Entry #1: Holy City of Shechem said:Sandwiched between the Commonwealth of Judea and and the Federation of Northern Canaan, the Holy City of Shechem is a relic of history, a religious citystate surviving in a secular age. A mixture of the strangely familiar and the exotic, the Judean visitor often feels out of place, either upon reading shop signs in the subtly different Shechemite alphabet, or being tripped up by the sometimes impenetrable dialect spoken in some of the more obscure precincts of the city. As humorist David Radhani put it, "Judeans and Shechemites are like cousins who have inherited equal shares of a prosperous business. For the money to keep coming in, they have to put up with the situation, but they never get used to the other's annoying habits"...
After winning its independence in the chaos of the Canaanite Disintegration a century ago, it was generally expected in Shechem as elsewhere that the hereditary priesthood would soon either voluntarily give up power, as happened in the rest of the Federation as it reconstituted itself, or lose it in a wave of bloodshed, as took place in the Ge'ez speaking nations. But the priesthood managed to successfully ride the wild bullock, in no small part due to welcoming in many of the most religious Canaanites, who were aghast at the de-emphasis of religion in public life. Even today, the governing priesthood is generally popular among the citizens, though emigration to the New Khazarian provinces across the Western Ocean is increasing...
As befitting the last theocracy in the Hebraic world, the symbols of the State are replete with religious references, from the Biblical quotations on the street signs, to the representation of an old fashioned High Priest's sash on the currency. It is therefore no surprise that even though the rebuilt Temple on Mount Gerizim is easily seen in every quarter of the city, the national flag bears the Mount and Temple in silhouette, as shown here:
Entry #2: Seraph Flag of the Republic of Lublin said:Spreading east, the seeds of the Protestant Reformation found fertile ground in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, particularly the works of John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli. The city of Lublin, in Lesser Poland, was a particular center of the movement and served as a haven for a number of Protestant preachers. In late 1562, inspired by the example of Calvin's Geneva, the Protestants took over the city and proclaimed it the "Free and Holy Republic of Lublin of the Reformed Faith." Their rule lasted 198 days, despite the city being almost immediately besieged by Commonwealth forces.
One of the best-known symbols of the rising was the so-called "Seraph Flag," seen here. The name is somewhat of a misnomer, as while the six wings do call to mind the six-winged seraphim described in the book of Isaiah, the wheel and the eyes are more reminiscent of the ophanim, best-known from Ezekiel's vision of the wheel. One of these "seraph flags" was captured by Hetman Radziwill when the city fell, and now resides in the Lublin Museum of Municipal History.
Entry #3: Hussite Republic of Bohemia said:Flag of the Hussite Republic of Bohemia
Entry #4: Cardinality of Carthage said:Here's my dodgy one:
The Cardinality of Carthage
The Carthage Cardinality has the distinction of being the last Church-run state to come under secular authority...
The St Augustine Basilica was founded in 1333 by the Templars during the so-called African Crusade led by James III of Sicily and was part of Pope Celestine's attempts to depoliticise the Templar Order by providing them a state outside Christian Europe while simultaneously returning Christianity to former Roman lands...
The Templars's efforts to expand their Ordinality [ie Order-State] across North Africa were thwarted not only by the Merinids of Morocco but also by the growing divide between the Cistercian and Dominican branches of the Order itself. Things came to a head during the Papal Schism as each branch, and often chapter, began supporting opposing Popes...
The legendary Siege of St Augustine provided a rallying point for the Reformationists - and it was no doubt a wish to avoid this that led to the Cardinality's surrender 4 centuries later...
The Concilium at Rome established a parliament of Cardinals - the Papal Synod - and disbanded the military orders. Some secularised, becoming local barons or joined the Papal Guard, others joined the Church hierarchy. The Master of Sicily became the first Cardinal of Carthage and thus responsible for the Church in North Africa...
The Cardinality formed a unique governance within the former Templar Ordinality as it consolidated under the Sicilian Crown: the Church and secular princes held joint jurisdiction except that the City of Carthage came solely under the Cardinal's authority with its twin city Tunis under the King's...
The Cardinality of Carthage came to an end with the 2nd Reformation that saw the Western Catholic Church lose its remaining temporal powers.
The Flag
The flag is based on that of the former Ordinality [of The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ & of the Temple of Solomon] but with the Templar Cross replaced by crossed keys & cardinal coronet.
Entry #5: The Episcopal Republic of New York" said:The Episcopal Republic of New York
In the aftermath of the failure of the United States Constitution, Samuel Provoost, Episcopal Bishop of New York, Seized Temporal power over the Republic of New York.
The Flag
The flag of the Episcopal Church, with Four Cross-Bottonies (representing the Districts of New Jersey, Erie, Albany, and Hudson,) and the Great Seal of the Republic of New York.
Entry #6: Fifth Monarchist England said:Fifth Monarchist England
Just something quick I made up for an English Commonwealth which fell under the control of English Civil War Sect thefifth monarchy men, a group that believed that Jesus was going to return to rule the world as king. In reality they were influential but nowhere near strong enough to be the dominant force in the Commonwealth and they quickly disappeared but I suppose its possible that if they managed to become a cohesive force they could have made a better attempt to resist the return of monarchy and made a bigger impact on the history of England.
Inspired by lots of English Civil War flags I've read about; it eschews any 'national' symbols of the former earthly monarchy in favour of purely religous symbols. The purple colours stand for (divine) monarchy, the roman numerals I-IV stand for the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires, replaced by the fifth true empire of God, represented by the 'V'. The lion is the Lion of Judah while the qoute is something repeated lots in the bible, and something commonly quoted by religous-revolutionary groups during the Civil War, a prophecy relating to Judah and God's chosen people. The exact quote is from Genesis ('Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, you are gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?')
Entry #7: New Rome said:“ After the sack of Rome, for ages the center of the one true and honorable faith, the Vicar of God and heart of Christendom were slain by the bastard French and their protestant demons, those few great men of the Church, god-chosen to be saved from the pyres that consumed those who stood against heresy, fled the burning city, the once gleaming jewel of Italia, taking across the sea to the shores of Hispania, those few relics and precious symbols remaining of their once gleaming home, the heart of the true faith, saved from the northern barbarians and the whored King of the bloodied throne, believing their church to be safe under the last Habsburg king, last defender of the Faith in Europe, but alas, it was not to be.
As the dogs of hell marched across their former home, burning the once rich lands to dust and ash, before turning back and trampling over the reaming states of God, before growling and hacking at the gates into Hispania, even those great mountains of the North relenting to the devils and spawn of evil incarnate, the last princes of the church convened and asked the true God for salvation, pleading with him for salvation, that humanity was not lost to evil, that the true believers still fought on but needed his guidance to save those faithful left. For days they prayed and knelt, pouring their souls into pleas as even the last true King joined their prayers, as the demonic French and cruel Germanic tribes swarmed across what little remained of the last bastion of Christendom, begging for a savoir to repel the hordes of hell and protect the faith, until finally, he replied to their anguished souls.
Under the dawning light of a autumns dawn, beneath the falling leaves of a mighty oak, did the fated prince and savoir arise from amongst their own number, a man of pure heart and mind, burning with the light of Heaven and the voice of the creator, the great St. John de Lugo, arose and took his place amongst mortal men as Gods voice. For on that night and day he saw Gods answer to his children’s prayer, a great star in the heavens, appearing where none had being before, speaking to his soul, giving him the knowledge of Gods will. For he related to the other princes and faithful followers that God had showed him the path to save the faith from evil, to save Gods chosen people, and he related Gods will unto them, for them to go west as the ancient kings had done in the deserts of the Orient, to create a home in New Spain, a land of riches and prosperity where the faith can grow and renew away from the hellfire and sin that spread across Europe. And as he spoke to them, the princes and King became enthralled and their hearts lifted, for not only did they know of their salvation, but of seeing God once again on the earthly plane, and did make John the leader of the Faith, the new Vicar of Christ, to lead all the chosen and faithful of Europe and Man to a new home, a new Rome, a renewed Eden on Earth.”
Extract from the 14th edition of the Second Roman Bible, Book 1 - Second Exodus
Published in 1854, New Rome, Greater Pontifical Union
Reconstructed flag of the Second Exodus and the City State of New Rome:
So, after the in the end extremly useful extended duration of this challenge, have the poll!
