Weekly Flag Challenge #236 - POLL

[Xanthoc]

FLAG CHALLENGE #236 - Vexillum Monstrum

Make a flag belonging to a nation run by monsters!

We might be passed Halloween, but that doesn't mean the Spookiness has to end! November 11th is just October 42nd, after all. The nation in question can be something classic, like a vampire kingdom or a werewolf clan. Maybe a mermaid polis? Feel free to stick to the classics or do something more obscure; the nation also doesn't have to be controlled by just one race of monsters either. As long the population and government are made up of some kind of monsters, it counts!

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: November 18th, 2020 @ 10:30 PM (MST)

Really like this challenge, here's what i came up with.

The Alliance of the Swamp Troll Tribes:
A loosely organized tribes of Trolls that inhabit the The Great Barrier Swamp.

The Great Barrier Swamp is a region between the Realms of Men, and the Realms of Unmen (or monsters, as often described) ,a land shrouded in mystery, believed to hold great treasures and greater dangers, as well as being the source of many evils, such as plagues, doughts and madness. An acient curse has poisoned the boundry between the two realms and turned it into an almost unpassable area of swamps, fens and quagmires. It is believed that it was done to separate the two realms, and protect the Realms of Men from venturing into the certain death, and prevent more evil from seeping in. Yet many explorers sought to cross it, hoping to . The few who returned spoke tales of meeting disfigured men, that while temepramental, and easily angered were not outright evil. These were thought to be Trolls. In reality they were men and women who dared to cross the swamps and became lost. Time has turned them into unrecognizable creatures and nearly wiped their memories of their past life, most of them being unable to remember anything before they came to the swamps, their skin became darkened like mud and tough like hardwood, some grew more eyes, limbs, or even heads. They were seen as abominations by those of the Realms of Men, they have proven themselves not hostile and thus were able to maintain some degree of relations with them. As time went on some noteworthy Trolls gained disciples, and followers, creating many tribes, and founding a new society. They often went to war with eachother, for reasons unknown to Men, eventually the strongest of them unified most of the Tribes into a loose coalition. This was seen as worrysome by the Realms of Men, fearing a potential invasion. Though fledgeling, the Troll nation would've been a formidable foe, a war with them would have meant countless losses for the Realms of Men. They sent an envoy of peace to the Trolls and acknowledged their owenership of the swamplands, in the exchange that no Troll should ever set foot outside them, though they have remained uncontacted since.

During the last days of the second world war, Baron Von Frankenstein, who had been forced to reserect his great grandfather's monster by the Nazi Mad Science Division, declares his Bavarian estate and the local villages independent from the reich to prevent Allied occupation. As most of the healthy male population had been drafted, leaving only an army of cripples and the elderly in the region, the Baron had his monster snap the necks of the SS brigade that had been stationed near by so he could reanimate them as shock troops for the "Frankenstein Kingdom." Once the war was over, the "kingdom" became a heriditery monarchy, but distinctly anti communist, earning to recognition of the west.

The Fey's Banner

"Hearken to me younglings, I may be an elder of eleventy-one but I still take heed of the fraying banner above the mantle.
It's the reason we dwell in these holes of ours though we be far from the forts and walls at the March of Bree.
It belongs to those damned fey that dwell beneath the shade of the Misty Mountains. Those who come against us time and again in their shining arms, whose foul magics mean we see not their faces behind their blinding glow, and mean their bodies fade away when felled by a brave young soldier.
Those fey who when they deign to speak when asked 'why? Why do you strike us so?' speak only in the Old Tongue, and declare us 'unclean', 'impure', and 'halflings'.
We know no longer their true name, and they will not tell us. We know only that they follow this Banner of the Rings and we must stand against it. Till the end of time itself if needed!"

Free City of the Arragousets
Ville-Libre des Arragousets

The arragousets were sea dwelling fairies who once attacked the Island of Guernsey to find human wives. Once they killed or drove all the men away they became very good husbands until they suddenly all vanished back into the sea.

The Free City of the Arragousets was founded by arragousets who refused to leave their wives and formed their own independent village on the island. While male humans have been allowed back in the city they are regarded as second class citizens, just as human women that are not married to an arragouset. Half-breed children or woman married to arragousets are regarded as equal to full-blooded arragousets. The people of Guernsey have made many attempts to drive the fairies back into the sea but have never been successful, even when outnumbering the diminutive creatures.

The Free City's flag is colored to be visible in water as well as on land. The Mariner's Cross represents the a combination of the wife's religion and the sea. While the two sea lions mimic the heraldry of The Duchy of Normandy representing the half-blood children being both of the sea and of Normandy.

Spoiler: Citations

Blanchoyeur. Meuble héraldique Lion dragonné. 10 September 2015. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meuble_héraldique_Lion_dragonné.svg. Accessed 12 November 2020.
Madboy74.Coa Illustration Cross Mariner's. 4 April 2011. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coa_Illustration_Cross_Mariner's.svg. Accessed 12 November 2020.

Central parts of the (Sub-) Continent of Occidentalia has been inhabited by Great Werewolf Clans since time immemorial. However they were pushed back into deepest of forests and highest of mountains as Mankind established its rule over the area. By the 900th year of the Southern Empire Calendar a great empire of Man was founded. This was the Holy Empire of the Forests, Mountains and Rivers (das Heiliges Reich der Wälder, Berge und Flüsse), which ruled almost entirety of the are with 4 exceptions; Coastland (Küstenland), Black Forest (Schwarzwald), Überwald and the region that would eventually be known as Burgenland (Castleland). All these lands except the Black Forest were somewhat tamed by men in time but we are only concerned with history of one region. That is Überwald.

It was in the 13th century of the Southern Calendar that a large force entered the forests and mountains of Überwald to tame it. Many a nobleman was involved in it but Konrad the Silver was the most notable as he discovered a large and clear lake deep in the forest with two islands close to the shore. One was large and mostly flat while the other was rocky and high. He was made the Count of Überwald (Graf von Überwald) by the Emperor and given overlordship of the entire region. He named the lake Mondsee (Moonlake) and built a castle for himself and his family on the rock which came to be known as Konradshöhe and a town grew on the larger island. The town became known as Mondstadt (Moon City) while the castle became known as Burg Mondstadt (Castle Mondstadt). Konrad's descendants also took up the name "von Mondstadt" as their surname. The land grew richer as more people settled there and more castles were built, eventually only 9 clans of werewolves remained in the from the original 24. House von Mondstadt grew in prestige and were raised to Herzog von Überwald und Graf von Mondstadt (Duke of Überwald and Count of Mondstadt). As a show of prestige in 16th century the Mondstadt Cathedral was built and the Castle was renovated to look more impressive on the inside and the outside.

Reign of Mankind over Central Occidentalia was not to be uninterrupted however as by 17th century SE the nobility was steadily infiltrated by vampires and through the century most of the nobility (including the von Mondstadts) became vampires. This was the end of the Holy Empire and the birth of the Midnight Empire (Mitternacht Reich). This was a definitive positive for the werewolves as they became recognized vassals and even expanded into region from which they had been pushed away from. Some clans became vassal to local vampire lords (such was the case in Überwald, where they became vassals to the Duke or in the March of Burgenland, where each of the 7 clans were attached to one of the 7 castles with its vampire lord) while others became Reichsklane (Imperial Clans), sworn directly to the Emperor. Küstenland and Black Forest became special cases. Küstenland became the Freiheit Küstenland (Freedom of Küstenland), a confederation of 10 Werewolf Clans and the honorary "11th Clan" the Human city of Gröning (formerly Reichsfreistadt Gröning, Imperial Free City of Gröning) and other human settlements. Black Forest was organized into the Eidgenossenschaft Schwarzwald (Confederation/Oath Commonwealth Black Forest), a confederation of 13 Werewolf Clans. In the 19th (and late 18th) century universities and abandoned castles in the empire soon became homes of "Mad Scientists". These "geniuses" were known for their capacity for the creation of many machines and creatures.

However even this powerful realm was eventually destroyed by humans. Only few remnants of it are left in the 20th Century SE. Namely; Küstenland Republic (Werewolf-Human), Schwazwald Confederation (Werewolf), March of Burgenland (Vampire-Werewolf), Free University City of Heidelberg (Mad Scientist) and the League of Überwald (Vampire-Werewolf-Mad Scientist). The old Duchy has been reformed into a confederation; made up of Vampire Counties, Burgraviates, Baronies (17 with the status of self ruling member of the League) and 9 Werewolf Clans and 3 Republican Cantons run by Mad Scientists under an oligarchical system. The League took a tricolour of Black-Gold-White as its flag with the Black representing the Night ruled over by the Vampire Aristocracy, Gold representing the lightning powering many of the creations that the Mad Scientists make and White representing the Moon and the metal Silver that are deeply connected with Werewolves. The old arms of the Duchy (Castle on top of the snow topped mountain flanked by a pine tree on each side, on a blue background with the crescent moon on the top left; all these carried on a single shield on the chest of the Imperial double headed eagle) were modified. In the shield itself the flag of the League was added on a flagpole on the mountaintop castle. The Eagle saw far more changes. Its wings were replaced with bat wings for the vampires and one of its heads was replaced by a wolf's head and its natural talons were replaced by mechanical ones.

Flags of the Members of the League of Überwald were somewhat standardized into fields that were the colour of their type (black for Vampire Lordship, gold for Mad Scientist Canton and white for Werewolf Clan). With a distinct flag for each member in the canton of the flag. Here the example is the Flag of Grafschaft Mondstadt (County of Mondstadt) which is a black banner with a banner of arms of the von Mondstadt dynasty and the County itself on the canton.

The distinct flag of the county itself in the canton is a silver crescent on a blue field, above which a gold five pointed star, on the star a pair of Dandelions one in the forms of a yellow flower and the other in the form of the white seedhead. Both blazoned as "proper".

The County is the unofficial leader of the League and it's Cathedral in its namesake city serves as the meeting hall of the League Assembly.
(I tried to draw the "dandelions" myself, not really confident on them)

 

[The Professor]

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