heraldry rules

[Brenna of Lyonsbane <sunnie@exis.net>]

Poster: Brenna of Lyonsbane <sunnie@exis.net>

Herein lies one of the problems.  The rules are there for us to use, and
I (and a few others I know) used them to no avail.  The problem comes in
that we take the rules literally (i.e. this is protected or there are no
more than X amount of charges allowed).  To us those statements mean, if
I have something which is sort of similar, but not the protected item,
it is okay, or if I have X number of charges (no more than that), I am
okay.  The heralds, on the other hand, have the benefit of being able to
"interpret" the rules which we see in black and white.  For instance, my
by-name that was refused was because I was mixing two countries in one
name.  I understand that they believe it would not have happened, though
many a crusader brought home a wife (or some similar event occurred),
but if you can't mix like this, why is there a rule that limits the
number of mixes like that can exist in a single name entry?  Maybe I do
see things very literally when it is a "rule," but these types of
interpretations confuse me.  If the reason given for returning a blazon
with X number of charges is that it "looks cluttered,"  I can accept
that.  It's semantics, but it is important for those of us who have the
rule book and are still lost out here.

Brenna

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