WotBS National Flags

[emeraldbeacon]

Neat! I suggest you cut the bottom half of the sun off in the Shahalesti flag. Then it looks like the sun rising over the sea -- appropriate, since their lands dominate the eastern shore of the continent.

The Seaquen flag begs to be confused with the Shahalesti flag -- blue above blue in both cases. Since the tip of the peninsula is volcanic, maybe you could incorporate that into the flag somehow? A black or red triangle taking up the windward edge of the flag would look good. Also, the compass rose seems overly modern. An anchor seems like a more traditional nautical symbol. Or, if you have a goddess of the sea, her symbol would be appropriate on Seaquen's flag.

I see what you mean about the Seaquen and Shahalesti flags being similar, so I changed them up a little.

I wasn't super happy with the very stylized, angled look of Shahalesti anyway, so I decided to go a bit more old-school. Their flag is more elegant now, featuring some subtle color gradients that would be HELL to produce without magic. The white-and-gold sunburst still sits on a blue field, but now the color is softer. I imagine that most flags would be embroidered with varigated yellow and white thread, so it seems to shimmer in the light, while formal flags at the castle would feature thread literally made of gold and silver.

Seaquen gets a makeover as well, brightening the colors, and shifting from a sea/sky motif to a three-banded look. The bronze-colored compass rose remains, but now more stylized, with the bronze-gold color mirrored on the vertical stripes, as well.

Lastly, the traditional Sindaire flag embraces the national love of bears, featuring a ursine design in gold and black, on a rusty background, with black bands flanking the flag at top and bottom. Under Ragesian occupation, of course, they fly the black-and-green dragon flag of the Empire, though the golden bear is still revered by the nation's patriots.

EDIT: After reading the module better, I realize that Steppengard had eighteen children, not fifteen. His flag has thus been updated accordingly.

 

[emeraldbeacon]

Toying with some alternate schemes for Ostalin. I wanted to include the hippogriff, since those seem to play a large role in their military (and they are definitely a militarily-focused nation). Both feature a yellow-and-magenta striped color scheme (mainly because I wanted some purple represented in the flags), with the noted beast trimmed in white.

The net results almost look like a sports jersey, which I'm not entirely opposed to, given the competitive or combative nature of most Ostalin-centric encounters in the story.

EDIT: Designed a slightly cleaner look for the flag.

 

[Bill T.]

Uhm, why does the Shahalesti flag have a human face?

 

[emeraldbeacon]

Uhm, why does the Shahalesti flag have a human face?

How do you know it's human? You can't see the ears...

 

[Blackrat]

As a Vexillophile I love this thread eventhough I know nothing of WotBS. There a few issues that would raise brows on real world flag design, but in fantasy those can be waved. (Mostly regarding shades of colors)
You’ve kept them simple, mostly with three or fewer colours per flag, and easily recognisable simple charges. Very nice.

 

[emeraldbeacon]

As a Vexillophile I love this thread eventhough I know nothing of WotBS. There a few issues that would raise brows on real world flag design, but in fantasy those can be waved. (Mostly regarding shades of colors)
You’ve kept them simple, mostly with three or fewer colours per flag, and easily recognisable simple charges. Very nice.

I'd love to hear some insights, to make them even more viable as flags... and perhaps I could fill in some details about WotBS to make the imagery more relevant?

 

[Blackrat]

I don’t know if I have any insight, just that real world flag designs tend to stick to the basic shades of the primary and secondary colors, plus black & white (and there are exceptions in real world too). And as I said, fantasy setting has no need to adhere to that.

 

[emeraldbeacon]

After doing some research, I found five "rules" for making effective flags, that are generally accepted by most "vexillologists..."

1. Keep it simple. The flag should be easily duplicated, and recognizable from far away.
2. Meaningful symbolism. Color and shape choices should reflect the purpose of the flag.
3. Simple color choices. Colors should be basic (generally red, yellow, green, blue, black & white) and high-contrast.
4. No lettering or seals. Complex designs tend to get lost in a flag flying in the wind. and words are nigh-useless.
5. Be distinctive. Try to be unique from other designs.

To that end, I've revised a few flags (mainly the Dasseni regional flags) to reflect better contrast and more distinct use of color. I will continue to use odd colors (oranges, purples, browns), but I'm trying to use them in a more unique fashion, now.

 

[emeraldbeacon]

I decided to try and start some flags for other notable groups in the story. The Order of the Aquiline Cross features a "red cross in a ring of feathers." I decided to replace the ring with arched wings, symbols of the Stormchaser, flanking the cross in the center. There's almost no way to include a cross without it looking explicitly Christian in nature, but admittedly that isn't a terrible analogy to the group, given both their violent crusading history, AND their newfound, much more idealistic purpose.

Also, a flag for Clan Millorn that I had to do once I came up with imagery for a group of adventuring gnomes and halflings...

 

[emeraldbeacon]

So I'm trying to decide now, what other groups need to be depicted? I could create a formula for Ragesia's numerous armies, perhaps... a specialty flag for the Solei Palancis... maybe a Black Horse Mercenaries flag...