And at the end of our deliberations, we declare @Transparent Blue to be the winner!
Well done! Speech! Speech!
The next challenge is up to Transparent Blue.
Well done! Speech! Speech!
The next challenge is up to Transparent Blue.
Weekly Flag Challenge: Discussion & Entries
- Thread starter Transparent Blue
- Start date
FLAG CHALLENGE #251: Look on my works, ye mighty
Design a flag for a successor state after the collapse of a current nation.
Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: Saturday 10 July, 19:00 GMT
Please remember to review the RULES, especially concerning flag size. This is NOT a multi-flag entry. Your redesign will follow the normal size rules: For an image in a single-flag entry, the shortest side must be 600 pixels or less, and the longest side must be 1200 pixels or less.
Design a flag for a successor state after the collapse of a current nation.
Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: Saturday 10 July, 19:00 GMT
Please remember to review the RULES, especially concerning flag size. This is NOT a multi-flag entry. Your redesign will follow the normal size rules: For an image in a single-flag entry, the shortest side must be 600 pixels or less, and the longest side must be 1200 pixels or less.
Of the various splinter states to emerge from the sideshows of the Second Russian Civil War, few had captured the imagination than the 'Ruby of the Pamirs'. Dubbed the 'new Alamut State' by overenthusiastic journalists, the Principality of Badakhshan was, until recently, one of many unrecognized separatist entities vying for control against the established state governments of the former Soviet republics. For Lali Badakhshan (translated as Rubies of Badakhshan), separation from the pro-Russian Tajik republic was not just a matter of self-determination, but the survival of the Pamiri community as a whole. Fighting alongside a coalition of opposition groups ranging from liberal democrats to Islamists, the future of the Pamiri independence movement hung in the balance as Red Army remnants reinforced the pro-Russian regime of Rahmon Nabiyev. To that end, they appealed to the one man they believed had the power to help, the fourth Aga Khan.
However, for the spiritual leader of the Nizari Ismaili Shi'ites, supporting the Pamiris was hardly that simple. Having held no political power since the time of his great-grandfather and his ancestors, any attempt to lend his voice to the Pamiris' bid for independence, much less an attempt to organize military assistance, was deemed be a step too far. The ramifications of becoming a virtual warlord were too grave. But as Leninabad loyalists began advancing into Gorno-Badakhshan and enacting widespread massacres against the Pamiris, the Aga Khan's hesitation proved too much for his eldest son, Rahim, to take. On May 1992, he disappeared from his American school in Andover, Massachusetts, as a mysterious sage emerged months later among the Pamiris in their darkest hour. Known only as the Old Man of the Mountain, he quickly reorganized Pamiri resistance with the help of Ahmad Shah Massoud's mujahideen. Drawing inspiration from the infamous Hashashin Order, Pamiri resistance was radically transformed into a dangerous spy network, supplying the mujahideen and friendly Western intelligence agencies with vital information on pro-Russian loyalists and other threats in the region. Decapitating the local Red Army and pro-Russian leadership with startling efficiency, foreign news agencies were quickly awash with sensationalist articles on their successes and mythos. Such was the infamy of the new Hashashin that the Taliban warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was reportedly personally intimidated by an agent for his attempt on Massoud's life. Slowly, as intense fighting in mainland Russia drew to a close, the so-called Assassins made their final move, expelling the Russians and Tajik regime from Gorno-Badakhshan in late 1997. It had taken five agonizing years, at the cost of tens of thousands of dead and forced out, but the total collapse of the Tajik republic and the post-war Treaty of Moscow had rewarded the Pamiris with their long-sought freedom, raising the Ruby Banner on their new national capital of Khorugh for the first time in December 1997.
As for the Aga Khan, many had expected the Pamiris to feel betrayed for his inaction. Despite the Aga Khan's efforts to assist refugees trapped in Pakistan, he had not once lent his support to their independence movement, though he had refrained from opposing it either. Thus, when the Aga Khan was offered the position of Princely Head of State by the newly convened government, many observers expressed surprise. But Pamiris had a ready answer, pointing to the worn, battle-hardened leader of the reborn Hashashin that had fought for them for so long.
'He sent his son' was their answer, as Rahim Aga Khan emerged from his mountain stronghold, his youth drained by years of fighting, replaced by the wizened gaze of the Old Man of the Mountain.
___________________________________________________
True to its name, the Ruby Banner is emblematic of the Nizari Shiite faith that dominates the Pamiri people. Defacing the green and red banner of Nizari Ismailis, the Rub-el-Hizb is stylized in the form of a gem, a homage to the writings of the Sufi pirs that brought the faith to the Pamir mountains so long ago. While many felt the overt religious imagery might be indicative of far darker intentions for the sizeable Sunni population in Badakhshan, the Aga Khan had nonetheless attempted to assuage such worries.
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Okay, finally had time to enter one of these for the first time in a long time.
Pacific Coast Union
When the second American Civil war erupted in 2017 it not only engulfed the United States, but hidden players influenced disaster in other nations. As the mid-western states had violent insurrections occur, similar actions were taken place in Canada.
While the eastern and western coastal states in the US were able to hold the union together the mid-west insurrectionists and militias had help in gaining access US nuclear arms. Unfortunately, many of the militias and insurrection organizations believed any screwball idea floating on the internet about the federal government. As tensions mounted one militia in Minnesota detonated a nuclear device in New Orleans, LA after rumors that the US Navy was setting up a staging ground to retake the mid-west.
This pushed the US military to demand the president push for immediate action into the central US. The president balked on commanding any action, and the VP, with much Congressional backing removed the president from office. This would incite many of the militias to further action. Cities and town that were held, however nominally, by federal, state, and local forces were suddenly under heavy combat situations fighting the militias. Liberal militias would form to fight back to protect the towns and cities.
As the US Army was building up a push from Ohio, another militia detonated a nuclear weapon near Chicago. If the military wasn’t already foaming at the mouth to fight the militias, they were raging mad now. Once unleashed, the US Army quickly moved into the upper mid-west. While many of the militias were destroyed, a good portion fled south or north into Canada hooking up with Canadian militias and survivalist groups. Canadian Forces were now called up to stop the guerilla fighting in their country.
As fighting in the US and Canada continued, the situation in Eastern Europe began to boil over after militia groups and right wing political parties started to flex their muscle after seeing the US tearing itself apart. Many in Europe and the US began to put pressure on Russia…
The west coast of North America was relatively untouched by the Second American Civil War except for in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. The US and Canadian militaries readily got the situation within those areas under control, with many of the militias fleeing east and north. With many African-Americans and other minorities fleeing the mid-west and southern states for the safer coastal states, California, Oregon, and Washington found their population growing. After the detonation in Washington DC with a low yield…
…Talks are underway to bring the PCU in to the Union of North American Sovereignties. Ambassador Bush is currently meeting with PCU President Padilla in the capitol of Victoria…
FLAG: The flag of the PCU is a dark blue field bisected by a curved white line that represents the coast of North America from Alaska to California. Eight stars, six white and two red, represent the six former US states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Hawaii; plus the former Canadian Territories of British Columbia and Yukon.
Pacific Coast Union
When the second American Civil war erupted in 2017 it not only engulfed the United States, but hidden players influenced disaster in other nations. As the mid-western states had violent insurrections occur, similar actions were taken place in Canada.
While the eastern and western coastal states in the US were able to hold the union together the mid-west insurrectionists and militias had help in gaining access US nuclear arms. Unfortunately, many of the militias and insurrection organizations believed any screwball idea floating on the internet about the federal government. As tensions mounted one militia in Minnesota detonated a nuclear device in New Orleans, LA after rumors that the US Navy was setting up a staging ground to retake the mid-west.
This pushed the US military to demand the president push for immediate action into the central US. The president balked on commanding any action, and the VP, with much Congressional backing removed the president from office. This would incite many of the militias to further action. Cities and town that were held, however nominally, by federal, state, and local forces were suddenly under heavy combat situations fighting the militias. Liberal militias would form to fight back to protect the towns and cities.
As the US Army was building up a push from Ohio, another militia detonated a nuclear weapon near Chicago. If the military wasn’t already foaming at the mouth to fight the militias, they were raging mad now. Once unleashed, the US Army quickly moved into the upper mid-west. While many of the militias were destroyed, a good portion fled south or north into Canada hooking up with Canadian militias and survivalist groups. Canadian Forces were now called up to stop the guerilla fighting in their country.
As fighting in the US and Canada continued, the situation in Eastern Europe began to boil over after militia groups and right wing political parties started to flex their muscle after seeing the US tearing itself apart. Many in Europe and the US began to put pressure on Russia…
The west coast of North America was relatively untouched by the Second American Civil War except for in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. The US and Canadian militaries readily got the situation within those areas under control, with many of the militias fleeing east and north. With many African-Americans and other minorities fleeing the mid-west and southern states for the safer coastal states, California, Oregon, and Washington found their population growing. After the detonation in Washington DC with a low yield…
…Talks are underway to bring the PCU in to the Union of North American Sovereignties. Ambassador Bush is currently meeting with PCU President Padilla in the capitol of Victoria…
FLAG: The flag of the PCU is a dark blue field bisected by a curved white line that represents the coast of North America from Alaska to California. Eight stars, six white and two red, represent the six former US states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, and Hawaii; plus the former Canadian Territories of British Columbia and Yukon.
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The High Kingdom of Euterra
Euterrə, or Eoterrə in some spellings, is a High Kingdom based in the Far Southern Isles. It is the most developed state, or rather network of states, in the region as the world recovers from the mostly mythical Fall.
Its inhabitants declare themselves the union of the two first peoples - the children of Father Sky, the Pa'ri, and the children of Mother Sea, the Ma'ri - who fought the first wars against each other both creating and wrecking the many islands in the Fall before coming together to forge the Eternal Peace. The name of the kingdom is said to reflect this by being either Good or Dawn Lands in original meaning of the Old Speech.
The Kingdom is essentially a feudal hierarchy of kingdoms each lead by T'KiiWii (roughly This King of Ours) and presided over by T'Haakə'Wii (roughly This Powerful King of Ours) who is selected from among the former.
The Great Banner of Euterrə represents the quarters of the sea joining those of the sky with the blooded lands emerging at the centre.
Euterrə, or Eoterrə in some spellings, is a High Kingdom based in the Far Southern Isles. It is the most developed state, or rather network of states, in the region as the world recovers from the mostly mythical Fall.
Its inhabitants declare themselves the union of the two first peoples - the children of Father Sky, the Pa'ri, and the children of Mother Sea, the Ma'ri - who fought the first wars against each other both creating and wrecking the many islands in the Fall before coming together to forge the Eternal Peace. The name of the kingdom is said to reflect this by being either Good or Dawn Lands in original meaning of the Old Speech.
The Kingdom is essentially a feudal hierarchy of kingdoms each lead by T'KiiWii (roughly This King of Ours) and presided over by T'Haakə'Wii (roughly This Powerful King of Ours) who is selected from among the former.
The Great Banner of Euterrə represents the quarters of the sea joining those of the sky with the blooded lands emerging at the centre.
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The Great Thawed North- Canada in the Holocene Thermal Maximum
This one's a particularly nasty example rooted in my Novuteranism entry in the could-have-been ideologies thread, sorry it took so long for my idea to take shape lol. This is in no way an endorsement of Novuteranism or its goals or methods. I decided the actual Novuteran flag was lame, so I used the basic dimensions of the Canadian flag, used the light blue to represent the newly open waterways of the nation, and replaced the leaf with a snowflake, both to suggest the Novuteran obsession with the cold but also their fixation on algiz runes, dark veins and blood purity.
In 1904, Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier declared that the Twentieth Century would be the Canadian Century. Roll on snare. Though, with the benefit of hindsight it is easier to say that he wasn't wrong, as such, just too early in his prediction. While the Twentieth Century would be the playground of the Americans and the Soviets, it would only be in the new millennium that the nation to the north was able to truly stretch its wings. As climate change rampaged out of control, the opening of the Northwest Passage presented an incredible point of leverage for the nation even as waves of refugees fleeing the increasingly unbearable weather extremes of the tropics sent destabilizing rippled through states ill-equipped or unwilling to meet their needs.
Canada was not immune to these destabilizing forces even as the political establishment sought to capitalize on the newly essential trade route on their border, with the seeming indifference of the government to the ordinary citizens leading to the growth of domestic extremism, from separatists to eco-terrorists and from militant socialists to social creditors. In this cauldron of uncertainty the group calling itself the Null Set Collective was seen as a bizarre fringe not worth bothering with. What can I say, sometimes history makes catastrophists into Cassandras. Originally believed to be the ramblings of one anonymous online fascist, the Null Set Collective had quietly grown, using the more outlandish elements of their founder's original platform to disarm critics even as they tested a more broadly popular form of his ideas with which to ply the public.
Rebranding mixed-race ethnocentrism as interracial solidarity and successfully selling neofascism as the law and order the struggling nation needed, the Novuterans were able to eke out a narrow and contested victory, quickly moving to cement control and crush the separatists in the name of delivering on their promise to forge a strong and united Canada to meet the challenges of an increasingly hostile world. Under the Null Set Collective, the nation has made a concerted propaganda push in favor of interracial and interethnic mixing, an updated and militant form of the old American melting pot ideal with a bit of racial whitening thrown in for flavor, even as the nation has accelerated the quiet Finlandization of the (much declined) United States and the construction of a domestic nuclear arsenal as a deterrent against rival claims on the invaluable Arctic Ocean and other vital areas of Canadian interest. Whether the scattered domestic opposition will be enough to topple the regime is an open question at this time, though the inability to overcome factional differences does not bode well.
This one's a particularly nasty example rooted in my Novuteranism entry in the could-have-been ideologies thread, sorry it took so long for my idea to take shape lol. This is in no way an endorsement of Novuteranism or its goals or methods. I decided the actual Novuteran flag was lame, so I used the basic dimensions of the Canadian flag, used the light blue to represent the newly open waterways of the nation, and replaced the leaf with a snowflake, both to suggest the Novuteran obsession with the cold but also their fixation on algiz runes, dark veins and blood purity.
In 1904, Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier declared that the Twentieth Century would be the Canadian Century. Roll on snare. Though, with the benefit of hindsight it is easier to say that he wasn't wrong, as such, just too early in his prediction. While the Twentieth Century would be the playground of the Americans and the Soviets, it would only be in the new millennium that the nation to the north was able to truly stretch its wings. As climate change rampaged out of control, the opening of the Northwest Passage presented an incredible point of leverage for the nation even as waves of refugees fleeing the increasingly unbearable weather extremes of the tropics sent destabilizing rippled through states ill-equipped or unwilling to meet their needs.
Canada was not immune to these destabilizing forces even as the political establishment sought to capitalize on the newly essential trade route on their border, with the seeming indifference of the government to the ordinary citizens leading to the growth of domestic extremism, from separatists to eco-terrorists and from militant socialists to social creditors. In this cauldron of uncertainty the group calling itself the Null Set Collective was seen as a bizarre fringe not worth bothering with. What can I say, sometimes history makes catastrophists into Cassandras. Originally believed to be the ramblings of one anonymous online fascist, the Null Set Collective had quietly grown, using the more outlandish elements of their founder's original platform to disarm critics even as they tested a more broadly popular form of his ideas with which to ply the public.
Rebranding mixed-race ethnocentrism as interracial solidarity and successfully selling neofascism as the law and order the struggling nation needed, the Novuterans were able to eke out a narrow and contested victory, quickly moving to cement control and crush the separatists in the name of delivering on their promise to forge a strong and united Canada to meet the challenges of an increasingly hostile world. Under the Null Set Collective, the nation has made a concerted propaganda push in favor of interracial and interethnic mixing, an updated and militant form of the old American melting pot ideal with a bit of racial whitening thrown in for flavor, even as the nation has accelerated the quiet Finlandization of the (much declined) United States and the construction of a domestic nuclear arsenal as a deterrent against rival claims on the invaluable Arctic Ocean and other vital areas of Canadian interest. Whether the scattered domestic opposition will be enough to topple the regime is an open question at this time, though the inability to overcome factional differences does not bode well.
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Are you going to announce the winner and hand it off? It would be cool to be able to work on a new challenge this weekend.
Thanks, @Transparent Blue , here it is! :3
FLAG CHALLENGE #252: The Rekindled Flame
They had tried to conquer us. They had desecrated our shrines, enslaved our people and sought to force their deviant ways upon us. For centuries we had waited; hid in the mountains, jungles and forests, sharpening our claws for the day we take back our freedom. And when the heavens saw us strong enough, it granted us victory over our oppressors. Now we walk free again, a legacy restored, one where our faith and lineage shines brighter than ever.
We are the rekindled flame.
Submissions Close: Sun,25th July, 1st August, 2021, 9:00pm (GMT+8) - Extended
RULES
FLAG CHALLENGE #252: The Rekindled Flame
They had tried to conquer us. They had desecrated our shrines, enslaved our people and sought to force their deviant ways upon us. For centuries we had waited; hid in the mountains, jungles and forests, sharpening our claws for the day we take back our freedom. And when the heavens saw us strong enough, it granted us victory over our oppressors. Now we walk free again, a legacy restored, one where our faith and lineage shines brighter than ever.
We are the rekindled flame.
- Design a flag for a country that is predominantly made up of an extinct or existing minority religion, or an extinct or current minority branch or sect of an existing religion.
- Religions
- Extinct: e.g. Manichaeans, Norse Paganism, Aztec religion etc
- Existing: e.g. Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism, Yazidism, Druze etc
- Branches
- Extinct: e.g. Cathar (Christianity), Bogomils (Christianity), Zurvanism (Zoroastrianism) etc
- Existing: Samaritans (Judaism), Old Catholics (Christianity), Anabaptists (Christianity)
- Sects or Schools
- Extinct: e.g. Qarmatians (Shi'ite Islam), Khajirites (Khajirite/Ibadi Islam)
- Existing: e.g. Nizaris (Shi'ite Islam), Ruthenian Catholics (Eastern Catholic Christianity)
- Religions
- Countries based on a currently thriving religion, branch or sect that was once predominant in the area do not count (e.g. Sunni Muslim Andalusia, Christian Orthodox Anatolia). Rule may be revised depending on responses.
- Countries based on a religion, branch or sect that is currently predominant in at least one modern country do not count. (e.g. Ibadi Islam, Orthodox Judaism)
- Optional: The religious group or sect may be tied to a specific ethnicity (e.g. Yazidis, Mandaeans, etc)
- All existing flag challenge rules apply. Kindly refer to the link and quote below.
Submissions Close: Sun,
RULES
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I have the bare minimum of something I could add if at least one person has something.
Yazidistan, officially the Radiant Sultanate of Yazidistan, is a theodemocracy located in western Asia between Byzantium, the Arabian Caliphate and the Persian Empire. The heartland of the Yezidi religion, the nation has for much of its history remained closed to its neighbors owing to widespread ethnoreligious tension at this junction of major religions. With their unique faith system decried as heretical or even satanic by Christian and Muslim sects throughout history the Yazidi ethnoreligious group organized early on to repel incursions from hostile neighbors, creating a tightly knit and well defended nation state in the sixteenth century that has persisted to the present. Historically ruled by a an absolute monarch who also serves as head of the faith, the nation chose to modernize its institutions in the nineteenth century, eventually establishing a representative republic organized along the theodemocratic principles pioneered but never implemented by President Joseph Smith.
As such, there are no religious barriers to voting or running for political office, with a balance achieved between a unicameral legislature that forges policy, an executive branch under a president to implement it, and a supreme court to rule on constitutional and religious questions. One innovation in the theodemocratic system is that the Sultan, as head of the faith, is able to override the legislature on certain matters through divine revelation. Despite this extraordinary veto, the Sultan has transitioned into a purely religious rather than political office over time, with the power rarely used and the monarch more often serving a ceremonial function as the nation's head of state.
With God in the Yazidi cosmology taking a remote position from creation, the flag of Yazidistan instead directly references the angel Melek Taus who was entrusted to manage it, with a seven-pointed gold star to represent divine emanation and the "Seven Mysteries" central to the faith, red to symbolize martyr's blood, and the combination of green, sky blue and indigo to suggest a peacock, an animal traditionally associated with Melek Taus and the nation more generally.
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