AH.com Official Flag Contest: Round 3

You all already know the rules, so I believe we can move on.

This is another challange that I think could be quite fun. Your assignment, should you choose to except it, is to design a flag around a Kingdom of Virginia. How it got that way and what it's like is up to you.

Good luck!

The POD is simple, there was no American Revolution, Virginia became typical British Dominion. In 20th century had gained some independence and later formed quasi-federal organization with some other former North America British colonies (lets called it North America League or something like that). As typical dominion, Virginia had red insignia flag, but duo to becoming independent state and better recognition changed it’s flag (like Canada here). Flag’s colors represent old British flag colors; blue and white waves suggests strongly that this state has ocean’s coast; crowned lion represents historical connection with Nova Anglia but also strength and power of Kingdom.

Queen Elizabeth is married in 1583 to the Earl of Leicester after extensive pressure by some of her advisers. She dies in childbirth in 1984, leaving her son Henry IX as her heir.
The Virginia Colony, named in the last few years such a name was applicable rapidly grows from the first successful settlement at Roanoke Island. Land is settled and incorporated into the colony from North Virginia, to Maryland, to the Appalachians.

Throughout the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries the English Empire prospers under the rule of the Tudors. In 1843, at the end of the War of Prussian Ascension (again ), Britain is forced to give its major colonies independence. Prince Edward (Edward I of Virginia) is sent to rule the most prosperous American colony: the Virginia Colony.



The modern flag of the Kingdom of Virginia is stylized view of an observer looking west from the coast. The blue represents the Atlantic Ocean before the land. The farms and pasture of the land are seen in the Green. The red is the sunset in the West while the Black is the night sky above. The Green on the right represents the untamed forests of Elysium (OTL's South Carolina and Georgia.) The last is a carry over from the colonial period, as Elysium is a prosperous plantation colony nowadays.

The prominent Tudor Rose was added after independence, to honor the Tudor ruler of the land.

The Modern Flag of the Kingdom of Virginia developed slowly after the Revolution of 1776 overthrew the British in North America. While the former British colonies at first flirted with Republicanism and Union, this quickly fell apart. Some feel that if General Washington had survived past the end of the War, that he might have been an acceptable monarch for all the colonies, but in his absence the colonies formed their own monarchies. The symbol of virtue conquering tyrrany dates from the Revolution, and is always placed such that her watchful gaze rests on the Virginian Crown. The flag was completely rearranged only a generation after the annexation of Maryland in the War of 1810, and the inclusion of the symbol for Maryland added. She has flown virtually unchanged over a century and three-quarters of Virginian glory.

The Kingdom of Virginia occupies a central portion of the Eastern Seaboard of North America, stretching northwards inland to the Michiganian Peninsula where it borders the Protectorate of Hudson, and the Mississippi River where it borders Louisiana. On the coastline, it borders the Colony of Maryland on one side and the Carolinan Free-State on the other.
Founded in 1791 after the Virginian Revolution, the rebel leader Francis Warren was crowned Francis I, King of Virginia, and Lord of the Carolinas. In 1919, the Warren dynasty came to an end, and William Portsmouth Lee was crowned William II. The landholders who controlled Parliament thought he would be easily controlled, but they were wrong. He quickly moved to consolidate his power, and managed to dissolve Parliament. He merged the quasi-independent Carolinas into his total control, and was proclaimed the Emperor of Virginia by plebiscite.
His successor, Emperor John, had greater plans, and formed a secret alliance with the French to drive the British from the continent. In 1941, Virginian troops stormed into Maryland and Pennsylvania, quickly taking Philadelphia. However, the French had to be propped up more and more, diverting necessary resources. By 1946, Virginia gave up.
By the terms of the surrender, Virginia was reduced to a Kingdom. The current flag, a variation on the pre-Empire flag, was presented then. It shows the Royal Arms, on a maroon background, with gold stripes symbolizing the monarchy.

POD is that more French colonization meant that the BNA colonies needed the British, as time wore on, the colonies federated. One of these was the Dominion of Virginia, which is contained OTL present day’s Virginia/West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. Over the issues of slavery, Virginia voted to have self-rule letting them have their own parliament and military in addition to conducting their economic affairs without the aid of London. Since then, a branch of the British royal family rules the Kingdom of Virginia.

The flag of Virginia shows the blue of the sea and the green of the western mountain’s forests. To the center is the shield with St. George’s Cross, below is Virtus over a tyrant in front of the banners of George Calvert, 1st Lord Baltimore.

The Kingdom of Theotokos (Kingdom of Virginia)
After the complete failure of Jamestown in 1608, due to rampant disease, and the success of the Popham colony, Britain pulled the charter of the London Company. It was decided by the stockholders of the Virginia Company to put all their efforts into the Plymouth Company. A restructuring took place and the Virginia Company became the Plymouth Company in total.

In 1614 Britain needed funds and decided to sell the white elephant that was Virginia, since it was only used as a penal colony from 1608.

After winning the Polish-Russian war in late 1613 and gaining Livonia and part of Courland. Tsar Michael I and Patriarch Filaret were looking for a place to send criminals and adversaries. Originally planning on sending them to Siberia, Patriarch Filaret feared it would be to easy for his enemies to return. The colony of Virginia was the perfect place. After heavy negotiations, a deal was made and the territory was sold to the Russian crown in December of 1614. (Britain came to the realization that if the Russians ever made the territory profitable and the two nations went to war, it would be easy for them to take back the territory.)

The colony was a moderate success as the peasants and criminals were sent to the Virginia colony to farm, trap, or mine. The colony basically stayed a backwater part of the empire until the 1653. In this year was the Raskol, the split within the Orthodox Church. This eventually came down to a civil war with many of the Old Believers fleeing Russia for the Colony of Theotokos (Virginia) (1683). Once these disruptive elements were out of the way, the Tsar and church got back to business. (Cossacks and other adventurers had continued to stretch the empire to the Pacific coast, but these were mostly free men, the peasants were not held to the land as they were in OTL)

In 1686, Ivan V and Peter I fought a civil war for the Russian crown. (In this TL Ivan V is not handicapped as OTL and has great resources to call upon) The war eventually went to Ivan. Peter was killed in the conflict and all of his get were shipped off to the Virginia colony. The family actually did very well in the colony, setting up a trading house that did trade with the Dutch Colony to the north and the English further north. Settlers slow came from Russia and the Baltic nations. (Many peoples from England, Scotland, and Ireland came to also settle in Virginia over the following decades. The national language is 2/3 Russian, 1/3 English)

In 1766, the war breaks out between Spain and Russia based on the illegal boarding of Russia merchants in the New World. From the treaties and defense pacts it came down to Russia, France, Sicily, and Austria-Hungry vs. the UK, Prussia, Spain, and Portugal. Most of the actual battles occurred in Prussia and France. During the conflict, the Old Believers and people of Virginia threw off the yoke of Russian oppression and named Pyotr Alekseyevich as their first king, Tsar Pyotr I of Theotokos.

The flag consists of the red Orthodox cross in the center. The light blue saltire is the St. Andrews cross, patron saint of Russia and now the Kingdom of Virginia. The Russian Eagle has only the one head, looking towards the west, and signifies the fact that the North American Romanovs are the only true line of the Russian Monarchy. The other head was removed to signify the belief that Russia has let itself be taken over by heretics and unbelievers within the Orthodox Church. The shield upon the Eagle is that of the old Russian flag adopted in 1698.

God Save His Majesty Richard Branson

And the winner of the third official Flag Contest is . . . LordKraken! Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone who entered; it was a close call between the runner up

Stay tuned for the next and last round.