Calamarie

Calamarie (Accepted)

Calamarie (Accepted)

Polypus (Accepted)

Polypus (Accepted)

The calamarie is a water-dwelling mollusc, its body pointed at one end and with multiple tentacles (usually ten) at the other end.  In period, it was also called a “cuttle-fish”; its modern name is the squid.  Though known in period, no examples of the calamarie have been found in period armory.  The calamarie has its tentacles to chief by Society default.

The calamarie has been used as the modern interpretation of a sea monster from Norse legend, known as the “kraken”, which would grab passing ships and break them apart.  At one point in the Society’s history, the calamarie was blazoned as a “kraken”.  However, given the lack of evidence that the mythical kraken was ever depicted as a giant squid in any art predating the 18th Century, the term is no longer used.  (There are a handful of Society blazons still using the term, mostly for canting purposes.)

Similar to the calamarie is the “polypus”, distinguished by its rounded head and eight tentacles; it’s known modernly as the octopus.  Again, though known in period, no examples of the polypus have been found in period armory.  The polypus has its tentacles to base by Society default.

Both the calamarie and the polypus should be drawn so their tentacles may be clearly distinguished; they should mostly occupy the space opposite the head, with less than half recurving back to the midsection of the creature and none going past its head.  See also fish.

The Order of the Kraken, of Atlantia, bears:  A kraken Or.

Jon Searider bears:  Barry wavy argent and azure, a calamarie sable.

Alphonse d’Ayr bears:  Vert, a polypus argent orbed azure wearing a skull-cap gules, a chief invected ermine.

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