Heraldic Device and Badge

Alderford's device was registered by the Laurel Sovereign of Arms in late 1996.

The Society for Creative Anachronism has a College of Heralds that registers names and heraldic devices (coats of arms) within the SCA. These registrations hold no weight in the modern world but are permanent and global within the SCA. Individuals who join the SCA can also create and register their own names and devices, which guarantees that no one else in the Society can lay claim to what you have registered.

Blazoning

Heraldic devices are described by a special notation known as "blazon". The purpose of blazon is to allow heralds to communicate what a device looks like without having to tediously copy pictures. In the blazon language, the device you see above would be described as:

Argent, an alder slip fesswise reversed sable, fructed gules, a ford proper, and on a chief azure two laurel wreaths argent.

Downloadable Bitmaps -- Official Version

This is but one of the possible renderings of Alderford's device, and is designed to closely reflect the officially registered version. As individuals create their own versions for use within the March, slight artistic variations are permitted by the SCA.

Six versions of the as-registered bitmap are available here:

Downloadable Bitmaps -- Group-Preferred Version

This version of the device more closely reflects what is preferred by most of the membership of the group. Note the alder leaves' diffing shape.

There are six sizes of this GIF available here. The transparent versions are suited for use on web pages with a colored or textured background, while the non-transparent versions are displayed on a white rectangular background. I am working on making these available in the PNG format as well. Thanks to Ailith Mackintosh for supplying the original master of this version.

Downloadable Bitmaps -- Alternate Version

This version has the elongated leaves of the preferred version, but differs slightly in style. This rendering was created by Iustinos Tekton, with the leaf shape being similar to one created by Llyrydwyl Merewenna. There are seven sizes available, and these are all exterior-transparent.

These files are encoded as transparent GIFs with the transparent color being palette entry #2 (starting with zero for the first entry). This is slightly different from the usual custom of having entry #0 be the transparent color, but should not cause problems for most applications. If you need it rendered differently, or at higher resolution, contact me.

Downloadable Bitmaps -- Three-Dimensional (3D) Version

THL Ailith Mackintosh (mka Kate Soehnlen) has graciously provided these images of the Alderford device rendered with a raised 3D effect. They have a transparent background, perfect for use on web pages. Images are Copyright © 2004 by KJ Soehnlen.

Except as noted above, the renderings of the device on this site are copyright © 1997,1999 by Scott D. Courtney. Permission is granted to Alderford members to download these images for their own use.