As The Professor has gone silent since Monday for some reason, I've decided to set up the poll for this round, as it's been already over since Monday night. In the end, we had four flag entries for the alternate American Revolutionary War and its successor states. Here they are:
5 days to vote. Voting closes before Christmas.
Good luck to everyone. And I wish you all happy holidays.
Entry 1 said:
I give you the flag of New Munster, the latest of the former British possessions in North America to gain full independence. The flag features the traditional three crowns of Munster in a canton, but the color scheme belongs wholly to the palette of the native tribes of the area. The flag was first officially raised by Prime Minister McVicker in Limerick-on-Sea's (OTL Vanouver's) Capitol Plaza in 1969 on the 50th anniversary of New Munster's independence from Britain.
Bounded on the south by Alta California, on the northwest by formerly Russian Alyeska, on the northeast by Rupertia (the last British possession on the North American mainland), and in the east by the République de Louisiane, New Munster encompasses all of the formerly British lands between the Pacific and the continental divide, with the southern border somewhat irregular around 46 degrees latitude west to the Columbia River then following it to the sea and the northern border similarly irregular, but west from the divide at around 56 degrees latitude to the coast and including all adjacent islands up to OTL Prince of Wales Island.
Entry 2 said:
The former Spanish Colony of Florida was sold to Great Britain to pay off war debts, and it was made a separate, colony. When the Dominions were created, Florida was initially made a part of the Dominion of Carolina. However, like the Dominion of New England before it, the people of the colony butted heads with the Royal Governor, and Florida was split off into its own Dominion.
The Constituent Colonies of Florida are:
East Florida
West Florida
Jamaica (Including the Caymans)
The Bahamas
Entry 3 said:
THE IROQUOIS FEDERAL REPUBLIC
The Iroquois League or Confederacy predated British rule in North America. The British gained effective control of the territory by a series of treaties which eventually led to the founding of the Iroquois Colony in 1776. In 1891, during the reign of James V, the colony was granted Dominion status. The Dominion comprised five provinces - the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca.
In 1936, with the establishment of the Iroquois Federal Republic, the 1891 flag (the British Red Ensign with the Iroquois ‘Tree of Peace’ symbol) was replaced by the flag that is still in use today. The five circles denote the five provinces while the ‘Tree of Peace’ is set centrally in the upper band - overall, being a 'modern' interpretation of the Hiawatha Wampum Belt.
Entry 4 said:
Confederation of Vandalia
With their foundations set by pioneers, prospectors and settlers of the Appalachian Company in the late 1690s and early 1700s, three separate colonial ventures were set up in a region that would somewhat later be dubbed Vandalia. (The name was purportedly chosen due to queen Charlotte's family tree going as far back as the ancient Vandals.) The three colonial territories were known as Westsylvania (in north Vandalia), Anneland (named after Queen Anne, in central Vandalia) and Whartonia (named after Joseph Wharton, in southern Vandalia). By 1760, all three colonies became administered jointly under the newly formed regional administration of the Royal Dominion of Vandalia. When the Great North American War broke out in 1796 and many former royal dominions and colonies strived for independence from Great Britain, Vandalia was not far behind. Late in their independence war, the three colonies decided to reform the dominion into a confederation, with each of the three territories being semi-autonomous within the newly formed republican state. Westsylvania was renamed to New Sylvania and due to pronunciation drift in the local dialects, Anneland often became pronounced or even abbreviated to "Anland". Though geographically more distant and not in the immediate neighbourhood, some of the Confederation of Vandalia's traditionally closest and most dependable allies are the member states of the New England Coalition (which includes the Commonwealth of Massachussets, the Republic of Vermont, etc.).
The three argent stars and three vert ferns that are the centerpiece of the flag refer to the three former colonies/provinces that form the region (and now independent state) of Vandalia. The three stars are, by Vandalian vexilological tradition, three particular famous stars of the northern hemisphere: Sirius, Polaris and Rigel. The ferns represent the natural riches and beauty of Vandalia's mountains, forests and countryside - ferns are found virtually all around Vandalia and symbolise bounty and plentifulness, as they always procreate via myriads of spores.
In addition, the ferns are also a reference to William Weston, one of the most successful and skilled of Vandalian guerilla fighters, who became a key leader in local irregular warfare against British and loyalist forces during the Vandalian War of Independence. There are many accounts of him wearing a plume of small ferns on his hat. Also, according to many Vandalian folk legends and tall tales, Weston and his militiamen often favoured the tactic of hiding in the fern underbrush of forests, or even wearing freshly picked fern on their clothing, in order to plot and prepare ambushes of enemy troops more effectivelly. Though certain local species of fern - such as the more taller Dryopteris marginalis - might add a grain of truth to these legends, whether Weston and his soldiers ever used these tactics in the exact manner described remains questionable and unanswered. Nevertheless, the legends firmly entered the Vandalian popular imagination and earned Weston the folk nickname "Ol' Bill Ferny".
5 days to vote. Voting closes before Christmas.
Good luck to everyone. And I wish you all happy holidays.
