@CaekDaemon I'm excited to see your entry if you feel like doing this one! Your unofficial entry there is damn good!
Thanks! I'm still
very new to flag making, so it's always nice to get some praise from people who have more experience
The new challenge is interesting, but I think it might be a little harder than the previous one, but a difficult challenge makes things more fun and I've managed to throw something together!
The flag is of, and pardon what is almost certainly poor latin courtesy of Google Translate,
Novum Respublica Romana, or, the
New Roman Republic, formed following the death of the Duce in 1963 after a heart attack within the "embrace" of his mistress.
Placed upon the tricolor flag that represented the return of true republicanism to the Italian peninsula during the Napoleonic era, the flag of the resurrected Roman Republic is similar to that of the Kingdom of Italy that it directly replaced in all areas but that within the shield that was, originally, the crest of the Kingdom of Savoy. Instead of a bluish-purple shield with a cross of white on red within it, there is a circle of gold and red, the colors of the old empire, and within is a simplified but effective symbol. Placed within the old, imperial laurels is not a crown, for the republic has no king, but a fasces, which symbolizes not only the power of the collective will of the Italian citizenry, but as a remembrance from a grateful people for the Fascist ideals that had allowed Rome to once more return to its glorious position as the guiding light and hand of the entirety of the Mare Nostrum. Above it is the cross of the Catholic church, as gold as any other part, as a sign of the historic relationship between state and church, the former leading the people in their mortal affairs with a firm but just hand, whilst the latter ensures the salvation of their immortal soul and their passage into heaven, as well as the Roman Republic's caretaking of the holy places and Jerusalem itself.
Above cross and fasces flies an eagle. It is not the eagle of the Old Empire or even that of the First Republic, both of whom are now long millenias gone, but a new eagle for a new era and a new Italian state, the primary symbol of the republic, resting atop of the Christian cross with its wings unfurled wide, across to the laurels of Italian empire and across the Mediterranean sea that is its dominion, watching and waiting for the opportunity to expand ever further to lands that the guiding light of Rome has yet to reach...and last but not least, is the one and only star on the flag; though some say it refers to Italy or to Rome itself, others say that it is instead Benito's Star, in memory of the man who did the impossible and restored Roman dominance over the seas of the Mediterranean.
Well, this was fun to make!
As I said at the start, I'm still pretty new to the whole flagmaking business, so I probably could have done some things better, but I really like how this flag came out! I thought about going with a full eagle, but I thought the idea of having a different, unique one, would be a better choice than just ripping off the whole Roman SPQR symbol and just moving various elements around
In this world, the fascist Italian state, knowing that it could not forever hold onto power after the death of Mussolini, effectively forged a symbiosis with the Catholic Church, effectively works as its public relations arms, the two feeding off one another as the Church, which has roots deep in Italian society, uses the faith to sway the hearts and minds of men into being more loyal to the state, which in turn gives the Catholic Church a free hand to do whatever it wills as the republic's state religion...the only problem being the question of what will happen when a generation that has grown up being told by their priests that the Italian state is always righteous and just assumes power...?