Quote from: Dr. Txec Róibeard dal Nordselvă, Esq., O.SPM, SMM on March 26, 2022, 04:04:03 PM

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on March 26, 2022, 03:18:05 PM
I further propose that that earlier list of the inactive has stood for a long time, and we should act with some common sense about these inactive folks, and be a bit more consistent. We should create the unnamed positions of Fellow emeritus and Pursuivant emeritus.  Heralds should probably be permitted to keep their titles for life, even when moved to an emeritus status, as now.  Then we should make the following changes:

The Odd Fellow, Iustì Canun, should be stripped of all office and privilege, and he should be formally ejected from the College and stricken from its rolls.

The former Lookout Fellow, Sir Tamorán dal Navâ, UrN, the former Long Fellow, Davíu Lundescu, the former Well-Met Fellow, Tímoþi Asmourescu, and the former Oblivious Auditing Fellow, Pôl d'Aurìbuérg, should all be appointed as Fellows emeritus.  They are welcome to return and assume a named position at any time (assuming they are Talossan citizens at the time).

The Mellow Fellow, Owen Edwards, the Well-Met Fellow, Cresti d. I. Nouacastra, and the Jolly Good Fellow, Alèxandreu Soleighlfred, should all be moved from their positions and appointed as Fellows emeritus.

The Penzance Pursuivant, Sir Mick Preston, UrN should be moved from his position and appointed as Pursuivant emeritus.

I'd also like to see that the title of The Odd Fellow is never able to be used again by any future fellow.

Yes, you're right. If you don't have any objection to any of the rest of this, should we see what the Dean or SKA thinks?

I further propose that that earlier list of the inactive has stood for a long time, and we should act with some common sense about these inactive folks, and be a bit more consistent. We should create the unnamed positions of Fellow emeritus and Pursuivant emeritus.  Heralds should probably be permitted to keep their titles for life, even when moved to an emeritus status, as now.  Then we should make the following changes:

The Odd Fellow, Iustì Canun, should be stripped of all office and privilege, and he should be formally ejected from the College and stricken from its rolls.

The former Lookout Fellow, Sir Tamorán dal Navâ, UrN, the former Long Fellow, Davíu Lundescu, the former Well-Met Fellow, Tímoþi Asmourescu, and the former Oblivious Auditing Fellow, Pôl d'Aurìbuérg, should all be appointed as Fellows emeritus.  They are welcome to return and assume a named position at any time (assuming they are Talossan citizens at the time).

The Mellow Fellow, Owen Edwards, and the Jolly Good Fellow, Alèxandreu Soleighlfred, should all be moved from their positions and appointed as Fellows emeritus.

The Penzance Pursuivant, Sir Mick Preston, UrN should be moved from his position and appointed as Pursuivant emeritus.

Okay, I took a first pass at consolidating the rules and reorganizing them.  There was a lot of repetition and the organization didn't make any sense to me.  I also added some info about badges and banners.  Right now it's on the talk page:  http://wiki.talossa.com/Talk:Rules_of_Heraldry

I'll fiddle with the formatting a bit more, and simplify a bit more. A couple of the sections are a bit too long and need subheadings, and some categories need to be made into lists. But anyone have any thoughts thus far?

This is a really good summary of what's happening! Good work!

Oh, I see. So we would just provide a registry for people for their badges? That makes sense.

I'm about halfway through trying to straighten up the rules of heraldry. How about I just add some language about this too? Then you guys can edit it or make suggestions before we send it to the SKA?

-NRH

I think these designs are looking amazing! One minor bit of feedback is that the different colored fonts on the obverse read like they should be grouped and read together, rather than following down the column. Took me a second to parse them. Maybe that's just because I'm looking at it on a screen, though?

Quote from: Dr. Txec Róibeard dal Nordselvă, Esq., O.SPM, SMM on March 25, 2022, 02:58:17 PM
It seems that in the UK, for example, badges are granted by their College of Arms, normally when granting new arms, and included in their Letters Patent. I would think that if we're to begin using these ourselves, it should be regulated by the RTCoA and based on either new grants of arms or if requested, upon previously granted arms.

Here is an example of my own Arms in badge form.



-REH

I believe that is your arms, just on a round escutcheon, right? For a badge, you could adopt a scroll or basically any other device you wanted on a background of white and red divided probably in the same way as your arms, but maybe completely differently.

It does look like a UK started regulating badges and treating them as something you can request when you request arms, but I was charmed at the idea that there could be a device that people could adopt whenever they wanted or even change, and that would be appropriate to have on livery or members of the household. That's why I brought it up... if we treated them differently then arms, then It might be a fun new thing for people to mess with. If there's one thing I've learned from observing heraldry for so many years with an avid interest, it's that people really like discussing symbolism about themselves and their interests, so giving people more chances to mess around with that seems like it would be a good thing. And if it was free from the usual constraints of the college and the king, it would give people a chance to experiment with different ideas. My daughters made me think of this... I love chess and love the trappings of nonsense feudalism and clever tactics, and so I was thinking of that when designing my arms all those years ago. And that's great for my house in perpetuity! But I want them to have the chance to express themselves in a similar way, and badges will be a means for that.

I'm not married to the idea either way, but it's just something I was thinking about and thought I would throw out there to start a discussion.

-NRH

Let me first offer my congratulations at your good fortune. Our province is widely acknowledged throughout the province as the best province.

Quote from: Danihel Txechescu on March 24, 2022, 10:18:28 PM
Please pardon me if I interrupt...

I have created (and used) this medallion directly from my arms:


Here it is on a case:


And I even got myself an embosser! Here's a sample on a soft tissue (hehe):

This is really cool! It's your arms on a circular escutcheon. Where did you get the embosser? Looks like it works really well.

-NRH

Edward IV ("rose-en-soliel")


Richard I


Duke of Suffolk


And I threw together a quick one for myself by way of illustration.  A corvid feather from my crest, on top of my armorial colors.


More from Fox-Davies here, and the relevant SCA page here.

-NRH

Wow, look at this tycoon get to work!  Two staffers already, the most for a private enterprise in years!  Love it!

I was thinking about the heraldric tradition of badges recently.

Quote from: Arthur Fox-Davies' A Complete Guide to HeraldryThere was never any fixed form for the badge; there was never any fixed manner of usage. I can find no fixed laws of inheritance, no common method of assumption. In fact the use of a badge, in the days when everybody who was anybody possessed arms, was quite subsidiary to the arms, and very much akin to the manner in which nowadays monograms are made use of. ...  [The badge] was worn by the servants and retainers, and was used right and left on the belongings of the owner as a sign of his ownership. So great and extensive at one period was the use of these badges, that they were far more generally employed than either arms or crest

Fox-Davies illustrates his discussion of the badge by providing the badges of the Earl of Stafford, who had eighteen badges in his house in some capacity (unknown precisely, although perhaps for eighteen members of his extended family?), Edward the Black Prince, who used his badge of an ostrich feather piercing parchment on more occasions than his formal arms, and the rival houses of the War of the Roses which were both members of the Plantagenets (Gules, three lions passant guardant Or) but were identified by their badges (among other examples).

The whole thing has me thinking about how badges should be used in Talossa.  I believe that we should treat them the same way they were treated in England: unregulated, ungranted, and borne by individuals rather than by families.  So while my daughters would bear my family arms, they could each adopt their own badges.

Thoughts from the College?

-NRH

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on March 24, 2022, 04:14:35 PM
I mean, I heartily agree with this statement:

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on March 23, 2022, 09:17:10 PM
The new Talossan Renaissance keeps on building up steam!

But it totally flies in the face of this statement:

Quote from: TNC campaign email
something needs to change.  We can't afford another two years of this grim slog.

I suppose the truly shameless and dishonest would suggest "oh, all these people are coming back into action because they're being galvanised by the TNC election campaign! And they'll go away again if we're not elected!"

It is true that I'm a booster for the country, no matter who's in charge.  I'm always going to root for Talossa and urge people to join and do fun things, because I love it and I believe in it.

But it's kind of silly to pretend that suddenly everything is okay, or suddenly decide you guys actually did a good job.

Activity always picks up at election time.  It's been an ironclad rule of Talossa for decades: when it's time to vote, people remember to come visit and chat and do stuff.  It's great to see people like Antaglha and Afacat back here and active -- I'm glad to see them and glad when they get busy at doing Talossa.  But they've been gone since basically just during the last election.  There's nothing wrong with that, but it's part of a larger pattern in the country.

I mean, it was just last election when we went through this same thing, remember?  After a very quiet term and when immigration was at a dead stop, you decided that actually activity levels were very high and we didn't have any problems.  You said I was "gaslighting" about the problem.

Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on May 23, 2021, 08:27:41 PM
Our activity levels that are higher than at any time since the Free Democrats have been leading government, as shown by the huge turnout of parties in the election?

I thought you'd stopped this gaslighting about how Talossa sucks these days and no-one comes here any more

But of course, you were singing a different tune right before the campaign, when you were talking about "a crisis of activity."

And not long after the campaign, when you admitted that "the Government we lead has dropped the ball. Seriously, and collectively. We have failed to actively pursue most of our programme. The country is now in a serious crisis of activity, and it is possible that Talossa will die within 6 months if something doesn't change."

The only thing that seems to change your perception of a crisis of activity is... well, your re-election campaigns!  Just as soon as you're running for re-election, you suddenly realize our problems have all been solved and the country should be grateful.

But people are getting active again because it's election time and some folks are pouring their energy into trying to do things and encourage others.  It is just plain foolish to waste opportunities like this, when the tide rises and we can furl our sails.  If we return to another term of do-nothing and broken promises, then we risk losing our chance to set sail for better waters.  And who knows how many more chances we'll get?  Someday, if we don't change things, the tide may not be able to lift us off the rocks.

By the way, and I know this is just an oversight, but you completely forgot to get into any of that red-and-green tape that tied your party's hands this past term.

Maybe if you immigrate, you'll be the one to get it rolling again!

There's no real answer to that question, just as there's no answer to what constitutes French culture or American culture.  Generally speaking, things that take place mostly in Talossan spaces, between Talossans, or which are about some aspect of Talossa have been considered Talossan culture.  Some people like @Iason Taiwos or @xpb have even developed subcultures with their friends in Talossa (Cjovani and distinctly Cezembrean, respectively).