Greetings to the College and Kingdom of Lochac from Karl Faustus von Aachen, Crux Australis Principal Herald.

The heraldic hiccups are over, and the submissions are flowing again. Here is the good news from His Holiness the Laurel King of Arms.

Alexandrine Starbuck Byfield. Name and device. Argent, a stag statant purpure mullety of eight points argent maintaining in its mouth a rose Or slipped and leaved vert.
Anchitel Dangerfyld. Device. Azure, a domed oven argent vented sable.
Anchitel Dangerfyld and ffride wlffsdotter. Reblazon of joint badge. (Fieldless) A domed oven argent vented sable.
Anna Felice Tavestoche. Device. Per fess argent and Or, a sea-serpent ondoyant issuant from the line of division gules vorant of a naked man proper.
Arminna Durer. Device. Per bend sinister gules and vert, a unicorn contourny argent between three linden leaves bendwise Or.
Bethony Gaitskell. Name and device. Gules, a goat rampant and in base a bridge of three spans throughout Or.
Caterina dei Matthioli. Name and device. Per chevron throughout Or and sable, a decrescent Or, on a chief sable three mullets of six points Or.
Caterina di Narnia. Name and device. Gules, a pall inverted cotised between two harps and a flute palewise Or.
Daniella della Luna. Name and device. Azure, a bend sinister between a decrescent and a mullet of six points argent, a bordure counterchanged.
David Cookham. Name and device. Or, two dragons combattant gules maintaining between them a lit candle argent, in base a three legged pot sable.
Eirik Feilan Ragnarsson. Name and device. Sable, a wolf rampant contourny and on a chief argent three Norse sun crosses sable.
Evan Dyffryn. Name and device. Or, a dragon gules and on a chief sable three triquetras each braced with an annulet argent.
Finnr Magnusson. Name and device. Barry wavy azure and argent, a fox rampant contourny gules and on a bordure sable three roses argent.
Gilbert Purchase. Name and device. Argent, a polypus gules within a bordure counter-compony sable and argent.
Grimr Þurs Magnusson. Name and device. Argent, a bear passant and in chief three pawprints purpure.
Isobel aus Chevaux. Household name Merewyke and badge. Vert, a cauldron Or between four lit candles argent two and two.
Karl Faustus von Aachen. Augmentation of arms. Per pale gules and azure, a bordure Or, and for augmentation in canton a mullet of six points argent.
Kateryna de Bonnay. Device. Argent, three bendlets azure.
Lochac Brewers Guild. (Fieldless) On a saltire couped sable a pair of mash rakes argent.
Luether von Grünewald. Device. Per chevron azure and sable, on a chevron between three eagles Or five pine trees proper.
Magnús bjarki Eiríksson. Name.
Morgana di Alexandro. Name and device. Azure, on a sun Or between three increscents argent a tree vert.
Nawojka Opalenska. Name.
Perran of Lyskyret. Name and device. Per pale azure and vert, three hawks striking contourny argent.
Rian de Drummyn. Name and device. Vert, three hunting horns reversed argent and a bordure wavy Or.
Scandlán mac Fergaile. Name and device. Vert vêtu, a lion Or between four lit candles argent.
Tyr of Mordenvale. Holding name and device. Azure, on a bend sinister cotised Or a stag beetle sable.
Ulfar Hausakljufr. Name and device. Or, on a fess between three wolf’s heads erased sable three plates.
Vricona Riderch filia. Name.

Congratulations to all submitters.  There were one or two returns, so Rocket will be in touch.

Special congratulations to all the people who got an official “Nice” comment from His Holiness.  We are producing some impressive heraldry lately. Bravo!

Rule Change: Consulting Heralds and OSCAR

Electronic submissions are coming, and I’m imposing a high standard.  Rocket Herald has a lot to do, and the load must be shared.  A big part of her job is keeping track of details: conflicts could be dealt with through Letters of Permission to Conflict; errors on the forms can be corrected in consultation with the submitter; and multiple alternatives must be considered.  Lately it’s been left to Rocket alone to run the questions past each submitter.  This is not good enough!  I expect consulting heralds to be paying attention, and I take a dim view of those who don’t keep an eye on commentary.  So I am imposing the following rule:

Rocket Herald will not accept any submission that lacks a consulting herald, and the consulting herald must have an OSCAR account and commit to following the progress of their submissions.

What this means is: if you put in some paperwork, either you need to find a consulting herald or else put your own name there if you’re a rostered herald.  And you need to make sure whoever is consulting is signed up for OSCAR!  Go to oscar.sca.org to sign up, and become involved in the commentary process.  As we geeks say, many eyes make bugs shallow.  The more people we have looking at subs, the fewer errors creep through unnoticed.

Summaries of Documentation

Then there’s the matter of summaries of documentation.  Rocket has been reporting to me the large number of really, to be honest, stupid errors she’s seen on submission forms.  I won’t shame anyone here, but among the follies she has reported to me we have:

1. Failure to summarise.  Most names should be documented in a handful of words.  If you have supporting documentation, include it but highlight the relevant bits.  A good name summary is something like: “Fred van Flintstone: Fred, IGI record for Fred Nurk, 1574 England. Flintstone, village of Flintstone shown on map from 1602, Holland (top left, circled). Dutch/English mix and ‘name van place‘ allowed in SENA Appendix A, B”.  That plus a copy of the IGI link for the name and the map for the placename is ample!
2. Errors in forms.  We are working on improving the forms, but please think!  If you indicate that the meaning of a name is most important, please say what you think it means!  If the submission is a change of name, put the old and the new name in the right place!  If you’re not sure what to do, check with other heralds.
3. Excessive copies of documentation.  Appendix H of the Administrative Handbook tells you which sources you don’t need to photocopy.  This includes reports from the Academy of St Gabriel.  Please don’t stick extra paperwork in there “just to be on the safe side”.  Check with other heralds. Don’t give a fresh haystack with every new needle.

There will be more about this as electronic submissions ramp up, but for now please bear that in mind.  Rocket loves her job!  Don’t be the one who pushes her over into only liking it!

In service,

: Karl Crux :