Pôl dal Nordselvă Coat of Arms request.

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

Adornments are clearly covered under our rules of heraldry:

Badges and banners may be adopted by armigers at will, but they should be registered with the College of Arms. Members of a household may all display the badge of the head of the household, or they may adopt their own badge. Badges may also be used for display on personal possessions.

Members of the orders of knighthood are entitled to bear achievements of arms augmented by a belt (coloured according to the particular order), a helm, and a motto.

Members of the peerage are entitled to enhancement of their achievements of arms consisting of a motto, a crowned helm, a crest, and mantling. Dukes alone are further entitled to adorn their achievements of arms with supporters.

There is no provision for surname labels.

There are several paths forward:

A. The armiger may accept the blazon as suggested, and display it with an "unofficial" label.  It would be discouraged to display it thus on Wittenberg, but it could be made into a sign to be hung in the home with such a label.

B. The armiger may request the design be modified to include a representation of his name.  An initial is a heraldic charge, but a name is not.  (I believe; I have not done any research and the best resource for such design would be the patient and excellent Green Town.)

C. His Majesty may award anything he pleases, including the first labeled achievement, and the Coletx will devise new rules to accommodate this.  We are entirely at His Majesty's service.  However, His Majesty seems disinclined to start a new tradition in this respect, and the Coletx would respectfully advise against it.

The advice and opinions of other members of the Coletx -- not the general public -- are welcome as we address this issue.

-SVA

[King Txec]

You are correct SVA that it is the blazon that is awarded, not the visual representation or emblazon. When I was initially awarded my own arms back in 2012 or so, I redesigned the emblazon myself because I didn't really like the style of ermine that were represented. I am agnostic on the topic of these arms when it comes to the label Nordselva. For me, it is the blazon that is most important, as you said, "Quarterly, gules and ermine. In the first quarter a book leaved argent and in the fourth quarter a grail or, gemmed proper."

If my brother, the petitioner, is amenable, we will award the arms as blazoned. He is free to use any visual emblazon he wishes to use. I am not looking to rewrite the rules of heraldry here. I believe our methods are time tested and are effective.

-TR/REH

[Pôl dal Nordselvă]

I will respect your decision. I don't want to cause issues. This is something that can be further discussed at a later date.

[Pôl dal Nordselvă]

Here is the latest iteration

You cannot view this attachment.

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

I'm sorry I was OOO over the weekend, but after getting caught up, I was also on the same page with the Squirrel Viceroy of Arms that the blazon, without the name, is what is awarded. The emblazon being more open to poetic license within reason. I did not anticipate using the surname on the emblazon on Wittenberg would be a problem, though I understand the reasoning.

However, after doing some research, though rare, it does appear there is precedent for words as charges, not just letters as illustrated with several historical examples here: https://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/Jpglossl.htm#Letters. This should have also been obvious to me given the split "veritas" in the arms of Harvard University, but I digress.

Since it is clearly important to the armiger that his surname be officially included in the arms, and though out of the ordinary (heraldic pun intended), there seems to be no rule against using words and escrolls as charges, I respectfully propose the following amended blazon for consideration:

Quarterly, gules and ermine. In the first quarter a book leaved argent, in the fourth quarter a grail or, gemmed proper and in base over all, an escroll argent bearing the word "Nordselvă" sable.

-Green Town

[King Txec]

Just let me know what the plan is since I'm ready to issue a grant of arms tomorrow for the Sovereign's Birthday Honours. It could always be issued belated if more time is required.

- TR/REH

[Baron Alexandreu Davinescu]

I have some concerns, although I hope they can be resolved very soon.

The rules of heraldry have as one of their main points that arms should generally evoke their original principal of battlefield signage by being very visually distinct, even small or from a distance: "All armory must have sufficient contrast to allow each element of the design to be clearly identifiable at a distance."

While this principle is not always followed with absolute fidelity in the past, neither is any other principle of heraldry, and it is one of the reasons why this body has declined to advise for the awarding of achievements that include words. I do not feel it will be good practice to begin the precedent of including longer words in achievements. We don't want to be too restrictive, so incorporating the initial as a charge would make sense. Or possibly striking other charges, and having the name be the only charge. In such a case, the text will be larger and more identifiable, and this discourage the incorporation of names or text as charges in complex designs in the future.

I would also note that the name could be adopted as a slogan that is also officially awarded, in the case of a grant of knighthood in the future.

- SVA

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

That makes sense and is logical, even if it destroys my Air Bud defense.

I will confer with the armiger.

- Green Town

[Pôl dal Nordselvă]

I displayed the most recent version a few posts above. I also should the King and he had more objections. This has been an interesting discussion, allowing me a chance to understand the process.

[King Txec]

I displayed the most recent version a few posts above. I also should the King and he had more objections. This has been an interesting discussion, allowing me a chance to understand the process.

Heraldry is fascinating. It was one of the first areas I became involved in.

-TR/REH

[King Txec]

I displayed the most recent version a few posts above. I also should the King and he had more objections. This has been an interesting discussion, allowing me a chance to understand the process.

I think you mean I had no more objections. Looks like a word is missing :-)

-TR/REH

[Mic’haglh Autófil, SMC EiP]

What if we were to include the applicant's surname in the form of canting? Something inspired by, say, the arms of Mullsjö, Sweden as seen in the sidebar here? A treeline in chief feels rather apropos of la selvă nordească.

It could create a fairly complex blazon when trying to incorporate it with the applicant's proposal, but I would argue that cat is already out of the bag, no?

- The Long Fellow