Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms
253 Tranquility Mtn
Buda, TX 78610
+1 512 942 7005
laurel@heraldry.sca.org
For the October 2015 meetings, printed December 18, 2015
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 11, 2015 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, October 18, 2015. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Drachenwald (30 Jun, 2015) (pushed due to lack of packet) , Æthelmearc (05 Jul, 2015), West (14 Jul, 2015), Middle (21 Jul, 2015), Æthelmearc (22 Jul, 2015), Ealdormere (28 Jul, 2015), East (28 Jul, 2015), Outlands (28 Jul, 2015), Atenveldt (30 Jul, 2015), Atlantia (30 Jul, 2015), Caid (30 Jul, 2015), Northshield (30 Jul, 2015), An Tir LoItP (31 Jul, 2015), Ansteorra (31 Jul, 2015), Artemisia (31 Jul, 2015), Avacal (31 Jul, 2015), Calontir (31 Jul, 2015), Lochac (31 Jul, 2015), and Meridies (31 Jul, 2015). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Wednesday, September 30, 2015.
The November Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, November 15, 2015 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, November 22, 2015. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: An Tir (01 Aug, 2015), Middle (10 Aug, 2015), Laurel LoPaD (15 Aug, 2015), Palimpsest Rules Letter (16 Aug, 2015), Northshield (19 Aug, 2015), Drachenwald (20 Aug, 2015), Atenveldt (25 Aug, 2015), Calontir (26 Aug, 2015), Artemisia (28 Aug, 2015), Ansteorra (29 Aug, 2015), Lochac (29 Aug, 2015), Trimaris (29 Aug, 2015), Atlantia (30 Aug, 2015), Ealdormere (30 Aug, 2015), Middle (30 Aug, 2015), West (30 Aug, 2015), An Tir (31 Aug, 2015), Caid (31 Aug, 2015), East (31 Aug, 2015), Gleann Abhann (31 Aug, 2015), Meridies (31 Aug, 2015), and Outlands (31 Aug, 2015).  All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Saturday, October 31, 2015.
The December Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, December 20, 2015 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, December 13, 2015. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Drachenwald (29 Jul, 2015) (pushed due to lack of packet) , Lochac (14 Sep, 2015), Gleann Abhann (16 Sep, 2015), Laurel LoPaD (16 Sep, 2015), Northshield (20 Sep, 2015), Atlantia (24 Sep, 2015), West (24 Sep, 2015), Atenveldt (25 Sep, 2015), Æthelmearc (26 Sep, 2015), Ealdormere (27 Sep, 2015), Lochac (27 Sep, 2015), Middle (28 Sep, 2015), Drachenwald (29 Sep, 2015), Outlands (29 Sep, 2015), An Tir (30 Sep, 2015), Avacal (30 Sep, 2015), Caid (30 Sep, 2015), Calontir (30 Sep, 2015), East (30 Sep, 2015), Meridies (30 Sep, 2015), and Trimaris (30 Sep, 2015).  All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Monday, November 30, 2015.
The January Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held in January 2016. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Atenveldt (20 Oct, 2015), Northshield (21 Oct, 2015), Middle (25 Oct, 2015), Outlands (27 Oct, 2015), Æthelmearc (28 Oct, 2015), Meridies (28 Oct, 2015), Middle (28 Oct, 2015), Atenveldt (30 Oct, 2015), Drachenwald (30 Oct, 2015), Lochac (30 Oct, 2015), An Tir (31 Oct, 2015), Atlantia (31 Oct, 2015), Avacal (31 Oct, 2015), Caid (31 Oct, 2015), Calontir (31 Oct, 2015), Ealdormere (31 Oct, 2015), East (31 Oct, 2015), and Laurel LoPaD (31 Oct, 2015).  All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Thursday, December 31, 2015.
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 Pelican: Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
Recently, we've had many instances where sources are not correctly cited in Letters of Intent. For example, the author's name or the article title is omitted, only a URL is provided, or an article is attributed to the hosting site rather than the individual who wrote it.
Not only does it make the Sovereigns' and commenters' job easier to have the full references, but it is important to cite the correct authors. We owe a great debt to those who have taken the time to prepare the articles we use, so a little more care is needed to ensure that they are credited every time we use their work. For sources written by non-SCA authors, it's essential that we have the full information so we can locate and verify the information as needed.
From Morsulus: On Da'ud encoding and DOT ABOVE and DOT BELOW
It was discovered that the Da'ud code {z.} was defined as both Z WITH DOT ABOVE and Z WITH DOT BELOW. This is clearly not a good thing. It has been fixed. The meaning of a dot in a Da'ud code is now consistent.
That is, El{z.}bieta Piekarska could have had the dot above or below the z, and trying to look it up in the table of Da'ud codes would not have helped you out.
{.*} now signifies * WITH DOT ABOVE, and {*.} signifies * WITH DOT BELOW, for all values of "*" from "a" to "z", upper and lower case (at least as far as those letters are already in the list).
What changed?
{.e} and {.E} for E WITH DOT ABOVE were added
{.I} was defined to be LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH DOT ABOVE where it had been {I.}.
{I.} was redefined to be LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH DOT BELOW as it had been some time ago.
{.z} and {.Z} were redefined to be LETTER Z WITH DOT ABOVE instead of DOT BELOW.
This required recoding six names that used letters with DOT ABOVE. Those names are now coded as:
D{zv}iugint{.e} Litovka
El{.z}bieta Piekarska
El{.z}bieta Traidenyt{.e}
{.I}slah bint Yuhannah
G{u:}rc{u:} {.I}skender
Umm Davud Mihri bint {.I}skender
The names have not changed, just the Da'ud codes used for some of their letters.
The full chart at http://oanda.sca.org/data_symbols.html has been updated to reflect these changes.
From Wreath: Following up on fer-à-loup
Last month, in the registration of Marcus atte Bowe, in the Ansteorra section of the Letter of Acceptances and Returns, the SCA's default orientation for this charge was changed to match the medieval default. Thus, a fer-à-loup has the (rounded) blade to chief by default. We are reblazoning the registered ones as needed in the current letter.
Society Pages
On November 7, 2015 Thomas Brownwell, Quatrefoil Herald, was elevated to the Order of the Pelican by Their Majesties Athanaric and Sigriðr at Calafia Anniversary in the Kingdom of Caid.
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. While black-and-white emblazons must be included in the Letter of Intent, only colored armory forms need to be posted in the forms area.
Cheques or money orders for submissions, payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms" are to be sent to  Stephanie Ray-Solum, Blue Bug Bookkeeping, 2144 Westlake Ave. North Suite F Seattle, WA 98109.
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

COVER LETTER	Page  of 3	October 2015 LoAR