February 15, 2007
"It has been brought to the Council's attention that a rival order has recently been making inroads."
"Immediate action is required on the part of all our membership to prevent further incursions. Remember that the true enemy is complacency, for when the members of the Order of the Three Waving Severed Right Hands act with one will and one accord, there is no Earthly power that can stand against us."
Posted by flamingbanjo at February 15, 2007 05:26 AMWhat have you been reading?
Posted by: The Green Man at February 14, 2007 08:58 PMExcellent question - I have been wondering what book on heraldry you have got hold of. My family crest seems worthy of this collection - it features a swan with an arrow through its neck. The motto is "Pierced but not yet dead", which I think is supposed to furnish us with a particularly persistant kind of optimism.
Posted by: Bactria at February 15, 2007 04:39 PMBactria: That is an awesome crest, particularly the credo. If you have a jpg, send it on over. There's a marvelous fatalism to many of the credos I've seen and yours seems to be a shining example of that.
Posted by: flamingbanjo at February 16, 2007 09:59 AMMine is very similar: vulneratus non victus, which means Wounded but not Defeated.
Posted by: DG at February 16, 2007 12:34 PMThe Comte crest isn't nearly so awe-inspiring: "Silver: a red chevron between three black crows", and the motto is even more prosaic, if somewhat obscure: "The Lord Feeds The Ravens". We think it's some sort of biblical reference, possibly to a passage in Luke: "Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them", and which we've always interpreted as basically having meant, "we will feed the raven's with your blood and guts, as God wills". It probably got shortened, because it was too long a passage to try to scream at the top of one's lungs just before rushing at the enemy.
Posted by: COMTE at February 16, 2007 12:57 PMFlamingbanjo: I'm sorry, I don't have a jpg. I can attempt to get a photo of one of my uncles or cousins who all have it tattooed on them somewhere, when I see them next month.
Posted by: Bactria at February 19, 2007 05:31 PMEven better!
Posted by: flamingbanjo at February 19, 2007 08:14 PMthis crest is wicked.
Posted by: Rachel at February 20, 2007 10:19 AMOf course, my people don't have crests, more's the pitty.
When I saw this severed hands one my first thought was, "Turkeys."
Posted by: Joshua at February 21, 2007 10:49 AM