Adrian Imperial College of Arms nigelbyz@yahoo.com 9 February 2000

Unto the members of the Imperial College of Arms does Nigel the Byzantine, Fleur-de-Lis King of Arms and Baronet, send Greetings and Salutations!

Fellow Heralds:

Estates Writ on Regalia, Titles, Orders, and Forms of Address

By the time you read this the long-awaited Regalia Writ will have finally been published by the Office of the Chancery (give or take a day or two). You may find it here. There is a forthcoming article from this office explaining the Writ in greater detail. There are several people whom Fleur-de-Lis would like to acknowledge, whose opinions, hard work, and determination brought this Writ to fruition:

Fleur-de-Lis would especially like to thank His Imperial Highness, Sir Nikolai Belski, for his especially hard work, enduring long hours of legal wrangling, compromise, and semantics.

Congratulations

Please join me in congratulating Shamus Vox Coronis, on his elevation to the title of Lord! Of course, the burning question on everyone's mind is: will he finally register arms now that he's armigerous? :)

Also, please join me in congratulating Maud Portcullis on her elevation from Herald to Queen of Arms. The Archduchy she serves, Tierra del Fuego, gave me some very compelling arguments as to her qualifications, with which I agree wholeheartedly.

Nigel's Cyber Road Trips

Recently, I was present at a collegium for the new Shire of Thatuna's heraldry collegium, but not physically. I logged into the Shadowlands Chatroom and made myself available for questions and general get-to-know-you chatting. The event was a smashing success! We even had Important Visitors who made the Thatunans feel very welcome in their new home with us!

If any other region would like to stage a similar event, I would be glad to be present, via the Chatroom or other electronic media, for live realtime Q&A. Please contact me to arrange this.

Website Upgrades

The College of Arms website has had some significant improvements since last month. I have been very busy getting everything hammered out, including several HTML glitches that have been reported to me.

The Roster and Clickable Map have been extensively upgraded. If your region's information is incorrect or missing, please let me know so I can repair it.

If you have any suggestions for what you'd like to see, or especially any bug reports, please email me.

Reports

To re-iterate what I expect out of each of you for reports:

Shire Pursuivants, Duchy Heralds, and assistants to Sovereigns of Arms should report no less than once per quarter (March, June, September, December). Archduchy and Kingdom Sovereigns of Arms and all deputies to Fleur-de-Lis should report no less than once per month. Reports are due by the fifteenth of the month. Failure to report two months in a row will result in a written request for a report. Failure to report three months in a row will result in a written complaint to your Crown. Failure to report four months in a row will result in a written request to your Crown that a replacement for you be seriously considered. (If you are a Pursuivant or a Herald, please read "months" above as "quarters").

Reports should be written, but email is encouraged. Please copy your immediate regional superior on all reports, but send all presentation forms via snailmail directly to me. A phone call or other spoken report is also acceptable, if it is followed up by the next reporting period with a written report.

Reports are essential to prove that you are doing your job as a herald, thereby earning your Ministry point. I have made it clear before and I will state it again: unless a herald makes regular reports (which is required by the Bylaws), it is impossible to know whether that person is doing his or her job correctly, since most of what a herald does is behind the scenes. So please:

Don't make me whine to your Crown.

Miscellany

The Armorial Minor of the Empire, which is available to any member is a list of the Arms and badges registered with the Empire. The Armorial Major of the Empire is a roster of Arms, blazon and known accomplishments of the members, in order of precedence. The Armorial Major will be available after December 1992 at a cost of $10.00.

from the College of Heraldry of the Adrian Empire 1993, written by Philip, Adrian King of Arms

Amazing how far we've come.......

As always, please feel free to contact either Nigel, Allora, or Aerindane with any comments, questions, or concerns you may have.

In service to the Empire and the Art of Heraldry,

Nigel the Byzantine, Baronet
Fleur-de-Lis King of Arms

REGISTRATIONS AND RETURNS

If you have any questions about anything on the LoRR, please feel free to ask. Also, if you disagree with any of my rulings, please feel free to comment. I am not infallible.

THE FOLLOWING ITEMS HAVE BEEN REGISTERED:

Aragon, Kingdom of

Black Rose, Barony of (Badge) - (fieldless) A rose sable seeded or.

Clear of Lancaster, House of (Badge: Mundane, Dec 1998) - (Fieldless) A rose gules. 1 CD for fieldlessness, 2nd CD for change in tincture of the primary. Similarly clear of York, House of (white rose) and Tudor, House of (red-and-white rose). No conflicts.

Bradley Ericksson (Device) - Per pale purpure and or, a cross patonce throughout counterchanged.

Nice simple design. No conflicts found.

Donovan of Oxford (Device Resub) - Per pale sable and azure, a Latin cross fleury or.

His previous presentation, Per pale sable and azure, a Latin cross fleury surmounting in base a crescent or, was returned for offensive religious symbology per RfHR IX.A.2.b. This presentation clears that problem. No conflicts found.

Little Jon (Device) - Or, an eagle rising and a base sable.

Fleur-de-Lis would like to caution against using the names of famous historical or fictional characters from our Period. No conflicts found.

Sinclaire Windsor (Device) - Sable, a coney salient or.

Nice and simple. No conflicts found.

Chesapeake, Duchy of

Chris Mac Draco (Device Resub) - Vert, a dragon's head couped and in canton a Latin Celtic cross or.

His previous presentation, Vert, a dragon's head couped or, and on a canton azure a Celtic cross or, was returned for violation of the Rule of Tincture. This takes advantage of Fleur-de-Lis' suggestion and fixes the problem.

Esperance, Kingdom of

Embattled Hope wishes to transfer his badge to his deputy, Embattled Lion. Done.

Glendorren, Barony of (Estate) - Azure, a thistle argent.

No conflicts found.

Glendorren, Barony of (Badge) - (fieldless) A thistle argent.

No conflicts found.

Gregoire d'Avallon (Badge) - (fieldless) A bicorporate lion argent.

No conflicts found.

Violet Schaffron (Device) - Argent, a chevron vert between three roses purpure barbed and seeded proper.

No conflicts found.

Sangrael, Archduchy of

Caspain Dunbar (Device) - Per saltire purpure and vert, in pale a death's head and a tankard or.

No conflicts found. The registrant wishes to retain his previously registered arms as a badge.

Jamie MacDonald (Device) - Per chevron checky argent and gules and gules, a chevron azure and in base an anchor argent.

No conflicts found. The device is blazoned this way to specify that the anchor is in the base half of the field, below the chevron.

Karl Brauer (Badge) - Vert, a Norse sun cross or within a bordure indented couped argent.

This is a very unusual design, but not beyond the limits of heraldic design. The indented couped line of division dates to the 15th century and is a variant of raguly. No conflicts found.

York, Kingdom of

Elric Melaidus (Device Reblazon) - Azure, a chevron inverted gules an in chief a helm affronty argent.

His previous registration was Azure, a chevron inverted gules and in chief a barrel helmet contourny argent. It was submitted with the helm in trian aspect more-or-less towards sinister; this fixes the problem and makes for a better symmetry.

THE FOLLOWING ARE BEING RETURNED FOR FURTHER WORK:

Aragon, Kingdom of

Antonio Shivalid da Julio (Device) - Sable, an anthropomorphised crescent or and a chief azure.

This is being returned for violation of the Rule of Tincture, RfHR I., because azure ordinaries are not permitted on sable fields. It is also being returned for non-Period design, RfHR III.A. According to a precedent set in the April 1999 LoRR, the crescent moon with a face is not permitted because it is not a Period heraldic motif. Fleur-de-Lis welcomes documentation to the contrary.

Best fix would be to remove the face from the crescent and change the tincture of the chief.

Aragon, Kingdom of - Ropemaker's Guild of Aragon (Device) - Per pall gules, sable, and vert, in chief in pale a crown and a sun in splendour or, in dexter a Turk's head knot argent, and in sinister a fleur-de-lis or.

Usually, difficulty in blazoning is a sure sign that the given armory does not meet standards for Period design. This is being returned for non-Period design under RfHR III.E.2., since this device has a complexity count of 9. It is also being returned under RfHR VI, since this appears to be an attempt to marshal more than one set of arms together.

The history of the Guild is as follows: They were created as a guild in the Kingdom of Aragon, and were made a Royal Guild by order of Their Aragonian Majesties, which granted them the right to augment their arms with those of Aragon. In November 1999, they were given the Crown Seal of Excellence by Their Imperial Majesties, which granted them the right to augment their arms with a gold fleur-de-lis. These arms are an attempt to accommodate these honours. This is, however, the incorrect way to go about the process of augmentation.

The correct procedure would be to register their own simple arms, in this case, Sable, a Turk's head knot argent. Then, they would augment the arms with a canton of the arms of Aragon, Gules, in pale a crown and a sun in splendour or. On top of that, probably in sinister chief, would go the gold fleur-de-lis of the Empire. Dual augmentation was vanishingly rare in Period, so there is little precedent to go on for combining the augmentations. For the purposes of design, Fleur-de-Lis would offer that the Imperial colors of Argent and Or be worked into the design.

Therefore the arms would be blazoned as follows:

Sable, a Turk's head knot argent, for augmentation, a canton of Aragon, being Gules, in pale a crown and a sun in splendour or, for further augmentation, a sinister chief quarter of the Empire, being Argent, a fleur-de-lis or.

This would create a design similar to the arms of Eton College, which has a chief divided per pale Gules, a lion passant or, and Azure, a fleur-de-lis or.

Fleur-de-Lis would like to see documentation on the Turks' head knot as an heraldic charge when this is presented again.

Beatrice of Huntington (Device) - Per fess wavy sable and azure, a mullet of four greater and four lesser points argent.

This is being returned under RfHR I.B.1.a., because the field division between the two colours is complex. Were this a plain line, it would pass with no problems, barring any conflicts.

Bekke Fofnersdottir (Device) - Azure, a plate voided of a bezant embattled voided of a hurt.

This is being returned for style under RfHR III.F. The only way to blazon this so it could be reproduced accurately was to give it too many layers. It also violates the Rule of Tincture, RfHR I, because of the embattled Or roundel on the Argent roundel. I have spoken with Solaris and the presenter, and she will be changing the design to avoid these problems.

The presenter's previously registered arms stay unchanged.

Morgan Morray (Device) - Sable, a bend wavy azure and overall a wolf rampant argent.

This is being returned for violation of the Rule of Tincture, RfHR I. We would like to re-iterate it here:

The Rule of Tincture.

The Rule of Tincture is defined as follows: "Colour may not be placed on Colour, nor Metal on Metal." This Rule is generally inviolable, with certain explicit exceptions as outlined below.

1. The so-called "simple" Ordinaries (Pale , Fess, Bend, Bend Sinister, Cross, Saltire, Chevron, Chevron Inverted, Pall, and Pall Inverted) may be used in the following manner so long as they contain no complex lines:
   1. Gules Ordinary on a Sable or Azure field;
   2. Sable or Azure Ordinary on a Gules field.

This Rule does not allow for an Azure ordinary on a Sable field, especially one with a complex line. Fleur-de-Lis would like to point out to Solaris the frequency of presentations coming from his jurisdiction that contain a Wavy division between Sable and Azure, and that Solaris is free to return those at the local level. According to RfHR XIV.C.5., local heralds are empowered to return presentations at the local level which clearly violate the Rules.

Shanna O'Flannabhr (Device) - Quarterly 1 and 4, Azure, a decrescent displaced to dexter and at honour point displaced to sinister an estoile argent, and 2 and 3, argent, a trefoil vert.

Usually, difficulty in blazoning is a sure sign that the given armory does not meet standards for Period design. This is being returned for two reasons. The first is that, according to RfHR VI.A., we do not register marshalled arms. Second, the arms in the first and fourth quarters was extremely difficult to blazon; the charges are not positioned properly. The awkward blazon above is the result of my attempt to blazon the charges' exact position.

Best fix would be to choose a single design and register that.

Chesapeake, Duchy of

Kelda Ruddcatha (Device Resub) - Purpure, a saltire or, at its junction on a delf saltirewise or a cross of Celtic knotwork sable.

This is being returned for style under RfHR III.A. Celtic knotwork, while certainly a Period art form, is not a Period heraldic style, and thus may not be registered. The delf at the junction of the saltire is also questionable form; there is a type of cross treatment known as "quadrate" which places a delf (square) at the junction of the cross, but there is no dividing line between the cross and the delf, and it is only known for cross-as-charge, not cross-as-ordinary. This means that a cross patonce may be made quadrate, but the ordinary known as a cross may not.

PRECEDENT: Any treatment acceptable for crosses is acceptable for saltires.

Fleur-de-Lis understands that the presenter is a child. We would like to discourage the registration of armory by children unless the child in question is on a track to Knighthood as currently allowed by the Bylaws. Children are known to be extremely fickle in their choice of armory, especially after passing through adolescence. Fleur-de-Lis cannot count the number of times he has seen young ladies of age twelve choose arms along the lines of Azure, a unicorn argent, only to change them to something in Sable and Gules involving vampires when they reach about age sixteen.

Fleur-de-Lis would like to suggest that the young lady bear the quartered arms of her parents with a label until such time as she reaches majority. This is a very Period way of displaying armory, and since she is being raised in the Empire, is entirely appropriate. This is not a binding suggestion; we do not ordinarily check the age of our presenters.

Mathew Sealgaer (Device Resub) - Vert, a pheon or charged with in chevron a sword palewise between two items vert.

This is being returned under RfHR III.F. No one that Fleur-de-Lis showed this device to could identify the two charges on the pheon. One person in particular said, (and I quote), "It looks pretty sick".

If the presenter stuck with a plain pheon, it would probably pass. Please encourage him to draw the pheon correctly, as I showed in his previous return.

Esperance, Kingdom of

de Monet, County of (Estate) - Vert, in bend three bezants.

This is being returned for lack of petition. As per the precedent set in the March 1999 LoRR, Estate Arms must be presented with a petition, signed by the Estate's constituents, saying that they approve of the armory being presented. No such petition was presented, and so these arms must be returned. Please remind the presented that computer-generated color is also not accepted; the green is so dark it is almost black.

Dennis of the Dell (Device Resub) - Sable, two wolf hounds sejant addorsed argent, and in chief a plate charged with a cross formy vert, all within a bordure vert semy of harps argent.

This is being returned for violation of the Rule of Tincture, RfHR I. Vert is not permitted on sable. Best fix is to swap the tinctures of the bordure and harps, or else omit the bordure altogether and leave the harps as they stand, in orle.

William Trotter (Device) - Per fess wavy gules and barry wavy argent and azure, a wyvern statant or within a bordure or semy-de-lis gules.

This is being returned for conflict with HMS Draconus, House (Kingdom of Aragon) (Jul 1999) - Per fess wavy gules and barry wavy argent and azure, a wyvern statant and in canton a sun in splendor or. 1 CD for removing the sun in canton and replacing it with the bordure. This does not count as two differences; RfHR XI.C.2 counts adding or removing charges as one difference. Replacing one charge with another (in this case, a perhipheral charge with a perhipheral ordinary) still only garners 1 CD and is counted uner RfHR XI.C.5. as a type change, especially since we are dealing with perhipheral charges. The addition of the strewn charges counts for nothing because only 1 change to a group of charges may be counted. This also falls afoul of RfHR XI.D., the visual test. This is quite clearly an attempt to mimic the arms of the abovenamed Estate (from another Kingdom, no less!).

If the presenter wishes to show his allegiance to a foreign Estate, he may wish to make the further change of changing one of the tinctures in the original armory.

Sangrael, Archduchy of

Isabeau Dionne (Device) - Gules, a wyvern displayed, tail nowed, within a bordure rayonny or.

The presenter's original intent was to show a wyvern on a flame. Since flames are represented in heraldry in a very stylized form, this proved unworkable. Using the bordure rayonny allows this design to allude to the flame without actually drawing something unheraldic, and makes for a very striking and beautiful coat of arms.

Unfortunately, there is a conflict with York, Kingdom of (Mar 1995) - Gules, a wyvern displayed or. 1 CD for adding the bordure (RfHR XI.C.2.), but no additional CDs. No other conflicts found. Best fix would be to change the tincture of the wyvern or the field. Changing at least half the tincture of either the field or the wyvern would be sufficient.

Sangrael, Archduchy of - Brewers' Guild of Sangrael (Badge) - Per chevron purpure and vert, a chevron rompu and in chief in fess a cup and a tankard argent.

This is being returned for style. In a precedent I set in the November 1999 LoRR, I stated:

Two different types of the same category of charge may not be used on the same piece of armory. This includes combinations of sword/dagger/rapier, lion/Bengal tiger/catamount/domestic cat, and so forth. Two swords in fess or Two rapiers in fess are both acceptable, while A sword and a rapier in fess is not.

Since a cup and a tankard are in the same category and are not counted as heraldically different, this violates the precedent. I have spoken with the citizens of Sangrael, and we are working towards a more acceptable design.

York, Kingdom of

Moreta Harper (Device) - Quarterly 1 and 4 argent, and 2 and 3 azure in fess a decrescent and an estoile argent, overall a fillet cross sable.

This is being returned for style. First, the fillet cross (a very skinny cross) is bad style. Many people doing marshalled or quartered arms think that there must needs be a heavy black line between the sections. This is incorrect. Second, the decrescent and estoile as presented have unequal weight, leading to an unbalanced (and therefore unheraldic) design.

Fleur-de-lis has communicated with the presented the best way to fix this:

Remove the fillet cross. Take the crescents and turn them horns up (default for crescents) and place the estoiles between the horns of the crescents. This motif was used as a badge in our Period and has much better balance.

Fleur-de-Lis wonders if the presenter of this device is in any way related to Shanna O'Flannabhr, above.

Fleur-de-Lis has also communicated to the presenter that her name as given above is VERY suggestive of the Dragonriders of Pern series, and that such a name is probably best left to the realm of science fiction fandom, not to a Game that is based on the Middle Ages.