Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms
For the October 2025 meetings, printed December 23, 2025
To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Birgitta Laurel, Sara Pelican, and Iago Wreath, greetings.
We are pleased to announce Groza Novgorodskaia, commonly known as Skaia, former Ruby Herald of Gleann Abhann, as our next Ragged Staff Herald, the College's intake clerk. Over the next few months, Skaia will gradually take over from Ollivier Le Floch using the title Esperance Herald, and will likely begin their role in earnest from February 2026.
In the Cover Letter to the October 1998 Letter of Acceptances and Returns, Jaelle of Armida, Laurel Queen of Arms, made a distinction between the registrations of badges and regalia. In the letter, she noted that
We are listing below the Society orders which were registered as regalia; we believe that some kingdom badges were also registered that way in the early 80's and will be investigating it. If so, they will be so designated in a cover letter as well.
After a request by Schwarzdrachen, we note that this group of old regalia registrations includes the following order insignia registered in June 1982 to the then Principality of Drachenwald. The original submission paperwork explicitly states they are intended to be regalia, not badges.
(Fieldless) A ring formed of a wingless dragon in annulo widdershins Or, maintaining in chief with all four legs and mouth a gem gules (for der Orden des Lindquistringes)
(Fieldless) Issuant to chief from a torteau charged with a bezant pierced sable three feathers gules, Or, and sable (for the Order of the Panache)
(Tinctureless) A silver wristguard bearing a dragon passant coward, wings addorsed, maintaining in dexter forepaw a sword erect (for the Order of the Silver Guard)
If any other kingdom has similar cases where an item registered prior to October 1998 is listed as a badge but was submitted as regalia, please let us know. Note, however, that new regalia will only be registered to the Society but not to any of its branches, and this restriction applies even if the regalia has been used traditionally but not registered.
The April 2023 return of a badge submission by Hamelin L'Archier states that
Despite being identified in the Ordinary and Armorial as regalia, these items are also protected as badges, and we direct Palimpsest to update the Glossary of Terms to make this clear.
In some rare cases, most notably the laurel wreath of the Order of the Laurel, this is not quite a sufficient way to list this information, and moreover it would emphasize unnecessarily old regalia registered to kingdoms. We therefore direct Palimpsest to open a Rules Letter to change the opening paragraph of SENA A to clarify that in terms of conflict and protection we treat regalia as fieldless badges.
When the name for the Order of the Mark was registered in April, we wrote
We note the following acceptable styles for members of the Order: X, Master / Mistress / Companion (or equivalent) of the Order of the Mark, and X, Master / Mistress / Companion (or equivalent) of the Mark.
It came up recently that the Order of the Mark had not been included in the list of standard titles in Corpora VIII.D.4, and at their October meeting the Board of Directors agreed that this had been an accidental omission and corrected it.
Over the past few months, some kingdoms have attempted to adopt different titles for companions of the new order, such as Ranger of the Mark, Rider of the Mark or Marksman of the Mark. Such use is contrary to the guidance that we gave in April and which the Board agreed to include in Corpora. It also attempts to set the Order of the Mark apart from the other Peerage Orders, which in itself is not consistent with the spirit of the equal status of these Orders as set in Corpora VIII.A.2. We urge everyone to make sure the Order of the Mark is treated like the other Peerage Orders both in this matter and otherwise.
As proposed on Palimpsest's July 2, 2025 Rules Letter, the Glossary of Terms is updated to include the acronyms LoPfR and RfR, to add a definition for Protected Names, and to modify the definitions for Protected Armory and Tinctureless Armory. The revised wording will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/coagloss.html within a few days.
There was some discussion this month of the identifiability of tinctures. We'd like to remind commenters that OSCAR's color-corrected emblazons, while helpful, are not the final word on identifying tinctures in the emblazon. Color perception is very context-dependent; an off-white that looks argent next to Or may look Or next to azure. If a tincture is clearly identifiable in the context of the full emblazon it will be accepted, whether that tincture in isolation is ambiguous or not.
A submission considered this month was redrawn between internal and external commentary, and it appears the reason it was done was simply because the emblazon was hand-drawn. We wish to remind commenters and submissions heralds that, despite the increasing amount of digital emblazons being submitted, hand-drawn emblazons are perfectly acceptable. Redrawing hand-drawn art when there are no issues with it makes it appear as though the College has much higher requirements than it actually does.
As proposed on Palimpsest's July 2, 2025 Rules Letter, a letter for attestation of legal name is added to Appendix D of the Administrative Handbook. Also, SENA PN1B2e, Legal Name Allowance, is modified to allow this attestation when a copy of the relevant legal document is not available. The revised wording will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/admin.html#APPENDIXD and https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#PN1B2e within a few days.
As proposed on Palimpsest's July 2, 2025 Rules Letter, SENA Appendix A, Patterns That Do Not Need Further Documentation by Language Group, is updated to include:
unmarked matronymics under German,
the pattern given+byname under Scots, and
a clarification of the use of locatives in Welsh
The revised wording will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/coagloss.html within a few days.
Palimpsest's July 2, 2025 Rules Letter proposed adding a new section to Appendix E2, Award and Order Names, to address how gendered order names can be handled. This rule change is pended for further discussion. During the decision meeting, concerns were raised as to how this rule would work in languages other than English. We have therefore pended this rule change, and ask that commenters discuss how this would work in languages other than English, and whether we would be unduly closing large parts of the order name space.
On November 15, 2025, at Trimaris Martinmas Moot / Crown List, Gavine Armestrang, Triskele Principal Herald, created Ilene Johnstounne a Herald Extraordinary.
At the same event, Finnguala inghean Alusdair, Murex Herald Extraordinary, was created Scribe Extraordinary within the College of Scribes.
Also on November 15, 2025, at An Tir Heraldic and Scribal Symposium in the Barony of Dragon's Mist, Their Majesties of An Tir Octamasades and Achaxe recognized the following heralds for their contributions to the Kingdom:
Cormac Mor, Beare Herald Extraordinary, was entered into the Order of the Laurel in no small part for his thorough research of heraldic banners and flags.
Elisabetta Tommaso di Carduci, Makejoye Heraude Extraordinary, was awarded the Wordsmith of An Tir. This is a non-armigerous award given for exceptional crafting of ceremony text.
Myvanwy verch Robert, Plume d'Or Herald, was given the Honor of the Lions Strength. This is a non-armigerous award given for service of 20 or more years to the Kingdom.
Earc mac Fithil, longtime Mountains Edge Pursuivant, was given the Honor of the Lions Strength as well as a Court Barony for his long years of service to the Kingdom and his shire for heraldry among other things.
Lissette de la Rose, Æstel Herald Emerita, was given entry into the Order of the Golden Owl for her dedication to teaching others in the Kingdom. This award is non-armigerous.
On December 6, at the Feast of Boar's Head in the Kingdom of Northshield, Clara inghean Uilleim, Polaris Principal Herald, created Abelard die Elster a Herald Extraordinary.
On December 14, at Lucia Feast, Harald and Beatrix, King and Queen of Drachenwald, elevated Anna de Byxe, Albion Herald, to the Order of the Pelican.
In sadder news, on November 4, 2025, Countess Arwyn Antarae, first Gold Falcon Herald of Calontir and first Queen of Calontir, passed away, and on November 18, 2025, Michael Batcock, former Triton Principal Herald for Atlantia, passed away after a short illness. They will both be missed.
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 uploaded to the OSCAR packet for that letter. For armory, only colored forms are required.
Cheques or money orders for submissions, payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms" are to be sent to Trent Le Clair, 928 Frazier Dr, Walla Walla, WA 99362.
Send roster changes and corrections to Laurel. College of Arms members may also request a copy of the current roster from Laurel.
To subscribe to the mailings of the LoAR, please see the bottom of https://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 https://oscar.sca.org/index.php?action=137.
The October Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, October 12, 2025 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, October 18, 2025. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Palimpsest Rules Letter (02 Jul, 2025), Gleann Abhann (05 Jul, 2025), Caid (07 Jul, 2025), Calontir (07 Jul, 2025), Atlantia (09 Jul, 2025), Meridies (12 Jul, 2025), An Tir (14 Jul, 2025), East (24 Jul, 2025), Lochac (28 Jul, 2025), Middle (28 Jul, 2025), Drachenwald (29 Jul, 2025), Ealdormere (29 Jul, 2025), West (29 Jul, 2025), Artemisia (30 Jul, 2025), Atenveldt (30 Jul, 2025), Avacal (30 Jul, 2025), Caid (30 Jul, 2025), Ansteorra (31 Jul, 2025), Outlands (31 Jul, 2025), Meridies (01 Aug, 2025), Laurel LoPfR (18 Aug, 2025). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Tuesday, September 30, 2025.
The November Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, November 22, 2025 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, November 23, 2025. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Trimaris (04 Aug, 2025), Calontir (05 Aug, 2025), Atlantia (06 Aug, 2025), Gleann Abhann (11 Aug, 2025), Palimpsest Rules Letter (18 Aug, 2025), East (26 Aug, 2025), Drachenwald (28 Aug, 2025), An Tir (29 Aug, 2025), Outlands (30 Aug, 2025), An Tir (31 Aug, 2025), Ansteorra (31 Aug, 2025), Artemisia (31 Aug, 2025), Atenveldt (31 Aug, 2025), Avacal (31 Aug, 2025), Ealdormere (31 Aug, 2025), Lochac (31 Aug, 2025), Middle (31 Aug, 2025), Laurel LoPfR (19 Sep, 2025), Laurel LoPfR (13 Oct, 2025). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Friday, October 31, 2025.
The December Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, December 14, 2025 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, December 13, 2025. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Æthelmearc (25 Aug, 2025) (pushed due to incomplete packet), Meridies (01 Sep, 2025), Calontir (03 Sep, 2025), Gleann Abhann (06 Sep, 2025), Caid (07 Sep, 2025), Atlantia (09 Sep, 2025), Laurel LoPaD (20 Sep, 2025), Palimpsest Rules Letter (23 Sep, 2025), Avacal (24 Sep, 2025), Outlands (25 Sep, 2025), West (26 Sep, 2025), Atenveldt (29 Sep, 2025), Ealdormere (29 Sep, 2025), East (29 Sep, 2025), Northshield (29 Sep, 2025), An Tir (30 Sep, 2025), Drachenwald (30 Sep, 2025), Ealdormere (30 Sep, 2025), Lochac (30 Sep, 2025), Middle (30 Sep, 2025), Northshield (30 Sep, 2025). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Sunday, November 30, 2025.
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.
Be assured that I remain
In service
Birgitta Lulli
Laurel Queen of Arms
Created at Tue 23 Dec 2025 04:23:18 PM CST