Box 522
Mount Pleasant, SC 29465
23 January, 1990

Unto the members of the College of Arms and any others who may read this missive, greetings from Alisoun MacCoul of Elphane, Laurel Queen of Arms!

As noted in the cover letter to the November letter of acceptances and returns, the unusual climactic conditions compelled the December meeting to reschedule to the last weekend of the year. The dual processing system continued with all submissions being considered under the old rules on Saturday, December 30 and Sunday, December 31. After a brief rest some submissions were considered under the new rules on the Monday (Happy New Year!). The remainder were considered for the second time over the course of the following evenings. A brief interval than intervened for completion and circulation of the January draft of the Administrative Handbook and mailing of the November letter of acceptances and returns. Thereafter, we returned to the collation of comments and compilation of the results which are enclosed. The letters considered thus considered included those from Trimaris (9/5), East (9/10), East (9/11), West (9/17), Atlantia (9/20), Ansteorra (9/21), Outlands (9/23), Caid (9/25), Meridies (9/25) and Calontir (9/30). For an analysis of the results, please see the section on parallel processing analysis below.

The January Laurel meeting was held, as scheduled on Sunday, January 21 and considered the letters under the old rules, with some submissions being also considered under the new rules. Unexpected mayhem at work and preparation for this Sunday's Board meeting having prevented completion of the "second stage processing", this will be completed (hopefully together with the letter of acceptance and returns) on the first weekend of February. The letters thus considered include the letters from An Tir (6/15), An Tir (9/15), East (10/16), Caid (10/18), Ansteorra (10/21), Meridies (10/26), Outlands (10/26) West (10/28), and Calontir (10/30).

The February meeting is currently scheduled for Sunday, February 11. (There is still a small chance that this may be postponed due to construction to fix the hole in the roof, although that is less likely at this point.) Letters which will be considered in February include Caid (11/12), Trimaris (11/15), Meridies (11/20), Ansteorra (11/27), West (11/28), Calontir (11/30), and the Middle (11/30).

We presently hope to hold the March meeting on Sunday, March 18. Letters to be considered at that time include Atenveldt (12/11), East (12/20), Caid (12/25), Ansteorra (12/26), Meridies (12/28) and Calontir (12/31).

ROSTER CHANGES

Da'ud ibn Auda has been replaced as Star Principal Herald of Ansteorra by Tadhg Liath of Duncarin (Tiomoid M. of Angle, 659 Prestonwood Drive, Richardson, TX 75081; 214-783-8421). Da'ud will be continuing to comment so should remain on your mailing lists.

The Aten Principal Herald requested that you add to your mailing lists the Principality Herald for Artemisia: Letitia des Montagnes Bleues (Cheri Templeton), 500 Monroe #28, Green River, WY 82935.

Brigantia has asked that you remove the Moline Herald and Edelweiss Herald Extraordinary from your rosters, as he feels there is no need for the College to send them correspondence. However, mail addressed to the Schwarzdrachen Herald for Drachenwald may be sent care of the Edelweiss Herald Extraordinary in her mundane guise: Wanda Pease, Box 547, APO NY 09057.

The Lion's Blood Herald of An Tir has been dropped from the mailing list for failure to comment.

THE CODING SYSTEM REVISITED

For the convenience of those who do not have the November letter at hand, the coding system use to facilitate analysis of the letter and the rulings made on individual items is repeated below.

Please note that a new code has been added to accommodate the many releases which were included on this letter. Only releases which were a separate action are included in this count (i.e., releases as a result of change of name or device are not counted.) The use of a single letter code ("R") allows its doubling where two items have been released by the same action (e.g., "RR" for a badge and household name).

0 Name element passed under both sets of rules.

1 Armorial element passed under both sets of rules.

2 Name element returned under both sets of rules.

3 Armorial element returned under both sets of rules.

4 Name element passed under old rules, but not under new.

5 Name element passed under new rules, but not under old.

6. Armorial element passed under old style rules, but not new.

7 Armorial element passed under new style rules, but not old.

8 Armorial element passed under old conflict rules, but not new.

9 Armorial element passed under new conflict rules, but not old.

H Holding name formed.

CA Corrective action (blazon correction, spelling correction, etc.).

AP Administrative pend (lack of forms, incorrect blazon on LOI, etc.).

R Release of registered item.

ON THE RESULTS OF THE DECEMBER MEETING

Using the same procedures used for the November meeting (i.e., completely separate processing followed by collation of results, the outcome of the meeting were as follows:

Passed under old rules, but not new: 1 total, 0 name, 0 armorial style, 1 armorial conflict

(Nov.: 5 total, 0 name, 3 armorial style, 2 armorial conflict)

Passed under new rules, but not old: 20 total, 5 name, 3 armorial style, 12 armorial conflict

(Nov.: 34 total, 15 name, 7 armorial style, 12 armorial conflict)

Holding names formed: 1 (Nov.: 7

Corrective Actions: 2 (Nov.: 2)

Administrative Pends 1 (Nov.: 5)

Releases: 61

Excluding the holding names, corrective actions, releases and administrative pends, 312 separate actions were taken (525 in November). As in November, we excluded these categories for a fairer comparison. Using this system, the acceptance rate under the old rules would have been 79.17% (Nov.: 79.81%). The acceptance rate under the new rules would have been 85.26% (Nov.: 85.33%).

Using the same formulas as for the November submissions we considered the relative proportions of submissions passed under old and new rules and rejected under each. For December, 266 items would have been registered under the new rules as opposed to 247 under the old for a rate of 107.69% (Nov.: 106.92%). Under the new rules 46 items would have been returned as opposed to 65 under the old rules for a percentage of 70.77% (Nov.: 71.29%).

Note that again these submissions would have been dealt with at Kingdom level under the old rules and so any conflicts that would have been clear under the old rules but not the new rules would have been expected to show up. On the other hand, a significant number of the submissions which would have been obviously clear under the new rules, but conflict or be dubious under the old presumably were returned at Kingdom level.

ON THE RELEASE OF THE NAMES AND ARMOURY OF DEFUNCT SOCIETY BRANCHES

The Board having remanded the issue of armoury of defunct Society groups to the College of Arms, we hereby set the following policies with regard to the such registered names and armoury:

  1. When any Society branch other than a Kingdom goes out of existence, its ownership rights over its name and armoury revert to the Kingdom in which it was located at the time it passed out of existence.
  2. Names and armoury of Society branches which have reverted to a Kingdom in this manner may be released by joint action of the Crown and Kingdom Seneschal, provided these procedures are followed:
    1. The intended release must be advertised in the Kingdom newsletter with adequate time for the populace to comment on the appropriateness of the release.
    2. Once the advertisement period is complete, the notice of intend to release must be published to the College of Arms in a letter of intent properly circulated to the College of Arms by the Principal Herald or designated representative. This will allow comment from areas lying outside the current boundaries of the Kingdom in which the group used to exist.
    3. After the appropriate period for commentary and objection from the College has elapsed, Laurel shall evaluated any objection to the proposed release. If there are no objections or if it is deemed that the objections are not of such weight as to bar the release, Laurel shall then announce the release of the appropriate items in a letter of acceptance and return.
  3. The ownership rights in the name and armoury of defunct Kingdoms shall revert to the Board at the time the Kingdom passes out of existence. Such names may be released only by action of the Board after due advertisement of the intent to release in Tournaments Illuminated and the Kingdom newsletters.

The first releases made under this policy are contained in this letter. Submitted by the East on a separate letter of intent after previous advertisement in Pikestaff, the East Kingdom newsletter, they were accompanied by a letter of release signed by the Crown and the Kingdom Seneschale.

Note that such releases do not have to be placed in a separate letter, but may be included in an ordinary letter of intent. (However, if a Kingdom proposed a mass release following the example of the East, a separate letter might be more convenient for the Principal Herald and for the commenting members of the College.)

A copy of the release documents which bears the signature of the Crown and the Kingdom Seneschal should be included for the file of each group whose name and/or armoury is being released. Note that actions dealing with several groups may be included on the same letter: in that case multiple copies of that letter should be included in the submissions packet.

Your servant,

[Alisoun]