March 28, 1984 A.S. XVIII

TO: The Members of the College of Arms

FROM: Master Wilhelm von Schüssel, Laurel King of Arms

Greetings:

Enclosed is this month's LoA&R, containing 125 acceptances and 34 returns, for a total of 159, with a 79% pass rate. By April 7. 1984 I will need all LoCs on the following 7 LoIs (which will be processed at my Saturday, April 14 meeting): Middle (12/28), Ansteorra (12/31), Calontir (1/9), West (1/10), East (1/20), Caid (1/24), and Ansteorra (1/24), totalling 140 submissions.

By May 12,1984, I will need all LoCs on the following 7 LoIs (which will be processed at my Saturday, May 19 meeting): Atlantia (1/21), Middle (1/26), An Tir (2/1), Calontir (2/6), Meridies (2/8), West (2/13), and Caid (2/22), totalling 154 submissions.

By June 9, 1984 I will need all LoCs on LoIs postmarked by April 1, including so far: Caid (3/12), West (3/12), and Calontir (3/12). These will be processed at my June 17 meeting.

As usual, there are some roster changes. Master Yrjö Kirjawiisas has resigned from the mailing list. Please change the address for the Lochach Herald, Hrolf Herjolfssen (c/o Cary J. Lenehan, Cooma CBS, P.O. Box 33, Cooma 2630 AUSTRALIA).

By the time you read this, the Armorial & Ordinary should be in the process of being printed. Copies should be available by the end of April. If you haven't already done so, please take the time to fill out the questionnaire I sent out in February to the CoA members and return it to me. I wanted them before the end of March, but the final deadline for being counted will be April 14, 1984. The results of the questionnaire will be in next month's letter, along with the results of the BoD decision on my office.

Mistress Rebecca of Twywn is sending the first drafts of the Order of Precedence to the Principal Heralds. She is sending each kingdom a copy of the OP she has generated for that kingdom, so the Principal Herald can check it for errors. After she receives all corrections, new OPs, and lists of new awards given, she will combine the listings to form a complete SCA Order of Precedence. I have decided to make official the title she was using unofficially before, and there- fore I am admitting her to the Laurel Staff as Cypher Herald.

I would like to remind everyone of and invite everyone to attend the official 1984 Heraldic Symposium, to be held on August 25/26 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Chairman is Lord Gustav Athanasius von Hausenstadt and the Editor of the Proceedings is Mistress Rhonwen y Llysieuddes. I will be there, and I hope to see many of you there, particularly from the western half of the country. It should be an enjoyable and educational event. I would also like to invite all of you and anyone you know to consider writing and sending in a heraldic paper to Mistress Rhonwen to be included in the Proceedings of the 1984 Heraldic Symposium. There are many good topics that could be written about. (If you can't think of anything, I would be happy to give you some ideas.) The major mission for the College for the next few years is education of the heralds and the populace, and the series of Official Proceedings of the Heraldic Symposia is one of the major SCA heraldic educational works. These will be kept in print, so your article will be read by many people for years to come.

In case there has been some confusion, I would like to note that the Heralds' Picnic at Pennsic is not and was not intended to be a competition to the official Symposium. The Heralds' Picnic is a heraldic collegium for those attending Pennsic. If you are planning to attend Pennsic and are going to participate in the pre-Pennsic week, by all means attend the Heralds' Picnic. It should be worthwhile. If you are thinking about attending a heraldic symposium this year and are not committed to attend Pennsic, I would advise you to consider attending the symposium in Salt Lake City. If you are a science fiction fan thinking of attending WorldCon in L.A. the following weekend (September 1/3), you can catch both in the same trip by taking off the week in between. If you have the opportunity to attend both the symposium and the picnic, then by all means do so. For those of you thinking about bidding for next year's symposium, I would appreciate receiving a letter expressing a preliminary interest. I have not received any bids so far. The symposia have been very rewarding to the kingdoms which have hosted them.

As an item of possible interest, King William III (the Lucky) of the West has created a new order in the West consisting of all winners of the annual Arts and Sciences Competition (the name is not chosen yet). The current Arts and Sciences Champion will reign as Champion for a year, supervising Arts and Sciences competitions and displays and assisting the Ministers of Arts and Sciences in running the subsequent year's competition. The members of this order will rank in order of precedence equal to Counts and Countesses in the West. (All current members are already members of the Order of the Laurel, so the order will not be bestowing a patent of arms, unless the BoD later authorizes it as an Order of the Peerage.) Top artisans in the West may now strive for membership in the order and the resulting precedence, similar to those fighters who strive to win the Crown Lists and who become Counts after ruling as King.

I have noticed in recent LoCs an increasing amount of comments in a snarky or unscholarly vein. We are trying to promote a feeling of scholarship and collegiality in the College of Arms' correspondence. We are all in this together and should remember that those putting out the LoIs are doing their best to check the information, but nobody can be expert in everything. That is why we have the commenting process. I would like to ask everyone to try and remember that the basis of the SCA is a belief in courtesy and chivalry, and that you try to keep this in mind when you comment. Please try to keep all comments in a reasonable, scholarly mode. I would particularly like to see more constructive comments, where people go to the extra effort to try to tell how a submission can be improved or how a perceived problem can be overcome. Principal Heralds should take note of all constructive comments and relay them to the submittors for consideration. I would also like to ask everybody to try and back up their statements with citations or reasoning where possible so as to improve the level of scholarship and to share with others the reasoning and source materials. Comments should be more than just personal feelings of artistic taste.

With regard to SCA badges versus mundane arms, the addition of a single standard mark of cadency (see last month's letter for a list of these) anywhere on the submission shall not be sufficient difference. I had previously said in chief or in center, but it was pointed out to me that cadency marks were placed at other locations as well in period.

I would like to clarify the new rule on complete difference of charge. The normal complete difference rule states that, when there are no more than three charges in a standard arrangement (two and one for three charges) and there is complete difference of type of charge between two such submissions, then there is no conflict, regardless of the actual points-of-difference count. The new addition to this rule states that, when two devices share a common plain uncharged bordure or chief, they will not conflict if there is total difference of charge of the remaining charges. Since the bordure or chief is actually there to provide added similarity, the difference requirement is greater. The number of charges is two or less, and if there are two charges, then the charges must be totally different in outline. An example of total difference is a roundel versus a spear (round versus long and skinny). Thus, if there is one charge other than the shared chief or bordure, then there must be complete difference in type of charge. If there are two charges, then there must be complete difference in class of charge. All complete difference of charge situations are handled on a case-by-case basis.

There are several corollaries to this new rule. Adding additional differences to the above rule obviously must further reduce chances of conflict. Therefore, if the complete difference of charges other than the bordure or chief apply, the addition of tertiary charges or a line of division to the chief or bordure of one of the devices means that the two still do not conflict, and in fact provides greater difference, which may be required in the case of well-known arms. If the bordure or chief of both devices shares the same line of division (other than straight), then the complete difference of charge rule cannot be invoked and conflict must be determined by counting points of difference. If the chiefs or bordures in the two devices have different lines of division and there is a complete difference of the remaining charges, then there is no conflict. With a strong difference of line, such as embattled versus indented, there would be two points of difference anyway. With a weak difference of line, such as nebuly versus wavy or embattled versus raguly, the added strength of the point of difference for the type of charge of the central charges due to complete difference of charge makes up for the weakness of the difference of the lines of division.

If the chief or bordure of the two devices shares the same tertiary charges, then complete difference of charge may not be invoked, and normal conflict procedure is followed. If the tertiary charges differ in two categories of difference (e.g., number and type or type and tincture), then there is no conflict between the two SCA devices. If the tertiary charges differ by only one category of difference, then complete difference of charge may not be invoked, and the result is a major and minor point of difference. If the chief or bordure of both devices have both tertiary charges and lines of division (other than straight), then complete difference of charge cannot be invoked if either the lines of division or the tertiary charges are the same. (To say the tertiary charges are the same means that they are identical, with the same number, type, tincture, position, orientation, and arrangement.) If the lines of division are different and the tertiary charges differ in at least one category, then there is no conflict.

Pray believe, my Lords and my Ladies, that I remind

Your servant,

Master Wilhelm von Schlüssel

Laurel King of Arms

WvS:CFCvS