Flags of E Pluribus Unum

Well I'm back with another flag haul.  This is another project I did in collaboration with Lynn Davis.  You may have heard that Lynn and I have had a bit of a falling out and...well, it's true.  To be perfectly honest it was only a matter of time before this happened.  Lynn has some strong opinions, and she doesn't take kindly to those who disagree with her.  Well, that's the Tumbler set for ya.  I could have kept quiet, but I figured if Lynn was really my friend she wouldn't break off out friendship over a disagreement of opinion...apparently not.

But you didn't come here to talk about my personal life, you came for the flags.  These flags come from a world where the American Revolution was peacefully avoided, and Britain's former American colonies were organized into a European Union-esque organization.  These flags were a spin-off from Lynn's previous map Excelsior.  Let's meet them, shall we?

Here we have the flag of New York.  It's orange, white and blue to reflect New York's Dutch heritage and the design reference's New York's Iroquois heritage.  It comprises New York and the Ontario Peninsula.  Like most entire's on this list it's a European style liberal democracy with separation of church and state and a healthy advocacy of democracy without being too OTL French style.

Here we have the Confederated State of America, or CSA for short.  It comprises Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Michigan, Delaware, northern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and some of Minnesota.  I made it look kind of like the Freedom Party flag from Timeline-191 for purposes of allohistorical irony.  

Here we've got the flag of Vermont.  It's basically the same as the northern states, but with more of a libertarian bent to its politics.  It's design is based on the historical flag of Vermont.  

Next up is the flag of Manitoba. Comprising OTL Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon, Northern Territories and Nunavut. It is a very liberal and progressive democracy based on the radical democratic ideals of Thomas Spence, who founded the state. It's not very religious and believes absolutely in the ideals of democracy and the people.  It features Liberty leading the people with a sword at the ready to strike down tyrants, and the motto is emblazoned above her. 

Now on deck we have Louisiana.  It comprises the southern half of the Louisiana Purchase. It's a French Revolution style democracy due to the failure of the French Revolution leading many refugees to flee to Louisiana, which later joined the United States. It's Catholic, French speaking and kind of does its own thing compared to the other states.  Based on the historical flag of Louisiana.

Here we've got New England.  OTL New England minus Vermont. You might be wondering why New England has six stars, well it's beacuse each subdivision gets a star and there's also a star for New England as a whole. Alternatively, the stars are purely decorative (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). Anyway, New England is a social democracy in the style of Europe, but without being too French. It has separation of church and state. It is very religious without being very conservative, and religion rarely factors into its politics.

Next up is Florida.  OTL Florida plus the coastal regions of Mississippi and Alabama. Like most of the southern nations it's a conservative democracy like Poland or Italy, and usually has a lot of crazy politics and backwater bumpkins running things. Not as progressive as the other states and religion factors a lot into day-to-day operations.

Up next is Georgia.  The Xs can be interpreted as Saint Andrew's crosses, but I thought it would be funny if such a conservative nation inadvertently had a reference to hard core porn on it's flag.

Here we have Carolina.  Comprising Tennessee and the Carolinas.  The cotton bush is a reference to the state's primary economic engine.   

Next up is Canada.  Comprising OTL Quebec, Ontario minus the peninsula, Prince Edward Island and Larbador.

And here's the flag of Maryland.  I thought he knight was a night touch. 

Say hello to Oregon. Comprising OTL Oregon, Washington State, British Columbia and Idaho.  The killer whales reflect the region's native heritage and the wave symbolize the importance of the sea to the people of Oregon.

Here we have the flag of Alabama (Alabama and Mississippi minus their coastal regions). It's the only majority black state of the United States and as such is a Switzerland style direct democracy with emphasis on everyone being represented. It's very religious, but religion doesn't really factor into politics. There's also strong feelings of Pan-Africanism throughout the state, and that's reflected in the flag.

 This is the flag of Acadia, comprising OTL Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.  Yeah, it's basically the flag of Acadia Parish, this one beat me up.  

This is the flag of Lakota.  Comprises the northern half of the Louisiana Purchase.  It’s red and has tepees to reflect the high native population.  It’s a pennant flag to mix things up. 

This one's the flag of Virginia.  Comprising Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.

Finally, we have the flag of the United States as a whole.  I used purple because it's such an under-utilized color.  I went with a Romanesque/Futuristic design because it pleased me and I liked that it seemed slightly sinister, even though this isn't a dystopia.  Well, that and I'd been watching The Hunger Games movie.  

Well we've reached the end of our list.  my teamwork with Lynn is over, but at least I got some good flags to show off.  Also, if you'd like me to make some flags for you let me know and I'll see what I can do.  I can't guarantee it'll be a showstopper, but I'll certainly try my best.  No charge of course.  

Well that about does this for this flag haul.  I'll see you guys next time

Flags of The Grand War

My friend Lynn Davis has always been one of my favorite alternate history map makers.  When she said she wished she had flags I made a flag of an Islamic China based on one of her maps.  Lynn loved it and ask if I wanted to make more flags for her Grand War series.  Well, how could I say no to something like that?

So in this post I'm going to share those flags with you.  So without further ado let's get on with it.

So here's the flag of Islamic China.  It's green since that's a color you see in a lot of Islamic flags, and the star and crescent moon are included as well.  The writing is Arabic, the sacred language of Islam, and it says "Truly there is no god but Allah and Mohammad is the Prophet of Allah, peace be upon him".  The dragon adds Chinese influence, plus Lynn and I really like dragons.  Fun fact, this flag was featured in a work of art Lynn commissioned of two Chinese soldiers having sex.  You know you've hit he big times when your work is featured in a Rule 34 commission!  

Here we have the flag of Ruthenia.  Lynn wanted something that looked like the OTL flag of Ruthenia, and I figured nothing says alternate Russia quite like a bear holding an ax. 

For this one we have the Holy Germanian Empire.  Lynn wanted a red background and white cross, but that struck me as too simple.  So I added these crests to symbolize both the empire's earthly power and holy authority. 

This one is Norman France.  We've got the Norman lions along side the French fleur-de-lis to represent the mixed heritage of the nation.  Also, gotta love the red-blue contrast.

Here we have Japan.  It has black and white like the flag of the Tokugawa Shogunate, because it was opened up earlier in this world, and the imperial chrysanthemum.

This one is the flag of Anglo-Saxon Britain.  It's red, white and has a dragon.  All common Anglo-Saxon symbolism.  Plus, again, who doesn't love dragons? 

And here we have the United Kingdoms of Arcadia.  Lynn wanted something that was like a cross between the flags of America and Canada, and she like what I came up with. 

For this one it the flag of the Punjab Empire.  I wanted to do a pennant to mix things up, and I gave it orange since it's a Hindu empire and I added the pillar of Ashoka for added effect.

This one is the flag of Hispania.  It's Christian, but retains many elements of it's Moorish heritage, and the flag reflects this mixed heritage in it's symbolism. 

This is the flag of the Byzantine Empire.  Lynn wanted something like the Russian flag.  The gold is for God, the purple is for the emperor and the red is for the common people.  It's contains the imperial double headed eagle, and the Alpha and Omega symbols are to stand for the empire's strong Christian influences.   

Here we have the flag of The Caliphate.  It's a swallow tale to add variety to the fairly basic design.

Here we got the flag of Persia.  Pretty much the same as Iran's flag save for the inclusion of the Persian sun and lion.

This one is the flag of Vinland.  It follows the same pattern as all of the other Norse flags in reflecting it's Nordic heritage. 

Finally we have the flag of Korea.  I figured that as a Chinese vassal they'd get some Islamic influence as well.  We've got a flow and some phoenixes along with the phrase "God is great" in Arabic. 

Well that wraps up this flag post.  If you like Lynn's maps be sure to donate to her Patreon account.  I hope you all enjoyed getting to see these flags.  I love how they all have medieval feel to them.  Fitting, give that's when this world's history diverged from our's.  I'm actually credited as a vexillologist, someone who studies flags and banners, in Lynn's Grand War book.  Until next time everybody.     

On Flags, Commissions and Sean Sherman

I can safely say that I'm enjoying having a blog.  I should probably limit myself to two post per day, or three if I'm feeling especially ambitious.  That way I don't flood you guys with my material and I'll be able to stretch things out.  I guess I've been missing writing for an Internet audiance the way I did when I wrote for Fanfiction and Fictionpress, and don't worry, we will talk about what I did on those sites sooner or later.  For right now, though, let's talk about flags.

I've loved flags for as long as I can remember.  I've always been fascinated by their designs and their histories.  I even have a collection of flags of world nations, American states, Canadian provances and historical flags of various nations.  Therefore, it was perhaps only natural that sooner or later I'd make my own flags, especially after I got into alternate history.  Hey, I've been fascinated by maps and geography for many years, and I started making those when I got into alternate history.  

Now let's take a minute to talk about Sean Sherman, frequent contributor at Alternate History Weekly Update, but he also has his own blog known as Other Times.  Sean frequently contributes to the Flag Friday posts.  What I like the most about Sean's flags is that they're simple but effective.  What I mean by that is that they're the kind of things I can easily see myself replicating.  It was this simple effectiveness that gave me the confidence to submit my own flags to the Alternate History Weekly Update.  I have submitted for Flag Friday a couple other times as well.   

Recently, I noticed one of Sean's flags had the colors from two of the bands over laps with each other. This is something I've had occurred in my own flags, but it didn't bother Sean or Matt.  It's little things like this that let me know I'm doing something right, and that my flags really are good just as they are.  As you may have guess my flags have appeared on Flag Friday a few times as well.  

Speaking of flags of mine I have some very exciting news.  Toixstory, on of my favorite map makers, recently commissioned me to make a series of flags for his/her (I was never quite clear on Toixstory's gender) Grand War series.  It all started when Toixstory expressed a desire to have more flags based on his/her timelines.  So I took it upon myself to make a flag based on Islamic China from the Grand War map, pictured here

Toixstory loved it so much that I was asked to make flags for the other nations of the Grand War universe.  I made good on my promise and I will receive credit when the map and story come out, which should be relatively soon.  

Speaking of flags I've made, just as I'll be posting maps I've made to this blog I will also be posting flags while I work on my column, The Audio File, for Alternate History Weekly Update.  I should post the first flag soon so stay tuned for that.