ANSTHRLD - Conflict on 2 devices

[Timothy A. McDaniel]

Hans Faust wrote:
> Azure, a Pall Argent, a Rampant Squirrel Sable

The only words capitalized in an SCA blazon are
- the first word
- "[Fieldless]", not technically part of the blazon
- the tincture "Or"
- proper names
(Ignore recent SCA Ordinaries capitalizing tinctures.  The
abbrev.  forms are so abbr., they wanted the tinctures to stick
out more.)

A worse problem is that you don't give the relative positions of
the pall and the squirrel.  If you're not completely sure of the
language of blazon, *please* give a plain-language English
description of it.  In E-mail we don't have the advantage of the
ILoI, where we can look at the mini-emblazon.  Here, I can see
various possibilities:

1) Blue field, a white pall (Y, not upside-down Y which is a
   "pall inverted"), a large black rampant squirrel over the
   whole thing, so it's lying partly obscuring the pall but as
   much or more of the field:
       Azure, a pall argent, OVERALL a squirrel rampant sable.

   That's an instaboing.  RfS VIII.2.b.i says that there must be
   "good contrast" between the field and any charge placed
   overall, and color-on-color is not "good contrast" as defined
   in VIII.2.a.

2) Blue field, white pall, a little black squirrel lying entirely
   on the pall.
       Azure, ON a pall argent a squirrel rampant sable.
   or, equivalently (but the SCA usually uses the "on" form)
       Azure, a pall argent CHARGED WITH a squirrel rampant sable.

   Not an boing, because the black squirrel is entirely on
   white.  However, that's gonna be a rather small squirrel.  I
   prefer to make aminals and other things with a complex outline
   be primary charges, and I think geometrics artisticly work a
   little better as smaller charges.

3) Blue field, white pall, medium-sized black squirrel fitting
   entirely on the field.
       Azure, a pall argent, RELATIVE POSITION a squirrel rampant
       sable.
   For example, if the squirrel is in the top third of the field
   that's separated by the pall:
       Azure, a pall argent, IN CHIEF a squirrel rampant sable.

   Instaboing for the same basic reason as 1, except it's "The
   field must have good contrast with every charge placed
   directly on it" instead of #1's use of the following phrase,
   "and with charges placed overall".

As a style note: -- I want to emphasize that my style notes are
serving suggestions ("part of this nutritious breakfast").  The
elements are all registerable, barring other problems.  I just
like to mention what was more common in period in case the
submitter was interested in period style and/or flexible.  If the
submitters like what they like and that's it, too bad for me --
we give them what they want.

Anyway: palls were pretty rare in period armory, though I must
hasten to add they're perfectly registerable in the SCA.  Palls
tended to be used for archbishoprics' arms, I suspect, because
the pall is based on the pallium, the "stole"-like thing bestowed
on an archbishop.  Squirrels' default (hence, usual posture in
period armory) is sejant, often maintaining a nut.  Both things
are registerable, barring conflict.

> Purpure, a bend sinister Argent, a Lobster, displayed( ?,
> looking down from the top so you can see it's head, claws and
> tail) naiant.

"Displayed" is for birds.  "Naiant" is for fish -- not water
critters in general, I mean fish proper (scales and cold
bloodConnection closed.  DAMMIT!  Can't IBM of all companies
maintain a decent net connection?!?
and cold blood) or cetaceans, or maybe merfolk.  Top-view
arthropods is "tergiant".  If the head is to dexter, the default,

    Purpure, a bend sinister argent, RELATIVE POSITION a lobster
    tergiant fesswise TINCTURE.

You have the same relative position blazon problem as with the first
design.  You're also missing the tincture of the lobster.  If you
omit a tincture, the next *following* tincture applies, so you
can't *do* that with the last charge in a blazon.  If you
reversed it and thought that a missing tincture meant going back
to the *previous* tincture (which, thinking about it, would have
been a much more sensible rule -- but it's centuries too late
now!), then the lobster would be argent.  That would eliminate
the possibilities of "overall" and "on", because white-on-white
is the proverbial polar bear in a blizzard.

Period style note: there were lots of "bend + other charge" in
period, but usually the charge was on the field and the bend was
overall.  That's much rarer in the SCA.  Given that, and given
the conflict-checking privilege in the SCA given for the "primary
charge" (charge entirely on the field in or about the center of
the field), the client may want to put down the lobster and
stretch the bend over it.  On the other hand, that may look like
he's saying "no lobster" -- even tho the modern symbol is red and
has a bordure, a slash overall tends to look like "no".  It's
certainly the submitter's call, and he can do it about any way he
likes, barring conflicts and "good contrast" problems.

Purpure, while SCA-registerable, was quite rare in period, maybe
1% of the coats (except in Iberia, where it made it up to maybe
6-8%).  If you had an unusual charge or unusual tincture in
period, everything else tended to be dead common.  Again, it all
depends on how interested the submitter is in period style.  If
he wants purple and a lobster, or even purple lobsters, that's
fine (barring, as always, other problems).

In short, insufficient information for us to proceed.

Daniel de Lincolia
-- 
Tim McDaniel is tmcd at jump.net; if that fail,
    tmcd at us.ibm.com is my work account.
"To join the Clueless Club, send a followup to this message quoting everything
up to and including this sig!" -- Jukka.Korpela at hut.fi (Jukka Korpela)
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