Weekly Flag Challenge: Discussion & Entries
- Thread starter Transparent Blue
- Start date
This was inspired by a former entry of mine:
Comments & suggestions to clarify are always welcome (not matter how grumpy they may make me 😂)
If it's comparable to ones OTL that have flags then sure I'm happy to.
I'm a little tied up and nothing's really springing to mind so I'm sitting this one out
Is it worth me extending the deadline?
Or would people like a break from flag challenges for a bit?
Or would people like a break from flag challenges for a bit?
Reduxing then:
Comments & suggestions to clarify are always welcome
Cool! I have an idea that should work, just let me think on it.
The Rasennan Union
The Rasennan Union, long seen as the center of European civilization, began life as a small collection of loosely affiliated kingdoms in the north of the Italian Peninsula. Faced with pressure from the expansion of Rome to the south, the Rasennan civilization grew more centralized and organized, with the first iteration of the Union fighting the Romans to a standstill for centuries before eventually aligning with Carthage against their shared enemy during the Roman Wars. With the Mediterranean effectively divided horizontally between the victors the Union was free to expand, eventually to encompass the entirety of the Po Valley, with the integral Rasennan territory stretching uninterrupted from the now pacified Rome to the far side of the Alps and a largely independent network of vassal states taking up Rasennan culture and religion around them. The Union between the Fall of Rome and the Celtic Wars was marked by two large-scale societal shifts:
The Rasennan Union, long seen as the center of European civilization, began life as a small collection of loosely affiliated kingdoms in the north of the Italian Peninsula. Faced with pressure from the expansion of Rome to the south, the Rasennan civilization grew more centralized and organized, with the first iteration of the Union fighting the Romans to a standstill for centuries before eventually aligning with Carthage against their shared enemy during the Roman Wars. With the Mediterranean effectively divided horizontally between the victors the Union was free to expand, eventually to encompass the entirety of the Po Valley, with the integral Rasennan territory stretching uninterrupted from the now pacified Rome to the far side of the Alps and a largely independent network of vassal states taking up Rasennan culture and religion around them. The Union between the Fall of Rome and the Celtic Wars was marked by two large-scale societal shifts:
- The first would be the almost complete consolidation of the purviews of the Rasennan pantheon into the god Voltumna. Having grown in importance from a relatively minor chthonic earth god to the central patron of the Rasennan political project at the time of the earliest Roman conflicts this is perhaps inevitable. Having long made their peace with the inscrutability of their gods, it seems that it was no great leap to assign often contradictory attributes to a single figure.
- The second major shift would be the refinement of the Rasennan political system. As the wars with Rome ground on the mostly independent Rasennan kingdoms saw their loose confederation grow stronger, with the various "Kings in Rasenna" collectively electing one of their own to be first among equals as "High King of Rasenna". The defeat of Rome finally rendered this system obsolete, and greater public agitation for a voice in government (coupled with a generation or two of admittedly debauched kings) would see the rise of the Union's "republican period", with the old nobility cast down and title of king transitioned from a hereditary office to an elected one. Each member state of the Union would be lead by one of these kings, usually elected by and from the elite classes, and the kings themselves would elect one of their number to lead the nation as a whole as High King.
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For anyone stuck for inspiration:
OTL Domains of High Kings or King of Kings:
(Edit: no khagans were impugned in the making of this post)
OTL Domains of High Kings or King of Kings:
- Ireland
- Alba (Scotland / Picts)
- (Southern) Britain (Bretwalda of the southern AS Kingdoms and occasional Welsh kinglets)
- Persia
- Etruscans / Rasca
- Malaysia
- Mycenaeans
- Ethiopia
- Georgia
- Sumeria
- Imperial Mongolia
- Narnia 😉
- Lithuania
- Kievan Rus
- Early Poland
- Hungary
- Serbia
(Edit: no khagans were impugned in the making of this post)
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Shouldn't Khagan be King of Kings or High King or do you interpret Khan as prince because of the small scale it was used on
- A mildly interested man
Er, um, it's totally not that I put it in the wrong list and now have to move it.
I'll accept your explanation instead!
Hail, Pendragon! Hail, Arthur! Hail, Britannia!
On another earth, in another timeline, warlords of nascent kingdoms warred across the breadth of Britain. From Cornwall to Londinium to Wales to York, men sought to seize what power they could, to rule from the forts and castles they hastily built. The discipline of Rome had left with its legions, and the countryside became wild and lawless. From that chaos rose Uther the Pendragon. Unlike the warlords and petty kings, Uther sought no slaves. He did not loot the common folk, nor did he suffer those who did. Rumors abounded that Uther had been a soldier in the legion, still other whispered stories claimed he was the bastard son of the Roman Emperor himself. More common were the stories of Uther as only half-human, the other half descended from the fae folk themselves, blessed in battle by uncanny magic. Uther had united half of Britain under his rule before he was struck down by an assassin's poisoned arrow on a battlefield in Wales.
Uther was prepared for burial, and his retainers found within his tent a massive stone. In the stone was Uther's sword, rumored to be of fae construction. The king's advisor, Merlyn, proclaimed that Uther had not left his kingdom without a king. The scion of Uther would prove himself by pulling the sword from the stone and take his place on the throne of his father. A ceremony rapidly developed where a prospective claimant would approach the stone, kneel, and placing their hands on the hilt of the sword, they would pledge their blood to the one who would eventually pull the sword free. After three days and three nights of near constant attempts to pull the sword from the stone, a soldier from the north named Artorigios approached. He knelt and placed his hands on the hilt. Before he could say the pledge, the sword slipped from the stone. Stories recount how he exclaimed to Merlyn that he had not wanted the sword, but only to serve the one who owned it.
Artorigios was accepted immediately by all, and embraced by his bloodsworn legion, the many who had tried and failed to move the sword. He continued the unification of the realm, and was named by his Welsh enemies as High King Arthur, son of Pendragon.
This is the flag flown by the high king and Uther Pendragon before him, and it flies still today over the High Kingdom of Britannia.
On another earth, in another timeline, warlords of nascent kingdoms warred across the breadth of Britain. From Cornwall to Londinium to Wales to York, men sought to seize what power they could, to rule from the forts and castles they hastily built. The discipline of Rome had left with its legions, and the countryside became wild and lawless. From that chaos rose Uther the Pendragon. Unlike the warlords and petty kings, Uther sought no slaves. He did not loot the common folk, nor did he suffer those who did. Rumors abounded that Uther had been a soldier in the legion, still other whispered stories claimed he was the bastard son of the Roman Emperor himself. More common were the stories of Uther as only half-human, the other half descended from the fae folk themselves, blessed in battle by uncanny magic. Uther had united half of Britain under his rule before he was struck down by an assassin's poisoned arrow on a battlefield in Wales.
Uther was prepared for burial, and his retainers found within his tent a massive stone. In the stone was Uther's sword, rumored to be of fae construction. The king's advisor, Merlyn, proclaimed that Uther had not left his kingdom without a king. The scion of Uther would prove himself by pulling the sword from the stone and take his place on the throne of his father. A ceremony rapidly developed where a prospective claimant would approach the stone, kneel, and placing their hands on the hilt of the sword, they would pledge their blood to the one who would eventually pull the sword free. After three days and three nights of near constant attempts to pull the sword from the stone, a soldier from the north named Artorigios approached. He knelt and placed his hands on the hilt. Before he could say the pledge, the sword slipped from the stone. Stories recount how he exclaimed to Merlyn that he had not wanted the sword, but only to serve the one who owned it.
Artorigios was accepted immediately by all, and embraced by his bloodsworn legion, the many who had tried and failed to move the sword. He continued the unification of the realm, and was named by his Welsh enemies as High King Arthur, son of Pendragon.
This is the flag flown by the high king and Uther Pendragon before him, and it flies still today over the High Kingdom of Britannia.
The Federated States of Malaya
The Federated States of Malaya was established in 1898 from five British protectorate states on the Malay Peninsula: Selangor, Negeri Semblian, Johor, Pahang, and Perak. It was subsequently expanded after the World War as the Empire of Japan turned its attention to providing support to independence movements in South-East Asia as a means of expanding its colonial empire at the expense of the British and Dutch Empires. This added the four states of Terengganu, Kelantan, Patani, and Perlis and Kedah, with the British Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements of Singapore, Malacca, and Penang remaining separate due to their Chinese-majority populations. This expansion from 5 states to 9 necessitated changing the flag from 5 to 9 horizontal stripes, utilising the same five colours of the previous flag, which had originated from the flags of the original states.
The form of government of Malaya is a type of constitutional monarchy, where the position of Supreme Sultan of the Federation is elected from amongst the nine sultans of the constituent states of Malaya. This system of government was first pioneered in British India in Rajputana and Central India to create larger subdivisions based on the model used in Thuringia in Germany. This form of government was further refined for the post-British African states, most notably Nigeria, as a form of stabilisation against revolutionary fervour, through not always successfully.
The Federated States of Malaya was established in 1898 from five British protectorate states on the Malay Peninsula: Selangor, Negeri Semblian, Johor, Pahang, and Perak. It was subsequently expanded after the World War as the Empire of Japan turned its attention to providing support to independence movements in South-East Asia as a means of expanding its colonial empire at the expense of the British and Dutch Empires. This added the four states of Terengganu, Kelantan, Patani, and Perlis and Kedah, with the British Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements of Singapore, Malacca, and Penang remaining separate due to their Chinese-majority populations. This expansion from 5 states to 9 necessitated changing the flag from 5 to 9 horizontal stripes, utilising the same five colours of the previous flag, which had originated from the flags of the original states.
The form of government of Malaya is a type of constitutional monarchy, where the position of Supreme Sultan of the Federation is elected from amongst the nine sultans of the constituent states of Malaya. This system of government was first pioneered in British India in Rajputana and Central India to create larger subdivisions based on the model used in Thuringia in Germany. This form of government was further refined for the post-British African states, most notably Nigeria, as a form of stabilisation against revolutionary fervour, through not always successfully.
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