An exciting aspect of the Society is the pageantry and spectacle of the nobility and the participants, and heraldry is a vital part of that pageantry.

To recreate some aspects of heraldry in the Society, the SCA's College of Arms organizes and maintains a registration service, to which participants may submit their proposed names and armory for approval. Branch names, titles and honours are also registered.

For our purposes, registration ensures that no SCA or well-known real armory is duplicated (unwittingly causing offense), and provides advice and direction to submitters, for registering names and armory appropriate for our period of study.

The College models this service on the late medieval royal Colleges of Arms, primarily in Britain and Western Europe, where arms were issued and protected by the Crown, but administered by the heralds. Our Awards of Arms imitate both the grants issued in period, and those that continue to be issued in the UK and Commonwealth nations today.

The Ealdormere College of Heralds provides forms for use by the populace to submit their names and armory. These forms are found on the Ealdormere College of Heralds website.

Administrative or clerical mistakes, rather than errors of style, cause the majority of returned or pended (delayed) devices.

While most submissions heralds can (and do) accommodate small mistakes, they cannot read a submitter's mind. They rely on the information in the forms, to make decisions in keeping with the submitter's preferences.

For an excellent survey of common errors compiled by a former Laurel Herald (based on statistics of returns during her tenure) A link to "Argent Snail's Armory Insta-boing check list" is located on the ECoH website.

This article is a series of tips to help submitters (and heralds) fill out the device form and name form correctly, and avoid returns for simple clerical errors. It reviews the forms from top to bottom, highlighting sections that may be mysterious to the first-time user.

Note that above all, in order to register a device, you must register a name. Without a name, the heralds have noone to assign the device to. You can submit both name and device at the same time, but the device cannot go in without a corresponding name.

• Make more than one copy of each blank form...just in case.
  
  Read the form over carefully before beginning to fill in the blanks. Have all your information ready before beginning the form.

• Print your information clearly. Neatness counts.

• Mark the checkboxes clearly to indicate one of multiple choices.

For the device form, the fine print reads:

Send 1 Black & White and 3 Color copies of this form to
The Green Mantle Herald (address in The Tidings) with a
cheque made payable to "SCA Ealdormere".

• A 'black and white' copy means that one copy of the forms you submit has a 'key line' or outline drawing of your arms, with no shading - not even for black parts of the device. Picture an unused colouring book - lines only, with no colours filled in.

• Three coloured copies are the minimum to send to Green Mantle. Make a copy for yourself, and a courtesy copy for your local herald.

• For colouring, the College of Heralds strongly recommends Crayola's Original 8-pack markers. They're about $5/pack in stationery stores. They're bright and bold; coloured pencils do not always provide the sharp contrast required.

· Society name: this should be the name you are submitting, or already have registered.
· Consulting herald: if a herald helped you with the forms or design, include their name and contact info.

Restricted charges: if you are a Peer, you can include a symbol of your rank on your arms (e.g. a coronet). You include the date you were elevated as reference for your eligibility.

Action type: most actions are new submissions (New). If you are submitting a device because the first one was returned, indicate 'Resubmission', even if the second submission is completely different from the first.

Proposed blazon: remember that the Society registers the picture (emblazon), not the words (blazon). If the words and the picture do not match, the heralds assume that the picture is correct. (This fact is confused by the format of the Society Ordinary and Armorial, which lists blazons, but has no pictures, requiring readers to know 'heraldese' to make sense of it.)

SO - if the heralds feel there's a better way of describing your device correctly, the blazon (words) may change slightly. Don't panic. Your picture is what counts.

Mini-blazon: this small drawing of the device is another key line drawing of your design, with no shading.

Take time to make this small drawing clear and identifiable. Most heralds will only see the mini version during the commenting process; if it is not clear, your submission may be returned.

• fill out the text part of the form

• draw your arms clearly and neatly in the large shield shape, with no shading

• on a photocopier, reduce the form by 64%, then reduce the copy by 64%, to produce a shield drawing close to the required mini drawing size

• cut out the small drawing, tape it neatly onto your first form, and copy it to produce a form w/ one large and one small drawing complete
  
  Make several copies, and colour in the ones you need for submission

Name form

Instructions

For the name form, the fine print reads:

Send 2 copies of this form and all documentation to the Green Mantle Herald (name & address in The Tidings)
Make checks payable to "SCA - Ealdormere Heralds".

• for each copy of the form, include any photocopied documentation required for the name

• make a copy for yourself (of the form, and the documentation), and a courtesy copy for the local herald

Society name and Name being submitted: for most people, these are one and the same. However, you can register an alternate persona name, so the form accommodates this possibility.

Branch name: enter the name of your local group (canton, shire, barony, stronghold, etc.)

Consulting herald: if a herald helped you with the form or with documentation, include their name and contact info.

Name previously submitted: if you've had previous submissions (registered or returned), this information helps keep your files grouped together.

Read the criteria carefully to decide how you would like the heralds to consider your submission. These options are included based on years of heraldic experience, juggling submitters' preferences against the criteria of the Rules for Submissions, while making as few alterations as possible.

Giving the heralds information about your preferences helps them make the best choices.

"I will not accept major changes": the heralds may make small changes if required, for correctness of language, or to avoid conflict. This choice offers them some flexibility, and consequently this option is preferred by submission heralds.

"I will not accept minor changes": the heralds may not make any changes, no matter how small, to register your name. This gives them no leeway for accommodating unforseen conflicts, and, if such a conflict arises, they must return your name.

"If my name must be changed...": these options help the heralds decide what to register just in case there's a problem. Consider what part of your name matters most to you (sound, meaning, language/culture).

"If you are submitting armory with this name...": all armory must have a name attached to it. If your name is returned, for whatever reason, Laurel can still register your armory under a temporary 'holding name' (usually your mundane name + your group name).

This arrangement allows your armory to be included in the Ordinary and Armorial for conflict-checking, and means you must resubmit only your name, rather than resubmitting your name and device.

If you check off the box, you are indicating that you do not want a holding name; thus, if your name is returned, your armory will be returned as well.

Name documentation and notes

You can check www.sca.org/heraldry for articles about names and reliable sources, OR ask a herald for help.

• Any articles hosted on www.sca.org/heraldry is considered acceptable as documentation. You won't even have to include a photocopy, just list the source.

• If you use an Internet source, include a copy of the home or index page, as well as the page you find the name on. Make sure the URL appears on the page (usually printed in the footer).

• For citing books, include a copy of the title page (shows title and author), the copyright page (for edition and year) and the relevant page with the name on it. Highlight the relevant paragraph.

• Heralds prefer quality over quantity: one good well-documented source is better than several questionable sources.

• Appendix H of the Heralds' Administrative Handbook is a list of books that do not require photocopies. These are very common and easily accessible sources, and Laurel has copies. If your name comes from any of the sources listed there, simply cite the book name, the edition, and the page number.

• The Admin Handbook also has a list of sources to avoid. Check this list, and make sure you're not using a poor-quality source

• Before you mail your submission to Green Mantle, do you have:

• fully completed forms (address, blazon, checkboxes complete)?

• the right number of copies?

• the cheque for the submissions?

• copies for yourself?

Congratulations! Drop it in the mail, and you've done your part.