12 February 2007
Report: Domesday 2006
Warm and heartfelt greetings unto Artan and Aziza, King and Queen of the Outlands, Countess Elisabeth, Laurel Queen of Arms, Conte Giovanni di Sienna, Outlands Seneschal, the Outlands College of Heralds, and to all others who come by these letters, from Lady Sorcha MacLeod, White Stag Principal Herald!
I am honored to report that the Outlands College of Heralds is growing and vital. My goals for my tenure have been to increase communication and teamwork within the College, to improve education of both heralds and the general populace, and to recruit more new heralds while training the currently active local and at-large heralds to hold kingdom staff positions. While these have been concurrent projects, I had established a three-part plan to concentrate on each in turn. I am pleased to announce that the college has grown by a modest number, and that more heralds have begun to choose independent projects to bring more heraldry to their areas. Many heralds who first started near the beginning of my tenure are now teaching other, newer heralds, most often through use of the outlands-heralds yahoogroup, where new heralds have the benefit of several voices. This allows many experienced heralds to take a break from training when they have need, secure in the knowledge that there are more hands to make light the work. My thanks to those who stepped down from my staff in 2006 for their hard work, and to those who stepped forward to fill those positions.
I will be stepping down on 03 February 2007, and I leave the college in the hands of my successor, who will have other goals and plans, and other things to concentrate on building. It is my hope that I leave the College in such a state that my successor will have a solid foundation on which to build. I will stay on as Palmer with no official duties for six months or until my successor has chosen a permanent Palmer, whichever comes first.
Over the past year, the Wimble (precedence) and Wharrow (roll of arms) pages have been polished, with new tools and bugfixing. The Rampart site has undergone some revision to bring it up to date, and a more robust site has been planned to replace the old one. The submissions process is working smoothly under the internal and external submissions model that we moved to in 2005, and a notifications clerk is expected to begin work early in the coming year, further easing the burdens of those positions. We moved entirely to the new forms in September, well in advance of the deadline set by Laurel, and Outlands LoIs are being posted to OSCAR. LoCs generated by our commenters should begin being posted to OSCAR early this coming year. The rest of the kingdom staff have been diligent about keeping the trains running on time, and they are all doing good work at promoting their various areas throughout the kingdom. Most of the kingdom staff have made efforts to seek out newer heralds and begin to teach them about the position they hold, which should mean a ready crop of successors as these positions change hands.
Reports:
Reporting has suffered some setbacks over the last year, but most issues have been resolved with a minimum of drama, which I appreciate very much.
Kingdom Staff
Kingdom Staff are required to report quarterly, but are encouraged to report more frequently.
Blue Iris [Queen’s Herald/Royal Court] – Baron Charles Blackstone currently holds this position and provides swift and complete court reports. He also provides an abridged report to the public lists, so that the business of the court may be known to those who were unable to attend – this abridged report is stripped of legal names and other personal information best kept private. Warrant expires 12 May 2007.
Castle [Internal Submissions] – Maestra Francesca di Pavia has done a marvelous job handling the internal submissions process since May, including receipt of packets from branches, generation of the Letter of Presentation, and deposit of submissions fees with the Kingdom Exchequer. She reports that there were 153 total submissions (109 new items and 44 resubmissions) generating income of $1081, and expenses incurred of $29.68 for postage and envelopes. One new item was a submission for the kingdom, which would not have generated income. One item apparently had $11 forwarded to kingdom instead of the usual $10 – this may have been sent directly from a submitter, rather than being sent through a branch.
Fretty [CoA Commenter] fulfills reporting requirement with LoCs. This office is currently vacant.
Gimlet [Protocol & Ceremonies] – Countess Matilda Seton reports having worked to varying degrees on seven peerage ceremonies, one Coronation, and one baronial investiture. She has collected copies of other peerage ceremonies used that were written by others, and she has a full slate entering the new year with eight ceremonies of different sorts to arrange. Her goals for the year are to continue to write or assist with writing ceremonies, and collecting those written by others for the archives. Countess AElflaed of Duckford has agreed to be her deputy. Warrant expires 20 July 2008.
Liber Herald [CoA Commenter] - Dominus Meradudd Cethin reports having written six Letters of Comment during the past year, and having had nothing substantive to say in the other six months. His office handles no funds, since his letters are published through the Squidpak, which is invoiced directly to kingdom and paid on receipt. In addition to his duties as Liber, Meradudd also had two heraldry articles published in Tournaments Illuminated and taught several classes on a variety of heraldic topics. Warrant expires 01 January 2008.
Palmer [Emergency Replacement/Administrative Deputy] - THLady Alia Marie de Blois, has had occasional administrative duties. She reports, "I have only been needed in my emergency capacity a few times when White Stag was temporarily unavailable, including March Crown Tournament and KWHSS. My role has been to be her backup and assistant cheerleader, and my goal for this office has been to support White Stag so that my services are not needed." Her chief duty has been to stay apprised of the happenings in the College, against the event she would have to step into my position, and I rather expect that will serve her well as my successor. Warrant expires 03 February 2007.
Plover [Field Heraldry] - Lord AEthewulf of Golias reports:
In Febuary, I oversaw the muster cries for Estrella War as the War
Council Herald, and the armies arrived on the field in a timely fashion.
al-Barran had their own Muster corps headed by Natasha Menichslava and
members of House Morning Glory in Dragonsspine/Schola Metalorum assisted
on other days.
In March, I oversaw the processional and tournament for His Excellency
Hrorek in the Citadel of the Southern Pass. Many heralds assisted with
both the processional and the tournament, the names of which have fallen
into the maw of my apartment.
In May, I was available for, but not needed for the tournaments
following the Coronation of His Grace Bela Kos in Caer Galen. The
tournaments were conducted in a 'speed' fashion to not require heraldic
assistance.
In July, I assisted with the heraldic activities at the Outlands
Twentieth Year celebration, and co-ordinated with the local groups who
needed heralds for their events. I also assisted with the Historical
Procession, reading the skald of Queens.
In September, I oversaw the processional and tournament for His Grace
Bela Kos in Caerthe. Many heralds assisted with both the processional
and the tournament, amongst His Excellency Carrick, Masters Balthazar
and Adam, and THL Marie.
In November, I oversaw the tournaments following the Coronation of His
Majesty Artan VI. I was assisted by Baron Carrick, at his insistent behest.
My warrant as Plover expires in November 2007, and I have begun speaking
to Baron Omar as my replacement, and taking him my Southern Deputy. My
Northern (and Emergency) Lady Katrein has not been able to perform any
duties as my assistant in the past year, for which she is quickly
forgiven (Get Well Soon!).
As an at-large member in the College, I have been infrequently active.
For al-Barran's Grand Outlandish, I assisted the autocrat in finding a
trio of heralds to run the tournaments and town-crying (Natasha, Wulf of
GoldenOak, and Bronwen Blackwell). At the al-Barran Day of Arts and
Sciences, I taught a class on introductory heraldry, making slight
modifications to (then) Lady Sorcha's Heraldry for Scribes. I have also
been invited back to serve again as heraldic advisor to the College of
Blaiddwyn as their "Herald Emeritus" for the coming year, a job I look
forward to. Also, 2006 saw the formation of the Outlands CoH Database
(later Web) Team, which I am happily coding for. Features coming in
2007 are more functionality for Wimble, Rampart, Gimlet and White Stag
and an updated Plover site.
Additionally, Lord Aethelwulf serves as the Outlands Heraldry Representative on our war council, specifically for Estrella. His emergency deputy is Katrein Adler,and his warrant expires 01 November 2007.
Rampart [External Submissions] - fulfills reporting requirement with LoIs. Furukusu-dono Masahide reports:
This year, the Rampart office received and processed 168 individual submissions, made decisions on all of these items, sent 113 to Laurel, and returned 55 items.
This year the office took in $1030 in submission fees, and ended with an $84 net increase in liability to Laurel for returned items for a total liability of $344.
Goals for the office for 2006 included completing the online submission system (not met), transferring all files from “temporary” cardboard record storage boxesfiling to “Low use” stacking file drawers (met), recruiting deputies for Rampart (not met) and Rampart Clerk (met) offices, holding regular decision meetings (not met), and completing the Rampart Office Procedures manual (not met). As can be seen, many of these goals were not met for a variety of reasons.
Goals for the office for 2007 include finishing a “prototype” submission system in Access to be used for current processing and as a framework for an online system, gathering the remainder of Rampart files from White Stag, recruiting and training a deputy for the Rampart office, improving information flow between Rampart and Rampart Clerk, completing the Rampart Office Procedures manual, and handoff of the Rampart office to a new individual.
Submissions
The following is a summary of the types and count of submissions processed by the office during 2005. Attached you will find a full spreadsheet of all submission counts by month. Appendix A houses a full reckoning of all submissions by LoP month and their current status.
TotalsSubmission Type / Submitted / New / Change / Resubmitted / Liability / Returned at Kingdom / Registered / Returned by Laurel / Currently in Submission
Name / 61 / 41 / 5 / 15 / $36 / 18 / 18 / 25
Device / 65 / 35 / 1 / 29 / $28 / 25 / 11 / 29
Badge / 17 / 14 / 3 / $20 / 6 / 4 / 1 / 6
Order Name / 16 / 9 / 7 / -$8 / 4 / 1 / 1 / 10
Augmentation of Device
Household Name / 2 / 2 / $8 / 2
Blanket Permission to Conflict
Branch Device / 1 / 1 / 1
Submission Type / Submitted / New / Change / Resubmitted / Liability / Returned at Kingdom / Registered / Returned by Laurel / Currently in Submission
Branch Name / 2 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
Heraldic Title / 2 / 2 / 2
Holding Name / 1 / 1 / 1
Exchange of Device and Badge
Armory Transfer / 1 / 1 / 1
In addition to applying his spreadsheet and database expertise to the Rampart position in an effort to streamline it even further, Furukusu-dono provides consultation assistance and performs court heraldry. He has no emergency deputy as yet, and his warrant expires 01 September 2007. A summary list of the year's submissions may be found in Appendix D on page 18.
Stag's Attire [Heraldic regalia and display] - Lady Lyonnete has had little activity in the past year, having spent her heraldry time under her other tabard as Ray du Soliel, but she has some projects planned for the coming year. Warrant expires 08 October 2007.
Trefoil [CoA Commenter] -fulfills reporting requirement with LoCs. This office is currently vacant.
Weel [Herald Education/Publications] - Master Juan Balthazar Tegero reports:
In my capacity as Weel this year, I have assisted with heraldry at a number of events, including Crown Tourneys, Estrella War, and others. I have worked on revising the Herald's Handbook, but keep finding new things that I need to fix, so it is not complete yet. I was given a project for the upcoming Estrella War by Artan VI and Aziza, which I have asked Master Adam to assist me with, and he has continued on with this work. I have become the court herald for Gregor and Monika, Baron and Baroness of al-Barran. Though this is not exactly related to my work as Weel, it has certainly involved heraldic education. I have been sought out as a resource for assistance with courts, both as a voice herald and as a protocol herald, and have tried to assist as such to the best of my ability. I have also been asked for assistance with editing class notes for classes other people were teaching due to my heraldic and protocol experience.
My emergency deputy was Mistress Margaret Hepburn, but she has left the kingdom, and I have not replaced her yet. I have ideas about a replacement, but have not yet approached these people.
I have a few heraldic projects that I very much want to work on, but have not yet had the opportunity, as I have been very busy. I intend to try to work on them in the new year.
Warrant expires 01 August 2007.
Wharrow [On-line Roll of Arms] - Llywus ap Alan, Arglwyddiaeth, reports:
On-line Armorial
In April of this year the new Wharrow web site was made active, thanks to
the hard work of the OCoH web team led by Lady Kymma Godric.
As maintaining the Armorial is my primary duty as a Herald, and I enjoy
this work immensely, I make every attempt to post new registrations, and
notify the populace, within two days of receiving the Letter of Acceptances
and Returns from Laurel. This goal I have met for every LoAR published.
As a result of the new web site and the improved link between it and the
Wimble site two deficiencies in the database of graphics in the Armorial
were discovered. No artwork existed for many of the early device
registrations from citizens of the Outlands, mostly inactive players, or
for many persons who were, at one time, citizens of the Outlands but had
since moved to other Kingdoms. In April I began creating artwork for the
former group, completing this project of about 300 new pictures in
November. Immediately thereafter I started the project of creating graphics
for the latter group of 200 names, expecting completion in late spring 2007.
I also continue to make corrections to the site as errors are brought to my
attention. All told 431 new or corrected graphics were added to the site
this year.
Funds
I picked up the Outlands submission packet from the consultation table at
Estrella War this year; two name & device submissions and one name only
submission. I converted the $50 received at Estrella to a single check
through my local group and forwarded this package to Castle Herald. This
was the only monies I handled this year.
Llwys has also taught a few classes and offered consultation assistance locally and throughout the kingdom. His goals for the coming year are to continue his work on the Roll of Arms and request new features for the site, as well as continuing to offer his classes and organize heraldic activities, including co-sponsoring a heraldic display competition at Grand Outlandish. Warrant expires 01 June 2007.
Wimble [Precedence] - Lady Marie de Blois reports:
The Wimble office remains a fairly low-key office, especially with the updates Wimble site (see below), which have made it much easier to maintain the data. Getting court heralds to report their courts to me has improved over last year, and I have implemented a tracking page on the website to make the status of reporting and my data entry public. My backlog currently consists of importees - gentles who have moved here from other kingdoms. My primary goal as Wimble has been to provide the kingdom with accurate and useful Precedence data. This has primarily come in the form of keeping the Wimble data up to date and adding features for the Wimble website, and I think I've succeeded in this. My secondary goal as Wimble was to educate other heralds about precedence and how to maintain precedence information. I haven't been able to really do this, unfortunately.
Finances
This year, as last year, I touched no money other than my own. This continues to make me exceedingly happy.
A short form Order of Precedence may be found in Appendix E on page 26. Warrant expires 01 September 2007.
Kingdom Scribe - Mistress Nadrah bint Lu’lu al Qadisi reports:
-a financial summary of any funds handled in 2006