[ANSTHRLD] fieldless semy

[Timothy A. McDaniel]

medb / R Husted <rhusted at mastnet.net> wrote:
> is it possible to put a field treatment on a fieldless badge?
>
> <fieldless> semy of X Or
> <fieldless> ermined Or
> <fieldless> estencele Or

Nit: In SCA terms, none of those is a field treatment.  "<tincture>
ermined <tincture>" is itself a tincture.  As the CoA Glossary puts
it,

    Unlike other designs featuring strewn charges, the ermine variants
    are furs and are classed as separate tinctures in their own right;
    the multiple ermine spots are not classed as "charges" for any
    purposes (with the exception that they must have good contrast
    with the tincture on which they are placed - e.g., azure ermined
    gules is not permitted).

(However, if you have a small number of ermine spots where it's clear
that they're not an ermined tincture, they are considered charges: in
"Azure, an ermine spot argent", "Or, three ermine spots gules", the
ermine spots are charges.)

"estencele" can be alternately blazoned "semy of sparks".  "Semy" is
strewn charges: accent on the *charges*, not field treatment.  As the
CoA Glossary says (note the last full sentence):

    Field Treatment.  A repeating pattern drawn in a tincture with
    good contrast over the field or a charge.  Field treatments leave
    more of the underlying tincture showing than they cover, and are
    considered a part of the field or charge tincture.  Field
    treatments include masoned, honeycombed, and so on.  Field
    treatments do not include the ermined furs or strewn charges. See
    also: Ermined Tinctures, Semy.

As others have mentioned, fieldless badges have to have all their
charges touching in some way.  RfS VIII.5:

    5.  Fieldless Style - Fieldless armory must form a self-contained
    design.

    A fieldless design must have all its elements conjoined, like the
    three feathers issuing from a crown used by the Heir Apparent to
    the throne of England. ...

Kathri noted that ermine spots and pawprints are "exceptions"
to the precedent.  (There are period examples of ermine spots which
are connected, but you can register the "usual" depiction, which is in
four pieces.)  I believe that the cross of Jerusalem is also
registerable, despite being in five pieces (a cross crosslet between
four crosses couped).  I suppose that if there are other charges which
are natually disconnected, you could presumably register them
fieldless too.

There is a further problem, the other sentence of RfS VIII.5:

    ... Since there is no field in such a design, it may not use
    charges that rely on the edges of the field to define their shape,
    such as bordures and orles, nor to cut off their ends, such as
    ordinaries or charges throughout.

Since strewn charges and ermined tinctures continue out until they hit
a boundary, this would be a second rule violation for the same idea.

Consider, then, what the SCA calls field treatments:

    [Fieldless] Masoned Or.
    [Fieldless] Honeycombed Or.
    [Fieldless] Papillony Or.
    [Fieldless] Scaly Or.

(I can't think of any others, but they're so rarely used in the SCA
except for masoned that I wouldn't be surprised if I missed one or
two.)

You might argue that the "elements conjoined" isn't a problem, because
they all are.  However, there is a definitional problem that a field
treatment is a treatment of a *field*, and, well, "[Fieldless]"?
Further, there's still the problem of

    ... Since there is no field in such a design, it may not use
    charges that rely on the edges of the field to define their shape,
    such as bordures and orles, nor to cut off their ends, such as
    ordinaries or charges throughout.

Anyone pointing out that the rule just refers to "charges" will be
accused of everything from high treason to mopery and dopery of the
spaceways.

Daniel de Lincolia
--
Tim McDaniel is tmcd at jump.net; if that fail,
    tmcd at us.ibm.com is my work account.
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