As there are only two entries, I will use Rule 4 of the Weekly Flag Challenge to extend the submission period as follows:
Submissions Close: 8th of January 2017
Voting Period: 9th of January - 15th of January 2016
Weekly Flag Challenge: Discussion & Entries
- Thread starter Transparent Blue
- Start date
As there are only two entries, I will use Rule 4 of the Weekly Flag Challenge to extend the submission period as follows:
Submissions Close: 8th of January 2017
Voting Period: 9th of January - 15th of January 2016
Flag of the Republic of Sicily
The flag of a Republic of Sicily that emerged from a failing Bourbon kingdom. Cutting all ties with its various former monarchial regimes, it uses none of the traditional symbols or colors of the island. Instead, it uses the red/white/blue known from the American and French Revolutions, and depicts the island itself, surrounded by a wreath and topped by a star. The wreath is a (possibly misguided) nod to former Roman republican traditions, and the star represents the Sicilian people's desire for the freedom so long denied them.
The flag of a Republic of Sicily that emerged from a failing Bourbon kingdom. Cutting all ties with its various former monarchial regimes, it uses none of the traditional symbols or colors of the island. Instead, it uses the red/white/blue known from the American and French Revolutions, and depicts the island itself, surrounded by a wreath and topped by a star. The wreath is a (possibly misguided) nod to former Roman republican traditions, and the star represents the Sicilian people's desire for the freedom so long denied them.
New Deseret Collective
The labor unrest of the second McKinley term, the Global War of 1907-1912, the French Flu, and the Panic of 1917 proved too much for the cohesion of the United States of America, which functionally dissolved into feuding regional powers and confederations of states. One such is the New Deseret Collective, formed from the one-time states of Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. School children throughout the Collective are grateful for an easily drawn nation, but it's also an odd point of national pride - as the (roughly translated) motto goes, it's hip to be square.
The labor unrest of the second McKinley term, the Global War of 1907-1912, the French Flu, and the Panic of 1917 proved too much for the cohesion of the United States of America, which functionally dissolved into feuding regional powers and confederations of states. One such is the New Deseret Collective, formed from the one-time states of Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. School children throughout the Collective are grateful for an easily drawn nation, but it's also an odd point of national pride - as the (roughly translated) motto goes, it's hip to be square.
Huh, I didn't think about that.
Let's make it 21.00 GMT. I don't know your time zone but I hope you make it!
The poll is now up! Vote early, vote often 
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/weekly-flag-challenge-157-poll.407166/
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/weekly-flag-challenge-157-poll.407166/
Seems I won! I'll try to have the new challenge up this evening, but depending on when I get home from work it might have to wait until tomorrow.
Quick question: Can this be any ATL country that in OTL is the US? E.g. a nation resulting from other countries colonizing North America (instead of the British Empire in OTL)
In the interest of not stifling creativity too much, I'm going to say yes. Try to maintain enough parallels for it to be recognizable as a USA analogue though, or the challenge might as well cover the entire world.
Free Emirates of America
Emiratos Libres de América
الإمارات خالية من أمريكا
(Al'iimarat Khaliat min 'Amrika)
In an ATL where parts of southern Spain were still Muslim, Spain tried to deport Sunni heretics and force them into labor in the new world. This leads to a large influx of both Spanish and middle eastern colonists that end up spreading both Islam and Christianity into parts of California. (California, anyone?) Eventually, as other colonies in America start to revolt and become modern nations, the Andalusian colonists demand freedom and end up creating the Free Emirates with the capital in the city of New Cordoba (OTL Sacramento).
The flag itself features a somewhat corrupted version of Andalusia's flag except the white and green have been swapped and said white has been replaced with yellow, symbolizing the golden sunshine of America. The New Mexico cross is used in a different context here than in OTL: this cross does not necessarily represent New Mexico (although the FEA does own parts of it), it is a clever way of representing the cross of Christianity, which is the second most dominant religion compared to Islam in the FEA. The crescent moons hanging off the end of the cross symbolize both Christians and Muslims living in peace in one nation who are free to practice any religion they like without government oppression. The Green stripe in the center of the tricolor is also a nod to the green used in many Islamic nation's flags.
Emiratos Libres de América
الإمارات خالية من أمريكا
(Al'iimarat Khaliat min 'Amrika)
In an ATL where parts of southern Spain were still Muslim, Spain tried to deport Sunni heretics and force them into labor in the new world. This leads to a large influx of both Spanish and middle eastern colonists that end up spreading both Islam and Christianity into parts of California. (California, anyone?) Eventually, as other colonies in America start to revolt and become modern nations, the Andalusian colonists demand freedom and end up creating the Free Emirates with the capital in the city of New Cordoba (OTL Sacramento).
The flag itself features a somewhat corrupted version of Andalusia's flag except the white and green have been swapped and said white has been replaced with yellow, symbolizing the golden sunshine of America. The New Mexico cross is used in a different context here than in OTL: this cross does not necessarily represent New Mexico (although the FEA does own parts of it), it is a clever way of representing the cross of Christianity, which is the second most dominant religion compared to Islam in the FEA. The crescent moons hanging off the end of the cross symbolize both Christians and Muslims living in peace in one nation who are free to practice any religion they like without government oppression. The Green stripe in the center of the tricolor is also a nod to the green used in many Islamic nation's flags.
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Eh, here's a random thought I had when inspired by the phrase "flower flag country". Just what I could throw together in the free time I had today.
Peacetime Flag of the United States of America
"That former colony of ours... A Rose grown in her motherland's image. A pity that we all failed to notice the thorns growing beneath the budding petals."
Sitting astride the vast landscape of the North American continent, the insular monolith of the United States looms over the rest of the world, its roots burrowing into six continents. A disastrous rebellion for Great Britain resulted in the total loss of her North American colonies. However, the vast distances and the bickering politics threatened to rend the disparate states, for they had yet to find a common ground between them that was not represented by their former foe.
And yet, those quarreling states managed to survive. Their old notions of liberty began to thrall the public and, slowly but steadily, the golden bloom of justice began to shine. Decades of internal focus soon gave way to a crusade as they marched across the continent, only stopping when they reached their sea. A pause was given to tend to liberty's garden, but the machinations of those outside rose the nation's ire. A fence could guard the garden, but some are too long; the best borders are, indeed, that of the peaceful shores.
The rose, borrowed and modified from the old wars of rebellion, is the bloom that the nation cherishes the most: a golden, bright promise for the future and for the new dawn. The white background represents the tabula rasa that the country began its new course from, while the white center stigma and and seventeen anther represent those original colonies that created the new nation. The 72 black thorns represent one each of the sovereign states of the Union and are turned inward only in peace to show that the nation, while meaning no outward harm, will tolerate no meddling if an outsider reaches inside.
In war, the background is shifted to black to show no quarter will be given, and the thorns are colored red and turned outwards to show that no hostile aggression will be tolerated.
Peacetime Flag of the United States of America
"That former colony of ours... A Rose grown in her motherland's image. A pity that we all failed to notice the thorns growing beneath the budding petals."
Sitting astride the vast landscape of the North American continent, the insular monolith of the United States looms over the rest of the world, its roots burrowing into six continents. A disastrous rebellion for Great Britain resulted in the total loss of her North American colonies. However, the vast distances and the bickering politics threatened to rend the disparate states, for they had yet to find a common ground between them that was not represented by their former foe.
And yet, those quarreling states managed to survive. Their old notions of liberty began to thrall the public and, slowly but steadily, the golden bloom of justice began to shine. Decades of internal focus soon gave way to a crusade as they marched across the continent, only stopping when they reached their sea. A pause was given to tend to liberty's garden, but the machinations of those outside rose the nation's ire. A fence could guard the garden, but some are too long; the best borders are, indeed, that of the peaceful shores.
The rose, borrowed and modified from the old wars of rebellion, is the bloom that the nation cherishes the most: a golden, bright promise for the future and for the new dawn. The white background represents the tabula rasa that the country began its new course from, while the white center stigma and and seventeen anther represent those original colonies that created the new nation. The 72 black thorns represent one each of the sovereign states of the Union and are turned inward only in peace to show that the nation, while meaning no outward harm, will tolerate no meddling if an outsider reaches inside.
In war, the background is shifted to black to show no quarter will be given, and the thorns are colored red and turned outwards to show that no hostile aggression will be tolerated.
United American Republic
The UK under the House of Gloucester successfully establishes Dominions in America which use a Red Ensign featuring their symbol - New England (Green & White Rose), New Scotland (Golden Lion within Golden Double Tressure Flory), Gloriana (Golden Sun in Splendour).
In the early 1800s a republican rebellion breaks out in British America with the Rebels using half-ensigns as their flags. Eventually the northern dominions are released as independent republics.
New England spearheads a united America movement that results in the United American Republic.
The first UAR flag is red with, in the hoist half, a green 4pted star fimbriated in white between 4 golden 4pt stars representing the founding republics - New England, New France, New Ireland, & New Scotland.
With the expansion west and further federalisation this is replaced by a green fimbriated gold 4pt star between 4 green discs all upon a white disc surrounded by 12 golden points.
The UK under the House of Gloucester successfully establishes Dominions in America which use a Red Ensign featuring their symbol - New England (Green & White Rose), New Scotland (Golden Lion within Golden Double Tressure Flory), Gloriana (Golden Sun in Splendour).
In the early 1800s a republican rebellion breaks out in British America with the Rebels using half-ensigns as their flags. Eventually the northern dominions are released as independent republics.
New England spearheads a united America movement that results in the United American Republic.
The first UAR flag is red with, in the hoist half, a green 4pted star fimbriated in white between 4 golden 4pt stars representing the founding republics - New England, New France, New Ireland, & New Scotland.
With the expansion west and further federalisation this is replaced by a green fimbriated gold 4pt star between 4 green discs all upon a white disc surrounded by 12 golden points.
The Continental Union of Free Republics
Unión Continental de Repúblicas Libres
Aontas Mór-Roinn Poblachtaí na Saor
ᎠᎩᎡᏆᎦᏙᎯ ᏗᏌᏊᎤᎾᎵᎪᎯ ᎠᏎᏊᎢ ᎢᎩᎠᏰᎵᎤᏙᏢ
Most would say that the War of Continental Freedom (called the War of Continental Secession in Britannia) was inevitable, due to the distance, increasing political differences, and growing population disparity between the American Colonies and the British Isles. However, it can be safely said that the Irish Rebellion of 1721 accelerated the process by a good deal. Facing a large revolt of Irish Catholics over the excessive use of the Declaratory Act, the British government, while crushing the main rebel army, felt panicked after the brief Second Irish Invasion into Wales, which the rebels hoped would draw troops away from the Emerald Isle, a tactic that almost succeeded in the Williamite War a decades prior. Thus began the Emerald Exodus, in which Irishmen at all suspected of being "Traitors to the Crown" (and thus the vast majority of single Catholic males) was shipped off to the Colonies. Many landed in Maryland, known for a history of Catholic tolerance, but those who had actively served were often sent to the newly established penal colony of New Anglia, situated between Florida and Carolina. Combined with the nearly acquired colonies of Florida and Annesland (formerly Cuba) the British America was seemingly a powder keg of ethnic tension. Except, however, that much the opposite began to occur. A failed slave revolt and a terrible hurricane resulted in the dispersal of Spanish colonists throughout the British holdings, especially to the more industrialized North, where the damaged finances of Spanish landowners could be used to found and invest in a variety of businesses, and where stigma against the Spanish was far lessened due to a lack of contact during the war. In many cases, despite a language barrier, many Spaniards integrated themselves with relative ease into their new communities, and in places like Maryland they moved into areas near the recently arrived Irish, Catholicism providing a common bond, resulting in the Irish speaking well of the Spanish to the English, and vice versa. Perhaps one of the biggest impact of this influx of Catholics to British America was the development of Continental Deism. Catholics, disconnected from the Pope even normally in the Americas, were further so by living under an Anglican regime. Furthermore, the roughness of the American frontier and conversations with a variety of Deists and Enlightenment thinkers brought a sort of Lollardism to the mind of many Catholics, and over time this became Continental Deism, which contended that no central authority was needed to understand God, but that through education and science, one could come to understand the Universe as God made it, and thus have a deeper connection and deeper understanding with God. Disconnected Catholics and Anglicans alike began converting to the new belief, especially with unpopularity of King Robert II & IV, who, unlike his father William IV & III, both loathed nature and was deeply religious, creating ridiculous decrees, such as making friendly association with a Catholic a sinful act for an Anglican. In the British Isles, such acts were easily accepted, but in the colonies it was seen as ridiculous, and Anglicans enjoyed the idea of a Christian faith that had no head, be that the King or the Pope. Due to the rise in Continental Deism, Continental as an adjective surpassed American in the British Lexicon. Due to their isolation, many viewed the Colonies similarly to Europe, in which they were involved but ultimately detached and protected from, while in the colonies themselves, as the Spanish colonists often still referred to the land as Colombia or Nueva Espana, out of habit, having a neutral term became a common practice, especially as distinction between Continentals and Europeans became more obvious. Over time, the idea became that while they were English, Spanish, and Irish, they were Continental English, Spanish, and Irish, not European.
The first issue to truly generate independence, however, came with first the Fishermen's War in 1746, in which French and English fishermen near the mouth of the St. Lawrence river bickered over fishing rights, eventually resorting to mobilizing militias to attack each other's small settlements. The French already had little care for their colonies besides the fur trade, but the British colonists expected at least a small response from the government over the matter when word was sent to the proper authorities. Instead, British Regulars were told to remain where they were, allowing the militias to sort things out as the incident was a "Continental Affair". This story spread quickly, to no small amount of outrage as many colonists wondered what next issue would be ignored by the Crown. While rather hyperbolic, some wondered if native raids, border disputes, or even piracy would be tossed aside as a "Continental Affair". Of course, when the highly Euro-centric Robert involved the United Kingdom into war against the French alongside the Austrians, the inverse began to occur. As Robert led a delusion campaign to reclaim the sacred land of Normandy, in the colonies, opportunistic governors proposed attempts to seize French colonial holdings. This attempt failed, mostly due to a lack of cooperation between colonial militias and the British regulars, with the former having a better relationship with British-aligned natives, resulting in a lack of coordination on that front as well. When asked why the militias were only acting defensively and not offensively attacking the French, one notable response that was supposedly given was that the war was a "Non-Continental Affair". While the quote may only be part of legend and national myth, the fact remained that the campaign in the Americas failed to a large degree, with gains only being made south of the Ohio river to the Mississippi. Colonists, however, did die, especially as French-allied natives attacked frontier-towns, but when the war was over, while land was gained for the British Crown, punishment was demanded by Robert, and Parliament sought taxes to not only rebuild damaged territory, but to aid with administration of new territory. At the same time, after another scare of Irish rebellion via French-backed arms nearly making their way to Ireland during the war, the Catholic Investigation Act was passed, allowing the search and seizure of property possessed by Catholics suspected of treason. While in the Isles, this was used against actual Irish agitators, in the Americas, it was used by governors to seize the property of wealthy Spanish and Irish settlers. In Maryland and New Anglia, with a sizeable enfranchised Catholic population, their local legislatures began to oppose this, angering the King. With protests in Colonial ports growing, it was when Catholic and Protestant colonists alike dumped tea into the Chesapeake in the so-called Baltimore Tea Party, with one occurring in Savannah a month or so later, that drastic measures were taken. The charters of both Maryland and New Anglia were revoked, the areas handed over to the more conservative and Anglican governments in Delaware and South Carolina respectively. Unrest was common, and an organization known as the Scions of Liberty was growing everyday in the colonies, who viewed independence as more and more desirable.
However, the death of King Robert made many relax, hoping his son Malcolm I & V, who greatly disagreed with his father, would prove more reasonable. Unfortunately, the young monarch became sick and died mere months into his reign, and so the crown was passed to Robert's daughter Matilda, who had been the apple of his eye and perhaps even more radical than her father, using her youth, beauty, and connection with political elite to control Parliament via blackmail and intimidation. Crowned controversially as Queen Matilda II & I, she would be better known in history as Matilda the Mad. Continentals were thoroughly worried about how they may be treated, especially given the woman's reactionary view of the Enlightenment and absolutist leanings, which, while nearly impossible to truly implement in England, could be done in the colonies, giving the young Queen a playground to play tyrant in. And indeed, a year into her reign, as she undid none of her father's acts, in fact tightening trade in the colonies to be restricted purely to crown-approved monopolies and companies, protests and even riots broke out in the colonies. More than a few became violent, and when three soldiers were killed by a mob in Virginia, Matilda struck. She declared martial law on all of the north American colonies, even in Rhode Island, where only one peaceful protest had been held before her reign. Justifying that the colonies required a harsh hand to uproot the groups agitating them, she indeed became an almost absolute monarch over the continent, placing her friends and allies as governors and declaring the local legislatures to be unlawful gatherings of sedition. And so, in 1789, a meeting of intellectuals from every colony was gathered in secret. Among them were Englishmen, Spaniards, Irishmen, Germans from Annesland, and several Cherokee and Iroquois ambassadors, who had faced increased removal from trade since Robert took the throne in 1744. The vast majority of its membership were a part of the Scions of Liberty. In the cellar beneath the Red Lion Pub in Belhaven, Virginia, the First Continental Congress gathered and drafted a document known as the Declaration of Sovereignty, supposed written by a "Continental Union of Free Republics established from formerly British Colonies", which listed numerous abuses of the Crown before declaring that henceforth, the nation was free. Perhaps the most famous line is in reference to the Catholic Investigations Act: "We have watched as friends and neighbors were treated as criminals, their livelihoods given to criminals, before were locked away and branded criminals. But let it be known that this land shall always and forever be a land of the free, where no voice can be silence, and where all stand as equals."
Sending the document out to a variety of sources, it is said Matilda the Mad went on a tirade before declaring a total hunt against the Scions of Liberty, and all signers of the Declaration. Prepared for such an event, colonists in Virginia used hidden caches of weaponry, outlawed under martial law, to fire upon British regulars that had come to seize a Mr. Thomas Jefferson. The Battle of Monticello was the first of many as the so called Continental Union began its fight for freedom. The war would be long, lasting until 1798 when the Danubian Revolution saw a disruption of European affairs. With most troops driven out, a treaty was signed with the United Kingdom on September 8th, 1798, ending the war. Ironically, the fight to keep the Americas had cost so much and brought so many radical thoughts to the forefront of British consciousness, that it would only be a few short years later when the British Revolution saw Parliament burned and Queen Matilda drawn and quartered. But that is a different story.
The Continental Union is a nation formed in the chaos of war. It's government shows this, being a hodge-podge of a variety of compromises made with the belief that a better system would be made later. However, Continental culture and several admendments to the written Consitution have made the original government last into the modern age. It is led by an Executive Triumvirate of the legislatively-elected Presiding Officer of Congress, directly-elected Popular Consul, and the militarily-promoted and Congress-approved Commander-in-Chief; even the Congress itself is seemingly a mess, being unicameral with a states receiving a base two votes (and thus representative), and gaining one more for every 100,000 people; this strangeness extends too to the judiciary, in which the High Court has a single legistlatively-elected judge per state, and containing the power to review and strike down laws for based on their Constitutionality.
The flag of the CUFR (commonly the CU or even Continentia) came in a similarly chaotic fashion. Initially, people began to cover the Cross of St. George on the British flag as a protest to the Monarchy, and when the war began this became a standard, though soon enough the blue was changed to red both to distance from Scotland (the Queen's other domain) and to symbolize the blood of Continentals being spilled. At the same time, many armies had begun using a golden flag with a rattlesnake on it; this Rattler Flag was a common symbol of CU, still existing as the flag of the Army, and with the rattlesnake being the national animal (the respected Jefferson loving the symbolism of a creature that rattled and warned its enemies, and struck only when left no choice). Ultimately, however, numerous golden flags became used, and soon was associated with the revolution equally as much as the "Red Jack" (as the defaced Union Flag was often called). Looking to gain greater credibility, the Continental Congress of 1794 standardized the flag of the nation, putting the Red Jack in the canton of a gold banner, creating the "Golden Ensign". This design was to be edited with the inclusion of 13 stars for the 13 original rebelling colonies, but following the fusing of New Anglia and South Carolina into Robertia and Maryland and Delaware into Chesapeake, an action that was undone post-war, the number of stars became hotly debated and thus the fly was left undefaced.
Unión Continental de Repúblicas Libres
Aontas Mór-Roinn Poblachtaí na Saor
ᎠᎩᎡᏆᎦᏙᎯ ᏗᏌᏊᎤᎾᎵᎪᎯ ᎠᏎᏊᎢ ᎢᎩᎠᏰᎵᎤᏙᏢ
Most would say that the War of Continental Freedom (called the War of Continental Secession in Britannia) was inevitable, due to the distance, increasing political differences, and growing population disparity between the American Colonies and the British Isles. However, it can be safely said that the Irish Rebellion of 1721 accelerated the process by a good deal. Facing a large revolt of Irish Catholics over the excessive use of the Declaratory Act, the British government, while crushing the main rebel army, felt panicked after the brief Second Irish Invasion into Wales, which the rebels hoped would draw troops away from the Emerald Isle, a tactic that almost succeeded in the Williamite War a decades prior. Thus began the Emerald Exodus, in which Irishmen at all suspected of being "Traitors to the Crown" (and thus the vast majority of single Catholic males) was shipped off to the Colonies. Many landed in Maryland, known for a history of Catholic tolerance, but those who had actively served were often sent to the newly established penal colony of New Anglia, situated between Florida and Carolina. Combined with the nearly acquired colonies of Florida and Annesland (formerly Cuba) the British America was seemingly a powder keg of ethnic tension. Except, however, that much the opposite began to occur. A failed slave revolt and a terrible hurricane resulted in the dispersal of Spanish colonists throughout the British holdings, especially to the more industrialized North, where the damaged finances of Spanish landowners could be used to found and invest in a variety of businesses, and where stigma against the Spanish was far lessened due to a lack of contact during the war. In many cases, despite a language barrier, many Spaniards integrated themselves with relative ease into their new communities, and in places like Maryland they moved into areas near the recently arrived Irish, Catholicism providing a common bond, resulting in the Irish speaking well of the Spanish to the English, and vice versa. Perhaps one of the biggest impact of this influx of Catholics to British America was the development of Continental Deism. Catholics, disconnected from the Pope even normally in the Americas, were further so by living under an Anglican regime. Furthermore, the roughness of the American frontier and conversations with a variety of Deists and Enlightenment thinkers brought a sort of Lollardism to the mind of many Catholics, and over time this became Continental Deism, which contended that no central authority was needed to understand God, but that through education and science, one could come to understand the Universe as God made it, and thus have a deeper connection and deeper understanding with God. Disconnected Catholics and Anglicans alike began converting to the new belief, especially with unpopularity of King Robert II & IV, who, unlike his father William IV & III, both loathed nature and was deeply religious, creating ridiculous decrees, such as making friendly association with a Catholic a sinful act for an Anglican. In the British Isles, such acts were easily accepted, but in the colonies it was seen as ridiculous, and Anglicans enjoyed the idea of a Christian faith that had no head, be that the King or the Pope. Due to the rise in Continental Deism, Continental as an adjective surpassed American in the British Lexicon. Due to their isolation, many viewed the Colonies similarly to Europe, in which they were involved but ultimately detached and protected from, while in the colonies themselves, as the Spanish colonists often still referred to the land as Colombia or Nueva Espana, out of habit, having a neutral term became a common practice, especially as distinction between Continentals and Europeans became more obvious. Over time, the idea became that while they were English, Spanish, and Irish, they were Continental English, Spanish, and Irish, not European.
The first issue to truly generate independence, however, came with first the Fishermen's War in 1746, in which French and English fishermen near the mouth of the St. Lawrence river bickered over fishing rights, eventually resorting to mobilizing militias to attack each other's small settlements. The French already had little care for their colonies besides the fur trade, but the British colonists expected at least a small response from the government over the matter when word was sent to the proper authorities. Instead, British Regulars were told to remain where they were, allowing the militias to sort things out as the incident was a "Continental Affair". This story spread quickly, to no small amount of outrage as many colonists wondered what next issue would be ignored by the Crown. While rather hyperbolic, some wondered if native raids, border disputes, or even piracy would be tossed aside as a "Continental Affair". Of course, when the highly Euro-centric Robert involved the United Kingdom into war against the French alongside the Austrians, the inverse began to occur. As Robert led a delusion campaign to reclaim the sacred land of Normandy, in the colonies, opportunistic governors proposed attempts to seize French colonial holdings. This attempt failed, mostly due to a lack of cooperation between colonial militias and the British regulars, with the former having a better relationship with British-aligned natives, resulting in a lack of coordination on that front as well. When asked why the militias were only acting defensively and not offensively attacking the French, one notable response that was supposedly given was that the war was a "Non-Continental Affair". While the quote may only be part of legend and national myth, the fact remained that the campaign in the Americas failed to a large degree, with gains only being made south of the Ohio river to the Mississippi. Colonists, however, did die, especially as French-allied natives attacked frontier-towns, but when the war was over, while land was gained for the British Crown, punishment was demanded by Robert, and Parliament sought taxes to not only rebuild damaged territory, but to aid with administration of new territory. At the same time, after another scare of Irish rebellion via French-backed arms nearly making their way to Ireland during the war, the Catholic Investigation Act was passed, allowing the search and seizure of property possessed by Catholics suspected of treason. While in the Isles, this was used against actual Irish agitators, in the Americas, it was used by governors to seize the property of wealthy Spanish and Irish settlers. In Maryland and New Anglia, with a sizeable enfranchised Catholic population, their local legislatures began to oppose this, angering the King. With protests in Colonial ports growing, it was when Catholic and Protestant colonists alike dumped tea into the Chesapeake in the so-called Baltimore Tea Party, with one occurring in Savannah a month or so later, that drastic measures were taken. The charters of both Maryland and New Anglia were revoked, the areas handed over to the more conservative and Anglican governments in Delaware and South Carolina respectively. Unrest was common, and an organization known as the Scions of Liberty was growing everyday in the colonies, who viewed independence as more and more desirable.
However, the death of King Robert made many relax, hoping his son Malcolm I & V, who greatly disagreed with his father, would prove more reasonable. Unfortunately, the young monarch became sick and died mere months into his reign, and so the crown was passed to Robert's daughter Matilda, who had been the apple of his eye and perhaps even more radical than her father, using her youth, beauty, and connection with political elite to control Parliament via blackmail and intimidation. Crowned controversially as Queen Matilda II & I, she would be better known in history as Matilda the Mad. Continentals were thoroughly worried about how they may be treated, especially given the woman's reactionary view of the Enlightenment and absolutist leanings, which, while nearly impossible to truly implement in England, could be done in the colonies, giving the young Queen a playground to play tyrant in. And indeed, a year into her reign, as she undid none of her father's acts, in fact tightening trade in the colonies to be restricted purely to crown-approved monopolies and companies, protests and even riots broke out in the colonies. More than a few became violent, and when three soldiers were killed by a mob in Virginia, Matilda struck. She declared martial law on all of the north American colonies, even in Rhode Island, where only one peaceful protest had been held before her reign. Justifying that the colonies required a harsh hand to uproot the groups agitating them, she indeed became an almost absolute monarch over the continent, placing her friends and allies as governors and declaring the local legislatures to be unlawful gatherings of sedition. And so, in 1789, a meeting of intellectuals from every colony was gathered in secret. Among them were Englishmen, Spaniards, Irishmen, Germans from Annesland, and several Cherokee and Iroquois ambassadors, who had faced increased removal from trade since Robert took the throne in 1744. The vast majority of its membership were a part of the Scions of Liberty. In the cellar beneath the Red Lion Pub in Belhaven, Virginia, the First Continental Congress gathered and drafted a document known as the Declaration of Sovereignty, supposed written by a "Continental Union of Free Republics established from formerly British Colonies", which listed numerous abuses of the Crown before declaring that henceforth, the nation was free. Perhaps the most famous line is in reference to the Catholic Investigations Act: "We have watched as friends and neighbors were treated as criminals, their livelihoods given to criminals, before were locked away and branded criminals. But let it be known that this land shall always and forever be a land of the free, where no voice can be silence, and where all stand as equals."
Sending the document out to a variety of sources, it is said Matilda the Mad went on a tirade before declaring a total hunt against the Scions of Liberty, and all signers of the Declaration. Prepared for such an event, colonists in Virginia used hidden caches of weaponry, outlawed under martial law, to fire upon British regulars that had come to seize a Mr. Thomas Jefferson. The Battle of Monticello was the first of many as the so called Continental Union began its fight for freedom. The war would be long, lasting until 1798 when the Danubian Revolution saw a disruption of European affairs. With most troops driven out, a treaty was signed with the United Kingdom on September 8th, 1798, ending the war. Ironically, the fight to keep the Americas had cost so much and brought so many radical thoughts to the forefront of British consciousness, that it would only be a few short years later when the British Revolution saw Parliament burned and Queen Matilda drawn and quartered. But that is a different story.
The Continental Union is a nation formed in the chaos of war. It's government shows this, being a hodge-podge of a variety of compromises made with the belief that a better system would be made later. However, Continental culture and several admendments to the written Consitution have made the original government last into the modern age. It is led by an Executive Triumvirate of the legislatively-elected Presiding Officer of Congress, directly-elected Popular Consul, and the militarily-promoted and Congress-approved Commander-in-Chief; even the Congress itself is seemingly a mess, being unicameral with a states receiving a base two votes (and thus representative), and gaining one more for every 100,000 people; this strangeness extends too to the judiciary, in which the High Court has a single legistlatively-elected judge per state, and containing the power to review and strike down laws for based on their Constitutionality.
The flag of the CUFR (commonly the CU or even Continentia) came in a similarly chaotic fashion. Initially, people began to cover the Cross of St. George on the British flag as a protest to the Monarchy, and when the war began this became a standard, though soon enough the blue was changed to red both to distance from Scotland (the Queen's other domain) and to symbolize the blood of Continentals being spilled. At the same time, many armies had begun using a golden flag with a rattlesnake on it; this Rattler Flag was a common symbol of CU, still existing as the flag of the Army, and with the rattlesnake being the national animal (the respected Jefferson loving the symbolism of a creature that rattled and warned its enemies, and struck only when left no choice). Ultimately, however, numerous golden flags became used, and soon was associated with the revolution equally as much as the "Red Jack" (as the defaced Union Flag was often called). Looking to gain greater credibility, the Continental Congress of 1794 standardized the flag of the nation, putting the Red Jack in the canton of a gold banner, creating the "Golden Ensign". This design was to be edited with the inclusion of 13 stars for the 13 original rebelling colonies, but following the fusing of New Anglia and South Carolina into Robertia and Maryland and Delaware into Chesapeake, an action that was undone post-war, the number of stars became hotly debated and thus the fly was left undefaced.
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The challenge text kind of specifically said that the flag shouldn't feature any stars. I'll allow The Professor's entry because it's only a single four-pointed star, but Xanthoc's entry needs to change to fit the challenge specifications.
Ah, sorry, I interpreted it to be like the colors in that we couldn't use them together. I suppose using the Forster Flag blocks to create the illusion of symbolic stripes is also a no go as well?
Flag of the United States (The Moon and Sash)
One of the most famous and enduring stories of the American Revolutionary War was the defense of Sullivan's Island by Colonel William Moultrie and the first commission of a flag that was to become the flag of the United States.
The original flag featured a dark blue field and a white crescent moon with the word LIBERTY. However, the flag instantly became very popular as a battle flag among several revolutionary groups, overcoming other designs such as the rather crude Gadsden flag and slightly busy Continental Colors. This meant that slightly different designs of the flag also proliferated. One of such was the flag adopted by Dutch revolutionaries of New York, who added an orange diagonal band, as their own national color.
And thus, when the Second Continental Congress was debating the Flag Resolution, the Liberty flag became a clear favorite based on popularity alone. As a compromise between the Northern and Southern states, the orange-band version was chosen in the end, as it symbolized the combined designs of South Carolina and New York. The Resolution added some small tweaks, such as removing the word LIBERTY for the sake of clarity and adding a white fimbriation to the orange band, to make it in line with heraldic rules.
The flag has remained extremely popular for almost 250 years and has inspired enduring nicknames such as The Moon and Sash and The Liberty.
One of the most famous and enduring stories of the American Revolutionary War was the defense of Sullivan's Island by Colonel William Moultrie and the first commission of a flag that was to become the flag of the United States.
The original flag featured a dark blue field and a white crescent moon with the word LIBERTY. However, the flag instantly became very popular as a battle flag among several revolutionary groups, overcoming other designs such as the rather crude Gadsden flag and slightly busy Continental Colors. This meant that slightly different designs of the flag also proliferated. One of such was the flag adopted by Dutch revolutionaries of New York, who added an orange diagonal band, as their own national color.
And thus, when the Second Continental Congress was debating the Flag Resolution, the Liberty flag became a clear favorite based on popularity alone. As a compromise between the Northern and Southern states, the orange-band version was chosen in the end, as it symbolized the combined designs of South Carolina and New York. The Resolution added some small tweaks, such as removing the word LIBERTY for the sake of clarity and adding a white fimbriation to the orange band, to make it in line with heraldic rules.
The flag has remained extremely popular for almost 250 years and has inspired enduring nicknames such as The Moon and Sash and The Liberty.
The Forster Flag blocks are blocks, so I think those are fine. Just make sure that they aren't used in a way that makes the flag too similar to the Stars and Stripes.