
or broken); natural rainbows throughout; charged roundels as the major charge;
created monsters (e.g., winged octopus); multiple different minor charges;
non-identical charges in arrangements designed for identical charges; non-standard
arrangements and orientations; use of several similar but different charges
in one device; more than four of any charge unless grouped in default arrangement;
use of charges peculiar to the SCA (e.g., Bog beasts); use of unrecognizable
charges; use of somewhat offensive charges; asymmetry; lack of balance; attempts
to represent depth or perspective; non-medieval heraldic style.
There will be a round-table discussion of grey areas in the rules and of
encouraged and discouraged practices at the Atlantian Symposium. Any member
of the College having anything to add to the above guidelines should send
them to me within the next month (before my May meeting).
/cfcvs
Created 1227T14:16:15