Designing your COA

[Capt. Sir Mick Preston]

Some areas that I might suggest as a starting point, if you wish to design a Coat of Arms are here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraldry

www.kingdomoftalossa.net/index.cgi?lingo=&page=ArmsBasic

[Eiric Biançéu]

Thank you sir Preston, this is a wonderful resource

[Doug Earnest]

(page 1 of 5)


The good news is that many Talossans who request Arms do so with some fairly definite ideas about what they want.

The bad news is that many of them might not realize how many wonderful options are available to them.

It seems many of us (me included) opt for something along the lines of "divide the shield in half, put Thing One in this half, and Thing Two in that half". Of course there is nothing wrong with this. It's nice and simple and pleasing to the eye and gets the message across. They look like Coats of Arms are supposed to look. However, because so many Talossan arms seem to follow some form of that basic idea, I'm afraid some people might either: (a) not realize there are a lot of other options, or (b) not know what to ask for or how to ask for it.

With this in mind, I've put together a few graphics and present them here for your perusal. So now, instead of saying "That Doug character has a neat looking shield, and I wanna be cool like him." you can say "Wait, I'm much cooler than that Doug guy, so my arms should look cooler, too." Then take another look at the Talossan armoury and see how creative some of your fellow citizens have been who opted for something other than the "thing one in this half - thing two in that half" approach. Please keep in mind this is not a lesson on how to design a coat of arms, and doesn't begin to cover all the rules. It's here to encourage you to consider the options. For more information, you are urged to refer first to the Talossa College of Arms site, then to several of the many websites on heraldry.

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Escutcheon is the word for the shield (for men) and cartouche is the female version of the escutcheon (for women). From here out I'll refer to it as the shield, since that's much more simple. The shield can be a solid tincture, but is oftentimes divided into two or more sections. In the first graphic we see basic ways in which it can be divided.

The bottom two rows show alternatives to the straight line in the various divisions. The key is to make it cool, but not overly complex. For instance, if you could divide your shield per fess embattled (as shown), but you could also divide it per pale embattled, or per bend embattled. However, a gyrony of 12 embattled probably won't pass muster.

Even though symbolism often comes into play in heraldry, not everything has to have meaning. A sailor might want a wavy division, while a carpenter might be inclined toward the dovetail option. On the other hand, a dovetail might just mean someone thought it looked good.

Don't worry, I only talked this much on the first page.

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[Doug Earnest]

(page 2 of 5)

Other ways the shield can appear. A couple of things to note. In paly, barry, or bendy, the shield is divided into equal numbers of divisions. This is different from what you'll see on the next page, where two or three bars or bendlets are placed upon a shield.

"Seme" refers to a bunch of little things (roundels, annulets, roses, mullets, etc.) spread all over the shield. A specific number may be specified in the blazon, but usually isn't. Also, because they are many and small, they should be basic designs -- A star for instance, not a lion standing on his hind legs with red claws holding a sword. It looses too much detail reducing it down to seme size.

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[Doug Earnest]

(page 3 of 5)

The first two pages showed various ways in which the shield can be divided. Now we'll look at ordinaries and subordinaries, which are are not divisions of the shield, but things placed upon the shield.

Self explanatory, I hope. And because there was room at the bottom, I wanted to show the difference between shields using the same design but different tinctures. Also, because I was tired, I neglected to show graphics showing four bendlets, four bars, etc, but you can use your imagination.

In addition, you can have more than one chevron (in which case they would each be thinner and called chevronels. Chevrons and chevronels can also be inverted.

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[Doug Earnest]

(page 4 of 5)


More subordinaries. Can you tell I was getting tired?

That's about it. You'll notice I didn't cover charges (flora, fauna, weaponry, etc.) that can be placed on the shield, since that is beyond the scope of this little presentation. The possibilities are many. However, I did want to cover an historically oft-used item of interest, the cross. If you want to incorporate a cross as a charge in your arms, there are a variety to choose from and are shown on the next page.

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[Doug Earnest]

(page 5 of 5)


Some crosses carry specific symbolism, which I won't go into here. For an interesting example of how a voided cross was utilized in Talossa, see the flag of the Province of Maricopa.

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While the "rules" of heraldry are generally agreed upon worldwide, you will find differences here and there. The final authority is the one granting the arms. So, if you come upon a site that tells you according to the chief herald of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick peach is a metal, it doesn't mean you can cite that authority as justification for getting a peachy shield in Talossa. (Though it doesn't hurt to ask, just don't get upset if the answer is no.) With that in mind, here is the link to an additional site I've found interesting and useful. Happy blazoning.

www.internationalheraldry.com/

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[Ceváglh Scurznicol]

Feb 25, 2012 22:10:39 GMT -6 Doug Earnest said:

(page 1 of 5)
It seems many of us (me included) opt for something along the lines of "divide the shield in half, put Thing One in this half, and Thing Two in that half".

Would that not be the arms of the Cat in the Hat?

[Doug Earnest]

Feb 27, 2012 18:56:55 GMT -6 Ceváglh Scurznicol said:

Feb 25, 2012 22:10:39 GMT -6 Doug Earnest said:

(page 1 of 5)
It seems many of us (me included) opt for something along the lines of "divide the shield in half, put Thing One in this half, and Thing Two in that half".

Would that not be the arms of the Cat in the Hat?

Indeed. I believe it's blazoned per pale argent and gules within an orle of a teacup, saucer, cake, three books, fish, rake, toy boat, toy man, fan, and umbrella all countercharged, Thing One to dexter courant argent clothed gules upon the tummy a plate annotated Thing 1 sable, Thing Two to sinister courant argent clothed gules upon the tummy a plate annotated Thing 2 sable, both crined azure, trailing two flying kites crossed in saltire counterchanged

The King will be happy to know there's no bordure to complicate things.

Since the good Baron is better with computer graphics than I, we'll let him draw the picture for you.

[Hooligan]

Feb 27, 2012 19:53:46 GMT -6 Doug Earnest said:

Since the good Baron is better with computer graphics than I, we'll let him draw the picture for you.

I am glad I handed the Deanship over to Penzance Pursuivant, so that now I have someone to whom I can hand my resignation. :-)

Columcille

[Doug Earnest]

Feb 27, 2012 22:43:07 GMT -6 Hooligan said:

Feb 27, 2012 19:53:46 GMT -6 Doug Earnest said:

Since the good Baron is better with computer graphics than I, we'll let him draw the picture for you.

I am glad I handed the Deanship over to Penzance Pursuivant, so that now I have someone to whom I can hand my resignation. :-)

Columcille

You're joking, right? On the other hand, it doesn't matter. It seems there are some jobs you can try to resign from and you still have the job anyway.

As for your mad computer skillz, you make it look like I was working with the electronic equivalent of the broken crayons at the bottom of the box nobody else wanted.

[Hooligan]

Feb 27, 2012 22:52:59 GMT -6 Doug Earnest said:

As for your mad computer skillz, you make it look like I was working with the electronic equivalent of the broken crayons at the bottom of the box nobody else wanted.

Well, even had I not been joking, such high praise is enough to keep me on the job. (Strains of The Commodores' "...because I'm easy...I'm easy like Sunday morning..." run through my head.)

Columcille (the guy with the broken crayons from the bottom of the box that someone else might want, I guess, which, I suppose, is better?)

[Eiric Biançéu]

So if I put a chipmonk w/glasses holding a baton on the left Courant it would be Simon Bar Sinister?

[Doug Earnest]

Feb 28, 2012 17:04:27 GMT -6 Eiric Biançéu said:

So if I put a chipmonk w/glasses holding a baton on the left Courant it would be Simon Bar Sinister?

Precisely. As the rules say, canting of arms is inherently cool -- and I think I've found my replacement. ;D

[King John]

Feb 27, 2012 19:53:46 GMT -6 Doug Earnest said:

Indeed. I believe it's blazoned per pale argent and gules within an orle of a teacup, saucer, cake, three books, fish, rake, toy boat, toy man, fan, and umbrella all countercharged, Thing One to dexter courant argent clothed gules upon the tummy a plate annotated Thing 1 sable, Thing Two to sinister courant argent clothed gules upon the tummy a plate annotated Thing 2 sable, both crined azure, trailing two flying kites crossed in saltire counterchanged

I'd say "vested" instead of "clothed", but otherwise this is just fine.