Krall
Banned
For a while now I've had this fantasy/ASB world I've been working on, but the main nation of the world is still without a symbol or a flag. I have been completely unable to think one up, so I'd like to ask you peeps to see if you can think of a good symbol/CoA/flag for this nation.
Here's some information on the nation to see if it inspires you:
The nation is called Kagero [which translates as 'First City' or 'Capital City'] or, to give it its full name, Kagero Reiyi Jo [which means 'The Democratic State of the First City', in essence]. Kagero is, of course, the name of Kagero's capital city, which rose to power after uniting a league of city-states with a shared culture [similar to ancient Greece] under its rule.
Kagero maintains that it's culture is the only one 'true' culture, and that all other cultures and practices are barbarous and morally wrong. It endeavours to spread its culture across the world by taking it over. Part of its culture, however, is a preference for peaceful takeover instead of violence, so they are rarely forced to go to war in order to spread their rule, instead they use their vast economic and political power to force other nations to submit to them, first as allies, later as vassals, and finally as provinces. During this transition, Kagero spreads its culture among its target nation, through traders, missionaries and, occasionally, colonists/emmigrants they systematically destroy the culture of the other nation, then annex it completely.
Kagero is mainly based upon ancient China. It many governmental institutions that would seem quite modern to many people, such as a police force [and a secret police force, the feared 'Daha Lur'] and a welfare system. It's army is also professional and mostly voluntary, though they do draft people into the army when they need to.
Kagero is a democracy, with the leader, the 'Rei', of Kagero being elected by a few thousand eligible people. These people must own property in one of a certain few, large cities near Kagero or in Kagero itself, be over the age of 20 years and be married with at least one child. These people are considered the most vital and experienced people within Kagero and so are permitted to vote on who becomes the next Rei. Their parliamentary houses are elected by more people, with the test for eligibility simply allowing people be employed, be over the age of 20 and live in certain provinces around Kagero or live in Kagero itself [the city of Kagero isn't technically in a province, like how Washington D.C. isn't technically in a state].
Each province of Kagero has a legislative council consisting of around 20 democratically elected representatives. Though this is the only real representation the outer provinces get in their government, the legislative councils exists mainly to ensure that the provinces don't go too out of line, and to administrate the police and armed forces in the area.
Recently, some provinces have been declared 'Semi-Autonomous Regions'. You would think that this means that they get more representation, right? Wrong. It means they get no representation in government. Their legislative councils are elected by a committee in Kagero's parliament for no fixed period of time. These legislative councils do have more power to legislate and rule as they please, but Kagero's parliament is willing and able to remove any member of these councils if it thinks they aren't doing their job.
Semi-autonomous provinces are created for two reasons;
1. They are too far away or too isolated for Kagero's central parliament to directly exercise as much power over them as they would want to.
2. They are 'culturally deviant'.
In the first case the council's job is to rule in parliament's stead, doing what they think the parliament would do in such a situation. In the second case the council must try to eliminate cultural deviancy and reassert Kagero's own culture upon the area. Cultural deviants may be arrested, imprisoned, or killed, unsanctioned cultural practices may be outlawed, schools may have to teach Kagero's culture to children etc. etc. Kagero's central parliament committee will review each year whether the province is back on the right track, and will submit a plea to parliament itself to return to the province its small amount of representation.
Other provinces have been declared 'Special Economic Regions', in these regions Kagero's central parliament and the Rei have much more direct power over economic resources in the region. This essentially boils down to them funding farms/mines should they fall on hard times, or even buying them if they fall on very hard times. They will often also buy up some of the region's produce and either sell it on or use it. Taxes in these regions are usually heightened slightly, though.
Whilst Kagero usually despises all other culture and actively seeks to destroy it, there is one culture and group of people who they do not seek to convert to their ways, the Najata.
The Najata are a race with grey skin and black eyes. Their culture is one of honour and war, Najata mercenaries are renowned throughout Kagero and beyond as the greatest warriors that have ever lived and ever will live. They are fearless, but reasonable, they will not let honour take victory away from them.
All Najata warriors shave all hair from their body, though retired male warriors are permitted to grow beards, and retired female warrires are permitted to grow hair on the rest of their heads. Najata will often have a set of tattoos that mark them out as members of a certain family, but these markings have recently become associated with towns, mercenary groups and rich households [so those living in a town/working as a mercenary/working in a rich household will all have the same tattoos].
The Najata live by a strict code of honour, some rules of this code are often strange, or seemingly useless, including the rule that no Najata may ever wear any sort of headgear [including hoods, hats, helmets, etc.].
Because of the differences in culture between the people of Kagero and the Najata, the Najata are permitted some leeway when it comes to law. For instance, Najata warriors are permitted to always carry weapons and wear armour, and they may take the law into their own hands and beat the living shit out of criminals if they want to. Najata also tend to deal with Najata that break the law themselves, sometimes resulting in honour killings or Najata being imprisoned in their own home by an ad hoc court of local elders.
It is not known by any non-Najata, nor by many Najata, why Najata culture is allowed to exist, but they are, at least, tolerated because of their immense skill in battle, and because there is a law that prevents any Najata ever holding any governmental position [including any position in the army]. However, Najata mercenaries are sworn to only undertake missions from Kagero or that Kagero approves of.
Well, that's all the background I can think of at the moment, not that any of it really helps when thinking of a symbol for the nation. Really all you need to know is that Kagero is based off ancient China and considers its culture to be the one, true culture, and that it intends to take over the world and impose its culture on everyone it can find [save for the Najata].
So, anyone got any ideas?
Here's some information on the nation to see if it inspires you:
The nation is called Kagero [which translates as 'First City' or 'Capital City'] or, to give it its full name, Kagero Reiyi Jo [which means 'The Democratic State of the First City', in essence]. Kagero is, of course, the name of Kagero's capital city, which rose to power after uniting a league of city-states with a shared culture [similar to ancient Greece] under its rule.
Kagero maintains that it's culture is the only one 'true' culture, and that all other cultures and practices are barbarous and morally wrong. It endeavours to spread its culture across the world by taking it over. Part of its culture, however, is a preference for peaceful takeover instead of violence, so they are rarely forced to go to war in order to spread their rule, instead they use their vast economic and political power to force other nations to submit to them, first as allies, later as vassals, and finally as provinces. During this transition, Kagero spreads its culture among its target nation, through traders, missionaries and, occasionally, colonists/emmigrants they systematically destroy the culture of the other nation, then annex it completely.
Kagero is mainly based upon ancient China. It many governmental institutions that would seem quite modern to many people, such as a police force [and a secret police force, the feared 'Daha Lur'] and a welfare system. It's army is also professional and mostly voluntary, though they do draft people into the army when they need to.
Kagero is a democracy, with the leader, the 'Rei', of Kagero being elected by a few thousand eligible people. These people must own property in one of a certain few, large cities near Kagero or in Kagero itself, be over the age of 20 years and be married with at least one child. These people are considered the most vital and experienced people within Kagero and so are permitted to vote on who becomes the next Rei. Their parliamentary houses are elected by more people, with the test for eligibility simply allowing people be employed, be over the age of 20 and live in certain provinces around Kagero or live in Kagero itself [the city of Kagero isn't technically in a province, like how Washington D.C. isn't technically in a state].
Each province of Kagero has a legislative council consisting of around 20 democratically elected representatives. Though this is the only real representation the outer provinces get in their government, the legislative councils exists mainly to ensure that the provinces don't go too out of line, and to administrate the police and armed forces in the area.
Recently, some provinces have been declared 'Semi-Autonomous Regions'. You would think that this means that they get more representation, right? Wrong. It means they get no representation in government. Their legislative councils are elected by a committee in Kagero's parliament for no fixed period of time. These legislative councils do have more power to legislate and rule as they please, but Kagero's parliament is willing and able to remove any member of these councils if it thinks they aren't doing their job.
Semi-autonomous provinces are created for two reasons;
1. They are too far away or too isolated for Kagero's central parliament to directly exercise as much power over them as they would want to.
2. They are 'culturally deviant'.
In the first case the council's job is to rule in parliament's stead, doing what they think the parliament would do in such a situation. In the second case the council must try to eliminate cultural deviancy and reassert Kagero's own culture upon the area. Cultural deviants may be arrested, imprisoned, or killed, unsanctioned cultural practices may be outlawed, schools may have to teach Kagero's culture to children etc. etc. Kagero's central parliament committee will review each year whether the province is back on the right track, and will submit a plea to parliament itself to return to the province its small amount of representation.
Other provinces have been declared 'Special Economic Regions', in these regions Kagero's central parliament and the Rei have much more direct power over economic resources in the region. This essentially boils down to them funding farms/mines should they fall on hard times, or even buying them if they fall on very hard times. They will often also buy up some of the region's produce and either sell it on or use it. Taxes in these regions are usually heightened slightly, though.
Whilst Kagero usually despises all other culture and actively seeks to destroy it, there is one culture and group of people who they do not seek to convert to their ways, the Najata.
The Najata are a race with grey skin and black eyes. Their culture is one of honour and war, Najata mercenaries are renowned throughout Kagero and beyond as the greatest warriors that have ever lived and ever will live. They are fearless, but reasonable, they will not let honour take victory away from them.
All Najata warriors shave all hair from their body, though retired male warriors are permitted to grow beards, and retired female warrires are permitted to grow hair on the rest of their heads. Najata will often have a set of tattoos that mark them out as members of a certain family, but these markings have recently become associated with towns, mercenary groups and rich households [so those living in a town/working as a mercenary/working in a rich household will all have the same tattoos].
The Najata live by a strict code of honour, some rules of this code are often strange, or seemingly useless, including the rule that no Najata may ever wear any sort of headgear [including hoods, hats, helmets, etc.].
Because of the differences in culture between the people of Kagero and the Najata, the Najata are permitted some leeway when it comes to law. For instance, Najata warriors are permitted to always carry weapons and wear armour, and they may take the law into their own hands and beat the living shit out of criminals if they want to. Najata also tend to deal with Najata that break the law themselves, sometimes resulting in honour killings or Najata being imprisoned in their own home by an ad hoc court of local elders.
It is not known by any non-Najata, nor by many Najata, why Najata culture is allowed to exist, but they are, at least, tolerated because of their immense skill in battle, and because there is a law that prevents any Najata ever holding any governmental position [including any position in the army]. However, Najata mercenaries are sworn to only undertake missions from Kagero or that Kagero approves of.
Well, that's all the background I can think of at the moment, not that any of it really helps when thinking of a symbol for the nation. Really all you need to know is that Kagero is based off ancient China and considers its culture to be the one, true culture, and that it intends to take over the world and impose its culture on everyone it can find [save for the Najata].
So, anyone got any ideas?
