Someday it would be nice to have a next-generation LoAR search engine.
This could include the emblazons drawn from OSCAR and the scanned archives.
An effective search engine could address some of the need for the Precedence Tagging Project.
Lead: Publishing LoARs is the responsibility of the Morsulus office.
Decades ago, all of the paper submission forms in the College of Arms’ archives were scanned.
There is an ongoing project to extract armory emblazon images from those scans and make them available online.
Technology: Emma de Featherstan.
Content: Laurel Archivist and Archivist Emerita.
This tool takes the O&A database files and converts them to .epub files. These files can be loaded on computers or tablets for access at events.
The ebook format is popular among heralds who were accustomed to working with the printed O&A (1970s–2000s) as they allow for the same basic use cases.
Imports: Retrieves the oanda.db and my.cat files from the O&A Website. Checks for new files every day and converts them if they’ve been updated.
Interface: One web page with download links at https://oanda.gigo.com
Code: Platform unknown.
Server: Personal server.
License: Proprietary, closed source.
Developer: Jason Fesler (not active in the SCA, but married to Danaë FitzRobert).
Developed circa 2013. Believed to be stable, with little or no changes over the last decade.
Command-line and GUI tools used to maintain the O&A data and to process the additions and changes from each month’s LoAR.
Imports: Receives LoAR updates in XML format.
Exports: Generates the oanda.db and my.cat files used by the O&A Website.
Code: Perl.
Databases: SQLite.
Revision Control: All code is stored in Git. The repository is hosted at GitHub: github.com/herveus/Morsulus-tools
Hosting: Runs on the personal home computer of Morsulus.
License: Open, Artistic License.
College Staff: Morsulus Herald — currently Herveus d’Ormonde, transitioning to Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin.
The title of Morsulus Herald is given to the lead maintainer of the database.
The Morsulus tools were built by:
Other contributors:
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.
The College’s website at heraldry.sca.org is the official reference point for both outsiders and members of the college.
The content on the site can be divided into a couple of sections based on the pattern of updates and the people who contribute to it:
Code: The site uses simple PHP templating code to wrap a common header, footer, and stylesheet around all of the pages on the site.
Databases: There are no relational databases, but several types of information are stored as YAML files which are read and converted to HTML displays by PHP code embedded in certain pages.
Revision Control: All code and content are stored in Git. The repository is hosted at GitHub. Access is limited.
Server: Hosted on the main SCA.org server.
Codex Herald: This title is given to the lead maintainer of the site.
Clarion Herald: In recent years, the heraldic education deputy has also been responsible for the curation of articles for the website.
Others: Updates during 2024 contributed by Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin.
The website was first built in the 1990s, overhauled in 2004 and again circa 2013.
There was an effort circa 2019–2020 to reorganize the website, and an update during 2024 to recruit people to edit the articles pages.