Weekly Flag Challenge: New Challenges & Previous Winners

[Uru Hammer]

@Transparent Blue is the winner!

No entries? I'll enter something for Australia.

Original thumbnail:
View attachment 662388

My design:
View attachment 662387

 

[Transparent Blue]

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.

 

[Transparent Blue]

The winner is @Remitonov !
Over to you!

View attachment 664062

Principality of Badakhshan

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.

 

[Remitonov]

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)
• 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 Open: Now
Submissions Close: Sun, 25th July, 2021, 9:00pm (GMT+8)

RULES

Entrants submit designs in the “Discussion & Entries” thread. Restrictions on entries:

• You MUST upload the image as an attachment on this site, not hosted on another site.
• You CANNOT enter the round if you won the previous round, or if you are banned from the Weekly Flag Challenge.
• You CANNOT enter more than one flag unless the challenge specifically asks for multiple flags.
• You CANNOT enter anything other than flags and explanations. For example, you cannot add a supplementary map.
• You can change your entry as many times as you want before the closing date. The most recent design posted by a entrant will be considered their entry.
• Size limits:
  • 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.
  • For each image in a multiple-flag entry, the shortest side must be 400 pixels or less, and the longest side must be 600 pixels or less.
  • If all sides are equal, the limit of the shortest side applies to both sides.

 

[Remitonov]

@Born in the USSA is the Winner!

View attachment 668356

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.

 

[Born in the USSA]

FLAG CHALLENGE 253: The Great White South

I'm nothing if not a slave to my passions and pet interests, so the challenge is to create the flag of an independent state or distinct culture nation in Antarctica- whether it's a native people or a colonization project or a corporate enclave is up to you, PODs are wide open. I'm posting this on Wednesday the eleventh and it'll close Wednesday the eighteenth at 10 PM Central Time. Don't forget the 600 by 1200 size limit!

 

[Born in the USSA]

And this one goes to @The Professor!

Commonwealth of the Antarctic
The Commonwealth (Comnäl Änhartis) is a semifeudal confederation of the settlements in the Stanley Isles principally derived from the original settlement on Rennishold.
The Commonwealth is lead by the Gyphnon appointed by the Council from among the settlement Chiefs. Civil governance in the state has a strong matriarchal bent deriving from the importance of women to growth in the settlements, all women automatically have a right to vote on the Council and additionally the right to choose the father of their next child (albeit from the approved list of those least related to them). The need for population maintenance and growth has also given the settlements a strong obsession with genealogical cleanliness.

A Brief History
The original documents have been lost but the accepted history of the Commonwealth is based on the founding of Rennieshold by the marooned ship of the first Gyphnon Rennie having survived what are now called the transportation storms. Rennie was due to become Gyphnon of the Falcon Land prior to encountering the storm and it was many years before he and his compatriots gave up hope of rescue and turned their settlement permanent, learning to live off the plentiful but unusual fish and the strange swimming birds named later as oroc.
Over the following decades other ships would arrive and the survivors added to them, these included the first women who inspired the first rebellion and established the laws against sexual slavery and woman led temporary marriages to produce offspring.
Over the next centuries the original Ha'Nglis speech would mostly give way to the Lå'Nglis, influenced by languages brought by other strandees, and further settlements would be founded.
Expeditions would eventually be sent to the more distant shorelines bringing back tales of weird beasts and odd ruins, suggesting that other people could be found oneday.

The Flag
The flag is suggested to be derived from that of Rennie and is commonly known as the Enzuun.
It bears the black and white oroc pattern with a single gold compass star to represent the hope of never getting lost again.

 

[The Professor]

Flag Challenge 254:
Once a King or Queen of Narnia

Imagine the Chronicles of Narnia is more akin to the mythological history of a more mundane world populated by strays from our Earth.
With this in mind create a flag of a country or nation on the continent of Narnia that contains some reference to that mythos.

• All existing flag challenge rules apply. Kindly checkout the link before posting your entry.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: 31 August 23:59 BST (GMT/UTC +1)

 

[The Professor]

REDUX DUE TO LACK OF ENTRIES
Flag Challenge 254:
The High Kingdom

High kings were once fairly common but faded away under the lure of imperial titles and nationalism.
Your challenge is to design a flag for a state that bears the title high kingdom whether it is a continued, resurrected, or constructed one.

• All existing flag challenge rules apply. Kindly checkout the link before posting your entry.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: 11 September 23:59 BST (GMT/UTC +1)

 

[The Professor]

And the winner is:

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.

View attachment 679003

Congratulations, we look forward to your challenge!

 

[Uru Hammer]

Flag Challenge #255: Taured

There are several versions of the urban legend, but the crux of the story is a mysterious traveler who is obviously out of place. He is questioned by the authorities, and his passport is examined. He seems to have traveled extensively in Europe, but one detail catches the eye of the authorities. His nation of origin is listed as Taured. He is given a map to demonstrate where his country is, and he is confused by some of the nations on the map, claiming that they are made up, and his country is missing. He is held under arrest while the authorities attempt to confirm some aspect of his story, but he disappears from a guarded hotel room on an upper floor overnight.

Your challenge is to create the flag for Taured. Since there are two main versions of the story, you will have two options.
Option 1 - Taured is a very small nation in Western Europe, somewhere on the border of France and Spain.
Option 2 - Taured is an African nation, perhaps taking territory from the south of Egypt and parts of Ethiopia.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: Wednesday, Sep 29, NOON Eastern Daylight Time

Please remember to review the RULES, especially concerning flag size. 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.

 

[Uru Hammer]

And the winner is... Born in the USSA!

The Tuared Empire

Long considered an object of myth, the Tuared Empire is a small absolute monarchy located in East Africa that has only taken definitive steps to enter the international community in the past sixty years under contentious circumstances. Previously believed to have been an offshoot of nearby Ethiopia, recent scholarship has thrown that claim into doubt. For their part, the royal family of the hermit empire has claimed for its entire existence to be a wayward cadet branch of the French Merovingian dynasty, which may at least explain the apparent basis of the written Tuared language in a variant of the Gallo-Roman script rather than some variant of Amharic. The earliest history of the foundation of the Empire is still an object of speculation by mainstream scholars, but many believe the apocryphal figure of Prester John to be a gloss applied by Medieval writers conflating several generations of Tuared rulers into one quasi-mystical figure. Keeping to a self-imposed isolation for much of its more recent history, the Empire frequently employed discrete foreign agents to learn of events in the wider world under the auspices of a Tuared secret society known as the Priory of Sion. One of these agents would expose the Empire to international scrutiny in 1959 following his detention in Japan on suspicion of identity theft and traveling under a false passport. Forced for the first time in centuries to interact more visibly with the wider world, the Empire began a crash course in military modernization, with the Priory itself transitioning from a secret society to a secret police force. Despite advancing the dubious theory that the Merovingians, and therefore the Tuared Emperors, were direct blood descendants of Jesus, the Empire has nonetheless been able to establish a solid working relationship with both the neighboring United Arab Republic and the Ethiopian Empire.

I decided to split the difference between a Tuared near France and one near Ethiopia, and this wonderful melange of medieval apocrypha, urban legends and conspiracy theories is the result The flag of the Tuared Empire combines the gold Merovingian bee and red of the alleged Merovingian standard with the black and the cross symbol taken from the supposed flag of Prester John. I decided to go with "Tuared" instead of "Taured" because the latter is apparently a typo in some versions of the story and that's just the sort of thing that would crop up about a mysterious hermit kingdom.

 

[Born in the USSA]

Flag Challenge 256: Party like its 2099!

Inspired by a fun idea I had for a future history American party system, my challenge to you all is to create a flag for a major 21st century American political party, combining my loves of weird politics, ideological colors and flag making. Is it a splinter of an existing party? A fusion of two or more? A new group championing some new idea (or some really old ones)? I leave it up to you, though setting it a few decades from now is probably the best way to avoid current politics 😅 Exciting scenarios are encouraged, and distinctive party symbols and colors are of course appreciated!

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: Wednesday, October 13, 10:30 PM Central Standard Time Extended to that same time Friday if there aren't at least 3 entries by Wednesday

Please remember to review the RULES, especially concerning flag size. 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.

 

[Born in the USSA]

And this round goes to... @Kruglyasheo!

The Republican-Democratic Party (not to be confused with the Democratic-Republican Party dissolved in 1834) is a centrist party created by so-called Republicans In Name Only (or RINO, pronounced to sound like "rhino") and Democrats In Name Only (or DINO). This party became a traditional kingmaker and junior partner in American politics during the Eighth alignment of the American Party System.

Triceratops, a rhino-like dinosaur, was chosen as the party's symbol. The party's official color, purple, is also a mix of Republican red and Democratic blue.

 

[Kruglyasheo]

FLAG CHALLENGE #257: Faster, Higher, Stronger

At the 1992 Olympics, the South African team performed under a specially designed flag; The Republic of China has been using the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag since 1981; there were Australasia and the United Team of Germany with their own flags and so on.
The challenge is to create a flag used during the Olympic Games for a team that for some reason is unable or unwilling to use its national flag.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: Monday, October 25, 15:00 GMT

Please remember to review the RULES, especially concerning flag size. 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.

 

[Kruglyasheo]

And the winner is @Sovereign12.

Actually have time to enter one of these challenges for the first time in a while.

Slovaczech Olympic Committee flag

In early 1984, with the death of Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko came to power. Unlike in our TL, Chernenko’s health was slightly worse and after only a month as General Secretary he also died. He was still seceded by Mikhail Gorbachev, with the strong support of Andrei Gromyko. But at this time there was a bit more hesitancy and backroom infighting before he was voted in by the Politburo.

Because of the infighting in the Soviet Union, reformists in Czecholslovakia pushed for stronger changes. Gustáv Husák accepted a few of those changes.

While the Soviet Union would still not send athletes to the 84 Olympics, Husák was pushed into sending Czechoslovakian athletes to the games under a flag similar to the concept of the Taipei flag that Taiwan used. Calling newly organized group the Slovaczech Olympic Committee their athletes would attend the 84 Olympics games with their Romanian compatriots.

Flag:
The Slovaczech Olympic Committee flag is carried with a vertical hoist to help further differentiate it from the flag of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. The overall design is similar to the CSR flag in elements. The five-ringed symbol of the Olympic Games in blue sits near the hoist, while the coat of arms of Slovakia sits beneath within the shield of the Czech coat of arms. Red, gradiated vertical stripes are in place to invoke the CSR flag but also represent motion of their athletes.

 

[Sovereign12]

And the winner is @Sovereign12.

Thanks.

I will have the new challenge posted on Nov 1, as I am going away for the weekend.

 

[Sovereign12]

FLAG CHALLENGE #258: Kuku Lau

This challenge is influenced by one of the original map challenges from 2007.

Recent genetic studies show the possibility of intermingling between Polynesians and native South Americans located in north-west South America. With the knowledge of possible staple food exchanges between South America and Polynesia furthering the possibility of contact. Your challenge is to make a flag for a nation set in the Americas (North or South) with an even stronger influence from Polynesia. It could be from colonization, intermarriage, greater food or culture exchanges.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: Monday, November 8th, 15:00 GMT

Please remember to review the RULES, especially concerning flag size. 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.

 

[Sovereign12]

Replacement challenge

FLAG CHALLENGE #258: Three into One

Similar to the Union Jack of the United Kingdom, make a flag combining three nations into a personal union. The unions should be pre-20th century and should make some sort of logical sense (basically no random flag mashups like Kingdom of Bavaria, Brazil, and Qajar Iran). Elements from each union member should be readily apparent in the submitted flag. Examples of the originating flags can be linked in the descrptive text, but do not need to be submitted, just the flag you have created.

Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: Monday, November 15th, 15:00 GMT

Please remember to review the RULES, especially concerning flag size. 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.

 

[Sovereign12]

I want to say that if I was voting in this Flag Challenge, I would have had a hard time deciding as I thought all four flags were great.

With that being said, the winner of Flag Challenge 258 is Sandpro