Minecraft Heraldry

Welcome to the Castle Hill Heraldry Workshop!
This tool lets you design authentic medieval coats of arms and generate them directly into Minecraft. No prior heraldry knowledge is required—the app handles the complex rules for you.

Here is your complete guide to mastering the workshop.

🛡️ The Golden Rule (Read First!)

To ensure shields were visible from afar on the battlefield, medieval knights followed one strict rule of contrast: Never put a Metal on a Metal, or a Colour on a Colour.

• Metals: Gold/Yellow (Or) and Silver/White (Argent).
• Colours (Tinctures): Red, Blue, Black, Green.
• How the app helps: If you paint a shield zone Gold (Metal), you can only place Colour symbols on it. The app automatically grays out invalid symbols in the right-hand gallery to prevent mistakes.
• ⚠️ The Pattern Exception (Use Common Sense): Shield zones using "Patterns/Furs" (like checkerboards) bypass this rule and accept both Metals and Colours. The app's filter is not foolproof here: it will let you place a red symbol on a red-and-white pattern, which will look terrible and ruin your visibility. Always trust your eyes to ensure good contrast!

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🛠️ Step-by-Step: Composing Your Shield

Step 1: Shape the Background (Field)
Use the dropdown menus at the top center to set up your shield's canvas:

• Partition Type: Choose how the shield is cut (e.g., Quarterly splits it into four, Per Pale splits it in half vertically).
• Field Variant: Choose the specific pattern or line style for your partition.
• Layout: Decide if you want symbols placed inside the separate partitions (Standard), or one giant symbol overlapping everything in the middle (Inescutcheon).

Step 2: Paint a Zone

• Editing Zone: Use this dropdown to select which specific piece of the shield you are working on (e.g., Zone 1).
• Palette: Click a square in the Tinctures & Metals palette to paint that zone. The "Golden Rule Status Box" above the canvas will update to tell you if the zone is currently a Metal, a Colour, or a Pattern.
• Tip: Click Reset to Original if you want to revert the zone back to its default textured background.

Step 3: Add Symbols (Charges)

• Pick a theme from the Categories menu on the left sidebar (e.g., Lions, Dragons, Swords).
• Look at the Gallery on the right sidebar. Click any valid, fully-colored symbol to place it in your selected zone.
• Note: Symbols that break the Golden Rule for your current zone will be grayed out at the bottom of the gallery. If you really want to use a grayed-out symbol, you must first change the zone's background color.

Step 4: Multiply & Arrange (Optional)

• If your chosen partition allows it, a dynamic Charge Layout menu will appear under the main dropdowns. Use this to automatically multiply and align your symbol (e.g., 3 in Vertical or 3 Diagonal) inside that specific zone.

Step 5: Add a Motto

• Type your clan or family phrase in the MOTTO text box below the shield. Use the dropdown next to it to change the parchment ribbon style.

Step 6: Export to Minecraft

• Scroll down to the Generation Command panel.
• Click the 📋 Copy Command button. Paste this text directly into the Minecraft chat to instantly generate your custom shield in the game!

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⚙️ Quick Tools Reference

• 🗑️ Remove Charge from this Zone: Deletes the symbol from the zone you are currently editing, leaving the background intact.
• 🔄 Reset Entire Design: Wipes all colors, symbols, and mottos clean so you can start a new shield from scratch.