Weekly Flag Challenge: New Challenges & Previous Winners
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Flag Challenge #265: Tell me you're Nordic without telling me you're Nordic
Design a flag for a Nordic country without using a Nordic cross.
Submissions Close: 06:00 GMT 10th April
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.
Design a flag for a Nordic country without using a Nordic cross.
Submissions Close: 06:00 GMT 10th April
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.
And the winner is @Born in the USSA.
Under the occupation of the Reich Norway was forced to transfer its claim to Queen Maud Land following the end of World War II. Rechristened New Swabia the area would be heavily settled by the Nazis, who established an archipelago of military bases and research outposts robust enough to sustain newly constructed villages year round even through the polar nights. The collapse of the Reich following the spectacular failure of the rapine economy principle in the sixties would see New Swabia slowly dying on the vine until the international community saw fit to transfer the colony back to Norway after a mostly successful round of denazification. Following a decade of reconstruction and investment the renamed colony of Amundsenia was allowed limited home rule under the aegis of the Kingdom of Norway that it enjoys to this day. Officially demilitarized, Amundsenia has developed a sustainable economy focused on fishing and whaling in the rich waters off Antarctica and forms the nucleus of research efforts on the continent. For this flag I modified the 1978 Antarctic flag proposal, centering the hands and bowl, replacing the giant A with the royal monogram of Queen Maud of Wales (for whom the geographic area is named) and swapped out the eye searing orange with the colors of the Norwegian flag (in reversed order of prominence).
Flag Challenge 266: Lions and Tigers and Bears
This one's pretty straightforward: take a country of your choosing and remake its flag to prominently feature the national animal. Countries with weird or cool animals are of course preferred and simply slapping an animal over the existing flag is low-hanging fruit.
Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: Saturday, April 23, 10:30 PM Central Standard 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.
This one's pretty straightforward: take a country of your choosing and remake its flag to prominently feature the national animal. Countries with weird or cool animals are of course preferred and simply slapping an animal over the existing flag is low-hanging fruit.
Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: Saturday, April 23, 10:30 PM Central Standard 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.
@Kruglyasheo wins this one!
The legendary winged horse Chollima (literally "thousand-li horse") is the national animal of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Its ability to travel one thousand li in a single day is often used to promote the nation's rapid economic development and the constant, fighting spirit of the Korean people.
Flag Challenge 267: Capitalist symbolism
Communist states can often be easily identified by their flag. (Red color, five-pointed star, hammer and sickle variations, etc.)
Your task is to design a flag that immediately shows that the state is capitalist.
Submissions Close: 21:30 GMT 10th May
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.
Communist states can often be easily identified by their flag. (Red color, five-pointed star, hammer and sickle variations, etc.)
Your task is to design a flag that immediately shows that the state is capitalist.
Submissions Close: 21:30 GMT 10th May
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.
And the winner is @Born in the USSA.
The flag of the North American Confederacy has become intimately associated with the nation's practice of unfettered capitalism and has encouraged the use of its cowrie shell symbol and color palette when financing adventure capitalists (read: filibusters) opening up new market opportunities in statist areas. In the wake of Shay's Rebellion and the execution of George Washington on charges of treason the United States underwent a drastic reformation to bring itself in line with the prevailing attitudes that government should only act with the unanimous consent of the governed. The Articles of Confederation were retained rather than abolished and the North American Confederation was born, adopting as its symbol a new "civilian flag" to distinguish it from the budding statism of the early American experiment. Originally the field contained blue stars on a white field to represent the states but as power shifted from the hierarchical realm of governments to the free association of individuals in the market it was decided that a new symbol was needed to represent this new reality. Yellow had long been a symbolic color of liberty and prosperity and recent advances in chemistry had led to the creation of cheap dyes to bring formerly rare and exorbitantly expensive purple to the masses but what of the symbol? It was eventually decided that the cowrie shell, an ancient and widespread form of currency, made an excellent representation of this new state of affairs. The former Iroquois peoples had made use of a similar shell currency that actually was a shade of purple, making the association even stronger! The "Shell and Stripes" became quite popular with the citizens of the Confederacy despite its association with dreaded government and it can be seen even today flying over everything from private homes and businesses to the nation's bustling merchant marine and slave markets. I've never read The Probability Broach but the whole "AnCap leads to utopia" premise always struck me as half-baked so here's my take on it.
Flag Challenge 268: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help!"
This challenge comes in two parts:
Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: Monday, May 30, 10:30 PM Central Standard 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.
This challenge comes in two parts:
- Pick a supernatural or sci-fi issue or setting detail. The setting should be otherwise recognizably the recent past or present.
- Create a flag for a government agency (secret or otherwise) tasked with dealing with it.
Submissions Open: Now
Submissions Close: Monday, May 30, 10:30 PM Central Standard 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.
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After the Soviet high-altitude balloon Osoaviakhim-1 crashed into the firmament, it became impossible to deny the existence of the supernatural. The Transcenence Enforcement Administration was established by President Franklin Roosevelt on July 1, 1934 and became an independent service within the Department of Justice in 1936.
The TEA symbol is the general prohibition sign with the All-Seeing Eye of God inscribed in the Pentagram, reflecting the USA's commitment to a policy of Strict Spiritual Isolationism. And examples of other countries' flirtation with the paranormal, such as the Soviet mass sacrifices of 1937 for the creation of Vladimir Lich Lenin or the Ten Plagues of the Third Reich, prove the validity of this position.
Flag Challenge 269: In the distant future of the year 2022
It is quite fascinating to explore what people of the past anticipated from the future that has already become the present for us. Well, it's usually just a linear extrapolation of their current trends plus flying cars, but still.
So, your task is to pick a time period in the past and create a paleo-futuristic flag for some political entity in the year 2022, as it might have been imagined at that time.
Submissions Close: 15th June, 10:00 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.
It is quite fascinating to explore what people of the past anticipated from the future that has already become the present for us. Well, it's usually just a linear extrapolation of their current trends plus flying cars, but still.
So, your task is to pick a time period in the past and create a paleo-futuristic flag for some political entity in the year 2022, as it might have been imagined at that time.
Submissions Close: 15th June, 10:00 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.
And the winner is @Madcowsteak.
United States of Scandinavia
There has not been a historical moment as important as the Declaration of Independence since the birth of our messiah 1776 years prior. The mighty efforts of our patriots to crush injustice and monarchy under the banners of republicanism and liberty have sent shockwaves throughout the world, ushering in a new era of god-given freedom and ending the era of Kings, whether they yet realize it or not.
To celebrate the ratification of our first constitution an anonymous reader from New Hampshire has submitted her ‘vision of the far future', a glimpse of the distant Year of our Lord 2022, where Mother Europe too has thrown off the shackles of monarchy and division.
She imagines a ‘United States of Scandinavia’, where the peoples of Sweden, Denmark-Norway, and the other Scandinavian realms have overthrown their oppressive masters and joined hands in inspiration of the union of our thirteen former colonies.
She has sewn a flag that combines the colors of the flags of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The Nordic Cross, tainted by association with the monarchies and state-Lutheranism, is not used, instead, the central focus is Yggdrasil, the world tree from their shared mythology. As in mythology; around Yggdrasil are the nine realms, in this case the realms of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Pomerania, the Faroe Islands, and Orkney, represented by stars.
Is this a true prophecy or merely the result of an overactive imagination? Only time will tell, but the smart money is that soon we shall see this lovely banner flying over Stockholm and Copenhagen!
Excerpt from the Radical Militiaman, ‘A New America and a New World’, 1788
Flag Challenge 270: Fertility idols and mouse gods
The previous challenge explored how the people of the past perceived the present, this one will look at how the people of the future might.
Your task is to:
Submissions Close: 25th June, 11:30pm 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.
The previous challenge explored how the people of the past perceived the present, this one will look at how the people of the future might.
Your task is to:
- Put yourself in the shoes of a future historian or archaeologist working with incomplete or inaccurate information and assumptions about their past
- Recreate a flag of a modern entity
Submissions Close: 25th June, 11:30pm 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.
Congratulations @Kruglyasheo!
Carthage was one of the oldest states of the Earth That Was. Founded by princess of Tyre Dido [may be fictitious] in the ninth century BCE, it was destroyed by the Istanbulites in 146 BCE, who later rebuilt the city lavishly. In 1270 CE Louis IX of France [may be fictitious] captured Carthage. It gained independence from France in 1956 CE, when Jan Palach set himself on fire, which triggered the Arab Spring.
Disputes over the meaning and exact symbol on the flag have continued since its image was found in 952 ACE, but in general, based on Carthage's other name, La Marsa, and the red color of the flag, the current consensus of the scientific community is that it is a stylized image of some crater of Mars, probably Hellas.
Flag Challenge 271: Colonized Europe
Your task is to draw a colonial or post-colonial flag of a European country in a world where global hegemony was achieved by another continent and Europe was colonized.
Submissions Close: 5th July, 06:00 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.
Your task is to draw a colonial or post-colonial flag of a European country in a world where global hegemony was achieved by another continent and Europe was colonized.
Submissions Close: 5th July, 06:00 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.
And the winner is @King of the Uzbeks.
The end of the Mughal Reich was a cause for celebration across Europe, a symbol of colonialism’s slipping grasp. However jubilation turned to horror as the bloody Partition of Germany began. The All-Catholic League demanded, and received, a Catholic Nation, separate from the Protestant majority of Germany. However the partition was controversial, and the lines between Catholic and Protestant were not always clear. Mass communal violence followed independence, with millions fleeing across the lines drawn by the departing Mughals. In Berlin, the new Republic of Germany was declared, but in Munich the Most Catholic Republic of Bruderland, which took letters from Bavaria, Ostereich, and Rhineland and added some in to make a proper sounding word being “Brother Land,” was proclaimed. Shortly after the First Hesse War ensued, which Bruderland lost. For their flag, Bruderland took the colors of the Old Austrian Hapsburgs (deposed since the Great Mutiny) for much of the flag. The left third was given to the blue of Bavaria and the Virgin Mary, a common Catholic symbol. Notably no nods were given to those living on the Rhine border, presaging the tensions that would soon emerge within the Republic.
Flag Challenge 272: Just Kill Me Already
Your task is to draw a flag of a nation seeking annexation into another country, rather than actually wanting to be a nation. OTL examples include the Bear Flag Republic, United Provinces of Central Italy, and the Tuvan People's Republic
Submissions Close: 23rd July, 04:00 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.
Your task is to draw a flag of a nation seeking annexation into another country, rather than actually wanting to be a nation. OTL examples include the Bear Flag Republic, United Provinces of Central Italy, and the Tuvan People's Republic
Submissions Close: 23rd July, 04:00 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.
Well, looks like I won this round.
Principality of Liechtenstein-Vorarlberg
In a referendum held in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg on 11 May 1919, 80.75% of those voting supported a proposal for the state to join the Swiss Confederation. However, the Swiss French and Swiss Italians were reluctant to take in another German-speaking area, and Swiss Protestants were somewhat cool to incorporating such a heavily Catholic area. Therefore, as a compromise, Vorarlberg was annexed to the Principality of Liechtenstein, which increased the territory of the Principality seventeen-fold and its desire to join Switzerland seventy-fold.
On the flag you can see the crown of the prince, which symbolizes Liechtenstein, and the banner of Montfort, which symbolizes Vorarlberg.
Flag Challenge 273: Not Evil, Just Widely Misunderstood
Your task is to design a flag that looks far more villainous and sinister than the actual country or organization it represents. I think the National Levelers Association flag is a good OTL example.
Submissions Close: 14th August, 10:00 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.
Your task is to design a flag that looks far more villainous and sinister than the actual country or organization it represents. I think the National Levelers Association flag is a good OTL example.
Submissions Close: 14th August, 10:00 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.
And the winner is @Born in the USSA.
Unfairly regarded as a pariah state, Virgin Bellinsgauzenia has been able to carve out a hard but stable existence in Antarctica, transforming a ragtag bunch of political exiles into a united collective determined to preserve their freedom in the face of repression in their home countries and rapacious corporations out to plunder the southern continent. With a founding population of radical American environmentalists, Russians fleeing the post-Soviet scramble for power, and black South Africans practically driven into the sea by the apartheid government, the new "nation"* has made itself busy accepting refugees of all stripes in its quest to build a sustainable monument to human freedom. Using the Antarctic flag as a base, the flag of Virgin Bellinsgauzenia incorporates green to represent its environmentalism, the literary symbol of Zoran's Equation to represent knowledge, and the stylized skull as a memento mori in the face of the unforgiving ice and the polar night.
Say hello to the joke country in the Power Without Knowledge version of the Red World HOI4 mod 😂
*Such as it is.
Flag Challenge 274: A Color Revolution
Continuing my all-consuming obsession with ideologies and color symbolism, create a flag for a revolutionary state (an existing one or an AH creation) in a world where the dominant political color and symbol of the guiding ideology is different for some reason. Your post should use an existing historical ideology (with an existing color/symbol association) and you should explain in the lore how the symbolism turned out differently.
Submissions Close: August 26th, 10:00 PM 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.
Continuing my all-consuming obsession with ideologies and color symbolism, create a flag for a revolutionary state (an existing one or an AH creation) in a world where the dominant political color and symbol of the guiding ideology is different for some reason. Your post should use an existing historical ideology (with an existing color/symbol association) and you should explain in the lore how the symbolism turned out differently.
Submissions Close: August 26th, 10:00 PM 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.