January 18, 1986

Unto the members of the College of Arms, from Baldwin of Erebor, Laurel King of Arms. My lords and ladies,

Enclosed herewith is the letter of acceptances and returns for the Laurel meeting of 10 November. Submissions were processed at this meeting from Laurel (9/26), Ansteorra (8/1), Ansteorra (8/5), Caid (8/7), West (8/18), and Ansteorra (8/31). There were 74 approvals and 12 returns, for an 86% approval rate.

The December meeting was held on the 15th. The letters processed at this meeting were for the Middle (7/15), Caid (9/11), West (9/16), Atenveldt (9/17), Atenveldt (9/18), and Trimaris (9/18). The Middle letter of 9/30 has been rescheduled to the January meeting.

Schedule

The January meeting has been scheduled for the 19th. Submissions will be processed for the Middle (9/30), Ansteorra (10/10), East (10/17), West (10/24), Atlantia (10/25), East (10/26), East (10/27), and Atenveldt (10/31).

The February meeting has been scheduled for the 16th. Letters of intent will be processed for Laurel (1/5), Calontir (10/30) (arrived 11/22), Atenveldt (11/7), Meridies (11/10), Caid (11/11), West (11/12), East (11/27), East (11/28), and Ansteorra (11/29). Letters of comment should arrive no later than February 8. I have not yet received the letter of intent or forms from Meridies.

The March meeting has been scheduled for the 9th. The letters of intent to be processed at this meeting are An Tir (12/10), Caid (12/11), West (12/18), Ansteorra (12/22), East (12/22), East (12/23), An Tir (12/30), and Middle (12/30). Letters of comment should arrive no later than March 1.

Tentative meeting dates for the following months are April 6 and May 18. These are subject to change depending on local event and work schedules.

Personnel

There were two errors in the Personnel section of the 29 December cover letter. Lord Anebairn MacPharim in s new title is Barding Herald Extraordinary, not Pursuivant. He also has a new address: Ben McFarling, 3806 Avenue B #103, Austin, TX 78751. The phone number correction for Mistress Graidhne was also wrong: it is Mistress Minowara Kiritsubo (Ibis) whose farspeaker cipher should be corrected to (301) 984­0142; Mistress Graidhne's number is still (614) 436­0412.

Pale and Oaken Heralds have exchanged jobs. Lord Vasili iz Naitemneshoi Dollina is now Pale, and Mistress Graidhne ni Nuaidh is now Oaken. Aten Herald has moved back to Albuquerque: Mistress Keridwen of Montrose (Margaret Foster), P.O. Box 4812, Albuquerque, NM 87196; (505) 243­0728. Master Vuong Manh has resigned as Kraken Herald. His successor (as Kraken Pursuivant) is Lord Thomas Longshanks (Tom McDonald), 215 Gay Road, Warrenton, VA 22186; (703) 349­1433. He is expected to begin commenting in the near future.

Please remove Lord Andreas of Green Village (Lanner), Lord Henry of Linlithgow (Buckler), and Lady AElfhaelen Dracasidth (Shield) from the list of commenting heralds.

An updated College of Arms roster is enclosed with this letter.

Rules changes

Effective immediately, registration of tinctureless badges is restricted to the seals of Principal Heralds only. The seal of a Principal Herald must include the crossed straight trumpets of the College of Arms as a major design motif.

A number of heralds have expressed unhappiness with the fact that a titled herald is allowed to register a tinctureless seal, but no one else may. I agree that this is not fair, and after reflecting on the matter, have decided to close the gap. The sole exception ­ the seal of a Principal Herald ­ is being made for historical reasons, and to allow Principal Heralds of other kingdoms to achieve parity (if they wish) with those who have already registered seals.

This ruling does not apply to the seals of the Crux Australis and Lion's Blood Heralds, which were submitted to the College of Arms before this ruling was made.

Et cetera

Please take note of the discussions on Giovanni dei Fiori (pp. 6­8) and Sternwulf von Drakenwijk (p. 9).

I pray you believe me to be, my lords and ladies,

Your servant,


Baldwin of Erebor

Laurel King of Arms

enclosures