Heraldry is all about the colours. Sure, there are neat patterns, and nifty animals - but would black and white representations hold our interest for nearly as long without the colours? Picture for a moment, the Union Jack, with no colours, only lines. Would the Rising Sun of Japan be any more than a black spot to us? And what would we Yanks sing about if not for the Red, White, and Blue? Like a bee to a flower, we are drawn to the colours, and that irresistable force is much of what makes Heraldry so intriguing.

Historically, Heralds have recognised as few as five, and as many as seventeen different colours! Traditionally, and in most books, the colours are broken up into three groups (although, again, there is a fourth that is sometimes mentioned): Metals, Tinctures (colours), and Furs (and sometimes Stains). The distinctions are made in order to follow the "Rule of Tincture," which states that you cannot place a colour on a colour, and you cannot place a metal on a metal, but furs can be placed on either (as can stains). Amtgard cheerfully ignores this convention, and many examples of "broken rules" happily exist in the Amtgard universe. Really, the only "Rule of Tincture" that needs to be followed in Amtgard is not to place a charge of a particular colour upon a field or other charge of the same, or similar colour - simply to avoid difficulty in seeing the charges. Amtgard coats of arms should still be designed for visibility, even when trying for aesthetic value.

Metals

Of the metals, it has always been well recognised that there are only two: Or, also known as Gold, and historically shown as yellow, and Argent, representing Silver, but usually shown as white. One might also consider Eisen (iron-grey) a metal, since it's only historical use seems to have been in the colouring of weapons and armour. However, Eisen was a very uncommon tincture, found only in a few German blazons.

The Tinctures

The most commonly accepted Tinctures (herein referred to as Colours) are Sable, or Black, Gules (Red), Vert (Green), Azure (Blue), and Purpure (Purple). As with all things Heraldic, there are arguments far and wide about the origins, meanings and linguistic heritage of these words, but suffice to say, these conventions are again, something we're not concerned with. One thing that is well accepted is that there is no set shade for any of the colours - due to the fact that each artist made his own aesthetic choices when emblazoning a shield.

Two colours which are not as well established are Sanguine, or Murrey, and Tenné, or Orange. It is thought that these two were created for some obscure process known as Abatements - a way to signify dishonour - however, it is unlikely that anyone would bear a shield with a mark of dishonour upon it - preferring, perhaps, to remain anonymous. Sometimes a distinction is made even between Murrey and Sanguine - that Murrey being said to be more of a mulberry (or purplish red) while Sanguine is said to be more of a dark blood-red. Murrey in fact should be halfway between Gules and Purpure, whatever shades you use.

Less well known colours are found in other European blazons. French blazoning uses Carnation for flesh tones, and also mentions the colour Orange. German blazons have on occasion used both Braun (brown) and Eisen (iron-grey), although, (as was mentioned earlier) this last was only used for helmets, weapons and the like, and, as such, might be seen as a form of the term "Proper."

The Stains

The least common, yet still recognised, tinctures are sometimes denoted as Stains, and as such, do not count as Metals, Colours, or Furs. They are Bleu-celeste (sky blue), Amaranth - also known as Columbine, Cendré (ash-coloured), Rose (pink), and Brunatre (brown).

The Furs

Historically, fur has always been a valued commodity - because of both it's beauty and it's practicality. But some furs were valued more than others, because of their exquisite beauty, or perhaps their rarity, but whatever the case, like all things important in the medieval period, they made their way into heraldry. One of the most valued furs of the period was the Ermine. In winter, the Ermine, a relative of the weasel, turns white, all except for the tip of it's tail. When sewn together, these tails are left on, creating a distinctive pattern (see illustration). Naturally, this pattern, white with black spots, made a wonderful backing for coats of arms. In fact, it was even used all alone on a very few occasions! Creative heralds also found ways of changing the colours of the fur, without losing the beauty, and thus created four variants: Ermines, which is black, with white ermine spots, Erminois (gold with black spots), Pean (the reverse of Erminois) and a very rare variant known as Erminites, which was white with black spots, however, each black spot also had a red hair on either side of the spot. There are no known instances of Erminites in any authentic coat of arms, so it is quite possible that this last variant never truly existed, but was, in fact, the fanciful creation of an historian.

Heraldically, there is no exact look for ermine spots - it seems there are many variations. All of them, however, have a tail descending from north to south, narrowed to a point at top, but widening to a brush at bottom, and three small dots surrounding the narrow tip. They are always arranged in diagonal rows so as to appear scattered yet uniform. Actual size, spacing, and numbering are the bailiwick of the artist.

Another popular heraldic fur was known as Vair. From alternating hides of squirrel, whose fur was bluish-grey on one side, and the skin, of course, white, a curious pattern of bell shapes was formed. Emblazoned in coats of arms as alternating bells of blue and white, the Vair pattern is quite an intriguing one. It is only found as "Vair" in the blue and white pattern, any other colour combination is said to be "Vairy of ..." Other arrangements of the pattern are sometimes found, however. The traditional form has the long side of a bell of white against the long side of a bell of blue, and vice-versa for the tips, so that any two rows appear to be opposites of each other. One variant, known as Counter Vair has the points and bases matching tinctures. A third, less common variety, styled as Vair in Pale, has each row matching, such that matching colours are in line with each other. There are many other variants found historically, I'll show them in the table below.

An odd offshoot of vair, probably resultant from lazy heralds, came to be known by an entirely different name: Potent. Potent more resembles squat T's or crutches (hence the name: in old English, "Potent" means "crutch"), but is also in the same blue and white pattern.

As a side note, those famous glass slippers in the fairy tale "Cinderella," which comes to us from the French, were probably not glass at all, but were, more likely, a misinterpretation of the word "Vair," very similar to the word "verre" or glass. Personally, I always thought glass would be difficult to dance in.

Tie-Dyed

One of the things unique to Amtgard is the prevalence of tie-dyed imagery in personal symbols. This being the case, there is a need to define the usage and blazon for Tie-dye. Because of it's multi-coloured nature, tie-dye can be treated as nothing except a fur, that is to say that it may appear on either colours or metals, and even furs and stains, however, it is still desirable to achieve some amount of contrast. Sable (black) and Argent (white) are both good choices to contrast against tie-dye. Tie-dye is assumed to be in a rainbow of shades, with the actual look being defined by the artist. If the tie-dye is specifically not a rainbow, then the colours shall be defined, as in "A Tie-dye of (colour) and (colour)."

Proper

Proper is the term used in heraldry when something should be coloured according to it's normal, or natural colours. A Tree Proper, then would be emblazoned with a brown trunk, and green leaves. This can save time blazoning, especially for certain well-known objects, which might otherwise be complex to blazon.

Counterchanged

Many coats are designed using primarily two colours or patterns for the field. Frequently, a charge appearing over the whole thing is not made a different colour, but instead, is made of the same colours as the field, only swapped to provide the neccesary contrast. This is called Counterchanged. For example, on a shield that is white on the left, and black on the right (Argent and Sable), a circle (Roundel) appearing in the center, with it's left half black, and it's right half white, would be blazoned as

Blazon: Per pale Argent and Sable, a Roundel counterchanged.

Emblazon:

Table of Colours

Below is a table of all of the Metals, Tinctures, Furs and Stains I have discovered. Since Amtgard is such a colourful group, many conventions must be made to accomodate the individuality of each person, and thus, new colours may be used, subject to the artist's interpretations. Although some non-authentic styling has gone into this arrangement, the colours are all, to the best of my research, authentic in some heraldic form. Regardless of my research, however, please do not consider this to be in any way indicative of a true historical heraldry. This is done for a fantasy club, and, as such, is not exhaustive in it's research.

Amtgard Tinctures

Blazon	Colour	Appearance	Notes
Metals
Or	Gold (Yellow)
Argent	Silver (White)
Eisen	Iron (Grey)
Colours
Gules	Red
Azure	Blue
Vert	Green
Purpure	Purple
Sable	Black		May also be treated as a Fur
Tenné	Orange
Braun	Brown
Cendré	Ashen
Stains			Can go on Metals or Colours
Sanguine	Blood-red
Rose	Pink		Not to be confused with the charge
Bleu-celeste	Sky Blue
Murrey	Mulberry
Furs			Can go on Metals or Colours
Ermine	White with Black spots
Ermines	Black with White spots
Erminois	Gold with Black spots
Pean	Black with Gold spots
Erminites	White with Black spots and red hairs		Probably not historically accurate
Vair	Blue and White
Counter Vair	Blue and White
Vair in Pale	Blue and White
Potent	Blue and White
Vair in Pointé	Blue and White
Alternate Vair	Blue and White
Checked Vair	Multi-coloured		"Vairy of Azure, Argent, Sable, and Gules."