Heraldry idea...

[R. Michael Litchfield]

>>>  They arrive at their local
>>>herald, or at a heraldic consultation table at an event, with a design
>>>that they've spent hours working at.
>>
>>And get gratuitosly insulted
>
>Not by me, sir.

Then you are an exception.

>>Most people in the sca want thier heraldry to be a form of personal
>>iconography it is the heralds who have this mental block which precludes
>>them from dealing with this fact and working towards making that a part of
>>the game. They instead insist upon people playing thier game by thier
>>rules.
>*Most* heralds understand that "heraldry" is an Art form, with it's own
>rules. You can't say: "Well, I want to paint in a Realist style, but I want
>to add some Impressionistic touches to it." ...Okay, you *can*, but it's
>*not* "Realist" anymore.

Sewing is an Art form, with it's own rules. And people DO make clothese in
Merovingian Style with Renaissance touches. It may not be merovingian
anymore but we don;t demand people to hold to every detail in thier dress.
We encourage it, we give people awards and public recognition for doing it.

>>We should record people's heraldry without regard to periodicity, or rather
>>with only period style being encouraged but NOT required.
>
>No, sir, we *shouldn't*.  If we are recreating a period, we should re-create
>it....not "just add a few Unicorns, 'cause they're neat" or some "dragons",
>'cause they're rteally cool." Hey, I know; I can be a GOD! Cool idea, no?
>.....No.

SCA heraldry is the drunken bastard child of a dozen differnt heraldic
traditions over a 1000 year period, claiming some sort of period purity is
ludicrous. We have early period celts with registered armory containing
late period charges, japanese mon alongside arabic sigils, and of course we
have all the grandfathered charges from the first couple of years that
don't fit any system known to man.

So what if some yobbo decides he wants to register a purple dinosaur
rampant? Who will that hurt? *GASP* She might decide to parade it at an
event. Well there is currently nothing stopping someone from parading an
unregistered version of that now. I do not think the CoH should quit
assiting people in designing period armory, however we should stop coercing
people.

>                  Alden Pharamond

-michael