The December Laurel meeting was held on Saturday, December 18, 1993, and considered the following letters of intent: Ansteorra (7/29), Outlands, (8/10), West (8/16), Calontir (8/22), Atenveldt (8/24), An Tir (8/24), Middle (8/25), East (8/25), Ansteorra (8/25), and Atlantia (8/29).

The January Laurel meeting is scheduled for Saturday, January 15, 1994, and is scheduled to consider the following letters of intent: An Tir (9/12), Calontir (9/20), Outlands (9/20), Atlantia (9/20), West (9/20), Trimaris (9/20), East (9/22), Middle (9/26), and Ansteorra (9/29). Commentary on these LoIs should have been in the College's hands by November 30, 1993. Responses and rebuttals to commentary on these LoIs should have been in the College's hands no later than December 31, 1993.

The February Laurel meeting is scheduled for Saturday, February 12, 1994, and is scheduled to consider the following letters of intent: Caid (7/27), Caid (8/25), Meridies (9/27, mailed 10/8), Atenveldt (9/30, mailed 10/7), Drachenwald (9/30), An Tir (10/16), Middle (10/17), Caid (10/19), East (10/20), Outlands (10/20), Ansteorra (10/20), Atlantia (10/23), Calontir (10/24), West (10/25), and items pended from the September and October Laurel meetings. Commentary on these LoIs should have been in the College's hands no later than December 31, 1993. Responses and rebuttals to commentary on these LoIs must in College's hands no later than January 31, 1994.

The March Laurel meeting is scheduled to consider the following Letters of Intent: Meridies (10/25, mailed 11/5), East (11/10), Middle (11/11), Atlantia (11/14), West (11/15), Outlands (11/20), An Tir (11/21), Calontir (11/21), Ansteorra (11/24), Trimaris (11/25), Meridies (11/27) and Atenveldt (11/27). Commentary on these LoIs must be in the College's hands no later than January 31, 1994. Responses and rebuttals to commentary on these LoIs must be in College's hands no later than February 28, 1994.

Not all Letters of Intent may be considered when they are scheduled on this Cover Letter. Date of mailing of the LoI and date of receipt of the Laurel packet may delay consideration of certain Letters of Intent.

ROSTER CHANGES AND CORRECTIONS

Though he has asked to be removed from the roster, please make a note of Baron Bruce's mailing address: Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme (Bruce Miller), 1711 10th Street, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266; (310) 379-1321. The former Laurel P.O. Box and telephone number will be going away in the near future, and he has requested all of his friends in the College to use the above address and telephone to contact him.

Lord Dragon asks that you add to the mailing list the new Rouge Scarpe Herald, Lord Balian de Brionne (Roger Jordan), 846 S. State Street #150, Davison, MI 48423; (313) 658-8009.

He also makes the following change to the roster: Escutcheon Herald, Lord Rory mac Feidhlimidh (Kevin Conlin), 1613 N. School Street, Normal, IL 61761; (309) 454-7499. He will not be commenting at this time.

Mistress Alreada of the Lakes, Argent Scroll Herald, is resigning from this position she has held for the past two years. Please remove her from the roster.

RULES REVISIONS

The subtext of RfS X.4.d is revised in part to update the example given therein ("Or, three bulls' heads gules" differs from "Or, two bulls' heads sable and another gules", but not from "Or, two bulls' heads gules and another sable") to reflect the precedent set in the September 6, 1990 Cover Letter to the effect that tincture, type, and posture changes to the basemost of three charges arranged two and one are worth a CD, though at most one CD can be obtained even for multiple changes to this charge. As a consequence, and following Lord Palimpsest's wording, such example is revised to read:

Or, in pale three bull's heads gules differs from Or, in pale a bull's head gules between two more sable, but not from Or, in pale a bull's head sable between two more gules.

In his Cover Letter of July 24, 1993, the Laurel Baron Bruce noted that unless cogent argument to the contrary were presented within a few weeks, he intended to "relax our restrictions on the caduceus, rod of Aesculepius, and bowl of Hygeia". As no such argument has been forthcoming, the use of these three symbols in SCA armory is no longer restricted to persons with modern medical credentials.

"OFFENSIVE" SUBMISSIONS AND REGISTRATION (or, Offensensitivity)

One of the submissions considered this month (and another to be considered at an upcoming meeting) engendered a considerable amount of commentary regarding whether a specific symbol (or name) is offensive, and in what context, and what the College of Arms should do with such submissions. Indeed, the issue is a delicate one, and is one where rational argument can easily be put aside in favor of emotional reaction.

Commentary on this month's "issue" ranged from what I tend to think of as the "no way, no how" school to "well, I didn't recognize it as offensive so it must not be" to the "we can't let 'them' win" side. Since these are sensitive as well as emotional issues, I thought it would be well to discuss the general guidelines which are applied to submissions which may trigger "offensensitivity". These guidelines are written into the Rules for Submissions and have been in place since the current Rules were issued. They are:

Offense - No name or armory will be registered that may be offensive to a significant segment of the Society or the general population.

No submission will be registered that is detrimental to the educational purposes or good name of the Society, or the enjoyment of its participants because of offense that may be caused, intentionally or unintentionally, by its use. See Part IV, Offensive Names, and Part IX, Offensive Armory. (RfS I.2.)

Offensive names may not be registered, as is required by General Principle 2 of these rules. Names may be innately offensive from their content, like "John Witchburner". A name element can also be offensive because of its usual associations or the context in which it is placed. Names may be considered offensive even if the submitter did not intend them to be. This section defines the categories of names that are generally considered offensive. (RfS IV)

Offensive armory may not be registered, as is required by General Principle 2 of these rules. Armory may be innately offensive from its content, or because of its usual associations or the context in which it is placed, such as the swastika which, although used in period armory, is so strongly associated with the Third Reich that it offends a large segment of the population. Armory may be considered offensive even if the submitter did not intend it to be. This section defines the categories of designs that are generally considered offensive. (RfS IX)

CITING CONFLICTS (or, Blazon, Blazon, Who's Got the Blazon?)

In at least one instance this month, a commenter cited a potential conflict without at the same time noting in the commentary what the blazon of the possible conflict was. Please be careful about this. Any time a commenter calls a conflict, please cite the blazon of the conflict and tell us why you think it is a conflict. (E.g., "Conflicts with Arglebargle, The Extraordinary Ordinary, p. 365, Barry bendy azure and argent, in pale three lions passant Or, with only one CD for the change to the field, as we grant no difference for the orientation of the head.") It really is no fun to have to stop the Laurel meeting, double-check all of the other commentary to see if someone else cited the same conflict (either to support or rebut), and then, if no one has, to have someone go into the other room and bring back the work cited, and look up the blazon. [Thank you. This non-commercial message has been brought to you by Lord Laurel's overworked staff. We now return you to your regularly scheduled cover letter.]

PRECEDENTS (or, Yet Another Overworked, Underpaid, Underappreciated Staff Member)

I would like to thank the many people who volunteered to compile the Laurel precedents for my tenure this time around. (I had almost a half-dozen volunteers!) It was not easy choosing only one from among those who called to offer their services for this particular endeavor, as everyone who called could have done the job more than adequately. In the end, however, I had to choose "just one", and so Lord Owen ap Morgan will be compiling the Laurel precedents this time around.

I would like to publicly thank everyone who offered. Your offers were greatly appreciated, and I regret that I couldn't give each of you the job.

MISCELLANY

The translation of the heraldic term "chief" into the pidgin-English of Papua New Guinea is "Bigpela lik-lik i stap antap".
From The Heraldry Gazette, September 1992, p. 10

Until next month, I remain, as ever, Your servant, Da'ud ibn Auda Laurel King of Arms

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