After the summer ran through its course, and the Pennsic returns came in with the stories from that war from far away.  I know within my heart that I so look forward to working at Heralds Point at Pennsic.  To me that would be the goal as equal to a heavy fighter being in the thick of it on the field, or fencer or archer at their respected parts, for a Herald, to be at the peak of what we do, at the largest event in the known world “or one of the largest for that matter” is for me the peak of being a Herald.  One day when the stars align, job doesn’t interfere, or any real life hurdles to work through.  It is my goal and constant work to make it there.

With that being said, I found my first Summer as Herald to be still finding my feet.  I had some conversations at Orchard Wars, and couple of others as I start to branch out using social media like Facebook, to reach out to those within my Providence that I would normally hardly see to give them the attention they need to work out their names and devices.

There was this couple that I do wish they return to the society,  charming couple with a young one starting out, I have found that working with their devices to not so much being a challenge however a pleasure to work with.  It shows how ones real life passions “with for example one being a teacher in the real world” and incorporate their mundane feelings into sca heraldry.  With their names, Caddius was the more challenge do with the fact that incorporating a name that he had found in a fantasy book and using it for playing various roll playing games and transferring it to something that could be period, and Ælffled I just love that time and feeling when I see names like this, I instantly think Camelot

For them I give you

Ælffled Cooper

“Azure, an ivy vine bendwise sinister between an open book and a bell Or”

And

 

Caddius Cooper

“Argent, a chevron Or, between two bears combattant and a barrel palewise azure”

 

 

So after seeing the title to this you may ask yourself “the summer of slow?”   Well starting off as herald, for me it took some time to gain traction, and get the word out to talk to me, and I will help you with your herald needs.  With that said let me also say something about turn over.  Turnover can be a wonderful  process where the outgoing officer and the incoming officer can talk about, things that can be done, what has been worked on, as well as a series of “this worked “ or “this didn’t work don’t do this” .  I am a huge fan of turn over.  Surprises where funny for many can turn a person as grey.  With this being said surprises the day of an event can give people heart attack, I for one am all against that.

Ok with that out of the way, at first not to many were off to speak right away about doing the paperwork version of my office, and I understand that this part take time to get the ball rolling, and as you will see in future blog posts that oh man it is a pendulum swing, between busy and dead, I am ok with this, when dead I will venture to my second favorite activity Archery.

Well with this is the first time working as herald at our premier event, and in my joy the anniversary of me finding out about the society, The Great Northeastern War.  Now no offence to any other herald that came before me however the turnover I got is “you can do with this as you want to.”  This to me means ok how can I do this and be good for me.  This to me also is what not to do at an event and a consultation table.  What do I mean by this?  Well take this trip with me.

So as I look the amount of stuff that comes with the herald to run a consultation table at any event.  Let’s face it, when you can have internet access and carry a laptop and printer that works so well, however between printer, laptop, paper, ink, books, a normal herald’s box is roughly 75 to 100 pounds at times.  So what did I think of let is portion off a section of my encampment, set up my own easy up for shade and there we go, quick, clean, and simple.

Here is where the folly of this kicks in.  Having a heralds point so close to an encampment, may make the lugging part so much better to work around, however at the same time people tend to not be so open to walking into heralds point for this factor.  So needless to say when I got the feedback some time later, Rule number four find a better venue for Heralds Point (and ohhh boy did I ever but that will be a story later)

It was around this same time that the proprietor of our tavern event “Tyger and Bucket” (I love this bar) wished to register the heraldry for the tavern as a badge.  After looking at the badge (Sable, an Tyger Rampet maintaining a bucket Argent.) simple right?  Well we work out the forms, send it off and I have my first experience with conflicts.  Not just conflicts within your local group, or kingdom, however the entire society.  This is (as the date I am writing this) still a work in progress and will update the saga as we go on.

Anna was a fun name to work with on so many levels, for with many people that wish to come up with a name they normally have a locative in mind, a time frame and it’s a matter of find something within the many resources they like.  Anna had an idea and had the idea of a Greek  / roman combination.  Not bad until I start the normal research process and hit the Greek section of the Academy of St Gabriel and one of the suggestions from the East Kingdom Heralds Educational group (for here on out I will refer to as Phone a Herald) is that the search engine in question (http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/) which if you’re not familiar with the site is not only Greek based, but also can be in some parts Greek script.  Needless to say the way to document this was many “Phone a Herald” sessions.

David Morteyne was a full rework from an attempt beforehand.  The name was a simple change from what he had before to document what he wished, the surname was in place, and David is relatively easy to document.  The trick became his device.  The previous attempt was just blue (Azure) with four owls, now he is looking for the blue background, the four owls, the northern army star, and the cross line division with a white bordure.  To me this became close to the complicated part of heraldry.  Heraldry being what it is can be grand and colorful, and encompass all that you wish it to be, the more that you add to it, the more complicated it gets, and the more complicated it gets the more difficult to pass.

Needless to say after some talk back and forth and placement with the owls. The cross, the star, the bordure we come up with (Azure, on a cross sable fimbriated between four owls, each pair addorsed, a mullet of four points elongated to base, all within a bordure argent.)  Complicated yes, fun to work with very much so.

 

What did I learn during this time?

Location, location, location

When in dought phone a herald

The more complicated a device the more interested and difficult it can be.

 

Yours in Service

Conall an Doire