Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms
For the December 2018 meetings, printed March 6, 2019
To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Juliana Laurel, Alys Pelican, and Cormac Wreath, greetings.
On the July 2018 Cover Letter we asked for commentary on whether our current placement of trees into round, tall, and triangular/coniferous varieties, with a DC between trees in different categories, was in keeping with period practice. Bruce Batonvert provided a fantastic overview of trees as period heraldic charges, which he says will likely be expanded in an article for a future KWHSS Proceedings. In summary, deciduous trees were depicted in a variety of ways depending on the time period and culture, from the stylized crequier to classic ball-on-a-stick cartoon design, and everything in between, including variations which bear the appearance of palm trees. Pine, fir, and other evergreen trees tend to stay with the classic triangular "Christmas tree" shape, and did not vary much beyond that.
Therefore, we are explicitly redefining the categories of tree into generic and coniferous varieties. Trees which are not coniferous, with triangular foliage, fall into the category of generic tree shape, and all conflict with one another; details such as fructing do not count for difference. Coniferous, triangle-shaped trees likewise conflict with one another. There is a DC between generic and coniferous trees.
There are many cases when a device or badge submission must be returned, not for conflict or for breaking our rules on period style, but for problematic artwork. Armory will be returned for redrawing if the charges are drawn so as to be unidentifiable (per SENA A1D), if they blur the distinction between charge groups (per SENA A3D1) or orientations (per SENA A2C2), or for any number of other issues with depictions (the height of a chevron, the erasures of a head or limb, etc.). On the one hand, heraldry is about visual recognition, so it's important that designs be drawn with that in mind; on the other hand, we ought not to penalize our submitters (and their submitting heralds) for not being skilled artists.
In the interests of promoting heraldic registration and heraldic reputation, we wish to propose the following new policy: Armory that would hitherto have been returned solely for redraw will instead be pended for redraw. A new emblazon, with the artistic problems fixed, will be provided by Wreath's staff; the redrawn armory will appear on a Wreath Letter of Intent for commentary.
We propose that this Wreath letter be fast-tracked, with a one-month commentary period. Only armories with artwork problems (and no others) would be pended. While it's possible that some other issue (a conflict missed in initial commentary, for example) may arise in that month, we would expect such issues to have been already considered and resolved; the vast majority of pended submissions would be approved with the reasons for redraw addressed. The one-month period would also give the submitter, through their heralds, enough time to approve the new artwork, without which the armory cannot be registered.
There are, of course, logistic issues to this new policy, which we hope you'll consider in your discussions. Would a checkbox on the submission form, granting permission for redraw without further review by the submitter -- similar to the permission checkboxes on name submissions -- be a good idea? Would the new emblazon be better coming from the submitter or commenting heralds, rather than Wreath's staff directly? If so, what's the most streamlined and timely way of accomplishing this? And so on.
Please give us your thoughts on this proposal by commentary on the LoPaD as usual.
On January 12 at Atlantian Twelfth Night, Their Majesties Ragnarr and Lynette placed Seraphina Delphino, Ragged Staff Herald, on vigil for the Order of the Pelican; she was elevated that evening. She was created with the Grayraven medallion, which has been held by many sovereigns and other members of Laurel staff.
At that same event, Their Majesties placed Wynne ferch Rhodri, Blue Shark Herald, on vigil for the Order of the Pelican. She was also elevated that evening.
On February 9th at Bright Hills 25th Baronial Anniversary in the Kingdom of Atlantia, Their Majesties Ragnarr and Lynette did induct Daniela Schwartzhaupt into the Order of the Laurel for her work as a scribe.
At that same event, Their Majesties made Alexandria Wright, Silver Nautilus Herald, a Baroness of their court.
Please send information about happenings to major heralds and major happenings to all heralds to Laurel, so that it can be published here.
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.
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 December Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, December 2, 2018 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, December 9, 2018. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: East (05 Sep, 2018), Calontir (08 Sep, 2018), Ęthelmearc (09 Sep, 2018), Caid (14 Sep, 2018), Artemisia (17 Sep, 2018), An Tir (19 Sep, 2018), Atenveldt (20 Sep, 2018), Ealdormere (24 Sep, 2018), Avacal (27 Sep, 2018), Lochac (28 Sep, 2018), Outlands (29 Sep, 2018), Ansteorra (30 Sep, 2018), Artemisia (30 Sep, 2018), Atlantia (30 Sep, 2018), Caid (30 Sep, 2018), Drachenwald (30 Sep, 2018), Laurel LoPaD (30 Sep, 2018), Meridies (30 Sep, 2018), Middle (30 Sep, 2018), Northshield (30 Sep, 2018), and Trimaris (30 Sep, 2018). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Friday, November 30, 2018.
The January Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, January 6, 2018 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, January 13, 2019. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Calontir (06 Oct, 2018), Palimpsest Rules Letter (07 Oct, 2018), Ęthelmearc (16 Oct, 2018), Middle (21 Oct, 2018), Ealdormere (24 Oct, 2018), Atlantia (25 Oct, 2018), Avacal (25 Oct, 2018), Lochac (26 Oct, 2018), West (28 Oct, 2018), Ansteorra (29 Oct, 2018), Atenveldt (30 Oct, 2018), An Tir (31 Oct, 2018), Artemisia (31 Oct, 2018), Caid (31 Oct, 2018), Drachenwald (31 Oct, 2018), East (31 Oct, 2018), Gleann Abhann (31 Oct, 2018), Laurel LoPaD (31 Oct, 2018), Meridies (31 Oct, 2018), Northshield (31 Oct, 2018), Outlands (31 Oct, 2018), and Trimaris (31 Oct, 2018). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Monday, December 31, 2018.
The February Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, February 17, 2019 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, February 10, 2019. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Ęthelmearc (05 Nov, 2018), Calontir (05 Nov, 2018), Palimpsest Rules Letter (08 Nov, 2018), Palimpsest Rules Letter (13 Nov, 2018), Caid (20 Nov, 2018), Ealdormere (25 Nov, 2018), West (26 Nov, 2018), Lochac (27 Nov, 2018), An Tir (28 Nov, 2018), Atlantia (28 Nov, 2018), Avacal (29 Nov, 2018), Artemisia (30 Nov, 2018), Atenveldt (30 Nov, 2018), Drachenwald (30 Nov, 2018), Laurel LoPaD (30 Nov, 2018), Meridies (30 Nov, 2018), and Outlands (30 Nov, 2018). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Thursday, January 31, 2019.
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.
Pray know that I remain,
In service,
Juliana de Luna
Laurel Queen of Arms
Created at 2019-03-06T22:51:28