Middle Kingdom Submissions Herald
Office of the Escutcheon Herald
How to Submit Names and Devices
HOW TO SUBMIT NAMES AND DEVICES
- A complete name submission (whether for your persona, alternate name, or household name) should include the following:
- One copy of the Name Submission form
- One copy of all documentation for your name
- A check for $8.00 US made out to "SCA -- MK College of Heralds".
- A complete device or badge submission should include the following:
- One COLORED copy of the Device Submission form - Crayola Classic markers or similar are recommended
- One UNCOLORED LINE copy of the same form (UNCOLORED means a black and white line drawing like a coloring book picture; NO grayscale!! Even if your charges or field are sable, do not color in the black areas)
- One copy of any documentation for unusual charges (if applicable)
- A check for $8.00 made out to "SCA Inc, Middle Kingdom College of Heralds".
A single check may be written out for multiple items (e.g., name and device on one check, etc.).
NOTE: ALL CHECKS MUST BE IN U.S. FUNDS. IF YOU ARE FROM OUTSIDE THE U.S., YOU MUST GET A MONEY ORDER IN U.S. FUNDS FROM YOUR BANK.NOTE : Official SCA branches (Shires, Cantons, Baronies, Principalities, etc.) do NOT pay for their group name or device submission but still must enclose the appropriate paperwork (note: branches use a different name form than individuals do -- although the device and badge forms are the same). However, they must pay for other submissions (i.e. - order names, badges, etc.). Petitions MUST be included with all paperwork (i.e. - name, device, etc) from the group's membership. Rules for group petitions can be found here. We would prefer that you used the standard populace petition form.
NOTE : Do not send submissions through registered mail or other options that require Escutcheon to have to sign for the letter. Escutcheon is unable to pick these items up and they will be returned to sender causing a delay in your submission.
- Mail all materials to:
SCA -- MK College of Heralds
Ragna stórráða Úlfsdóttir
mka Nicole Turk
13812 York Blvd
Garfield Heights, OH 44125
Questions? Drop me a line at midrealm {dot} submissions {at} gmail {dot} com
HOW THE PROCESS WORKS (Or How Long Does it Take Anyway?)
Submissions are required to be processed in a timely manner but they still take time to process. In the interest of serving you better, an explanation of the various steps a submission must go through follows.Submissions are processed as received and collected together once a month in an Internal Letter of Intent (ILoI). The ILoI is posted to the Middle Kingdom Garden on the Online System for Commentary and Response (OSCAR). Commentators are given one month to comment on this ILoI (i.e. - the comments on a March 5th ILoI are due to Rouge Scarpe's office or posted to OSCAR by April 5th).
Within the month after the deadline, the Rouge Scarpe Herald reviews the comments and the submissions and decides which ones will be sent forward and which will be returned at the Kingdom level. The decisions are published as an Internal Letter of Acceptance and Return (ILoAR). The Opinicus Pursuivant will notify the submitters via email or USPS explaining the reasons for the return at Kingdom (if applicable) or informing them that they are being forwarded to Laurel. Submissions that are to be sent forward are placed on the Kingdom's monthly External Letter of Intent (ELoI) and sent to the Laurel Sovereign of Arms (the Society Herald) by posting it to the Online System for Commentary and Response (OSCAR).
Laurel allows two whole months for commentary before the ELoI will be considered for decisions (i.e. - an ELoI sent out anytime in April will be in commentary until the end of June and be considered at the July Laurel Meeting). Decisions of Laurel Meetings are made available to members of the Laurel College and Kingdom Principal Heralds within a few weeks of the meeting in the form of a Letter of Acceptances and Returns (LoAR). These letters are archived on the Laurel website and anyone can subscribe to receive them electronically in any of a variety of formats here (scroll to bottom of the page).
When the LoAR is received, the Middle Kingdom decisions are unofficially published either via the SCA Kingdom of the Middle Facebook group, The Midrealm Gazette, and/or The Pale. Due to the one month lead time required by The Pale, however, it can often take two or more months from the release of the LoAR before the notification is made in The Pale. The Opinicus Pursuivant makes official notification to the client directly explaining the reasons for the return (if applicable) or congratulating them on the successful registration.
Let us follow a submission through the process:
- The submission received by Escutcheon anytime in January.
- Escutcheon places the submission on the February ILoI after the 1st of the month.
- Comments are due to Rouge Scarpe one month later, sometime after the 1st of March.
- Rouge Scarpe publishes the ILoAR and ELoI within a month, trying for the same month the ILoI closed commentary, so before the end of March.
- Opinicus or Incunabula sends notification of Rouge Scarpe decision.
- Comments due by end of May on OSCAR.
- Laurel staff makes decisions in June.
- June LoAR is written, proof read, and published. This usually takes two months.
- Results published on the Middlebridge and/or The Pale.
- Opinicus or Incunabula sends notification of Laurel decision.
A submission should go through the system in around 6-9 months from ILoI to Laurel decision with the decision letter published soon after. There will occasionally be delays along the way but the process should take no more than a year from submission being received to the results being available.
Note that notifications take time to generate and if your email or postal addresses have changed they may have difficulty finding you. Watching the LoAR archive or subscribing to receive LoARs electronically is the fastest way to discover when your submission is decided on by Laurel.
Questions? Drop me a line at midrealm {dot} submissions {at} gmail {dot} com
FEATURES
Middle Kingdom Heraldry LettersThe Middle Kingdom Heraldry Letter archive, located on Midrealm Server, contains current and past Internal Letters of Intent (ILoI) and Internal Letters of Acceptance and Return (ILoAR). Once a month, all the submissions received by the Escutcheon Heralds office are assembled in an ILoI. Internal Letters of Intent (from 10/97 onwards) are available on-line at the ILoI archive. The ILoIs are commented on by Kingdom commenting heralds and, on the basis of those comments and additional research, the Rouge Scarpe Herald makes a decision whether to send the submission to Laurel, Sovereign of Arms, the Society Herald. Rouge Scarpe's decisions (pro and con) are reported on an ILoAR. Internal Letters of Acceptance and Return (from 4/98 onwards) are also available on-line at the ILoAR archive.
Digital Submissions
As a recent change, we have begun accepting digital submissions. If you wish to be a herald who can submit digital submissions, please contact the Escutcheon Herald directly. New forms for digital submissions will be available shortly. If submitting a name, just use the fillable form like normal and send it as a pdf. Be aware that sometimes the fillable form cuts off excess in the documentation section, so it is advisable to include that in the body of your email, and also in a separate pdf file. Please note that all forms must have a resolution of 300 dpi.
USEFUL LINKS
- Society for Creative Anachronism
- Middle Kingdom
- Laurel Sovereign of Arms
- SCA Heraldry Page
- On-Line SCA Armorial and Ordinary
- Rouge Scarpe's Home Page
- Dragon Herald's Home Page -- including the (downloadable) MK submission forms
- Dictionary of Heraldry--lots of pictures, good for beginners and novices
- Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry--Online 3rd Edition of the Pic Dic.