It’s that time again! Here’s the good news (and some bad news) from the Laurel King of Arms and his hard-working team of heraldic pixies:

Aidan Brock. Name
Cenwulf the smith. Name.
Godric of River Haven. Holding name and device. Azure, on a cross between in chief two lions combattant Or, a cross sable.
Pádraig Lowther. Badge. (Fieldless) A cross formy quarter-pierced sable.
William de Bonnay. Device. Purpure, a sinister arm embowed, the hand and forearm palewise, sustaining a bow fesswise Or.

Congratulations to all who ran the heraldic gauntlet and survived. (And did you know that “gauntlet” in this context is from a Swedish word, and has no relation to the French word for a piece of hand armour? And that a rare but acceptable alternative is “gantelope”? Isn’t the internet wonderful? Congratulations on running the gantelope!) Rocket Herald
will be in touch to give you the good and/or bad news, and Master William Castille has already put the new emblazons onto his Lochac Roll of Arms website.

Now for something completely different.

I Wish To Register A Complaint! Hello, Miss!

I know of at least one person who has been rather annoyed lately with the heraldic process. Not so much with the registration, which is streamlined like nobody’s business and now takes less time than it ever did, but with what comes before. She submitted her design for a device a long time ago and then had to wait. Paperwork was lost, feedback was not given correctly, and checking was not done. As a result, she’s ready to turn her back on the SCA and go off and do something less frustrating — hand-feeding crocodiles, perhaps, or nailing jelly to a tree. Something with a higher chance of success.

It’s tempting, even common, to pin the blame on individual heralds for this sort of slackness, and I know I’ve been as guilty as any of letting silly things like work, family and bills take precedence over the business of heraldry. But this is a leadership issue: if my “staff” are falling down on the job in a repeatable, predictable way, then it’s my job to figure out a solution, not just complain. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me several times a month for thirty years, shame on me!

Is This The Right Room For An Argument?

So I am going to create a new policy. It’s not in operation yet, because it’s bound to be controversial, but I’m letting you know that we’re considering it. The policy will be that the College of Heralds is going to put less emphasis on individual group heralds, and more on the community of heralds on the internet. We will start advertising various methods for people to discuss their heraldic ideas online wherever that is possible. Obviously not everyone has ready access to the internet or the willingness to start up conversations with strangers, but that’s no reason to ignore the possibility. The goal is to reduce our reliance on local heralds, who can frequently be a Single Point of Failure in the whole process through no fault of their own.

Along with this, we will probably be changing how our clients submit their paperwork. Now that money no longer changes hands with every registration — Lochac is one of the very few kingdoms that subsidises 100% of all heraldic fees for its citizens — there’s no need for a local herald to collect up a whole bundle of submissions and send a cheque or money order with it. That means that people could send their own submissions to Rocket Herald, and cut out the middle man. This is also controversial, because it could encourage people to submit
something utterly unregistrable, but at least they would receive their return notice in good time.

I emphasise that none of this is official yet. We still need to work out the details! Keep dealing with your local herald, and don’t feel that you are required to change who you talk to. But be aware that we are considering a change, and things will improve. Local heralds will still have a place, but they will have more support and less opportunity to feel like they’ve let the side down.

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life

In general, I’m very pleased with how the heralds of Lochac are working. They do a difficult job with enthusiasm and skill, and they make me proud to be one of them. Heralds have had a bad reputation in the past, largely because of this sort of reliability issue, and I know that in Lochac this is much less of problem than it was. If you see a herald doing a good job, please remember to tell them so, and also tell me. We have a system of ranks within the College of Heralds, and I think it’s time to start rewarding more heralds for their good work. So just as you recommend people to the Crown for awards, please recommend heralds to me for something similar. Share the love, people!

(And if you see a herald doing something wrong, please find a tactful and compassionate way to talk directly to them. We are all fallible — yes, though it shock you, even I! — and we can all learn.)

In service,

: Karl Faustus von Aachen, Crux Australis :

Addendum

Greetings to all loyal subjects of Their Majesties!

It has been brought to my attention that I was remiss in my duties when I first stepped up as Crux Australis Principal Herald. It is my duty to report to you the names, devices and badges registered by the Laurel King of Arms and announced in his LoAR, or Letter of Acceptances and Returns. In September of 2012, the results of his deliberations for the month of June were made known to me, but I did not pass them on. Only slightly better late than never, I now report the good news that I hope everyone already knew:

Achenfeld, Canton of. Device. Per pale vert and gules, a cup within a laurel wreath Or.
Aliena de Savigny. Name and device. Argent, two peacocks addorsed reguardant each maintaining a pomegranate slipped and leaved sable.
Aliena de Savigny. Blanket permission to conflict with name.
Angharat Benbras. Name and device. Gules, a horse rampant Or within a bordure erminois.
Ceara Shionnach. Name and device. Per saltire argent and vert, two foxes passant proper and two pairs of feathers in saltire argent.
Denisette Darcy. Name and device. Or, in pale two hearts gules.
Edmund Platesmyth. Name.
Gwynfor Lwyd. Augmentation of arms. Azure, in chief in fess three frets couped Or and for augmentation, on an escutcheon quarterly azure and argent, on a cross gules four mullets of six points argent within a bordure Or.
James Yale. Name.
Richard Ferrowre. Device. Per pale gules and azure, in pale a foaming tankard reversed and an anvil reversed argent.
Rosamund Laiborn. Name and device. Azure, on a bend between two roses Or three martlets sable.
Tóra Arnesdottir. Name.

Congratulations, belatedly, to everyone represented here!

Just a quick note: I was alerted to my omission by a herald who was chasing up a name and device he had submitted eighteen months ago, wondering what had happened to it. His patience is legendary, but I don’t expect anyone to be that patient. If you have submitted something to the College of Heralds, please follow up shortly afterward with your
local herald to receive instruction on where it’s up to and what’s happening to it. Nobody should need to wait long to find out the latest news. And eighteen months is far too long: if you’ve waited more than seven or eight months, the device is either already ruled upon or else has been lost somewhere. Either way, you deserve to know.

Moral of the story: patience is not a virtue! Hold your heralds to account, and stay informed!

: Karl Crux :