Raise your Flag

Hey all! Wasn’t in the mood to put up another poem for this Sunday post, so I’d thought I instead dedicate this Sunday post to something I’ve done recently. Last Tuesday June 6th it was Swedish National Day and the day before that day I spent the afternoon after work going into Inkscape and putting together some national flags for the five fictional countries in my webcomic setting of Altarctica. You can see these flags displayed on the map I have over Altarctica on my profile page.

I’d thought I display each on of them here and talk a little bit about them and the manner in which they represent they’re respective country. They are as follows




ISLES OF HELIX

Isles of Helix is an island republic, formerly a bunch of colonies split between Portugal and France back in colonial times, and the homeland of the mutants of the setting. It’s a nation widely known for its fractured and radioactive environment caused by the Altar Nuclear Powerplant Disaster of 1989, but it's also widely known for its plentiful and til’ this day (til' this day being in the 2100’s in the time continuity of the comics) still not fully unearthed valuable resources that are the source of its immense wealth. The Helixfinger symbol (My watermark) in the middle is an ancient symbol that was discovered in the ancient ruins scattered across the island wilderness and under the sea itself. Its original creation and meaning is til’ this day still unknown, but it has long been associated with the bizarre, mutated, native/natural inhabitat of the islands and has in its modern age become a religious symbol representative of the modern day mutant. Its color pink representing mutagenic transformation, while the green background represents the Sea of Helix.

The yellow mushrooms on each corner of the flag – representing the Shroos which are these palm tree sized mushrooms you can find growing all over the country – along with the yellow pearls in between represents the country’s accumulated fortune. The green stars next to the Helixfinger symbol represents the fortune yet to be discovered.




PROSPERO

Prospero was formerly a british colony that named its island and its capital Tempest accordingly to the play by Shakespear. It’s been known for its tumultuous weather conditions and its relative isolation from both the islands in the west and the mainland in the east. The red background symbolizing the country’s chaotic inception, settlement and maintenance and all the lifes that were lost in the process. The compass symbolizing its persistence and maintained ability to find its way through the hardest of times.




PHANTEOK

Being a rocky peninsula that remained mostly uncolonized for a long time before several expeditions originating out of the Dutch colony of Merubad had it settled, Phanteok’s name came out of a dream one of the explorers had that stuck over time. The flag is pretty straightforwardly put together. You have the snowy landscape represented in white on the bottom. The numerous mountain ranges of the region represented in yellow and a dawning sun represented in orange. And finally on top you have the starlit night sky represented in brown. Its white stars representing the inception of the country’s name coming out of the void of dreams like stars out of the void of space.




MERUBAD

Uniquely, Merubad was not only a small colony originally established and administered by one of the dutch chartered companies, but also - over time - became the home residence and seat of power of a family of dutch dukes, connected to the Dukes of Burgundy. After the dukes lost their power long before the noble family settled in - and the title of duke wasn’t really being used anymore under dutch aristocracy after that (or at least so I understand from reading Wikipedia) - the House of Merubad, from which this city-state would become named after over time, retained its title of Grand Duke/Grand Dutchesse through legal affairs with various noble families in Europe, managing their real estate and influence in the South Pole as a protectorate under various powers and influencers.

It was an ongoing affair all the way up until WWII when Imperial Japan occupied most of Altarctica, including Merubad. Then when Imperial Japan lost the war Merubad along with all the other colonies of Altarctica fell under US jurisdiction, and Merubad’s now long established monarchy became a representative one under US democratic law. That was until the US decided to withdraw its jurisdiction from Altarctica all together in 1997, due to the Mutant Scare that exploded out of the A2-crisis in 1989, and Merubad along with the other colonies declared themselves independent countries with Merubad now being ruled democratically under its own parlament.

Its flag's background of white, red and blue represents its still close ties to the Netherlands and the yellow crosses represents its Dukedom/monarchy, the house of Merubad, representing its city-state under God.




NEW NORMANDY

Not much to say about New Normandy. It was originally a French colony that got mixed up with the Dutch and the British settlements over time, and is the one country that probably embraced the US influence on its culture more then any of the other Altarctic nations. Its flag with its brown background symbolizing the land, the white lines symbolizing its many, many inland waters and the stars representing its colonial past, finding this land under the guidance of the stars.

So those are my flags that I’ve made. Have you ever created your own flags in your fictional setting? If so what was the idea going into making them? Let me know in the comment section below.

Have a good Sunday.


NaaN (Now, always and Never)