Making a submission

Submitting a name, device or badge for registration with the College Of Arms? Then you’ve come to the right place.

Submissions Forms are available here:

Individual Name Form
Branch Name Form
Device Form (and Image)
Badge Form (and Image)

Get your consulting herald to:

• Download the appropriate form (and image file for armorial submissions) from the list above
• For armorial submissions, use the image file to create a correctly-sized .png file of the emblazon image
• Complete the form, including attaching the emblazon image for armorial submissions by clicking on the empty shield space
• Name each form, image and documentation file consistently using only alphanumeric characters . (e.g. Ollivier Le Floch Name.pdf, Sigrith Pardi Device.png)
• Email your completed form, emblazon image file and any additional documentation to Rocket, cc-ing in both you and your local branch herald to ensure we’re all on the same page.

Documenting a submission

Not quite ready to submit yet? Here’s how to get there.

All submissions need to be accompanied by appropriate documentation. For name submissions, this means demonstrating that all the elements can be found in the SCA period and are compatible with each other. For armorial submissions, this means demonstrating that all elements of a design were known in the SCA period (if they haven’t been used recently). You can find our standards here.

Documentation is good, but too much documentation is bad. The ideal name submission documentation includes an attested spelling, date and location for each element, and that’s all. If you use a source from Appendix H, then that’s all you need. Otherwise, please include images of only the relevant pages: the title page of the book and the page(s) on which the information is found with the relevant sections highlighted. Don’t copy whole books, chapters or theses.

Documentation doesn’t have to be perfect, but you have to have made an effort. If you don’t show documentation for part of your submission it will be returned, so put what you have, even if it’s not ideal. There’s plenty of time during the submission process for commenting heralds to add more information or correct mistakes.

Consult with a herald. You don’t have to try to run this whole gauntlet yourself! A herald will be able to help you find names and armoury that are authentic, registerable under our current standards, and not in conflict with anything already registered; or if they can’t they’ll know who ask. We don’t require you to use a rostered herald if you don’t want to, but we strongly, strongly encourage it.

Resources

Did you think we were going to leave you to do this on your own? Here’s some pages that might help.

The Blazons mailing list is the place for Lochac’s heralds to talk more seriously and privately.  Every rostered herald is expected to subscribe, and it’s how Crux Australis communicates officially with the College of Heralds.

The Lochac Heraldry Chat group on Facebook is an excellent resource for learning and improving your heraldic skills.  Heralds from all over the kingdom and the wider known world participate. There is also a larger SCA facebook consultation group here, and a training group for new heralds here.

The College of Arms Name Articles and the Medieval Names Archive are fabulous resources for name documentation. If you want a name, start looking there.

The best way to find inspiration for authentic heraldry is to look at period Rolls of Arms, but if you’re finding that a bit inaccessible, consider browsing some of the examples of charges available at the Book of Traceable Heraldic Art.

The Lochac Roll of Arms displays the registered arms of every single Lochacian.  It’s an excellent resource for seeing the link between blazon and emblazon (ie between the words and the pictures).

The Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory (SENA) is the first place to look for the rules we follow, with examples and the reasoning behind them.

The Archive of Laurel Letters is the place to go to see what exactly was registered or returned, and why. It can be searched using Morsulus Search.

The Online System for Commentary And Response (OSCAR) is where heralds comment on submissions.  Every rostered herald should be subscribed to and regularly involved in this.

The Search Forms for the SCA Armorial and the Ordinary and Armorial of the SCA are where you find out what’s already registered.

The submissions process

What happens after you send your submissions email? The next five to seven months in a nutshell.

When your submission is received by Rocket Herald, they will check it for errors or anything missing.  If there are errors, Rocket will attempt to contact you and your consulting herald to get them fixed.

At the end of the month (currently around the 24th of each month), Rocket will put your complete submission onto the next month’s Kingdom Letter of Intent (KLoI).  The heralds of Lochac will then have a month to discuss it, with the goal of improving its chances for registration.

If it survives this commentary period without any glaring issues, it will be placed on the Letter of Intent (LoI) and the whole College of Arms, all twenty Kingdoms worth of heralds, will get a chance to comment.  This is basically the same process as the Kingdom version, but it takes two months and is considerably more authoritative.

After that, it will be judged by the Laurel Sovereign of Arms and their staff: Pelican Sovereign of Arms who handles names, and Wreath Sovereign of Arms who handles armoury.  The Sovereigns have monthly meetings, during which they go through all the submissions from every kingdom.

With the deciding done, it falls to the Laurel Clerk to cross-check and verify everything, and collate the discussion notes into a concise form called a Letter of Acceptance and Return.  This takes a couple of months.

When this letter is published, you’ll get a notification about your registration or return from Rocket, and Crux Australis will publish it on the Lochac Announce mailing list, the Blazons mailing list, the Lochac Heraldry Chat group on Facebook, and in the next Crux Australis Monthly Electronic Letter.

An example: If it’s the middle of January and you send your submission to Rocket, it will go on the KLoI for January.  If it passes that test, it goes on the February LoI which is discussed in March and April.  In early May, the Sovereigns making a ruling. The Laurel clerk and proofreaders then work on the LoAR during May and June, and in July it’s published.  If you’re subscribed to the various lists or groups, that’s when you’ll hear about it, five to seven months after your submission. If you’re not, you’ll hear about it slightly later, when Rocket notifies you about the outcome.

If you want to see where your submission is up to, there’s a status page on OSCAR, the heralds’ commentary website.  You don’t need a login to follow that link. Note that only items that have made it past the kingdom level (and thus were submitted up to two months ago) are featured on this page. If you can’t find it there, check in with your consulting herald or with Rocket.

Frequently asked questions

Got another question? Please ask in one of the groups linked above or email Rocket if these don’t help answer it.

How long will this submission take?
You should hear back on the outcome in five to seven months. See the section above to see why it takes so long

How much does this cost?
There is a small cost for each item that is currently covered by the Kingdom, so Heraldic submissions in Lochac are free to the submitter.

Do you really need my home address, phone number and email for this?
No, we just need one way to be able to contact you. As long as you’ve included your email address, you should leave the phone and home address fields blank, and only use them if you don’t want to be contacted by email for any reason.

Why doesn’t anything happen when I click on the form to add my emblazon?
Unfortunately, this functionality does not work with all PDF programs. It does work with the freely available versions of Adobe Reader and Foxit Reader, so we recommend that you download one of these programs for this purpose. If you’re unable to use these programs, you may submit the PDF and the PNG files separately, and Rocket will combine them for you.

Do I need to include a black and white copy of my emblazon?
This was a requirement until late 2022, but a black and white outline copy is no longer needed. However, if you would like to send a black and white emblazon, send a PNG copy along with the other files and we will include it on the KLoI so that it is recorded for future use.

Can’t I just submit using a JPEG of the form like we used to?
You may still submit your forms as 300 DPI jpeg files if you prefer that format to PDF, but if you choose to do so please ensure that you provide a copy of all the information entered on the form in the text of your submission email so that Rocket does not need to retype all of your documentation.

Can I print out the forms and complete them by hand?
Yes. Please scan your completed forms as 300 DPI JPEGs and send the resulting files to Rocket in an email that contains a copy of all information entered on the form as described for JPEG submissions above.

Can’t I just post them to you?
If necessary, this can be arranged. Email Rocket to ask and we’ll work something out

Do I have to be an SCA member to register my heraldry?
No.

How many names and pieces of armoury can I register?
You may register one primary name and up to nine alternate or household names, and one primary device and up to nine badges. Jointly held items count against the limit of both owners.

Can I register a name or device for my child?
If you choose to do so, you may register and alternate name or badge for use of a child, but we encourage you to wait until the child is old enough to choose for themselves and allow them to register their own heraldry instead. We do not put a minimum age on registrations.

Can I register a name or device for my pet?
No. All registrations should be for personal use for human beings.

Can our branch register a new name or device or change our current name or device?
To register a new name or device for your branch, you’ll need to fill out the forms above and also have a petition of support from a majority of the populace or the Seneschal and three quarters of the other officers, as well as a letter of support from the local nobility. Suggested forms for these petitions can be found here for names, and here for devices.  You can find more detail about this in the Administrative Handbook section IV.C5. Previous branch arms can be retained as Ancient Arms.

My branch wants to register an award. How do I do that?
Only Baronies, Principalities and Kingdom can register an award. First, make sure its name follows a period pattern. You can find some great resources for this here. Then fill out the Branch Name Form (and badge if applicable) above, and email it to Rocket like any other submission. Make sure to cc in the ruling nobles as proof of their assent as required by the Kingdom Heraldic Policy.

Lord X has this cool thing in their heraldry, why can’t I have that?
Our rules have evolved over time as our understanding of period heraldic practice has improved, and this sometimes means that things that were previously registerable no longer are. If you’re legally related to Lord X, you can get them to sign an attestation that will allow you to use an otherwise unregisterable element of their heraldry under the Existing Registration Allowance

Do I have to use the same shade of blue as everyone else in my heraldry?
There’s no prescribed colour codes for the different tinctures used in SCA Heraldry, as long as they’re unambiguously one thing and not the other when compared to the other tinctures in the design, then they’re likely registerable. You can find some different tincture sets in this blog post.