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West Kingdom
College of Heralds

Efficient Conflict Research Under the Current Rules

Date Written: October, 1990
Last Updated: January, 2018
Author: Keridwen o'r Mynydd Gwyrdd (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasfryn)
Updated/Re-written for SENA by: Astrið of Swansvale

Policy Level: Instructional
Intended Audience: Research (Book) Heralds
Abstract: The simplest, fastest, and most efficient methods to research under the current rules.

Armory conflict is described in the Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory [SENA] in section A.5. [http://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#A5]

The purpose of conflict research is to determine if there are any already-registered devices or badges that are NOT at least one Substantial Change [SC] or two Distinct Changes [DCs] from the armory you are reviewing. We do this by excluding everything that clearly has at least one SC or two DCs and evaluating the rest on a case-by-case basis.

If you are a pre-SENA herald returning to the fold, SC is equivalent to "substantial difference" or "X.2". DCs are equivalent to "significant differences", "clear differences", "CD"s, or even "clear visual differences" and "CVD"s.

An overview of the changes that can give an SC or a DC is provided in the following excerpts from SENA. For details and examples, see SENA.

DESCRIPTION OF SUBSTANTIAL AND DISTINCT CHANGES

Changes that CAN give an SC

Adding or Removing the Primary Charge Group: A new submission does not conflict with any protected armory if it adds a primary charge group or removes a primary charge group. Thus, any armory which is field-primary does not conflict with any armory which has a primary charge group.
Substantial Change of Type of the Primary Charge Group: A new submission which substantially changes the type of each primary charge from a piece of protected armory does not conflict with it. When possible, each charge in the new armory is compared to the charge in the corresponding location in the protected armory. Some charges which are not substantially different may qualify for a distinct change, as described in A.5.G below.
Change of Number of the Primary Charge Group: A new submission which substantially changes the number of charges in the primary charge group from a protected piece of armory does not conflict with it. A primary charge group with one, two, or three charges does not conflict with armory having a primary charge group with any other number or semy. A primary charge group with four or more charges, including semy of charges, is not clear of conflict under this rule with armory whose primary charge group has four or more charges, including semy of charges. Other changes in number do not qualify for this rule, but may qualify for a distinct change under A.5.G below.
Change of Arrangement of the Primary Charge Group: A new submission which substantially changes the arrangement of the primary charges from a piece of protected armory does not conflict with it. In cases where armory has an arrangement which is forced by the field, no difference can be obtained for arrangement of those charges. It does not matter whether the forced arrangement is in the registered item or the new submission. The following groups of arrangements are substantially different from each other, while arrangements listed in the same group are not substantially different from each other; other arrangements cannot apply this rule, but may still qualify for a distinct change, as described in the section below on Distinct Changes.
1. in pale
2. in fess
3. in bend
4. in bend sinister
5. in saltire, and two and two, and crossed in saltire
6. in cross
7. two and one, and three, two, and one
8. in orle and in annulo
Change of Posture of the Primary Charge Group: A new submission which substantially changes the postures or orientations of each of the primary charges from a piece of protected armory does not conflict with it, when the posture of the individual charges are comparable. Charges which fall into separate categories of animate charges do not have comparable postures; animate charges and inanimate charges do not have comparable postures or orientations.

Changes that can give a DC

Standards for Difference through Two Distinct Changes: A distinct change (DC) is a change that was generally used as a cadency step or is similar in visual weight and meaning to changes that were used as cadency steps. Any new design which has at least two distinct changes from a protected design does not conflict with it. In older precedents, two elements which have a distinct change between them were sometimes said to be significantly different, or that there was a CD between them; in current precedent they are said to be distinctly changed, or that there is a DC between them. The types of changes which are substantially different when applied to primary charges under A.5.E above generally count as a distinct change when applied to other charge groups.

For any given section below, only one distinct change (DC) can be derived from one type of change to a single charge group, no matter how radical the changes. Multiple distinct changes (DCs) may be derived from multiple types of changes to a single charge group or by changes to multiple charge groups. In general, a change to half the charge group (as defined in SENA A.5.C.2.d) is sufficient for a distinct change. However, for a half which is defined as a special case in A.5.C.2.d, a maximum of one distinct change can be derived from all changes to that half, no matter how radical the changes.

Changes to the Field: Distinctly changing the tinctures, direction of partition lines, style of partition lines, or number of pieces in a partition of the field is one distinct change (DC). For armory with a primary charge group, at most one distinct change can come from changes to the field.

Field-primary armory can be cleared of conflict by a single substantial change to the field as described in SENA A.5.F, through two distinct changes under this rule, or through two distinct changes under any combination of rules in SENA A.5.G, including changes to peripheral ordinaries and tertiary charges on them.
1. Change of Tincture: If the tincture of at least half the field is changed, the fields will be considered different enough to be a distinct change (DC). There is a distinct change for swapping or rotating the tinctures of a field evenly divided into two, three, or four parts. There is not a distinct change for swapping the tinctures of a field divided into more than four parts. Furs and fields with field treatments are considered different tinctures from their underlying tincture and from other variants which share an underlying tincture.
2. Change of Direction of Partition Lines: A change of direction of partition lines creates a distinct change (DC). The major single partition lines include: per bend, per bend sinister, per pale, per fess, per chevron, and per chevron inverted; a change from one to another (whether as single lines or multiple forms) is a distinct change. In addition, a change from any of these to per saltire, quarterly, gyronny (of any number of pieces), per pall, and per pall inverted, checky, and lozengy or a change between any of these is considered a distinct change. A change in direction of half the lines of a design gives a distinct change. In general, the addition, removal, or change of a partition line or group of partition lines that changes the organization of tinctures in ways that affect at least half the field will be considered a distinct change.
3. Change of Style of Partition Lines: All partition lines have a style, either plain (straight) or complex. A change of style of half the partition lines is a distinct change (DC). The types of complex lines which are distinctly different are discussed in Appendix M.
4. Change of Number of Pieces: Changing the number of pieces into which the field is divided is a distinct change (DC). When considering the field as a whole, a field with one, two, three, or four pieces has a distinct change from armory with any other number, but above that there is no distinct change. When considering changes to only half of an already divided field, a half with one, two, or three pieces can have a distinct change from armory with a half of any other number of pieces, but any number beyond that is considered the same.
  
  The one exception is party of six, which is divided in a different pattern (effectively per fess and paly of three) and was seen as a distinct field division in period. Therefore, it has one DC from checky and designs that create large numbers of lozenges (such as paly bendy). However, it does not have a DC from designs such as Paly and per fess which create the same overall impression.
5. Fieldless Armory: A piece of fieldless armory automatically has one distinct change (DC) from any other armory, fielded or fieldless.
  
  Tinctureless armory, as described in SENA A.3.A.2, is treated as fieldless armory for this purpose. However, no DC may be given for tincture of charges when comparing a tinctureless badge to any other design, including changes of tincture due to addition of lines of division.
Adding or Removing a Charge Group: Adding or removing a secondary, tertiary, or overall charge group is a distinct change (DC). The addition or removal of a primary charge gives greater difference and is described under SENA A.5.E.1. We count additions and removals in terms of the charge groups they affect, so that adding or removing multiple charges from a single group is only one distinct change. Adding or removing charges from multiple charge groups may give multiple distinct changes.
Change of Tincture Within a Charge Group: Distinctly changing the tinctures, direction of partition lines, style of partition lines, or number of pieces into which a charge group is divided is a distinct change (DC). At most one distinct change may be derived from changes to tincture of a single charge group.

However, no distinct change for tincture may be given under any section of this rule when comparing a tinctureless badge to another design, as described in SENA A.5.G.1.e.
1. Tinctures: If the tincture of at least half the charge group is changed, the charge group will be considered different. There is a distinct change (DC) for swapping or rotating the tinctures of a charge group evenly divided into two, three, or four parts. There is not a distinct change for reversing the tinctures of a charge group divided into more than four parts. Furs and field treatments are considered different from their underlying tincture.
2. Direction of Partition Lines: A change of direction of partition creates a distinct change (DC). The major single partition lines include: per bend, per bend sinister, per pale, per fess, per chevron, and per chevron inverted. A change from one to another (whether as single lines or multiple forms) is a distinct change. In addition, a change from any of these to per saltire, quarterly, gyronny (of any number of pieces), per pall, per pall inverted, checky, and lozengy or a change between any of these is considered a distinct change. A change in direction of half the lines of a design gives a distinct change. In general, the addition, removal, or change of a partition line or group of partition lines that changes organization of tinctures in ways that affect half the tincture will be considered a distinct change.
3. Style of Partition Lines: All partition lines have a style, either plain (straight) or complex. A change of style of half the partition lines is a distinct change (DC). The types of complex lines which are distinctly different are discussed in SENA Appendix M.
4. Number of Pieces: Changing the number of pieces into which the charge is divided is a distinct change (DC). When considering the overall number of pieces, more than four pieces are considered the same, but smaller numbers are considered different. Alternately, changes that only affect half of an already divided charge can give a distinct change; in that case, more than three pieces are considered the same.
Change of Type Within a Charge Group: The change in type of at least half of a charge group is a distinct change (DC). Types of charges considered distinct in period are considered distinctly changed. A charge that was not used in period armory will be considered different in type from another charge if their shapes are distinctly changed. Additional discussion of difference between some specific charges can be found in Appendix M.
Change of Number Within a Charge Group: Distinctly changing the number of charges in any charge group is one distinct change (DC).

A charge group with one, two, three, four, and five charges is a distinct change from groups of any other numbers. A charge group with six or more charges, including semy of charges, is not a distinct change from a group of any number within this size category. Changes to independent charge groups may give multiple distinct changes. Even when the number of charges is fixed by their type, there is a distinct change for changing the number under this rule.
Change of Arrangement Within a Charge Group: Changing the arrangement of a group of charges is generally a distinct change (DC). Arrangement in this rule refers both to the relative positions of the charges (in pale, two and one, etc.) and to their positions on the field (in canton, in base). Arrangement may also apply in the case of a tertiary charge group which only appears on some charges within a charge group with multiple charges. Only one distinct change may be derived from changes to arrangement of a single charge group, though multiple distinct changes can be given for independent changes of arrangement to multiple charge groups.

Changes to other parts of the design frequently cause changes to the arrangement of charge groups. We call these changes forced; there is no distinct change for a forced change of arrangement. A change to the primary charge group can force the change of arrangement of a secondary charge group. When a type of a charge requires a specific arrangement, there is no distinct change for arrangement when the type of charge is changed.
Change of Posture or Orientation Within a Charge Group: Animate charges have a posture, which includes their stance, position of limbs, facing, etc.; inanimate charges have an orientation which includes their radial orientation and facing. Distinctly changing the posture or orientation of half of the charges in any charge group, when the charges are comparable, is one distinct change (DC). Only one distinct change can be derived from the changes in posture and/or orientation of any given charge group, though multiple distinct changes can be given for independent changes of posture or orientation to multiple charge groups. Multiple changes to the posture or orientation of the same charges may not be counted separately. Some charges, such as roundels, do not have a posture or orientation to be compared. In general, changes of position and/or orientation that considerably change the appearance of a single type of charge will count for a distinct change. Animate charges do not have comparable postures with inanimate charges. A partial list of postures and orientations that are distinct can be seen in Appendix L.
1. Change of Posture for Animate Charges: Animate charges are considered to fall into categories by the type of animal for posture. Quadrupeds have comparable postures, birds have comparable postures, insects and other creatures normally found in tergiant positions have comparable postures, fish have comparable postures. Animate charges which fall into separate categories do not have comparable postures.
2. Change of Posture for Non-Identical Inanimate Charges: Inanimate charges also may be divided into two categories: compact charges and long charges. Inanimate charges which fall into separate categories do not have comparable postures.
3. Change of Orientation for Identical Inanimate Charges: When comparing two identical types of inanimate charges in different orientations, additional differences in posture can also be granted a distinct change (DC). When the compared charges are identical, compact charges that have clearly distinguished directionality can receive a distinct change for differences in facing. Long charges may receive a distinct change for reversing their direction when the ends are easily distinguished. More details may be found in SENA Appendix L.

Comparisons of Armory: When considering armory for purposes of possible conflict, there are a number of factors which should be considered.

Blazons Which Must Be Considered: While we register the emblazon, rather than the blazon, most conflict checking is done from the blazon. Thus, when considering armory for purposes of possible conflict, all reasonable blazons for a specific design must be considered. You may not blazon your way out of conflict. Blazons that are unregisterable under our core style rules (such as blazons that would produce quaternary charges or contrast issues) or that require unlikely understandings of an armorial design do not need to be considered for conflict purposes, unless that blazon is due to the use of an Individually Attested Pattern, is due to voiding or fimbriation, or is the existing blazon of a piece of registered armory.

Armorial designs with voided or fimbriated charges must be considered for purposes of conflict in multiple ways. In most cases, voided charges are considered as a base charge with a tertiary charge and as a base charge with fimbriation (the fimbriation being an artistic detail worth no difference). However, this does not always work in reverse - two ordinaries are not considered as a single ordinary voided. Fimbriated charges are considered as a base charge (with the fimbriation being an artistic detail worth no difference), or as a base charge with a tertiary charge.
Comparing Charge Groups: In general, only charge groups that are comparable in type should be compared for specific difference under the rules below. That is, a primary charge group should be compared to a primary charge group only, a secondary charge group should be compared to a secondary charge group only, a tertiary charge group should be compared to a tertiary charge group only, and an overall charge group should be compared to an overall charge group only.
1. Addition and Removal of Charges from a Single Charge Group: Within a single charge group, changes that can be described as the addition or removal of certain charges are treated as a single change. When the changes cannot be simply described as an addition or removal of charges, the entire charge group must be compared as a whole.
  
  These examples hold true even if none of them have the fess, where the water bougets and mullets are the primary charge group; in the first case, the difference is a substantial change, and in the second case both differences are distinct changes.
2. Comparing Secondary Charge Groups: Several kinds of secondary charge groups can occur together in a design. If two designs each have a single kind of secondary charge group, those secondary charge groups are treated as comparable for purposes of style and conflict, regardless of the type of each group. When multiple types of secondary charge groups are found in a design, identical types of secondary charge groups are compared first and then the remaining secondary charge groups can be compared independently.
3. Comparing Tertiary Charge Groups: Tertiary charge groups can occur in several places on a design, as they may appear on multiple types of charges. Tertiary charge groups can only be directly compared when they are on comparable charge group types. That is, a tertiary charge group on a primary charge cannot be directly compared to a tertiary charge group on a secondary charge group.
4. Defining Half of a Charge Group: Some of rules in this section apply when "half" of a charge group is changed. In general, "half" is literal: half of four charges is two charges and half of a single charge is 50% of it. However, there are the following special cases:
  - When a group of three charges on the field is arranged two and one, the bottom charge is considered half the charge group.
  - When a tertiary charge group of three charges is on a central ordinary or chief, the centermost charge is considered half the charge group.
  - A central charge or charge group balanced around the center of the device, when divided by a line of division splitting the field into two parts, is considered to be divided in half by that line. This is true whether or not the total area contained in the charges is evenly distributed between the halves, such as when the charge is not symmetric across the line of division. Thus, this is a common occurrence with animate charges.
  - When a primary or secondary charge group is split so that part of it lies on each side of a line of division or ordinary splitting the field in two parts, the section containing the smaller number of charges is considered half the charge group, even if it is less than half numerically.
In each of these special cases, a maximum of one distinct change, as defined in SENA A.5.G, can be derived from changes to the smaller of the sections defined as half under these rules.

HOW TO DO CONFLICT RESEARCH

This SECTION has two parts. The first is a very brief section on doing conflict research by querying the on-line ordinary, which primarily refers you to thorough instructions prepared for Laurel by a senior East Kingdom herald. The second is doing conflict research by scanning a text ordinary, which can be one of three types. These are:

a traditional, printed ordinary, which is seldom, if ever, used any more, due to the length of the current SCA ordinary,
a digital text ordinary, which can sometimes be downloaded for use when you have no internet access, or
a digital text list of the search results from your query of the on-line ordinary.

Querying the On-line Ordinary

A very thorough explanation of this process has been prepared by Marie de Blois for the Laurel office. It is available in pdf form at: http://elmet.eastkingdom.org/handouts/Conflict%20Checking%20with%20the%20Complex%20Search%20Form.pdf.

New consulting heralds should download that article and refer to it when formulating queries of the on-line database.

Note in particular the circumstances where this article warns against attempting to eliminate potential conflicts by certain queries, such as using posture features to eliminate other items under the other Substantial Changes rules. It's possible to structure a query that excludes legitimate conflicts. Or you could be evaluating a particularly complicated design that requires multiple queries. You may find it faster and safer at times to run looser queries that result in a longer list of potential conflicts that you then review as described below for visual inspection of blazons.

Inspecting Blazons in an Ordinary or from the Results of an On-line Query

This section describes a system for quick but thorough conflict research under the Rules for Submission. It deals primarily with research in the SCA Ordinary.

How to Obtain Sufficient Difference

The Visual Test

The Visual Test - There are two parts to this:

"Emblazon Rules OK!" Just because you can blazon something differently doesn't necessarily mean you get difference for it. Argent, chape sable and Per chevron throughout sable and argent are not considered different. Sable, a pile throughout argent is not particularly different from them either.

Two pieces of highly complex armory with a large amount of similarity may be considered too alike even though they have two CVDs. E.g., Vert, on a roundel between three lions rampant argent, a mullet of four points quarterly sable and vert, and a chief embattled mullety sable and Vert, on a roundel between three lions rampant argent, a compass star vert, and a chief embattled ermine just might be considered too similar despite having technical difference.

The Research System

This system is based on two principles: the elimination of categories of things that you don't need to look at and the judicious use of scanning rather than careful reading. The first is done by logical analysis. The second is a skill that may need to be practiced. Pick a page in the Ordinary at random and scan for a particular tincture. Take a beast or monster category and scan for a particular posture. Practice this until you can go down a page without actually reading anything and yet can be confident of finding all instances of the search object. In some large categories in the Ordinary, highlighting may be useful. Figure out what you are most likely to scan for: tinctures or postures, type of other changes. Just don't create a system that is more complicated than useful.

What follows is somewhat akin to a flow-chart, although the format was taken from zoological identification books. Answer the questions and follow the instructions. If it says to check thoroughly then read and visualize each blazon. If it says to scan then look for the word(s) that match.

Is there a peripheral charge (a chief or a bordures)? If yes, continue to 2. If no, go to 7.
Is the peripheral charge charged? If yes, then follow the directions looking at the charged categories as indicated. If not, then look only at the uncharged versions of the categories. (E.g. Chief Charged by Complex Line (Azure) versus Chief by Complex Line (Azure). Continue to 3.
Does the peripheral charge have a plain line? If yes, continue to 4. If no, go to 6.
Find the color category. Check thoroughly under the field match. (Field match includes things that are not clearly different, e.g., Per Chevron Throughout and Chape.) Any potential conflict with the same tincture peripheral will have a different field. Any other piece of armory that has the same type of peripheral (chief or bordure) will have it in another tincture, a complex line, or will be charged or uncharged - whichever the item you are researching is not. Any of these will give you a DC. Any piece of armory that doesn't have the same peripheral will have a DC for that. Therefore, any potential conflict would need to have the same charges in the same tincture and (except for those with the same tincture peripheral) have the same field. Go to 5.
Scan for the second DC. Consider whether it will be easier to scan for the charges in the peripheral category, or to scan for the peripheral in the charge category. (Usually the former - the considerations are the number of items that must be scanned, the ease of recognition of the thing you're scanning for and the probable location of the scanned item in the blazon - the closer to the front the better.) If the former, scan for the presence of the charges, then check the charge category under the field match. If the latter, pick one of the charge groups. Check thoroughly under the field match and scan the rest of the category for the peripheral. End of search.
The peripheral charge has a complex line. Find the complex line category (for bordures) or the color category (for complex chiefs). Check thoroughly under the field match. If this category is clear then you know you have at least one DC - and any other piece of armory that has the same peripheral will have a different field, a peripheral with a different line (bordures) or color (chiefs) or a plain line, or will be either charged or uncharged, whichever item you are researching is not. Go to 5.
There is no peripheral charge. Is there an ordinary? If yes, go to 2 and substitute ordinary for peripheral charge. If no, go to 8.
There are neither peripheral charges nor ordinaries. Is there a single group of charges? If yes, go to 9. If no, go to 14.
Are the charges identical? If yes, go to 10. If no, go to 11.
Find the charge. Check thoroughly under the field match. Scan the rest for the lack of other charge groups. Armory that has more than one group of charges will have the second DC. Check the others carefully. (Remember to repeat this for other charges that will not be clearly different from your selected charge, e.g. moons and roundels.) End of search.
There is only one group; the charges are not identical. Is there a charge that comprises at least half of the group? If yes, go to 12. If no, the armory is very badly designed, go to 13.
Find the charge. Check thoroughly under the field match. Scan the rest of the fields for the presence of other charge groups (as in 10). If there is another charge in the group that comprises half of the group, repeat the process for that charge. End of search.
There is only one group with no charge comprising half of the group. The armory is probably illegal as slot machine heraldry. If you still want to research it pick one of the charges. Check thoroughly under the field match. Scan the rest for the presence of one or more of the other charges in the group. Pick another charge and repeat the process until you have checked all the charge types. End of search.
There are neither peripheral charges nor ordinaries, but there is more than one group of charges. Does one of the groups have identical charges? If yes, go to 15. If no, go to 19.
Find the charge. Check thoroughly under the field match. Scan the rest looking for the predominant charge(s) of the other charge group. Go to 16.
Is there another group with identical charges? If yes, go to 17. If not, go to 18.
Find the charge. Check under the field match. End of search.
Proceed as in 11, but check only under the field match. End of search.
A piece of armory that has two groups of non-identical charges needs to be evaluated very carefully for bad style. Proceed as in 11, but instead of checking for the presence of other charge groups, check for the presence of other charges that appear in the proposed armory. Repeat for a second charge group. End of search. (And wouldn't it have been easier to talk the submitter out of the bad design in the first place?)

Note that in most cases only two categories will need to be checked in the Ordinary, and that one of them generally only needs to be checked for a field match. This will greatly decrease research time. As with conflict checking under the old rules, the secret to efficiency is knowing what you don't have to check, and being able to scan for key words without having to read the blazons fully.

Now let's walk a few real examples through the process.

EXAMPLE A: Per pale Or and purpure, a chevron between three mullets of four points counterchanged.

We start at:

1. No, there is no peripheral charge - go to:

7. Yes, there is an ordinary, substituting ordinary for peripheral charge go back to:

2. The ordinary is uncharged, therefore we will look only at uncharged categories. We continue to:

3. Yes, the ordinary has a plain line - go to:

4. Ordinaries don't have color categories so we go straight to Chevron. Look at the field match: Per pale Or and purpure. There are none as of this writing. Therefore you know that if a potential conflict has an uncharged, plain-line chevron, then you have a DC for the field. In order to be a conflict, it must have a chevron per pale purpure and Or and three mullets of four points (or something not considered different from them) with the same peculiar color pattern. Now, you and I know that this is very unlikely except on a field divided per pale, but we can't assume that. (Stranger things have been registered.) But check all the per pale field divisions under chevron carefully. Go to 5.

5. You can now either scan in chevron for mullet of four or scan in mullet of four for chevron. Although mullets tend to have large categories they have been broken down further to help out. The clincher for me is that the word chevron should come early in the blazon (right after the field if the item is well blazoned) which makes it easy to scan for. So look up Mullets of Three, Four Points. You'll find two categories: One and Two or More. Now you know you already have one DC for either the field or some aspect of the chevron. And one is significantly different from three so you only have to look in two or more. Check the field match - if you had per pale Or and purpure, and X between three mullets etc. you would only have one DC for an X versus a chevron. (There are not currently any entries for per pale Or and purpure in this category.) Scan the rest of the category for chevrons. Check out any you find. And you're done!

Now, you'll notice that we didn't even look at field division -- Per Pale. The flow chart doesn't even mention looking at field division categories. Are they obsolete? Of course not. In fact, any item under consideration that has a field division should be checked under that category first. It isn't part of the flow chart because it duplicates work that you have to do anyway in other categories, but it is often the fastest way to find a conflict. (Just don't neglect the rest of the process if it's clear.) Especially with counterchanged designs, if there is a conflict it will probably have the field division - probably, but not always.

EXAMPLE B: Per bend embattled azure and ermine, a lion rampant Or and a cross fleury sable.

According to SENA Appendix I (Charge Group Theory), these two charges form a primary group. This time we'll check out the field division first. If that's clear, then you are pretty much assured of one DC for the field. (But double check the field match in the other categories anyway - it doesn't take that much time.) Now proceed to:

1. No, there's no peripheral charge. Go to:

7. No, there's no ordinary. Go to:

8. Yes, there's a single group of charges. Go to:

9. No, the charges are not identical. Go to:

11. Yes, there is a charge that comprises at least half of the group. In fact, each of them comprises exactly half. Go to:

12. Pick one of the charges, let's take cross to start with. Crosses are divided into Cross as an Ordinary and Cross as a Charge. The latter is subdivided into One and Two or More. Double-check both subdivisions of Cross as a Charge under the field match. (Cross as an Ordinary wouldn't appear in this type of design so you can ignore it.) But you don't have to look any further in Two or More. You have DC for the field already. If a potential conflict has replaced the lion with another cross, then you've changed the type of half of your group and get a second DC. If a potential conflict has two or more crosses in addition to a lion, then you've significantly changed the number of items in your group and you get a second DC. Scan single crosses for the presence of lions. If your scanning were perfect, you could stop now. But we'll double check by looking at the category for Beast - Cat and Lion. Lions are split up into four posture groups. Between the groups you can get a DC for posture, so comparing a rampant lion against Cat and Lion, Couchant and Dormant is almost (although not quite) as pointless as comparing it against Mullet. Check out the field match under rampant and then scan the rest of the category for crosses. Now you're done.

EXAMPLE C: Sable, in saltire a sword proper and a quill within a bordure rayonny argent.

There is no field division here so we'll go straight to the flow chart.

1. Yes, there is a peripheral charge. Go to:

2. No, the bordure is not charged. We'll only be looking at uncharged bordures. Go to:

3. No, the bordure doesn't have a plain line. Go to:

6. Find the Bordure by Complex Line category that includes rayonny. Check thoroughly under Argent. Remember that a substantial change of type of charge is sufficient difference if both designs are simple. Go to 5.

5. The Bordure by Complex Line categories are fairly small so scan the rest of the category for swords, quills or objects in saltire. Now, if the bordure has a different line of division, there's a DC. If it is charged, there's a DC. If it isn't there, there's a DC. Any conflict must have a sable field and two objects closely resembling a sword and a quill arranged in saltire. In this case, don't look at sword or quill per se. The arrangement is more distinctive than the identity of the objects and a category for it exists in the Ordinary. Look at Arrangement in Saltire under Quill and Other Charge, Sword and Other Charge and Two Swords. You only have to look at sable fields. The end.

EXAMPLE D: Argent, on a pale vert, an axe argent, and on a chief pean, two roses Or.

1. Yes, there's a peripheral charge. Go to:

2. Yes, the peripheral is charged. Look only at charged chiefs. Go to:

3. Yes, the chief has a plain line. Go to:

4. Look under Chief, Charged (Fur). If this is clear then you know you have a DC for either the tincture or lack of tertiaries on the chief. Any conflict must have an argent field and a charged, vert pale. Go to:

5. The only group to pick is the pale. Look at Pale Charged. (Lack of charging, or a complex line of division will give you the second DC.) Check under argent fields. In fact, you can scan for Argent, on a pale vert ... Now, wasn't that easy? And the process would have been the same even if there had been additional secondaries around the pale. (Although those with paranoia could always double-check under the category under the secondaries.)