These are articles I wrote some years ago when I was Cordon Rouge Herald for the Barony of Politarchopolis.  With the assistance of some local heralds, I’ve got these as up-to-date as I can, but if there are any errors then I blame (hurriedly checks Little Calendar of Heraldic Excuses) ummm… the overuse of the colour purple in SCA armory, yes, that’s it.

I make these available for any useful purpose within the SCA, anywhere in the world; please note authorship on the bottom of each article and give credit and a link back to this site.

The Registration Process

What will it cost to register my name and device? Why does it cost so much? What paperwork do I need? How long does the registration take?  How can I avoid the common mistakes?

Consulting

Why should I bother registering my name or device? Why should I go through my local herald?

Voice Heraldry

I’m running a feast/tourney/revel soon: will you be available to do heralding? I’d like to do that shouting thing too: how do I start?  Why do you keep making mistakes?

Book Heraldry

How do you conflict-check a device?  Someone over there has a religious symbol on their arms; isn't that against the rules?  Why can't I colour in my device submission how I like?  Why are you so obsessed with paper?  Why must I have a unique name?

Other Useful Links

Elsewhere on the web, there’s a long list of misconceptions about SCA heraldry, compiled and refuted by Baron Modar.  There's the Campaign to End Name Uniqueness, if you're still not convinced it's a good thing.  There's the long-lost Parker's Glossary of Heraldry, rescued from Geocities.  And of course there are the Society heraldry pages and our local ones (currently under re-construction).  Have fun!

Articles We Would Like

This FAQ is fairly complete, all things considered, but there are always ways to improve.  If you have any suggestions, you can sign in to flurf.net and leave comments here or on any FAQ entry.  Also, if you fancy turning your hand to writing an article on a matter of interest to the general populace on heraldry, you're welcome; contact Karl Mortar, the FAQ maintainer, and chat.

Some articles we'd like to see might be:

• How do I choose a good SCA name?  Where are some resources on names and naming practices.
• What is heraldic style?  Why are some designs derided as TSCA ("Typical SCA" style) and others considered heraldically gorgeous?  How do you tell what's good and what's bad?
• My new device conflicts with someone else's.  How do I clear the conflict?
• How do you produce a heraldic design using a computer?  Is there any good software out there?
• Why can't we use colour printers and/or photocopiers to do our device submissions?
• Why bother with paper nowadays?  Why not do all submissions electronically?

Feel free to use these ideas as a starting point for your own FAQ articles.