Heraldry and Coats of Arms
I was blown away by the City-kingdoms of the Haréshk by vorropohaiah and the addition of shields (although some break the tincture rules). I was wondering if other people were interested in heraldry and blazons for their own medieval and fantasy maps.
There are a few sources I use for making and describing heraldry. One is a book I own but can be read online called Boutell's Heraldry. It's a book from 1890. Another is A Complete Guide to Heraldry from 1909 available on Wikipedia. The last is a website that has many, many examples including blazons of many shields throughout the world from a book called A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry from 1894. I don't use the glossary as much but only if I need to see how other people wrote their blazons with different shapes.
What I have attached is a shield I created (using resources from Wikimedia Commons because I can't draw worth anything) for an empire whose map I'll be sharing shortly.
Blazon:
Or, an eagle Sable imperially crowned Proper with wings displayed and inverted, in its beak a fish, perched on a nest all Proper, issuant therefrom five eaglets: I Sable, II Or, III Gules, IV Argent, V Azure with wings displayed and inverted, the first, second, third, and fourth close contourned.
If I didn't suck at drawing, the rest of the blazon would read:
Surrounding the escutcheon, the Order of the Grand Star linked with lion's faces and sprigs of rue interwoven and having from it a star of sixteen rays all Or; for a Crest, upon a frogmouth helmet Sable the imperial crown Proper yet not set with stones but only enamel, a sun without face of sixteen rays Or; Mantling Or and Gules; for Supporters, dexter a lion rampant guardant on a rock both Proper; sinister standing on a like rock a female figure Proper, crined Or, vested Argent, draped Sable with bordure Or surmounted a bordure Gules, wearing a breastplate, vambraced, shod with sabatons all Sable, and supporting with her exterior hand an anchor Proper.
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