September brings with it much change. Time for a new Crown, time for a new reign, time for a new season, time for FOOTBALL! Oh, wait, that's not SCA-related. Back to the subject. The transition between Crowns oft seems quite common place, but in fact, each Crown brings a different atmosphere and energy to Atlantia. However, They do not do it alone. When we, the citizens of Atlantia, get caught up in the ambiance of a new reign, we add to that energy and excitement. Remember that, when you go to Coronation. This isn't just another Coronation. It's the birth of a new season of Atlantia. Make it fun, for Them and you with a shining, positive attitude! For this reign, we have several heraldry/scribal competitions to look forward to. Naturally, there will be the Roll of Arms competition at Crown Tourney. But in addition, we will have the Processional Display competition (also at Crown), and I am sponsoring a Heraldic Garb competition at 12th Night! So, please promote these competitions within your regions and get people excited about entering! Finally, it would please me immensely if we had a heraldry class at every event this reign. It doesn't have to be big or particularly difficult. If you teach a field heralding class before the tourney, that would be fab. If you decide to have a kids' activity where they learn to make their own shields, complete with armorial design, that would be fab. And kudos to the guy who decides to just leap off the bridge and do a ten minute, animal posture demonstration, for the crowd before court! Part of our job as heralds is to pass on this wonderful aspect of medieval life, through display and education. Share the knowledge, both with your fellow heralds AND with the rest of the populace. You never know, you might inspire some of them to join us! Baron Michael Batcok is scheduled to be the primary lead herald for TRM's reign. If you would like to serve as a "second" and get some court experience, please contact him directly. For those dates he cannot make, I will still arrange lead heralds. Be courteous, be helpful, be happy!
Greetings unto all to whom these presents come from Lady Patricia of Trakai!
Wow, Tropical Storm Hanna really threw a monkey wrench into the Kingdom calendar, hasn't it? Oh, wait, "monkey wrench" isn't period either..
As I write this, the clouds are rolling in over northern Atlantia, and gentles throughout our Kingdom are hunkering down for several inches of rain, potentially whipped by winds. The September 6th Coronation of Jason and Gerhild has been canceled and They will ascend the throne at Chalice of the Sun God V on September 13th. To recap the recent discussion on the Atlantian Heralds' mailing list:
Master Herveus d'Ormonde will be the lead herald for TRM Sinclair and Kari's last court on the morning of the 13th.
Baron Michael Batcok will herald the first court of Jason and Gerhild.
Mistress Sunniva Kyrre is the lead scribe for the event and will handle all questions about scrolls.
Master Evan de Collaureo is assembling the consult table staff and gear. I will bring some books, but more reference materials are always welcome.
Mistress Rhiannon is asking all heralds to offer their services for announcements. Since all the normal Chalice of the Sun God activities will be happening, along with the Coronation ceremonies, folks will be needed to cry the site all day Saturday. One hour of your time is all you will need to donate if we get enough volunteers.
Of course, keep your eye on the e-mail list for last-minute updates!
Now, a word or two about the awesomeness that was Pennsic War XXXVII. Atlantia's own Gisela vom Kreuzbach headed Pennsic Herald's Point this year - and wasn't that a fabulous Known World Heralds' Party, with the lights turned down low and live Middle Eastern music? Master Herveus and Master Eldred AElfwald led two heraldic walking tours, and three of the campsites that received their "Atta-Boy" awards were Atlantian: Vair & Ermine, Atlantian Royal, and Ravenstreet. Way to go! Also, Mistress Rhiannon's Heraldic Photo Contest drew eight entries this year, and Baron Grimr and Duchess Isabel won for this photo - congrats! Finally, Mistress Alisoun has sent out an ILoI with a total of 63 names, devices, and badges on it, so get those conflict-checking neurons firing.
Speaking of conflict checking, this edition of Herald's Point features a brief tutorial by Master Herveus, reprinted from the Atlantian Heralds mailing list - but definitely worth saving, as it shows the step-by-step logic of the process. There's a full track of heraldic classes at University on October 4th, too!
In service,
A Conflict-Checking Lesson
By Herveus d'Ormonde, Morsulus Herald
(The setting: Someone brought to an Atlantian herald a device that he meant to submit -- 7 years ago -- in Caid. The primary charge is an Enfield -- a fox-headed, wolf-bodied, eagle-clawed and winged beastie. Seven years ago, he colored it in silver because he didn't know that it should stay white. Can this thing be registered? Herveus replied on the Atlantian Heralds e-list.)
I found no conflicts. Here's what I did:
go to oanda.sca.org
select Online SCA Ordinary
click on E (for Enfield)
click on Enfield (which takes you to Monster-Enfield).
click on Monster-Enfield.
I note that there are only 28 items with enfields. That's helpful. I scan the list looking for the field. I find:
Grainne the Red
The following device associated with this name was registered in December of 2005 (via Atenveldt):
Per bend sinister sable and gules, between two enfields combattant a cinquefoil argent.
Wow. The field matches. There is one CD for the number of enfields. Grainne's device has enfields facing to dexter and to sinister (one each), but since one of them is in the same position as our candidate's, you can't get a CD for posture.
We do get a second CD for changing the cinquefoil into a crescent. At this point, we have two CDs, so we can stop counting.
Now, if there is a conflict, what can we say about it?
If it doesn't have an enfield, it's clear by X.1 or X.2. Yes, that might not hold true, but checking that case gets ugly real fast. We'll just assume it and move on.
If it conflicts, it has a different field. That means we have one CD in hand. We only need a second. That means that an as-yet unfound conflict will have to match everything but the field. I search for "crescent" and only find something that is so different I don't bother counting. For starters, the increscent is azure, not argent, so that's an easy CD.
Having failed to find a conflict, I claim that it is clear.
As an exercise, one could examine the Rules for Submission, particularly section X.4, and identify the specific rules that I applied without citing.
Hmmm ... this could be a useful example for the University class I am supposed to teach on conflict checking.
(Editor's note: Section numbers refer to the Rules for Submission at http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/rfs.html.)