The Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory - SCA Heraldry

The Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory:The Rules for Submissionsallowed, because it appears to be arms of pretense. Or, in saltire five escutcheons sable each charged withthree roundels argent is registerable, because multiple identical escutcheons were not used for arms ofpretense or augmentations.The rules governing earned Augmentations are discussed in A.3.A.3.D. Claims of Identity or Close Relationship with an Important Non-SCA Entity or Person: If a submissionis too close to the protected armory of a person or entity outside the SCA who is considered quite importantby many people within and outside the Society, it presumes on that armory and may not be registered.Presumption is closely tied to conflict, as our system of armorial conflict is based on the appearance of closerelationship through cadency.All armorial items currently identified as important enough to protect are listed in the Ordinary and Armorial.Rarely, new non-SCA items that may be important enough to protect may be identified during thesubmissions process. The fact that they are not listed in the Ordinary and Armorial or a Letter of Acceptancesand Returns does not matter. If the new non-SCA item is ruled important enough to protect, it will be addedto the Ordinary and Armorial and the new submission will be returned for presumption.In general, the flags and arms of period and modern countries and similar entities are protected, while theflags and arms of smaller units are not protected. The arms of exceptionally important individuals and placesas well as arms that are famous by themselves are protected. Decisions to protect new famous people andplaces are quite rare.In rare cases, armory associated with fictitious characters and entities may also be considered importantenough to protect, when both a significant number of people in the Society recognize the armory of the entitywithout prompting and the use of the armory of the entity would generally be considered by those people aclear reference to that entity. Only a few pieces of fictitious armory have ever been ruled important enough toprotect.All currently protected armory is listed in the Ordinary and Armorial; it is protected in those forms. If newforms are identified, they will be listed. New protected armory is protected from the moment it is listed assuch on a published Letter of Acceptances and Returns. As soon as possible, such armory will be listed in theOrdinary and Armorial, but they are protected as soon as the Letter of Acceptances and Return is published.Submitters and heralds do not need to look for other forms of protected armory.Armory that is protected from presumption is protected with the same standards as conflict for SCAregisteredarmory. Those standards are described in A.5 above, including visual conflict.E. Claims through Combination of Family Name and Armory: Even if a piece of armory is not consideredimportant enough to protect from presumption under A.6.D above, the use of a piece of historical armorycombined with the family name of the holder may be presumptuous. In order for this to be an issue, the nameand device must be sufficiently well known that a significant number of SCA members would find thiscombination a claim to be that person without resorting to obscure reference works. In general, thecombination of the family name of a clan chief and the chiefly arms will be considered presumptuous, even ifthe arms themselves are not important enough to protect. Families that are less important than the family of aclan chief are not important enough for this rule to apply.A slight modification of the arms, so that there is one distinct change (DC) between the submission and thearms on which it presumes, is sufficient to remove this problem. Likewise, a modification of the family namesuch that it would be clear of conflict with the family name is sufficient to remove this problem. In the caseof a combination that is considered presumptuous, the name will generally be registered but the armoryreturned.Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory – April 29, 2012 - Page 68 of 73