To the populace of the kingdom, Karl Faustus von Aachen, Crux Australis Principal Herald, sends greeting and glad tidings of great joy.

He Who Must Be Obeyed, alias Master Gabriel Kjotvason, Laurel Principal King of Arms, met in secret with his minions this July past, and reached certain decisions. In the case of Lochac, the decisions were entirely favourable. Here’s what they look like:

Aluina del Greneoke. Device. Per fess invected argent and vert, a tree eradicated proper fructed Or and a stag trippant argent.
Cenwulf the smith. Device. Gules, on a cross nowy between four annulets argent a heart gules.
Constanzia Moralez y de Zamora. Device change. Gules, a cross of Santiago argent and a bordure argent crescenty sable.
Iosbail inghean Mhartainn mhic Dhonnchaidh. Device. Sable, on a pall argent a pall vert.
Kolfinna Ráðúlfsdóttir. Name and device. Sable, on a pile throughout issuant from sinister argent a wolf sejant ululant contourny gules.
Leonhart Hunt. Name and device. Per fess embattled per pale azure and gules and Or, two eagles counterchanged Or and sable.
Lucia delli Fenice. Name and device. Sable, on a plate within an orle of mullets argent a phoenix gules enflamed and issuant from a wooden nest proper.
Maximos Alopekou. Name and device. Sable, a tyger rampant between three hands Or.
Minagawa Zenjirou Tokahira. Name and device. Argent, on a saltire nowy azure a lotus flower in profile Or.
Orelia di Valenti. Name and device. Quarterly purpure and vert, a talbot sejant within an orle of roundels argent.
Theodric Urswyck. Name and device. Argent, a wyvern passant gules and on a chief sable three crosses formy argent.

But wait, that’s not all! I have some extra good news. To put it in context, let’s fire up the old TARDIS and travel back a year to look over the shoulder of an anonymous herald. This herald is doing the paperwork for a name and a device. She writes out the name documentation on the appropriate form, possibly sticky-taping bits together, and makes four copies. She also draws in the blazon on the device form in outline and makes seven copies. She then colours in six of the colour copies. She gives one copy of the coloured device to her client, keeps one for her records, and sends the other four colour copies and the outline to Rocket Herald. With the names, she gives one to the client, keeps one for her files and sends the other two to Rocket.

When Rocket receives these, he scans them all in and emails them off to Laurel. He then sends some copies to the files and some to the Scribes’ Guild and the rest to Laurel for registration. The postage bill alone would bankrupt a small barony.

This is, of course, silly. You think so, I think so, and now it seems Gabriel Laurel thinks so too. He just announced he no longer wants multiple copies of everything, because the scanning is all perfectly fine and multiple bits of paper just get in the way. He only wants one copy of device or badge forms and nothing of anything else. So I am changing the rules to suit, and here’s the new process:

Our herald is putting together the paperwork for a client. She either does it entirely on a computer using something like Windows Paint or Photoshop, or else prints the forms out and handwrites them. She then prints out or photocopies three copies of the name form and one outline copy of the device (being sure to note the make, model and ink or toner type as appropriate, because failure to do that is grounds for return). Once that’s done, she prints or photocopies three colour copies, made by colouring in an outline copy. And she sends these off thus:

One copy of the name and one of the device to the client, for safekeeping.
One copy of the name and one of the device to her own records.
One copy of the name and two of the device — one outline, one coloured in — to Rocket Herald.

All those copies for archives and scribes and so on are gone. Rocket scans the documentation and chucks out everything but the colour form for Laurel. We keep our records electronically now; there’s no need to kill trees over it.

So I know what you’re thinking — can’t we cut out the last pitiful paper copies entirely and do all this electronically? And the answer is yes… eventually. The College of Arms is working on the logistics, and it won’t be long. For now, we’ve got a better system than we ever had before, so let’s enjoy that and see how we go.

Hoping this good news pleases you, I remain

In service,

: Karl Faustus von Aachen, Crux Australis :