Heraldry
Overview
While the subject of heraldry covers all of the duties of a Herald and not just Armory, it is commonly used to refer to the armorial bearings of the nobility and gentry; the design, recording and registration of which are heraldic duties.
History and Uses
Heraldry in the sense of armorial display refers to the use of symbols and designs that are consistently associated with an individual or a group (such as a Guild), and in the case of an individual are usually passed to their heirs.
Heraldic Design
- Heraldic Primer
- (with links to some good online guides)
Western Alusia
Heraldry in Western Alusia follows the general rules and styles of high medieval heraldry in Western Europe, adapted somewhat for Alusia.
The MMHS College of Heralds has heraldic jurisdiction for Western Alusia and oversees heraldic entitlement and achievements for that area.
Elven Heraldry
The heraldry of the elves is similar in many way to that of Western humans, with a few notable differences.
The first is that the long lifespan of elves has lead to a rather different mindset with regard to the inheritence of arms. Elves generally do not use cadency marks, but rather when armigerous children come of age they have individual arms registered. The design of these arms will often be a variant on the arms of their family, so it is possible to see themes in groups of arms identify arms with particular clans or extended families.
Arms are inheritable, and when a parent with claim to a coat of arms dies the inheritor may well discard the arms they registered as a young adult and adopt their parent's arms. Other siblings (those not inheriting the arms) will retain their juvenile coats and may in turn pass these on to their own children (at some distant point in the future).
The other major places that elven arms diverge from human is in the choice of plant charges, and the use of geometric abstracts.
Use of Plants
Many elven coats of arms display trees, flowers, and other flora, most of which are unused by humans (and in some cases perhaps unknown as well). Plants are not popular in Western human heraldry.
Of the nearly 10,000 coats of arms collected for the Great Roll of the Western Kingdom in 480-485 WK only a score or so that did not belong to elves used plants as charges, and almost all of these belonged to nobles from the elven influenced Bowcourt.
Plants in elven heraldry are often shown proper -- in their natural colours, although their depiction still tends to be more stylised than realistic.
Geometric Abstracts
Use of combinations of ordinaires and colurs (and in particular counterchanging) to achieve complex geometric patterns. Many of these patterns are rather more complex than would be registerable via the MMHS College of Heralds, and serve to illuminate the non-human artistic sensibilities of the elven race. A good example may be found in the arms of the Elven Isles.
Dwarven Heraldry
The same basic rules of heraldry apply in dwarven designs; the same desire for visibility and identification being present.
Inividuals, Clans, Guilds, Corporations and fighting units all make use of badges and symbols. The area where traditional dwarven heraldry diverges from Western human is in the rarity of inherited personal arms.
Personal Heraldry
A great dwarven hero may adopt a personal heraldry, and that device or symbol will be associated with them for their lifetime, but very rarely will the descendants of the hero use the same arms. On the other hand, personal arms can often become badges. If a hero who bears a particular symbol leads a fighting unit it is quite common for the unit to adopt the leader arms as a badge. Dwarves who found companies may also mark their goods with a personal symbol and that symbol may outlive them, now as a commercial badge.
Role of Heralds
With some many products and goods being marked with what are essentially heraldic designs the role of a herald in the Dwarven Kingdoms is something of a mix of the traditional heralds role, and a commercial inspector. The Guild of Heralds in the Dwarven Kingdom ensures that goods are not being passed off under false designs -- falsely claiming the reputation of well known manufacturers by marking products with those symbols; a serious offence with severe punishments.
Other Areas
Kinlu
- Discussion of clan / house / family Mons
