November 12, 1983 AS XVIII
To: All Members of the College of Arms
From: Master Wilhelm von Schlüssel, Laurel King of Arms
Greetings:
Enclosed is this month's LOA&R, with 71 acceptances and 29 returns,
for a total of 100. By December 10, 1983 I will need all LoC’s for the following
8 LoI’s, which will be acted upon at my December 18, 1983 meeting: East (9/7),
West (9/11), Caid (9/13), Middle (9/14), Middle/Calontir (9/14), East (9/17),
Meridies (9/19), and East (9/24), for a total of 145 submissions. By January
7, 1984 I will need all LoC’s on the following 9 LoI’s, which will be acted
upon at my January 15, 1984 meeting: Atenveldt (8/23), Atenveldt (8/29), Calontir
(10/1), Middle (10/3), Atlantia (10/6),West (10/11) , Caid (10/12), Calontir
(10/16), and An Tir (10/28), for a total of 124 submissions. By February
4, 1984 I will need all LoC's on the following 2 Lolls (plus all LoI’s received
in November), which will be acted on at my February 12, 1984 meeting. Calontir
(10/25), Middle (10/26). I still have not received the forms for the two
August Atenveldt LoIs. If I have not received them by November 30, 1983 I
will move them to the February meeting.
The volume of submissions has diminished since the hectic spring. This gives
the commentors a break, but I am worried that the reduction is due to either
a lack of LoI’s going out or a lack of submissions. I notice that all kingdoms
whose names begin with A have had few LoI’s in the last several months. An
Tir has had 2 LoI’s in 6 months. Ansteorra sent out its last LoI over 5 months
ago. Atenveldt has had the pair of LoI’s in the last 4 months which I have
not received. Atlantia has had 2 LoI’s in the last 6 months. The other kingdoms
are averaging close to 1 LoI per month. I would like to see Lolls from Ansteorra
and Atenveldt, as there must have been submissions by now. We do not want
to develop new backlogs at the kingdom or local level. If the slowdown is
due to lack of submissions then the Principal Heralds should look into the
reasons behind the slowdown. If you have succeeded in getting most people
to submit so the reduction reflects the lack of people who need to submit
that's fine. If people have stopped submitting for other reasons then those
reasons should be looked into and dealt with. We still encourage everyone
to register their name and device.
I would like to commend everyone on the increasing quality of submissions
in LoI’s. As this month's LOA&R shows there has been a lot of very good
heraldry submitted. Keep up the good work. I thank all of you who have sent
in your LOC's to assist me. I have not received an LoC in the last two months
from Master Yrjō and Dolphin. I have not received an LoC in the last three
months from Greenwood, Corona, and Kraken, and for the last four months from
Aten and Star. I hereby remove the Crystal Pursuivant, Lord Gustav Athanasius
von Hausenstadt, from the mailing list for lack of commenting (the only LoC
I have received was in March). Aten and Star are technically nonfeasant, but
I understand that both are having mundane problems and so I leave them on
the list so as to not cut them off from the College. I ask them to try to
find assistance or time to catch up on LoI’s and to begin commenting again.
There have been some changes to the mailing list and roster. Master Yrjō
Kirjawiisas has moved. His new address is 4826 Mendota St., Union City, CA
94587, (415) 487-4041. Star's Zip Code is 75209. Blue Tyger's correct apartment
number is F-1. Virgule's apartment number is (4-S).
The Ordinary is ready! I have already mailed copies to the Principal
Heralds, who should receive them in about a week. The Ordinary ran about 500
pages. The Ordinary and Armorial together thus ran about 710 pages. When
we add in the last eight months of the year and the lists of charges, titles,
orders and awards, and other supplementary material the total will be around
800-850 pages. Assuming 800 pages and a cost of 2.5¢/page printing cost
will be about $20 per copy to print. Total demand should be at least 1000
copies (that’s only 100 copies per kingdom). I have sent in a request to
the Board for consideration at this month’s November 20 meeting that the
SCA Ordinary and Armorial be published by and distributed through the SCA
Stock Clerk, who is set up to handle such large distributions. The SCA Ordinary
and Armorial will be of general interest and should be carried by the Stock
Clerk. Taking into account overhead costs the likely prices would be $7.50
for the Armorial and $15 for the Ordinary. I feel that the two should be
available separately. The actual prices will be set by the Stock Clerk if
the Board agrees to print the O&A this way, so these prices are only
estimates. Do not send in orders yet. All Principal Heralds should examine
their copies of the Ordinary for errors and send in corrections and suggestions
for format changes before Christmas. The O&A would hopefully be printed
in January.
Clarion is now working on an update for the Armorial and Ordinary, through
this letter, so that the Principal Heralds can see what the update would look
like, how big it is, what it is like to work with both the O&A and updates,
and so that the Principal Heralds can also check the update for errors. Once
the O&A is in print the plan is to print updates at intervals of 3 months
or 6 months. These updates could be either cumulative or independent, the
former being more useful, the latter being cheaper and smaller. The whole
O&A would be reprinted either after a year or when the copies in stock
ran out. Given the size and cost of the O&A there is some question as
to whether reprinting it every year would be too frequent. It depends on sales
and how the updates work out. If the Board prints 500 copies and these sell
out in 6 months then we could reprint with an updated version. Those who
bought the first edition could just buy the update, while those who had not
yet bought one could buy the new edition. What do you think is the optimum
strategy for dealing with the O&A and updates?
The November meeting is also when the Board will decide whether to send
out the proposed change to Corpora on names and what the final wording will
be. I await the responses from the College as to how we should best deal
with the situation. Vesper writes to say that he wrote the letter to the
Board as Jonathan E. King, not as Richard of Seahaven, Vesper Principal Herald,
and that criticizing Vesper for not sending me a copy of the letter is therefore
incorrect and could be viewed as a criticism of the Crown of the West, through
one of its officers. I acknowledge the correction and state that no criticism
of the Crown was intended. I agree that Jonathan had the right to write to
the Board. However proper procedure for any member of the SCA when writing
to the Board concerning the policies of a Corporate Office is to send a copy
of the letter to the Corporate Officer. Better still would have been to have
made the proposal first to the College of Arms before writing to the Board.
That was the procedure laid down by the Steward for such situations in the
announcement published in all newsletters. I urge everyone writing to the
Board to follow the procedures laid down by the Steward. In service to the
Society I remain.
Your servant,
Master Wilhelm von Schüssel
Laurel King of Arms
/wvs
Created 122701T14:32:54