The designs in our gallery are slowly progressing from brainstorming fodder to refined designs. That is, they are:
- Somewhat preliminary
- In most cases at least lightly conflict-checked, though not subject to detailed "is it registerable?" checks
- Not subject to the kind of highly artisitic filtering and tweaking which can turn, say, an ordinary bird into a wonderful kotoku (this is especially true of the ones drawn using the very helpful but limited tool at DrawShield.net)
- Not credited - but the originator of a given idea can generally be found from looking at the archives of the NZ Heraldry mailing list
- Intended as a way to generate more designs and inspiration, but if you like one of them a lot, by all means say so!
...with thanks to Ollivier, Kazimira, Kotek and Sigrith for their drawing work for many designs.
The decision process for winnowing down the list and deciding on near-final designs is shown here.
More Resources
- A site that could be useful for folks to think about devices, badges and comparisons to other groups is http://herald.poore-house.com/protocol/an-armorial-of-precedence/ - among other things has the devices for every SCA Kingdom, Principality and Barony.
- If you want to quickly see the devices of SCA Kingdoms: http://www.conalscorner.com/kingdom
- Or just the devices of groups in Lochac: https://roll.lochac.sca.org/index.php?page=Groups&id=1
See the designs! See the winnowed designs from late 2023!
General Principles to Consider (from discussions on the NZHeraldry list)
Are we aiming for totally period in our approach? Or is Typical-SCA (TSCA) usage acceptable?
Do we want a New Zealand reference? If so, via colours? (eg black and silver/white; blue, green). Via the charges - if so what? (e.g. birds, fishhooks, clouds, compass rose). Via the ordinaries? (e.g. a bend sinister).
Do we want a reference to Lochac? (e.g. a red cross, or the four stars)
Do we want a reference to our Caidan past? (e.g. crescent/s, blue and white, embattled bordure)
Or do we go for something that has no reference or resonance at all, and make it our own?
Do we want to avoid motifs that are awfully common in current SCA usage (e.g. references to towers/walls, boats, water, mountains, sea creatures, dragons/wyverns, beasties holding things, trees, the per chevron field division...)
Think about a main charge or motif that can be recognisably used as a populace badge or used in Principality references (eg "the Trillium Throne", "fighting under the Falcon banner"). This can be a separate thing but it may help strengthen the identity to take something from the group device.
A "thing within a laurel wreath" is considered by some to be TSCA, by which they would mean "a thing that is done a lot in SCA heraldry, but hardly ever in mundane period heraldry". (For a Principality device, we must have a laurel wreath somewhere, but it doesn't have to surround something; for a populace or non-Principality regional badge, no wreath is necessary).
The approach of "let's arrange charges so they are evocative of Some Other Thing" is a hallmark of modern heraldry, not period.
Want to suggest a design without joining the working group? Use the Feedback form - please provide the blazon text and, if possible, a link to a downloadable matching graphic - either in a dropbox or similar, or as a DrawShield.net link.
Any comments or suggestions? Please let us know via the Feedback form.