The Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory - SCA Heraldry

The Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory:The Rules for Submissions4. Excessive Counterchanging: While counterchanging was common in period armory, it was used mainlywith two or four part divisions of the field. Counterchanging of charges over more complex field divisions(barry, gyronny, etc.) is allowed with a semy or similar group of charges; in that design each charge shouldbe drawn so that it is entirely on a single portion of the field. The counterchanging of a single charge over afield division with more than four sections must be attested to be allowed. Central ordinaries may becounterchanged over other simple ordinaries, as there are a few examples of patterns like Argent, a pilesable, overall a chevron counterchanged in late period England. Any other counterchanging of chargesover other charges must similarly be attested to be registered.5. Depictions Which Cannot Be Reproduced Reliably: Depictions that require the careful description of therelative positions of charges, tinctures, etc. in order to produce a visual effect cannot be registered. Designsmust be able to be described in standard heraldic terms to be registerable.For example, we do not use terms like the Victorian honor point to describe locations on the field. We donot have terms to describe the tinctures of a jester's hat in which each point is a different color.A.4. Armory Individually Attested PatternsA. Definitions: Any armorial design that does not fit within our core style rules may still be registered if it can bedocumented as following a pattern of period practice within the armorial style of a single time and placewithin the temporal scope of the Society. This time and place may be in Europe or may be from a non-European period armorial tradition, such as Islamic or Japanese heraldry. We call such a design anIndividually Attested Pattern. All elements in an Individually Attested Pattern must be found in that singletime and place, including charges, arrangement of charge groups, and lines of division. Documentation underthe Individually Attested Pattern rules does not exempt a design from conflict, presumption, or offense rules.For example, Sable, a torii gate Or between three panthers argent, spotted of many tinctures would not beregisterable as an Individually Attested Pattern, as it mixes charges from both Japan and England.Any submissions documented under this section of the rules must be able to have the overall design blazonedin Western European blazon, including tinctures. If necessary, when there is no Western European term for acharge, a non-Western European term may be registerable on a case by case basis, presuming that a term canbe found which will allow reproduction from the blazon. If the submission is not otherwise blazonablewithout creating or borrowing terms that cannot be easily understood by the average herald, the submissionwill not be registered.For example, we will not use the blazon terms dark or light; we require a Japanese design to use standardEuropean tinctures. A so-called cross Osmorog will be blazoned as a cross fourchy between the tines of eachfork a roundel argent, as this is the blazon we have already used for this charge. We will register anarrangement that would not be registerable under the core style rules, such as a roundel within roundels inannulo, but we will not create new terms to describe arrangements of charges.B. What Must Be Documented: Each element of the armory which falls outside the core style rules must bedocumented. If armory has multiple elements which fall outside the core style rules, the combination of thesenon-core style elements should be documented, although larger numbers of examples of each non-core styleelement may suffice, as described below. The overall design of the submission must be similar to the types ofdesigns that document the use of the non-core style elements. In general, examples must match thesubmission in style and complexity.Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory – April 29, 2012 - Page 48 of 73