MilleniumLancelot wrote:Not to Hijack but....
It seems to me that there is probably only a limited number of Devices that can be accepted following the rules of the Heralds.
Well, yes... there would be a mathematical number somewhere I'm sure. However, that number would be huge given the number of variances that are allowed along with permission to conflict letters.
And I bet that while the number might be pretty high, its probably rapidly approaching the limit.
Actually, we run over a 90% acceptance rate on all our Ealdormere submissions for devices. Reason being, we have a very active commentary group amongst our Heralds and we meet as often as possible when there's sufficient submissions that need to be sent up to Laurel. A lot of time, devices bounce from insufficient conflict checking on the Canton and/or Kingdom level and not from some draconian set of Obscure Rules that those evil Society level Heralds pull out of their magical hats.
ON another note... a general question.
How many registered dievices are out there?
As far as I know, there's about 75,000'ish registered names and/or devices with the last official .db file being uploaded last September (I think). I know there is work being done on the next update but I have no idea when it's supposed to be posted.
I tried to open the entire O&A database on my poor over-worked computer and it couldn't get more than 65,500 opened, and that was in the mid "S" range. Keep in mind that includes both names AND devices so there's some overlap - a registered name WITH a registered device would really only count as one entry I believe.
And how many of you all use a device on your shield/tabbard/whatever that isnt registered?
My name and device were some of the first things I made official about myself when I first joined the SCA many years ago. However I know a good many people do use a device that isn't registered. This can pose a problem in a few ways.
If you DO decide to register and you find out that Duke Sir Fancypants of An Tir has had it registered since 1983 and it's well known throughout half the Known World... well, too bad - sorta. The easiest way to deal with this is that you can always ask permission to conflict with that person. Maybe they'll say yes, maybe not. From what little discussions I've had with other Heralds about this... generally the permission is granted depending on the location of the two individuals.
If you dig through historic rolls of Arms, you'll find many many instances of the same device belonging to different individuals. There's one fighter in Ealdormere right now I'm working on trying to get his arms passed with the problem being that there's TWO very similar devices already registered but sufficiently different from each other. I think I'll have to write up 2 letters and humbly beg permission to conflict because they're both VERY far away from here and the chance of any of these people being at the same event at the same time is remote at best.
I'd hate to see someone have a wonderful tabard made, along with a matching shield painted beautifully along with dyed silk banners outside your tent and then show up and Pennsic and find that King Soggybritches has had the EXACT same device registered to him for 10 years and have him request you take yours down for the duration of War. Talk about being slightly red in the face (not to mention I'm sure some harsh words and whatnot flying around from over-stretched emotions)...
One other idea that's been floating around the Kingdom here lately is the fact that there's really a lot of really GREAT simple and field only armoury that's still not claimed. I did some digging last month and I was *shocked* at the number of simple (think colour & metal only with no charges) quarterly and per pale and per bend devices that are not spoken for. If anyone wants a device, go simple instead of complex. In an overly complex device is where, I find, you run into too many conflicts. If you come up with a wonderful design you love, and it conflicts, see about taking something OFF instead of adding more junk. You may be surprised what will pass.
Humbly,
Griffin de Stockport
Herald of Petrea Thule
Its supposed to be marroon
