Weekly Flag Challenge: Discussion & Entries

The Professor

The Professor

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

Kingdom or Viceroyalty of Vinland

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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!
 
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FlyingParafin

FlyingParafin

I have to hand it to you, this challenge is pretty tough without going ASB on it: you have to imagine a plausible way for old world civilizations to reach America during pre-columbian times.

Aleut-Manchu Khanate

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The Aleut-Manchu Khanate is an state in an ATL where The Manchu never try to take over China and instead turn their attention to Siberia. This version of Manchuria would be neighbors with Japan to the east, Korea to the south, China to the South west, and Russia and Mongolia further west. In this timeline, however, Russia only holds everything west of the Ural mountains, meaning that it is much smaller than in OTL.

After the Manchu empire expands to the north-east, they quickly noticed that sailing further east from Kamchatka (or simply traveling across the frozen ice sheets by foot or cavalry) landed them in the Aleutian Islands in modern day Alaska. Seeing as none of their neighbors (or indeed the western world, seeing as this would be before the 1490's) have said anything about this new world, they quickly decide that settling a few villages and towns over there would give them borders that stretched further than anyone else at that time (not to mention give them prime opportunities for trading/profiting from fur and other resources).

"Not much is known about the founders of the old Khanate, but they are believed to be a mixture of both native peoples living there at the time and outcasts of the Manchu society. These outcasts could have included criminals, heretics, heathens or just simply those who were feeling dejected and ended up looking for a better life elsewhere. The settlers not only brought their belongings and families with them, but also their religion, language and culture. It wouldn't be long before the Aleut natives and Manchu settlers would assimilate together to form their own culture altogether.

-Quote taken from a local historian from Alaska in modern day. (Translated from Alaskan, the language that would evolve from mixtures of spoken Manchu and various native languages.)
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"Eventually, the Khanate would modernise along with the Manchu empire. The empire would see a series of reforms and revolutions inspired by those in the west. In the end, the empire became a constitutional monarchy. In fact, the modern royal family of Manchuria is descended from the same Khans that ruled the country hundreds upon hundreds of years ago! Even though our country managed to hold on to Siberia, the Khanate, too, grew in size and eventually spanned all of Alaska. Alaskan independence was inevitable, so unlike the bloody and brutal wars for Independence we saw with most of the European colonies, Alaska was a free nation with the stroke of a pen. The Aleut-Manchu Khanate would be a thing of the past and the Alaskan Federation was born, free from the Kingdom of Manchuria."

-Quote from Manchurian documentary "The Birth of Alaska and The Death of Imperialism."
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"The banner of the old Khanate went through many design changes before settling on the flag we have today. The first banner (and the oldest) was used for the longest amount of time since it's design was first conceived.
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The green and white represented the forests and snow of the Alaskan mountains, which stretched on forever in the eyes of the settlers.

The traditional Manchurian script to the left is simply the name of the realm: "Aleut-Manchu Khanate" in modern Alaskan. Most Manchurians don't write like this anymore, but this style of writing would live on in Alaskan serif writing (like the kind you get in city centers next to old shops and sometimes in formal letters and documents.)
The symbol of Tengriisim is present on the flag along with the ying-yang of old folk religions in the far east, abeit stylised and somewhat corrupted by the Alaskan natives and pioneers. This came from the syncretism that resulted from manchurian culture mixing with that of the aleutans when the empire arrived.

Ribbons dangling off the side of the flag, like the ones on the right, are quite common with old flags like this, so it's no surprise that there's some here on this variation of the banner that was recovered by historians."

-Excerpt taken from an Alaskan history textbook on the origins of modern Alaska.
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On a side note, I've seen this style of entry a lot as of late and I tried it out. Man, that's a lot of writing!
 
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da Racontor

da Racontor

New Ireland
Éire Nua
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After St. Brendan returned from his Island a wave of monks began to lead new expeditions a crossed the ocean to spread God's word to these new lands. It was not long before new continent was found. Conversion was slow, but the monks were very persistent, they founded several small kingdoms a long the coast out of which they could continue to proselytized the native. New Ireland was one of the most successful of these small kingdoms.
 
Mirror

Mirror

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Gold Islands (hrṣ ʾyt)
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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.
 

gruff.jones

Ynysoedd Afallon
The Isles of Avalon
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On the death of the king in December 1169, the brothers nine brothers of Owain ap Gruffudd fought amongst themselves for the right to rule Gwynedd. Madog, although brave and adventurous, was also a man of peace. In 1170 he and his brother, Riryd, sailed from Aber-Kerrik-Gwynan on the North Wales Coast (now Rhos-on-Sea) in two ships, the Gorn Gwynant and the Pedr Sant in an attempt to find the burial site of the famous King Arthur. The young Prince thought that finding the legendary sword Caladflwch (Excalibur) he would cement his place as King of Gwynedd.

After months of sailing the now small fleet landed on the East Coast of America. Here the Prince found apple trees, a sure sign that this was Avalon though no fair maids of legend could be seen. Madoc proclaimed himself King of Afallon and over the native tribes who he believed were fairies. News soon reached Gwynedd of the (previously presumed dead) Princes adventure and colonisation soon began.

The flag of Afallon draws inspiration from Madoc's heritage. He took the eagles of his father's coat of arms but changed the colours to those of the eagles he saw that inhabited his new Kingdom. The waves represent the sea he crossed to reach the fabled land and the sun taken from the banner of Merionethshire.

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Xanthoc

Xanthoc

New Aventine Republic
Senatus Populusque Nova Aventinus

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"The discovery of Senicommia and Tupia[1] in 1038 caused major changes in the world. Suddenly, the Roman Empire had a whole new world to explore and conquer. The Tetrarchy was unsure how to proceed, as they certainly knew that such a place would open many opportunities for whoever held it, and ownership of what they believed was a small continent would mean quick trade with the Far East, a feat that required either circumventing Magna Africa or braving the yet unconquered hordes of nomadic raiders that dotted the steps. Or they could trade with Arasharian[2] merchants, who, acting as middlemen, sold even ordinary goods for ludicrous prices. Furthermore, the Caesarii were more than happy to push the boundaries of Rome, now solidified for centuries, even further, as they naturally would be granted dominion over such lands. More specifically, Iulius Callus Germanicus was certain that these new western lands would go to him, the Caesar Occidentalis, who had grown quite sick of ruling only Britannia and Hibernia, while Lucius Veris Argentis, the Caesar Orientalis, was certain that an influx of resources from controlling such lands would mean the strength to invade and conquer the steppes or even Aransharia. Both Augustii in Rome[3], however, looked beyond personal politics, and instead to those of the imperium itself. Since the Chemical Revolution of two centuries prior, knowledge had been growing, and with it, medicine. Early antibiotics were coming into play, and new surgical tools and techniques meant that more and more injuries were survivable. All of that meant that populations were rising, and with them tensions. While the most infamous of these groups is the Gracchi Movement, numerous other dissidents, minority faiths, and political rivals soon found themselves travelling to the newest lands of the eternal Roman Empire, voluntarily or not..."

- The Settling of the West, Cassius Sulla Lucius Argentius, 1706 PB[4]

"Now, plenty of us would state that sending a bunch of radicals, minorities, and rebels to all meet and fornicate together is probably not the best idea. But then, we men of the present have the glorious gift of hindsight, while the men of the past do not. Still, some would argue that the plan of the tetrarchy was to create a foreign state where their enemies would bicker and backstab themselves into pacification, eventually forming the backbone of a new Roman civilization. But in reality it was just a matter of who they felt they could punish, using the foreign climates, natives, and lack of amenities as a threat to any who would make themselves a foe of the leadership. From this, perhaps, comes the Aventine belief in equality. From Nazarenes[5] to Druids, from Alans to Nordens, from patrician to plebeian, anyone could be sent off for their crimes, and a great many simply chose to seek adventure, freedom, and wealth in the growing settlements that dotted the eastern coast of Senicommia. All arrived to found an unforgiving land, all had to work and earn their keep, had to use their skills for the good of the colony. It was common at the time to say that Senicommia was the Godless Land. But it was also the Rulerless Land. Even those in administration, the quaestors and aediles, who would eventually become elected magistrum due to the simple amount of appointed officials that died not long after arrival, were seen as simply members of the colony with the specific task of governing. Smiths, soldiers, butchers, hunters, and even prostitutes were seen with the same amount of respect (in some townships the latter most had even more), providing a service that was necessary for the sanity and safety of the colony."

- A Whole New World, Marcus Bulibus, 1689 PB

"We are ruled by men who sit upon thrones an ocean away. We are restricted in our speech by the same, despite that we now live in safety. We are denied citizenship, despite generations of loyalty and service to Roma. We are forced to watch our churches burn regardless of the papers proclaiming our right to believe as we wish. We are made to give tax and grain due to laws made by men who have never seen our land, never seen how much we need or how much we have. We are made to march to war against those with which we are friends. We are without voice, without advocate, and often without even consideration by the Senators and Imperators alike. And no, we are choosing to leave such oppression, and we will do so peacefully and with the possibility of friendship if we are allowed. But if our former rulers would attempt to hold us, to hold tight to the serpent of Nova Aventinia, despite that we now rattle our tail in warning, they will find us not only slipping through their grip, but sinking our fangs into their hands."

- Declaration and Warning of Autonomy and Sovereignty, 1351 PB

"...The eagle with it wings stretch heavensward, encircled by a triumphant wreath, clutching Jupiter's lightning, SPQR written beneath, all on a red field is in the modern age a well known symbol. But the concept of a national vexillum, however, is actually an Arasharian idea, with their square banners that fly horizontally off a pole first being held by rebellions against the ruling Kurashinid family. In the imperium, vexillum were more decorative or for military use, and even then it was the standard's physical holding, the aquila, that was considered more important, though today they are held together. Looking to the Arasharians, who used a singular cloth to act as a rallying point for their fracturing nation, the Romans did similarly in the Second Great Civil War, crafting the well known symbol of today from motifs of the military..."

- A History of Flags Around the World, Tiberius Nerva, 1709 PB

"The national vexillum of the New Aventine Republic was meant to be a sort of spit in the face to the government in Rome. Drawing from their name, and aware of the Aventine Hill's history, and not just with plebeian uprisings, their banner has six birds prominently displayed, a reference to those seen by the augurs of Remus. Romulus, of course, saw twelve birds later, but though the concept of "later and greater" might have been more applicable, Romulus was the founder of Rome, and so using Remus' number along with the name of his hill that the Romans had granted to them, served their propaganda better. SPQNA, the initials of the state, were then put above the central symbol, rather than below as it is on the Roman national vexillum, to symbolize that this new republic would put its people and their liberty above its own glory and power. There is also the predominant color, black. Given that purely white fabrics were not only expensive, but would easily become dirty, black and brown were more utilitarian colors for the toga and tunics of the colonies. With the careful breeding of ovis niger by colonial merchants for such purposes (as dyes were kept expensive to make colors more restricted to the upper echelons of Rome), such fabrics became standard, and small flairs of color were worn by colonial elite (as few as their were) but black still being predominant. From here we see black become the color of colonists, and once this idea crept back to Europa, the color of the plebeians. Making a vexillum of this color not only shows the nation's loyalty solely to its colonial population, but also to the idea resisting oppression from upper classes...

"...The rattling serpent became a popular animal associated with Senicommia, and later New Aventinia. It was then an easy animal for the young republic to choose as its identifier, and so had the eagles of their aquila removed and replaced with replications of the famed creature, hence why New Aventine standardbearers are called anguis, and not aquila."

- An Encyclopedia of Culture, Chuang Yue, 1707 PB

[1] - North and South America, respectively, named for the first tribes the Romans encountered
[2] - Iran/Persia
[3] - The idea of abandoning Rome was quickly done away with, but both Augustii still administer separate halves of the Empire, a vertical line through Rome acting as the divider, known as the acies terra separator.
[4] - PB means Post Bellum, which is the end of the Great Civil War, which ends in AD 308.
 
The Professor

The Professor

For completeness my and Mirror's challenge:
The Professor said:
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
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Kaiser_Jaeger

Kaiser_Jaeger

Kaggaz Horde of the Crimson Hills
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Through ashes, we rise - Zugarod the Burned

The Kaggaz Horde has haunted the Crimson Hills since their first chieftain Zugarod the Burned united the scattered tribes under his banner. All who opposed him were slain and forgotten. Those who joined him were granted power. This power came from a crystal. A crystal deep inside a cavern. After each conquest Zugarod and his lieutenants would make offerings of flesh to this crystal. Mostly, these scarifies were prisoners who opposed the growing Horde. When they had no prisoners, they would draw their own blood. With each drop that struck the crystal, those in its presence would grow stronger and gain power. This power granted them the ability to control fire. Only Zugarod and his most trusted men were granted this power. During one such ritual, before the conquest had fully commenced, one of Zugarod's men named Nugbo tried to betray him. He struck at Zugarod with flame and sword. Zugarod's power was superior to this measly traitor, but, he had been caught by surprise. The heat from the flames turned his skin the color of coal and his eyes the color of the flames he wielded. Enraged, Zugarod slowly rent Nugbo limb from limb. Zugarod emerged from the cave changed. His new appearance struck fear into the hearts of those that opposed him.

After 3 short years of war, the whole of the Crimson Hills were united under the banner of the Kaggaz[1] Horde. Named for the fire that they controlled. With his newly founded nation, he commissioned a new flag for the burgeoning nation. This new flag depicted the snow capped hills colored red by large iron deposits at the base. They gray field symbolizes the smoke that hung over the mountains during Zugarod's conquests. The figures in the canton stand for Mountain Home.

[1]Kaggaz means fire in orcish
 
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