Most of the IT systems directly operated by the College of Arms run on the same SCA-operated server as the www.sca.org website.
Team
This server is the responsibility of the SCA’s IT Manager, but a number of members of the College have login accounts used to operate their individual applications and contribute to server maintenance.
Technology
Software: Linux, Apache, MariaDB, PHP, et al.
Hosting: Microsoft Azure Cloud; data center in Virginia.
Web Proxy / Caching: Cloudflare.
History
Previously hosted elsewhere. Server migrated in 2018.
When OSCAR was about a decade old, there was a round of discussion about replacing it with an updated web application.
Status: Active 2018–2021 or so; Halted, Incomplete.
History
This effort was started as an custom web application on an open source platform (React JS, PHP, MySQL).
A year later, a herald with a job at an SaaS company offered to build a custom app on their platform, which led to the cancellation of the first effort. Later the company shifted direction and rescinded the development offer, leaving the project stalled.
The Meridies Accessible Resource & Education System (MARES) was intended to be an online Learning Management System (LMS) for educational uses in the SCA, starting with heraldic education.
Status: Active 2022–2024 or so; Halted, Incomplete.
Since 2020, the College has sponsored a number of online KWHSS symposia at which many of the sessions were recorded. It now plans to create a YouTube channel to which those videos will be posted.
College Staff: Morsulus Herald — currently Herveus d’Ormonde, transitioning to Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin.
History
The title of Morsulus Herald is given to the lead maintainer of the database.
Herveus d’Ormonde, 2000–
Iulstan Sigewealding, 1992–1999
Other contributors:
Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, 2019—
Recent Enhancements
Complex Search Flexibility: During 2023–2024, Herveus added some more options to make it easier to write armory descriptions.
Docker Container: In 2024, Istvan built a Docker package that allows the O&A website to be run on a personal computer for offline use.
Note that the Docker container replaces an earlier effort to package the O&A site for remote use, known as “HeraldStick” (circa 2011). There was also a “Herald’s Hot Spot” effort (circa 2017) to package the HeraldStick software on inexpensive hardware, which stalled before shipping.
Future Work
Updated Visual Interface: As of early 2025, Mathghamhain intends to add a new set of pages that provide the existing capabilities in a more modern visual style and with additional interactivity. (The current web interface looks essentially the same as it did thirty years ago.) Because many heralds are accustomed to the existing interface, it will be maintained as a “classic mode” to avoid disrupting their workflow while simultaneously offering a new one for new heralds and those ready to make the switch.
Hosting: Runs on the personal home computer of Morsulus.
License: Open, Artistic License.
Team
College Staff: Morsulus Herald — currently Herveus d’Ormonde, transitioning to Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin.
History
The title of Morsulus Herald is given to the lead maintainer of the database.
The Morsulus tools were built by:
Iulstan Sigewealding, 1992–1999
Herveus d’Ormonde, 2000–
Other contributors:
Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, 2019—
Future Work
Web-Based Indexer: The tool currently used for indexing armory runs under XWindows. As of early 2025, Mathghamhain is working on building a web-based replacement for that tool.
