Heraldry has been cultivated throughout Altland for centuries. Once a distinguishing mark of the warrior class, the assumption of armorial bearings became more general starting in the Period of the Four Kingdoms. It is now customary for all institutions and corporations, as well as all substantial individual landholders, whether of the noble class or not, to possess and use heraldic seals and emblems. In addition, the vast majority of Altlanders with university degrees, as well as those practicing their professions at the level of "master," have also assumed and registered coats of arms and other kinds of heraldic device, especially crests, badges, and mottoes.

Overseeing, regulating, and officially registering all which pertains to armorial bearings, their design, assumption, and use, is the Royal Altlandic College of Heralds, headed by the St. George King of Arms, who is assisted by the two other Kings of Arms and their assistants, The Pursuivants of Arms. In addition to having overall control of the activities of the entire College of Heralds, the St. George King of Arms has direct authority over heraldic affairs within the territory of the old Kingdom of Altland (see map below). In this task he is assisted by the Widwotar, and Austral Pursuivants. Heraldry in the territory covered by the former Kingdom of Norrik falls under the jursdiction of the Norrey King of Arms and his two Pursuivants, Richfield and Estral, while that of the former Kingdoms of Orlandia and Montemar is presided over by the Romandia King of Arms and the Orland and Montclare Pursuivants. There was once also a Disonda Pursuivant, but his office has been replaced by a peculair institution which exists under the jurisdiction of the College, but not within the College itself: the Disondan Office for the Uniform Registration of Names, Titles, Emblems, and Trademarks, which is headed by a Director serving at the pleasure of the Viceroy. Applications from all applicants permanently resident abroad fall under the jurisdiction of the St. George King of Arms and his special assistant for this purpose, the Outland Pursuivant.

In order to qualify for a grant or registration of arms by the College, an applicant must offer proof of the following:

1. They have at least one forebear no further than four generations removed who was born within what constitutes, at the time of the application, the sovereign territory of Altland or Disonda.*

2. They possess the privileges of full citizenship either of Altland or of the country in which they actually reside.

3. They are of honorable reputation (this excludes those with criminal records, those who are not in some way self-supporting, and those who have been declared mentally incompetent).

Acquisition of a grant of arms or other heraldic device is done through application to the College of Arms and the payment of a small fee (at present ¶10/10.0 or CC25.00). The College may reject or modify a proposed design on grounds that one of the three conditions listed above has not been met or on two other grounds: the ugliness or inappropriateness of a proposed design, or the fact that another individual or coporation has registered an identical design.

In the matter of the design of a heralid device, applicants initially have a choice of three options: they may submit a verbal description, which will be translated into a properly-worded blazon by the College; they may submit a drawing, which will be refined and given an offical rendering; they may leave the matter of the design entirely in the hands of the College. The heralds may modify a submitted design as they see fit; such a modification may be appealed to the King of Arms under whose jurisdiction the applicant comes, but the design decisions of the King of Arms are final. Once the fee has been received and the application processed, the person or corporation registering the heralid device receives from the College a document called a "Patent of Arms" which includes a proper blazon, a small colored rendering of the device registered, and the file number of the corresponding documentation on the Roll of Arms maintained by the College. Any subsquent change in the device described and illustrated on the Patent must also be approved and registered for a fee of ¶5/5.0.

In Altalandic law, a Patent of Arms is considered a form of personal property and should be included in a holder's will. Wives may display their husbands arms impaled with their own on a lozenge, and if they are their husband's sole heirs, they may either assume their deceased husband's arms as their own or display both their own and his on lozenges side by side within the same achievement. Male children my assume their father's arms with appropriate marks of cadency upon notification to the College of Heralds that they are doing so and the payment of the same fee as for a modification of arms. Unless otherswise specified in a will, a father's arms descend, without any mark of difference, automatically to the eldest living male child or, in the absence of male children, to the eldest living female child. Notice of the actual assumption and use of the arms by an heir must be reported to the College of Heralds, but no fee need be paid.

Within Altand and its territories, it is a midemeanor criminal offense to assume and make use of armorial bearings or other heraldic devices without first properly registering them with the College of Heralds.

*Honorary arms are granted to the citizens of other countries who do not meet this requirement with the proviso that they may not be publicly displayed or used on any official document within the borders of Altland or its territories. The fee for an honorary grant of arms to foreign nationals subject to these conditions is ¶15/0.0.