Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms
103 E. 30th St. Bldg 1 Apt 203
Austin, TX 78705
+1 512 942 7005
laurel@heraldry.sca.org
For the October 2014 meetings, printed December 13, 2014
To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Andrewe Laurel, Lillia Pelican, and Brunissende Wreath, greetings.
Items listed below in square brackets have not been scheduled yet. For information about future scheduling, please review the status table located on the Web at http://oscar.sca.org/index.php?action=137.
The October Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, October 19, 2014 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, October 11, 2014. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Laurel LoPaD (10 Jul, 2014), East (14 Jul, 2014), Atenveldt (20 Jul, 2014), Calontir (20 Jul, 2014), Northshield (21 Jul, 2014), Atlantia (22 Jul, 2014), Drachenwald (22 Jul, 2014), Ealdormere (24 Jul, 2014), Outlands (26 Jul, 2014), Æthelmearc (27 Jul, 2014), Caid (28 Jul, 2014), Artemisia (30 Jul, 2014), Middle (30 Jul, 2014), An Tir (31 Jul, 2014), Ansteorra (31 Jul, 2014), Atenveldt (31 Jul, 2014), Gleann Abhann (31 Jul, 2014), Lochac (31 Jul, 2014), Meridies (31 Jul, 2014), West (31 Jul, 2014). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Tuesday, September 30, 2014.
The November Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, November 9, 2014 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, November 22, 2014. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Middle (11 Aug, 2014), Northshield (15 Aug, 2014), East (16 Aug, 2014), Calontir (17 Aug, 2014), Laurel LoPaD (18 Aug, 2014), Gleann Abhann (22 Aug, 2014), Atenveldt (25 Aug, 2014), An Tir (28 Aug, 2014), Artemisia (29 Aug, 2014), Caid (29 Aug, 2014), West (29 Aug, 2014), Ansteorra (30 Aug, 2014), Ealdormere (30 Aug, 2014), Æthelmearc (31 Aug, 2014), Atlantia (31 Aug, 2014), Drachenwald (31 Aug, 2014), Meridies (31 Aug, 2014), Outlands (31 Aug, 2014), Trimaris (31 Aug, 2014). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Friday, October 31, 2014.
The December Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, December 7, 2014 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, December 6, 2014. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Lochac (31 Aug, 2014) (pushed due to no upload) , Middle (03 Sep, 2014), East (08 Sep, 2014), Northshield (11 Sep, 2014), Laurel LoPaD (12 Sep, 2014), Gleann Abhann (15 Sep, 2014), Atenveldt (20 Sep, 2014), Ealdormere (24 Sep, 2014), Atlantia (25 Sep, 2014), Outlands (25 Sep, 2014), Calontir (26 Sep, 2014), Caid (27 Sep, 2014), An Tir (30 Sep, 2014), Ansteorra (30 Sep, 2014), Artemisia (30 Sep, 2014), Atenveldt (30 Sep, 2014), Meridies (30 Sep, 2014), Middle (30 Sep, 2014), West (30 Sep, 2014). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Sunday, November 30, 2014.
The January Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, January 4, 2014 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, January 24, 2015. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: [East (06 Oct, 2014)], [Northshield Other Letter (12 Oct, 2014)], Laurel LoPaD (13 Oct, 2014), Northshield (13 Oct, 2014), [Atlantia (16 Oct, 2014)], [Atenveldt (20 Oct, 2014)], [Gleann Abhann (22 Oct, 2014)], Middle (24 Oct, 2014), [Ealdormere (26 Oct, 2014)], [Outlands (28 Oct, 2014)], [Æthelmearc (30 Oct, 2014)], [Trimaris (30 Oct, 2014)], [An Tir (31 Oct, 2014)], [Ansteorra (31 Oct, 2014)], Caid (31 Oct, 2014), [Calontir (31 Oct, 2014)], [Drachenwald (31 Oct, 2014)], [Lochac (31 Oct, 2014)], [Meridies (31 Oct, 2014)].  All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Wednesday, December 31, 2014.
Not all letters of intent may be considered when they are originally scheduled on this cover letter. The date of posting of the LoI, date of receipt of the Laurel packet, or other factors may delay consideration of certain letters of intent. Additionally, some letters of intent received may not have been scheduled because the administrative requirements (receipt of the forms packet, receipt of the necessary fees, et cetera) have not yet been met.
REMINDER: Until all administrative requirements are met, the letter may not be scheduled.
From Wreath: Commenting and Conflict Checking
Conflict is the most frequent cause for armory return, and often easy to miss. We would like to ask commenters to remember to state, either with each submission or as a comment on the entire letter, whether they have checked each submission and specify if they found any conflicts. A simple "No conflicts found" or equivalent phrasing is perfectly sufficient. For completeness, we ask that those who are discussing style or other non-conflict issues also conflict check the submission and mention the result of that check, even when the other issues may cause a return.
From Pelican: Unpublished Sources and Documentation Marked Private
Recently, we've seen commentary stating that unpublished sources and items marked private in OSCAR cannot be used as documentation. This is not true. As mentioned in the September 2014 Cover Letter, only certain OSCAR users have the permissions to see the entire packet. We mark some documents private in order to safeguard personally identifiable information like legal names and dates of birth. The Sovereigns of Arms, Laurel staff members, Principal Heralds, and Submissions Heralds are able to view these materials. In other words, just because you can't see something doesn't mean that no one else can. Similarly, we routinely use sources and information not present in the Letter of Intent and commentary in order to make our decisions. Some of this research is provided directly by staff, found during the decision meeting, or located by the Sovereigns of Arms. We try to identify such external sources in the Letters of Acceptances and Returns if they had a bearing on a decision.
In the case of unpublished works, we scrutinize them just like any other source. Whether or not a source is considered to be reliable depends on several factors, not the least of which is the quality of past books or articles by the same author. As long as the required copies are provided for sources not yet readily available to the general public, we will continue to evaluate the information as we normally do, and will not treat these sources differently from ones already in print.
Society Pages
Please send information about happenings to major heralds and major happenings to all heralds to Laurel, so that it can be published here.
Send What to Whom
Letters of Intent, Comment, Response, Correction, et cetera are to be posted to the OSCAR online system. No paper copies need be sent. All submission forms plus documentation, including petitions, must be posted to the OSCAR online system.
Cheques or money orders for submissions, payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms" are to be sent to David Duggar, 1705 Holiday Place Bossier City, LA 71112.
Send roster changes and corrections to Laurel. College of Arms members may also request a copy of the current roster from Laurel.
For a paper copy of a LoAR, please contact Laurel, at the address above. The cost for one LoAR is $3. Please make all checks or money orders payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms". The electronic copy of the LoAR is available free of charge. To subscribe to the mailings of the electronic copy, please see the bottom of http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/lists.html#lists for more instructions.
For all administrative matters, please contact Laurel.
Pray know that I remain,
In service,
Andrewe Bawldwyn
Laurel Principal King of Arms