Weekly Flag Challenge: New Challenges & Previous Winners

[FlyingParafin]

FLAG CHALLENGE #164: Literal Cultural Exchange

Create a flag for any country in the world except with a different majority culture than in OTL. This can be anything from a UK dominated by Scottish/Highland culture, Basque Spain, Ainu Japan etc. just to name a few potential examples. The only real rule for this is to make it as different (or at least unique) from the OTL equivalent of the flag you choose as possible.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: 21st April 2017
Voting Period: after 21st April, for 7 days

 

[FlyingParafin]

And Flashman has won the challenge! Looking forward to the next one.

Flag of the Vasconic Republic- Banderra Euzkadi Errepublika



The rise of the Visigoths and the Franks would be a major setback for the early Vasconic fiefs. Their holdings along the plains of Aquintaine, close to the Visigothic heartland, were quickly overwhelmed and subsumed. South of the Pyrenees, however, was another story. A more extensive Basque settlement posed a greater challenge for the invaders, allowing the Vascones to maintain their nation even into the Ebro valley.

Vasconic history would be a string of conflicts with the Frankish and Visigothic Kingdoms, but the Vascones managed not only to survive, but to thrive, pushing into Cantabri, and establish rule over most of Aquintaine. With a stronger population base, the Vascones made stronger efforts towards maintaining their languages.

When the Visigoths fell the Vascones would press even further into their former territory, running up against the newly triumphant Arab invaders of the peninsula. Soon enough the Vascones would be, alongside the Asturians, one of the only independent nations on the Iberian peninsula. The first repulsion of the Arabs by Odo the Great in 714 is usually regarded as the beginning of the "Errekonkistaren", or "Reconquest" of the Iberian peninsula.

A dynastic union would see the Vascones united with the Asturians, and when the Vascones would lose much of their holdings north of the Pyrenees to the Carolignians, Vasconia was respun as the "Kingdom of Navarre", taken from the Vascone word for their holdings south of the Pyrenees. Slowly, the Vascones advanced against the Arabs over the centuries, with the Emirate of Andalusia being annexed peacefully in 1355, leaving the Vascones in total control over the Iberian peninsula.

The Ibairienne Empire was one of the Great Powers of Europe, often meddling in the affairs of the French and the Germans, contesting the ethnically Vasconic lands of Aquintaine with the French kingdoms. The Vascones coquered and converted Northern Morrocco, and soon, Vascone pilots were sailing down the coast of Africa, eventually reaching and establishing trade stations in Calicut. Ibairia would discover North and South Bacalhau (named for a Hisapniophone word for Codfish), Hegoldia (taken from the Basque word for south), and even Antartikako.

Ibairia would conquer much of the new world and dominate trade routes, before ultimately being taken down by an alliance of the English, the French and the Germans. A series of colonial revolutions lost them most of their new world holdings, reducing it to Iberia and Aquintaine.

Recently, the monarchy was overthrown by a coalition of radical Vasconic republicans and nationalists, who are impressing their tongue and culture on the minority of French and Hispaniophone speakers. They've raised a new flag, replacing traditional heraldic imagery with fasces, liberty-caps, the traditional six-spoked Vascone wheel and, most prominently, the Lauburu, a traditional symbol of the Basque people and the Askatasuna party that dominates the new Republic.

Knowing that their language is unlike any other in Europe, and possibly the world, the Askatasuna Party espouses all sorts of strange ethnic theories, about how mankind originated in Vasconia, or the ancient Vasconic Soultrean culture settled the Americas, or how the Vascones once lived in all of Western Europe and the entire Mediterranean prior to the expansion of the Aryan-Europeans. There have even been calls to bring this last vision back into reality.

Today, Vasconic is spoken by over 500 million people across the world.

 

[Flashman]

FLAG CHALLENGE #165: Transatlantic

Create a flag for a nation descended from people that crossed the Atlantic ocean, with a POD prior to 1492. You could have a Vinlandic flag, a Timbuktuan colony in Mesoamerica, or even an Inuit state in Scotland.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Closed: 9th of May
Voting Period: 7 days after May 9

 

[The Professor]

So me and Mirror jointly won with these:

Going with the spirit of the new challenge! [EDIT: now with added history etc]

Kingdom or Viceroyalty of Vinland

View attachment 320457

A Brief History

• Twin invasions from Harald Hardrada of Norway and William of Normandy effectively divide preConquest England.
• Edgar, grandson of Edmund Ironside, becomes Earl of Lothian under Harald III. His sister marries Malcolm III Canmore King of the Scots [1].
• Harald III makes his eldest son Magnus co-King of the English, naming him Earl of Northumbria; his younger son Olaf is made co-King of Norway [2].
• Magnus's only child Inge [3] is married to Edred Columbine [4] who is named Earl of Cumberland
• Norman Wars: deaths of Magnus, William Rufus, Malcolm, Edgar, and others. Edred succeeds Magnus but is vassal of Norman England - the Normans label him Prince of Northumbria. Duncan, eldest son from Malcolm's first marriage becomes King of the Scots.
• Edred succeeded by Cynstan I (aka Constantine I & IV). After Duncan's death he wars with his relatives over the throne of Scotland and is unable to take much advantage of the Norman Anarchy [5].
• The Kingdom of the Isles becomes a vassal and is absorbed when it fragments
• Scotland and Northumbria separate as Kingdoms due to the Tanist War between cadet Houses Constantine (Argyll) and Simonine (York) [6]
• Justin (Eostan) I Simonine of Northumbria becomes Justin (Eystein) II of Norway and begins expansion of the Atlantic colonies that later form Vinland.
• Simon III inherits Scotland, formalises the union, and declares the Empire. He romanises much of the dynastic history [7].

The Flags

The State Flag of the Empire of the North is a combination of flags from the founding kingdoms.
Scotland - used a saltire since the first union with Northumbria and is based on the visitation of St Andrew [8] of a fiery cross in the sky. It is a red saltire on white, often fimbriated in gold (reflecting the traditional Arms of Scotland: red crowned lion bearing a sword on a gold field).
Northumbria - has 2 flags in use; one uses the St Cuthbert [9] Cross in white on blue (the traditional badge of the Simonines and descending dynasty), the other is based on Bede's description of the pre-Viking flag of Northumbrian and is vertical stripes of blue and gold.
Norway - uses 2 golden halberd axes in saltire on red, sometimes called the St Olaf Cross.
The State Flag is a red saltire on white surmounted by 2 golden axes in saltire and a blue round shield with white St Cuthbert Cross.

Vinland
Vinland is an autonomous Kingdom within the Empire of the North having its own Intendant and Assembly.
It is formed from the colonies settled by the then United Kingdom of Northumbria, Norway, & Scotland.
The flag features the axes in saltire of St Olaf and the cross of St Cuthbert, albeit white on red, as a reference to Justin I/II officially granting the Vinland Charters - Justin often used a white cross on red as his personal badge.
The green field is a reference to Eric the Red's descriptions of the "green lands beyond Thule" in an attempt to promote settlement [10].

[1] TTL it is more due to local politics than an alliance to retake England
[2] Olaf's son Magnus Barefoot succeeds him as King and Norway roughly follows OTL thence
[3] OTL he did not marry; TTL the (northern) nobles force it
[4] Columbine comes from his father Malcolm Canmore; Edred is an alt-David of the House Columbine
[5] A similar event to OTL but based on alternate marriages of William's sons.
[6] Tanistry is where the eldest of the ruling dynasty is deputy (tanist), and occasional heir, above that of senior heir by primogeniture. ITTL King Adam of N&S has a brother Simon Earl of York and Constantine Earl of Argyll; Simon's grandson Simon and Constantine's son Constantine fight over Scotland when Constantine claims heir rights to Scotland as Tanist.
[7] Hence Constantine for Cynstan, Simon for Sigmund, Justin for Eystein, etc
[8] Patron Saint of Scotland as OTL
[9] Patron Saint of Northumbria
[10] I made this up but it sounds like the sort of thing attributed to him!

Gold Islands (hrṣ ʾyt)

In TTL, Carthage managed to decisively crush the Romans and become the unchallenged empire ruling all of the Mediterranean. However, the Parthian empire does also better than in OTL. When the two empires clash over trade routes in the 1st century BCE, the Carthaginian Empire is defeated and loses control of the routes to India and beyond.

Desperation leads the Carthaginians to fund expeditions to search for a mythical "Western passage to Asia". And although many adventurers are lost along with their crews, there is one expedition that manages to follow the correct winds and currents all the way to the Caribbean and back.

Although it soon became apparent that no passage to Asia was to be found from westward, the discovery that large amounts of gold could be won from the natives by conquest raised a lot of interest in Carthage. And so, despite resistance, the main islands of the Caribbean were soon conquered and turned into a base from where the mythical "empires of gold" of the mainland could be eventually be conquered.

The Gold Islands consist of all the main islands of the Caribbean and were so named by the first explorers. Although the islands themselves held only little gold, the explorers hoped to attract more funding for subsequent voyages by using that name.

The flag of the Gold Islands is composed of a light blue stripe (representing the sky) and a dark blue stripe (representing the ocean). They are separated by a narrow white band, representing the white shores of the islands. At the hoist stands the original Carthaginian symbol of the goddess Tanit encircled by the moon. The red triangle is based on the pennants of the Carthaginian ships.

 

[The Professor]

Flag Challenge 166: The Magic Mountain
Create a flag for a realm based in the mountains that is primarily made of a mythical or magical race.
Restrictions:
No dwarfs or dwarves by another name.
The country must have its power base among the mountains.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Closed: End 27th May
Voting Period: from 28th May

 

[Mirror]

And victory belongs to @Xanthoc!

The Thaumarchy of Kaltion

The land of Kaltion was, for centuries, split between the Seven Polis: Geminor, Janum, Ashvin, Roremus, Ablicain, Apollemisia, and Hypnatos. The steady balance between them was kept by their rulers, who harnessed magic with ease. Known as the Administrators, they were the most powerful mage of each city, though some decided ascension by varying means. And then arose an eighth power; Isithys. Once a border town on the edge of Geminor, the endless dunes of the Hash'avashara Desert to the South, Isithys quickly became a hub of commerce once gold was found in the banks of the river for which it was named, and soon enough the discovery of buried ruins, thought to belong to the ancestors of the nomadic insect-men known as Zeshar, made it both the home of the those seeking wealth, fame, and adventure alike. These young people would form a community in their own right, and grow the town exponentially. Once conflict of policy arose between the multicultural city and the xenophobic Geminor, Isithys declared itself independent, but agreed to sign the Pact of Amity after a brief but bloody war with its former rulers. And so the Seven Polis became the Eight.

But while all of this was happening, a new movement was rising. In the Eight Polis, the thaumaturges ruled; these beings could use themselves and words of power to pull upon the Filament, the magical energy that permeated the world, born with a natural connection to it, and with study any thaumaturge could bend the elements to their will. The vast majority of Humanity, however, alongside the goblins (to whom now thaumaturges were ever born), was without such a connection. They were the prosaics. Depending on the Polis, prosaics were second-class citizens, serfs, slaves, or even (in the case of Ablicain) exterminated. Even Isithys fueled its growth with prosaic slavery. The only nation not dominated by thaumaturges (for even the Zeshar were guided by the incredibly rare shaman) was Skadheim, an expansive waste of frigid tundra to the North, where the many tribes were brought to heel only by the iron will and bloody blade of the current High Jarl. But amongst the prosaics, spoken in the publicly forbidden slave tongue, they spoke of a legend. A legend in which a saviour would rise from amongst them, the Imaal, who would take down the regimes of old and end the supremacy of magic. And it would just so happen that a man would arrive in Geminor just before the war with Isithys.

The Imaal led a massive uprising, which soon spread to the other cities. Few prosaics were ever taught the one means by which they could use magic; runes. When precisely cut and used with the right ingredients, runes could resonate the strength of spoken words of power to allow prosaics to, in simple ways, pull at the Filament. Indeed, very few were masters, as only the most loyal slaves in the military would be educated in such things, but enough joined the fabled hero. Using these runes to empower weapons and help weaken enemy spells, and using overwhelming numbers, hit-and-run tactics, and assassination, the Imaal was able to see the fall of the great city-states until only Ablicain remained. A network of mountain fortresses, Ablicain was the last hope for the thaumaturges, who were either killed or made into rune-branded slaves, killable with an utterance. The Eight Administrators and their families had fled to this last great city early on, hoping to strategize in a place that lacked the rebellions that plagued the others. But they knew time was short. The newly proclaimed Free Empire of Kaltion was on the march, bloodlust in their minds for the nation that had chosen to kill any and all prosaics. In an attempt to legitimize themselves, the Administrators agreed to unify, and declared the Thaumarchy of Kaltion, with one Administrator to be elected to the position of Hegemon by the other seven, a new one elected upon death or abdication. While intially helping to unify the armies to fight together against the rebellions, old rivalries and conflicting tactics and generals resulted in minimal gains before the Free Empire began to truly prove itself the master of the realm, even unifying with Skadheim. And so, one morning, as the prosaic forces were amassing, the earth rumbled, and suddenly the mountains shifted, new walls of stone rising to swallow up the city and townships of Ablicain, making it a part of the mountains, too deep to even dig to.

The Free Empire was content to let the last thaumaturges starve beneath the Ablicanish Mountains. But they did not. Instead, using their powers, they established their own underground farms, using once forbidden practices to create new animals and plants for their use. An elaborate network of tunnels were dug, and so they became a people of the mountains, moving beneath, only surfacing to raid or to defend themselves from incursion. For the Free Empire this was both a blessing and a curse; while they could not traverse the once vital trade routes safely, they now had not only a boogeyman to rally their people with, but a place to dump rebellious slaves as well. Thaumaturges that proved too strong willed or too troublesome were cast out, sent into the caves, although the strongest were merely killed. Prosaic political foes would face similar fates, and so it was that the Thaumarchy, operating under the range, became even more radicalized with hate, and soon their people prided themselves not just on their magic, but on their subterranean lifestyle, a testament to their power and determination. As a warning, the entrances to their networks were marked by the Free Empire, which had learned to circumvent the mountain paths and valleys through innovations in steam-ships. These entrances, under constant military watch for a reclaiming army, saw the warning banners changed with that of a black banner, the symbol of the Thaumarchy. A simple, long black strip, it had a golden symbol upon it; the Star of the Filament, eight-pointed and surrounded by stars of five points and six, was once a common symbol of thaumaturge hierarchy, representing the way in which the Filament went through both forces of light (six-pointed) and of dark (five-pointed). This symbol became used during the war increasingly, as the now Eight Polis wanted a way to show their unity as a singular state, the coincidental number of points on the main-star and its importance to magic symbolism making it a more than obvious choice. But further, placed upon the star, is the Triluminary Eye, a symbol of the now extinct House of Ilva, which established Janum and created the first city-state to be ruled by thaumaturges, who once were feared as monsters by the prosaics of the country-side.

 

[Xanthoc]

FLAG CHALLENGE #167: Love Thy Neighbor

Take two neighboring (or geographically close/accessible for island nations) countries from OTL and create a flag for them if they joined together.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: 14th June, 2017
Voting Period: 15th June - 22nd June, 2017

 

[Bytor]

FLAG CHALLENGE #167: Love Thy Neighbor

Take two neighboring (or geographically close/accessible for island nations) countries from OTL and create a flag for them if they joined together.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: 14th June, 2017
Voting Period: 15th June - 22nd June, 2017

Does it have to be an original flag for this challenge? Or can enter a flag I made for my ATL a couple of weeks ago?

 

[Xanthoc]

And the winner is.... @gruff.jones !

United Kingdoms of Anglia and Cymru

Following the ascension of Henry Tudor to the English thrown he attempted to do his best to thank the Welshmen and Lords for their assistance in his crowning. Henry's end goal was to unify the two neighbouring countries under one Kingdom, though this seemed like a plan for the future. The new regents first challenge was to unify the Lordships under one ruler. He gave the title of Prince of Wales to Rhys ap Thomas, destroying the previous tradition of naming one's firstborn son the Prince of Wales. Henry did this for two main reasons; the first being the obvious malcontent of the Welsh peasantry and Lords of being ruled directly from England and having an Englishman given the proud title of 'Prince of Wales' and secondly to keep the unwavering loyalty of the Welsh. Something that was shown over and over again from Rhys a Thomas and the other Lords following smaller rebellions of the Yorks.
And thus the two Kingdoms ran parallel to each other until the birth of Henry Tudor (in this timeline Henry's first son.) Henry the VII proposed the marriage of his firstborn to Rhys ap Thomas (who had now adopted the family name Llawgoch because of the killing blow he had given Richard III) daughter Elen Llawgoch. The marriage was successful and Elen received the title of Queen of Cymru while Henry VIII received the title of King of Anglia following his father's death. This tradition became popular throughout the period with the female regent mostly being picked from the daughters of Welsh Lords. Sometimes the traditions were broken in the purpose of a stronger foreign tie but the title of King of Anglia and Queen of Cymru was always kept with the title of Co-Regent of Anglia and Cymru being added a few centuries later.

The flag was based on the ideas of Elen Llawgoch who ordered that the myth of the red dragon of Cymru and the white dragon of Anglia should no longer be fighting and should be rampant, facing each other in complete equality showing the dual Kingdoms both represented under one banner.

{{not very original idea but being Welsh I love making Alt-History with Wales. Sorry if the history is messed up it's not my strong suit}}

 

[gruff.jones]

FLAG CHALLENGE #168: secret proceedings, secret oaths, and secret societies

Your challange this week is to create a banner or flag for a Secret Society, fictional or historical. Good Luck

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: 1st July, 2017
Voting Period: 2nd July - 8th July 2017

 

[SpaceGod]

Flag Challenge #169: Communist Flags With Unique Symbols

The challenge is to create a communist flag that does not include a hammer and sickle or red star. The POD can be from 1867 to 1917.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: 15 July, 2017
Voting Period: 15 July - 21 July 2017

 

[Mirror]

@SpaceGod's winning entry in #168 for the record as well

Order of the Cathar

Catharism was a Christian dualist movement that thrived in Southern Europe during the 12th and 14th centuries. They believed there was a good God of immaterial things (such as light and souls) and a bad God of material things including the world and everything in it. They believed that the Catholics were following the bad God (Satan). Because of their beliefs they were persecuted and massacred in the Albigensian Crusade by the Catholic Church.

In this alternate history a secret society of Cathars is formed to preserve their beliefs and undermine the Catholic Church. Their goal is to do away with high ranking members in the church by any means necessary. Their aim is to replace them with secret practicing Cathars. They hope to infiltrate the church so that they can eventually dismantle it.

Their banner is blood red to represent the blood that must be shed to preserve the Cathar beliefs. In the center is a Cathar cross surrounded by a sun. The sun represents the divine and the order's desire to follow God's will.

 

[The Professor]

And the winner is:

Socialist Democratic Confederacy of The Amazonas
Confederazione Democratica Socialista della Amazonas
Confederació socialdemòcrata de les Amazones

The Amazonas (Often abbreviated as The SDCA) is well known for being one of the world's first socialist republics in the third world. Originally a joint Italian/Catalan colony during the quest for the new world, they overthrew their corrupt monarchy on 12th October 1917 (5 years before the USSR formed OTL) and abolished Catholicism as their state religion in favor of atheism, as the revolutionaries believed that religion only set people apart in their country. Shortly after the SDCA was formed, the capital of the country was moved to the Island of Marajo, which was where the socialist movement was thought to have their headquarters at the time. Despite being one of the only far-left countries in South America, they maintain quite good relations with their neighbors Columbia to the North-East, Peru to the South-West, and Brazil to the South-East.

Despite owning the largest amount of rain forest in South America and therefore being a largely rural country, there are some booming metropolises around the North-Western coast facing the Caribbean Ocean. This is a testament to the socialist government's efforts of modernizing the nation to keep up with their neighbors and indeed the rest of the world. This has been massively successful, as they are currently the most advanced nation in South America, they have even managed to humble some first world countries in terms of technology and social policies.

The fimbriated triband of The SDCA features the colors Purple, Gold and Green. Purple symbolizes how the evening sunset appeared the night the revolution took place, Gold symbolizes the riches shared with the people taken from the last remnants of the nobility and the royalists, the Green symbolizes the diverse Flora and Fauna of the Amazon and how the people will honor it and protect nature. The Pen and Beaker symbolize the arts and science respectively, which are the key parts of the ideals of socialist realism the SDCA are promoting to the world. The cog behind those represents the fast but controlled industrialization of the nation, keeping them ahead in the new age.

Finally, the national motto of The Amazonas appears in both Italian and Catalan, the two official languages of the country, beneath the coat of arms: "Creativity, Innovation, Liberty." These things are what the people of The SDCA believe will make their country stand out against the countless impoverished nations left behind after the death of European Colonialism.

Congratulations @FlyingParafin we await Challenge 170.

 

[FlyingParafin]

Flag Challenge #170: Land of the Free
Create a flag for your own made up utopian country. This could be a country full of lush forests, a nation built around the arts, or maybe a tropical paradise country, etc. Anything goes!
Some rules to point out, however: Nothing too ASB-ish and nothing too much like any OTL flag if possible. Apart from that, the flag's symbolism, colours, proportions, etc. are entirely up to you!

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: 6 August 2017
Voting Period: 6 August - 10 August 2017
Edit: Extended by 7 days.

 

[FlyingParafin]

Congrats to Mirror for winning Flag Challenge 170! Looking forward to the next challenge!

Kalevala

In TTL, the 19th century Finnish national movement and the Great Migration of Finns into Northern America converged in an unexpected way into an utopist movement based on the national epic of Finland, the Kalevala. The movement was opposed to industrialization and to the domination of Swedish and Russian interests in the Grand Duchy of Finland, with emigration seen as a solution to both problems. Blessed with a competent and business-savvy leadership, the movement struck a deal with the Colony of British Columbia and established a settlement on Vancouver Island. In 1870-1900 almost 50 000 settlers joined the movement, until Vancouver Island was almost completely Finnish-speaking and entirely self-governed by the movement within the Colony of British Columbia.

In 1900, the russification policy of Finland became even harsher than in OTL. The assassination of the Russian governor-general turned into a popular uprising, which was crushed with terrifying ruthlessness by the Russian army. This more than tripled the emigration via the Kalevala movement, as the Finns sought an escape from imprisonment, torture and murder at the hands of the occupying military. The Russian authorities looked the other way, as from their perspective the movement helped to rid them of the worst troublemakers. In the decade of 1900-1910, over 300 000 Finns escaped to North America, and most of them headed to Vancouver Island.

The Kalevala movement itself was a weird mix of traditionalism and modernism. Based on the Kalevala, the movement declared that there are three honorable fields of work: forestry (metsämiehet), agriculture (maamiehet) and fishing (kalamiehet). However, the anti-industrialization stance of the movement had always been tempered by its business acumen, and soon enough sawmills, meat packing plants and shipyards arose in each of the fields. Still, the movement stuck to its strict egalitarianism and flat hierarchy, which was supported by its common culture and language and thus managed to create a strange but successful "movement-company-state".

Today, the OTL Vancouver Island is the Canadian province of Kalevala with nearly a million inhabitants. With over 80% of population Finnish-speaking, the sole official language of the province is Finnish (and Finnish is also a co-official language with English in the neighboring British Columbia, with over half a million Finnish speakers in the population on five million). The flag of Kalevala features the original symbol of the movement in the top left corner - a red shield with a golden threefold hannunvaakuna. The symbol was based on the gold and red of Finnish coat of arms, but replacing the royal symbolism with Finnish folk-symbolism, its threefold form symbolizing the three honorable fields of work. The red and white of the flag hold similar meaning, with the three red stripes echoing the threefold symbol on the shield.

 

[Mirror]

Flag Challenge #171: One Country principle

Create a flag for a small country that claims sovereignty over another, much larger country (at least ten times the size). The country should not be located in East Asia.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: 18th of August 2017
Voting Closes: 25th of August 2017

 

[The Professor]

Mirror is busy so...:

The Blessed Kingdom

Situated on the islands of Valetta and Gozo are the last remnants of the Blessed Realm, the residence of Alberto III King of Jerusalem, Sicily, the Arberine, Sardinia, and Carthaginia, Duke of Naxos, Grandmaster of the Knights of Solomon, Lord of the Tyrrhene, Defender of the Faith.
The Realm has its origins in the purchase of Sicily by Richard of Cornwall from Pope Innocent IV, securing it by feat of arms and marrying his son Henry to Isabella Conradina the Hohenstaufen Queen of Jerusalem (and claimant to Sicily).
Despite claims of an origin in St Piran's Flag, and vice versa, the flag appears to have its basis in the simplification of Henry I's arms of argent cross patty on gold with a black border containing 12 bezants. A banner in the Gelre Roll shows a golded edged cross on black, where the cross does not stride the full field - a square or greek cross..
During the Valona dynasty 2 flags/banners come in to use - one the plain argent and gold cross on black, the other with 4 golden crowns for the royal command.
With the accession of the Duke of Carthage, Grandmaster of the Knights of Solomon, the current flag appears - a white cross bordered in gold upon a black field strewn with argent crosses.

 

[The Professor]

Flag Challenge #172: Unity of Division

Design flags for 2 countries who claim the name and mantle of their collapsed predecessor; each country having formed as a union of lesser states formed in the collapse/division of the predecessor state.
Restrictions:
No fictional countries ie no SciFi or Fantasy entries.
Each of the 2 flags should fit within a 200x400 px rectangle (preferably both on the same image file for ease of copy).

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: 2 September 2017
Voting Closes: 9 September 2017 ish.

 

[The Professor]

And the winner is @HerrWasser

People's Republic of The Netherlands

Nationalist Union of The Netherlands

Following the end of World War II, conflict broke out in the already war-weary Netherlands between nationalist and communist factions. Communists inhabiting the northern provinces proclaimed the founding of a "People's Republic of the Netherlands" with it's capital in Groningen. To the south, a single nationalist faction rose to prominence and secured Amsterdam as it's capital. From there, the "Nationalist Union of The Netherlands" was founded and it's armies marched north to meet it's hated foe. The two sides clashed time and time again, but neither was able to gain the upper hand and eventually a ceasfire was reluctantly signed. The two sides continued to stay at odds and fight occasional border skirmishes up until the fall of the Soviet Union, when a NATO-led incursion forcefully unified the two sides. Today, The Netherlands is an unstable democracy fraught with tension between the two sides, and civil war still hangs in the air just waiting to be sparked once more.

 

[HerrWasser]

Flag Challenge #173: Freedom is Slavery

Design a flag for a totalitarian, 1984-esque, one-party state of the dystopia. It can arise from a form of communism,
fascism, or some other ideology that existed somewhere in history or in some alternate timeline. A detailed history
of your totalitarian experiment is recommended, although it is not required.

P.S. You are free to create a flag for a pre-existing dystopia, as long as it has no official flag already.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: 17th September, 2017
Voting Closes: 24th September, 2017