Request for Coat of Arms

[M. Þ. Réitschar]

What is your name?

Mataiwos Þagunitz Rachar

What is your request?

If it so please the Squirrel King of Arms, I request the assistance of the College in designing and obtaining arms for myself and my lawful heirs.

What is your favourite colour?

Teal.

What is your favourite animal?

Cat.

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

From and for The Royal Talossan College of Arms

Azul Mataiwos,

As Squirrel Viceroy of Arms, I am pleased to accept your request for assistance in designing arms. I now charge the Kingsbridge Pursuivant, Dean of the College, with assigning one of the Fellows of the College to provide that assistance.

Bartleby Pursuivant
Squirrel Viceroy of Arms

[M. Þ. Réitschar]

Thank You!!! ☺☺☺

[Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă]

From and for The Royal Talossan College of Arms

Azul Mataiwos,

As The Kingsbridge Pursuivant, Dean of the College of arms, I am charged with assigning one of the fellows of the college to assist you in designing your arms. I will consult with the College and assign a fellow to your request shortly.

Kingsbridge Pursuivant
Dean of the College of Arms

[Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă]

Azul Mataiwos,

I am assigning the Jolly Good Fellow to assist you in the design of your arms. While you get started, here are some helpful resources to assist you:

Heraldry on Wikipedia

Talossan College of Arms Website

[Béneditsch Ardpresteir, O.SPM.]

Azul M. Þ. Réitschar!

I'll be the Fellow assisting you in the project.

Any specific ideas you have in mind?

Since your favourite colour is teal, you can have a virt(green) or azure(blue) shield? The tinge of the colour can be worked upon.

Other charges can be based on what you do, or what you have a strong interest in.

BenArd
- the JGF

[M. Þ. Réitschar]

Could a virt tinged azure shield with a brown (with darker brown/black stirpes) cat with white claws (like my cat) design on it, and a gold diagonal stripe behind it be a posibility, or would that conflict with one of the rules? If so, tell me how I could modify it?

[Béneditsch Ardpresteir, O.SPM.]

I'd suggest an azure tinged virt... because we already have too many tinges of azure as on date

What you ask for is a beast proper on a metal over colour - perfectly ok. A proper is allowed on both metal and colour.

The cat would not be brown (as the same colour is not preferred), but can be termed 'proper' instead (and the same can be brown).

Not sure whether the claws can be white, but I guess since its being termed proper the same may also be allowed. Anyways, only the claws can be white if you so choose.

And what would be the attitude of the beast? Rampant/ Passant/ Sejant/ Couchant/ Courant/ Dormant/ Salient/ Statant? See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attitude_(heraldry)

How would you like your stripe - pale/ fess/ bar/ bend ? If its a bend then whether it'll be Sinister/ Dexter? Btw, since you are from Cezembre and speak that a Barbed Wire cant stop you guys - then you can can use a engrailed stripe...

If you give a go - ahead, I'd make a first draft and then seek the permission of the College if the same would be acceptable - proper beast and "tealish" virt.

You can even PM me...

[Béneditsch Ardpresteir, O.SPM.]

"draft 1 imageshack.com/i/hlozkBi3p

[Béneditsch Ardpresteir, O.SPM.]

draft 2

imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/150x100q90/673/zKoDTt.png

imageshack.com/i/idoh0t9mp

[M. Þ. Réitschar]

Looks good,

Nothing personal, but is it possible to make it slightly more 'clean'?

[Béneditsch Ardpresteir, O.SPM.]

If its Ok with you, I'll try to impress upon the college.. and then try to come up with a 'cleaner' image

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

Mataiwos,

One thing you should carefully consider is that a grant of arms is for life (and beyond). If you think you have a lifetime passion for cats then a cat could be totally appropriate (Sir Mick Preston's arms bear a greyhound for such a reason), but if it's just a representation of a pet you have right now you should think about whether the pet is such defining part of your identity that you will want to bear a representation of that pet as a personal emblem for the rest of your life, and your heirs after you.

[M. Þ. Réitschar]

If you look at the cat, it is relatively generic, I did think about this and that is why I chose not to press on the details of the cat, as you're right, that wouldn't be sensible.

[King John]

A few points here.

When some kind of beast is generally thought of as having a particular colour, "proper" can describe its natural colour. So an "elephant proper" makes sense — it's grey. But a cat, for instance, or a horse, can only be depicted in some heraldic colour(s), because there's no default colouring. "A Siamese cat proper" or "a palomino proper" might be OK; that's a kind of iffy area.

My judgement is that the teal shade depicted here isn't blue enough to be "azure" nor green enough to be "virt". It's not a heraldic tincture at all. Whatever precise shade we use, it should be unambiguously either blue or green.

Indeed, a charge "proper" can be displayed either on a metal or a colour. But in this case, the "tincture rule" is that light-coloured things go on colours, and dark-coloured things on metals. There's obviously some ambiguity about what constitutes dark and light, but "sable, a brown bear proper" just won't fly. (Even if bears could fly.) The point is to have good contrast; the rules are just a formulation of what good contrast means.

— Blanc Wolf (retired)