Haudinsaunie and Neu Kurland Federation
Sandwiched between Flemish Kanada and the Swedish Empire's New World Provinces to the south and west, the Federation began as a marriage of convenience. After Neu Kurland's declaration of independence, following the Izhorian conquest of the Duchy in 1690, the merchants of Manahata, New Mitau (OTL Boston), Jakobsburg (OTL Camden, New Jersey) and the smaller settlements in between did not want to see their prosperous land and hard-won autonomy lost to the resurgent Swedes, or be crushed by the Flemish Inquisition. The Haudinsaunie, with whom they already had a strong trading relationship, offered a source of raw military strength.
On the part of the Haudinsaunie, they had by and large been able to fight off the Scots and Spanish, and later the Swedes and Flemish, but at a dreadful cost in lives. The wise among them could see that sooner or later, they would be swallowed like a rabbit by a snake. By bringing these Kurlanders in as brothers, they hoped to gain the knowledge and an ongoing source of the weapons they needed to face the other European nations as equals, and since the Kurlanders were comparatively small in number, they hoped to do so without being overwhelmed.
Over the next three centuries, the two peoples grew ever closer, with the shared problems and opportunities of the new nation drawing them together. The close and long lasting military relationship (termed the "Unholy Pact" by the Flemings) which the Federation cultivated with the Moroccans, who after their decisive defeat of the French fleet in the Battle of the Tortugas have been the dominant force in the Caribbean for more than 200 years, had more than a little to do with their success as well.
Today, the population of nearly thirty million (spread across what would in OTL be Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, the southern third of New Hampshire and the southern half of Vermont, New York State less the northern half of the Adirondacks--and the eastern third of Long Island which was ceded to Morocco, New Jersey, the northern third of Pennsylvania, the northern portion of Ohio, and the southeastern part of Michigan) is somewhat more European than Aboriginal, but about half of the citizens have all or some Aboriginal ancestry. Along with German, Common Haudinsaunie is one of the two official languages of the Federation, the only Aboriginal language to have this distinction east of the Continental Divide and north of the Equator.
Please pardon my very limited artistic skills. I hope that the design will make up for it. The flag is based upon the "Hiawatha Belt", a symbol of the Iroquois League, presently used by the OTL Iroquois tribes as a flag, and one of the merchant flags used by the Duchy of Courland, which featured a crab on a red background. The symbolism of the crab, which has a hard shell and claws which can give a nasty pinch to an attacker, is an added benefit.
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The Flag of the Martian Sufis
Away from the control of their governments the Arab scientists in the Martian Colonies adopt a form of "Techno-Sufism".
When Mars gains its independence following the Climate Crisis on Earth these "Sufist Rebels" form a federation. Attached Images
GREAT HESPERIAN COMMONWEALTH
"As kingdom after kingdom of the Old World fell to the expansionist Hussite Movement, eager to spread its heretical teachings throughout Europe, many of the staunchly Catholic inhabitants of the Polish-Lithuanian colonies of Hesperia* looked with worry upon the instability of their ancestral homeland. Their king seemed unwilling to openly oppose the Hussites, and many nobles even supported them. When the King later embraced Hussiteism himself, and attempted to enforce it throughout his domains, the colonies decided that enough was enough.
They declared themselves independent from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was unable to do a whole lot about it due to the religious wars which raged in Europe, and elected a member of the exiled House of Habsburg to rule them. This not only united the former colonial territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with those of the Habsburg further south, but also united most of the eastern half of Hesperia under one crown.
This new state called itself the "Great Hesperian Commonwealth", and soon became a beacon of Catholicism in a world where the Hussism and Lollardism dominated."
*In a world where the continent wasn't named after a sailor.
THE POLL CLOSES: 5:59am GMT Tuesday 7The War-Banner of Norðland
When Leif Eriksson discovered the vast and fertile expanses of Vinland in the early 11th century, his fellow Norse were somewhat dubious. The land was filled with strange-looking people who liked to paint their faces and shove porcupine quills through their noses, and there was no trace of the fabled wild vineyards. However, the first settlements on what came to be called the isle of Vilhjálmursland turned out to be highly successful, and drew more and more Norsemen to the New World. The natives were overawed by the metal-working techniques of the colonists, and happily traded food and other goods in return for iron tools and weapons.
There soon sprang up intense rivalries between native tribes; on one side were those who embraced the hairy white-faced men from across the sea, and on the other were those who feared and hated the newcomers. However, the aid of the Vikings proved to be a considerable asset, and a powerful nation arose in north-eastern Vinland.
Time and partnership helped to meld the two societies. Norse culture spread up and down the coast of Vinland, carried both by raiders and merchants. They also brought back to Vinland with them cultural elements of far-away peoples, plying the Great Rivers that flow into the warm Southern Sea.
The kingdom centered around Vilhjálmursland eventually came to be known simply as "Northland", to distinguish it from colonies that had sprung up farther south along the coast. Partially separated from their Scandinavian homeland, the Norðlanders developed a culture very distinct from that of their forebearers, as it borrowed heavily from the native cultures that it had encountered.
The following is the warbanner of the King of Norðland. It depicts the commonly-venerated war god Wodikin, a one-eyed raven whose wingbeats are the sound of thunder, and whose twin tomahawks never miss their target and leave a trail of lightning in their wake.
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12:59pm EST Monday 6
9:59pm PST Monday 6
