Palimpsest Rules Letter dated 2023-09-02

With the expansion of the Society's period and particularly the desire of submitters to register plants and animals not native Europe, we need to consider what is considered adequate documentation of those plants and animals not commonly found in late period documentation. Requiring that these be documented as known to period humans raises the issue of infringing on indigenous people's intellectual property. It can also be difficult for submitters, and their consulting heralds, to understand what documentation is "sufficient".

Therefore, it is proposed to simplify the documentation requirements and remove the step from core practice that accompanies plants and animals that were likely to have been known to period people.

This proposed change to SENA A2B2b presumes that if a plant or animal lived in the the same area and time as humans, then humans knew of it.

As always, your comments on these proposed changes are welcome.

1: SENA A2B2b - New Rule Change

OSCAR is unable to find the name, either registered or submitted.

This item proposes to change the documentation required for plants and animals. The effect of this is that there would no longer be a step from core practice for plants/animals used as charges.

Current Wording

b. Plants and Animals: There is a pattern of creating new charges from plants and animals. Thus an item that can be documented as a plant or animal known in period is registerable.

Plants and animals that did not appear until after 1600, such as many breeds of dogs, are not registerable. Those attested during the grey period receive the benefit of the doubt, unless there is a reason to believe they first appeared after 1600.

Attested depictions of fantastical plants or animals are also registerable under this rule, if they can be shown to be known before 1600 and have a standard enough depiction to be identifiable. However, their postures and orientations must be describable in standard blazon in order to be registered.

Proposed Wording

b. Plants and Animals: There is a pattern of creating new charges from plants and animals. Thus an item that can be documented as a plant or animal that existed in the same areas/times as humans is registerable. Sea animals found in coastal areas of places where humans lived are considered to be in the same area as humans. As humans are known to have sailed deeper water from the earliest time, sea animals that frequent the surface and near-surface of deeper water are also considered to be in the same area as humans.

Domesticated plants and domesticated animals that did not appear until after 1600, such as many breeds of dogs, are not registerable. Those attested during the grey period receive the benefit of the doubt, unless there is a reason to believe they first appeared after 1600. Wild plants and animals change appearance much more slowly than domesticated ones do. For this reason, in general, there is no need to show that a particular depiction of a wild plant or animal is period versus post-period.

Attested depictions of fantastical plants or animals are also registerable under this rule, if they can be shown to be known before 1600 and have a standard enough depiction to be identifiable. However, their postures and orientations must be describable in standard blazon in order to be registered.

Insert/Delete Wording

b. Plants and Animals: There is a pattern of creating new charges from plants and animals. Thus an item that can be documented as a plant or animal known in periodthat existed in the same areas/times as humans is registerable. Sea animals found in coastal areas of places where humans lived are considered to be in the same area as humans. As humans are known to have sailed deeper water from the earliest time, sea animals that frequent the surface and near-surface of deeper water are also considered to be in the same area as humans.

Domesticated plants Plants and domesticated animals that did not appear until after 1600, such as many breeds of dogs, are not registerable. Those attested during the grey period receive the benefit of the doubt, unless there is a reason to believe they first appeared after 1600. Wild plants and animals change appearance much more slowly than domesticated ones do. For this reason, in general, there is no need to show that a particular depiction of a wild plant or animal is period versus post-period.

Attested depictions of fantastical plants or animals are also registerable under this rule, if they can be shown to be known before 1600 and have a standard enough depiction to be identifiable. However, their postures and orientations must be describable in standard blazon in order to be registered.

2: SENA A2B4a - New Rule Change

OSCAR is unable to find the name, either registered or submitted.

This item proposes removing the step for core practice for plants/animals likely to have been known to period people. Because of existing precedent, the section is retained to keep the numbering of other subsections consistent.

Current Wording

a. Plants and Animals: Plants and animals which cannot be documented to before 1600 but that can be shown to have likely been known to period people of any culture are registerable with a step from core practice. While grey period citations will be considered, the great expansion of knowledge gained about the rest of the world between 1600 and 1650 means that the burden of proof of pre-1600 knowledge here is slightly higher.

Proposed Wording

a. [Section deleted]

Jeanne Marie

Palimpsest

OSCAR counts 2 Rule Changes. These 2 items may or may not require payment. There are a total of 2 items submitted on this letter.