[ANSTHRLD] question about augmentation

[Jennifer Smith]

> Would that mean that, without a letter of permission
> to conflict, no Ansteorran could use a Black Star on a
> gold field as their augmentation? That seems so sad.
> :(

Not entirely true. What's a problem is any augmentation that in itself looks
like a set of arms -- ie, augmentation in the form of a canton or an
escutcheon (or other "forms of heraldic display"). Simply putting a black
star on a gold background elsewhere isn't a problem; Alden already gave the
excellent example of Galen of Bristol.

>...
> Also, can anyone tell me what sorts of forms it's
> appropriate for augmentations to take? Cantons, I
> know, but what else? I get the impression that you can
> just add an element to your device (as long as it
> clears conflict, etc.), but it seems like that's as
> likely to look like a change of device as an
> augmentation of arms. Is there anything other than
> cantons that reads as being particularly
> "augmentation-y"? I guess in Ansteorra, anything with
> our mullet of 5 greater and 5 lesser points (in any
> color) would look augmentation-y to me, but maybe
> that's just me.

Yes, an augmentation can realistically take many different forms. I checked
the OandA and found a bunch. Here's my quick & dirty analysis:

17 inescutcheon charged
13 canton charged
2 a round shield charged
1 lozenge charged
1 in chief a lance argent dependent therefrom a banner charged
4 three mullets one and two argent
2 three mullets in fess argent
1 in chief three mullets argent
2 a sun Or
1 on a chief Or a dragon passant coward sable ducally crowned gules
1 in canton four crescents conjoined in saltire horns outward argent
1 three triskeles argent each charged with a tau cross azure
1 on a chief wavy argent three triskeles azure
1 seven triskeles azure
1 a triskele argent
1 an orle surmounted by an orle of triskeles, argent
1 a mullet of five greater and five lesser points sable
1 a unicornate natural seahorse contourny maintaining a banner Or
1 a unicornate natural seahorse erect contourny maintaining in its tail a
lance and pennon Or
1 a dragon passant argent
1 on a chief azure, two keys fesswise reversed in fess argent
1 on a chief sable two keys fesswise, wards to base Or
1 a baton sable
1 an annulet Or
1 three escallops
1 a poppy slipped and leaved Or
1 in fess two bezants and in pale in annulo an Oriental dragon passant to
sinister and another passant inverted Or (...yes, really)

There are only three kingdoms with a "standard augmentation" registered.
They are:

Æthelmearc, Kingdom of: (Fieldless) A demi-escarbuncle argent.
Caid, Kingdom of: Azure, four crescents conjoined in saltire, horns outward,
argent.
Meridies, Kingdom of: (Fieldless) Three mullets one and two argent.

And then for some actual historical examples, I offer the following
real-world arms:

Buchanan of that Ilk: Or, a lion rampant sable, for augmentation, a double
tressure flory counter-flory sable.
Douglas: Argent, a heart gules and on a chief azure three mullets argent,
for augmentation, the heart crowned proper.
Great Britain: Argent, a sinister hand appaumy gules.
Horatio Nelson, Viscount Sir: Or, a cross flory sable and overall on a bend
gules another engrailed Or charged with three grenades sable flammant
proper, for augmentation, on a chief wavy argent a palm tree between a
disabled ship and a ruinous battery all issuant from waves of the sea all
proper, for second augmentation (posthumous), on a fess wavy overall azure
the word TRAFALGAR Or.
Howard, Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal of England: Gules, a bend between six
crosses crosslet fitchy argent, for augmentation, on the bend in chief an
escutcheon Or charged with a demi-lion its mouth pierced by an arrow within
a double tressure flory counter-flory gules.
Malta: Per pale argent and gules, for augmentation, in canton the George
Cross proper.
Stewart, royal house of Scotland: Or, a fess checky argent and azure, for
augmentation, the fess within a double tressure flory counter-flory gules.


One simple possibility would be to stick an escutcheon of "Or, a mullet of
five greater and five lesser points within a bordure sable" right in the
middle of that argent flame. Dead center, good contrast, darned obvious. :)
Or, put the escutcheon on the argent base. Or, you know, lots of
possibilities!

-Emma