Re: Heraldry questions

[Robert J Welenc <rjwelenc@erols.com>]

Poster: Robert J Welenc <rjwelenc@erols.com>

At 09:57 AM 7/22/98 -0400, Gina wrote:
>
>Poster: Gina <rhiannon-of-berra@mindspring.com>
>
><shaking my head> I'll never understand the heraldry rules :(  I've
>submitted my device twice now, and I'm still no closer to getting it
>passed.  The first was for a redraw (my unicorns weren't "heraldric"
>enough, 

Once again, Partan takes keyboard in hand to expound upon heraldry...

I haven't see your submission, my lady, but I can make a fair guess.
Did you submit a modern fantasy unicorn, a horse with a horn?

In period, and by our own precedents, unicorns and horses are
entirely different creatures, as different as dragons and lions.  

A horse  -- well, I don't need to waste bandwidth to describe it, do
I?  

A unicorn, on the other hoof, is *not* a horse with a horn.  It has
cloven hooves like a stag, a beard like a goat, a lion's tail, and
usually tufts of hair at elbows, knees, and fetlocks.  

If someone submits a unicornate horse, which category of beast do we
look at to check for conflict?  It can't be a horse, because of that
horn.  It can't be a unicorn, because it does not have the other
details that identify a unicorn.  This is why unicornate horses have
been banned since the very beginning of SCA arms registrations,
because they blur the distinctions between the two.

Think of this analogy: someone who drinks neither coffee nor tea
might ask, "What's the difference?  They're both hot brown drinks,
right?"  But if you want tea, coffee is not the same thing at all,
and vice versa.  And I have yet to know anybody who likes a cup of
half coffee, half tea.



Lady Alanna Volchevo Lesa
Partan Herald, Barony of Lochmere
Laurel Minion
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