Concerning the Flag and a Butt-In, Idiot Baron

[Óïn Ursüm]

Another, unrelated, royalist suggestion. Instead of just pasting a picture of the proposed flag,


you could get the College of Arms to write a blazon for it, so that the constitution will be all text.

[Hooligan]

Well, the flag isn't proper, heraldically, I'm afraid. When you guys changed the bars from Firefly Yellow to Talossan Red, you violated the rule of tincture. It therefore isn't a proper flag -- I would recommend at least outlining the red bars in yellow to make it valid again.

With red bars, though, the thing would be blazoned vert two bars gules surmounted by a mullet inverted argent.

(Again, though, I would strongly advise making those bars "gules fimbriated or" to make the flag more visually distinguishable at a distance, which is the reason for the rules of tincture.)

Hool

EDIT: I know, I know; don't get me started on some of the other provincial flags. But it's up to them to fix their issues (says the guy who fixed Florencia's). :-)

[Hooligan]

Another idea to put Talossan Red in would be to leave the bars yellow, and then change that central stripe of green to red. I don't want to be designing your flag, though -- just saying that's another way to make it valid, if you like it.

Or, obviously, changing the top or bottom green field to red, etc.

'Course, all those are slightly less Firefly'y maybe.

I'll shut up now.

[D. N. Vercáriâ]

Eh?

[D. N. Vercáriâ]

The Constitution may say this, the Constitution may say that, I'm not going to argue with this by now.

But what's that vexicologial, pardon me, gibberish in plain English, and why can't we design a flag according to our tastes if it's not the Jolly Roger or the flag of the Soviet Union?

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

You can have any sort of flag you want!

[Óïn Ursüm]

Yeah, I just thought your constitution would look better with the description of the flag written out rather than an external link or an embedded image.

Whether it is a traditional design of flag is none of my business, sure enough.

[D. N. Vercáriâ]

It has been said that it is heraldically incorrect. Not by you, that's true. The explanation why it's heraldically incorrect was written in tongues, though.

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

It's heraldrically incorrect, I believe (I'm not in the College) because it includes red on green. One of the law of heraldry is that you cannot have a tincture on a tincture (i.e. no white on yellow) or a color on color (probably not the correct term for that one, but same principle). But M-M proudly and flagrantly defies the laws of heraldry, and you can too!

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

Hold on, does this mean the FLAG OF THE KINGDOM ITSELF defies the laws of heraldry?

[Hooligan]

Let me try to translate my explanation out of tongues and into English:

The "rule of tincture" was created so that things like coats of arms and flags, which are meant to be seen from far-off distances, can be easily recognized. (So that people don't accidentally shoot arrows or bullets or cannon balls at their friends.)

This rule states that there must be contrast in the elements of the design. The way this rule is enforced is by dividing the world of "tinctures" into two sets: colours and metals (actually, three sets; the other being "furs", which I might get to later, but let's concentrate on colours and metals).

Then, the rule states that no colour may be placed "on top of" another colour, nor may any metal be placed on top of any metal.

The things in the set of colours are: blue, green, red, and black.

The things in the set of metals are: silver and gold (basically, white and yellow in practice, though).

So, putting those red bars on top of a green background makes the design harder to distinguish from a distance. I think this can be proven empirically if you print it out and walk across the room. The green blends with the red as you get further away.

That's the quickie English explanation. Yellow bars on green, good. Red bars on green, not so good. Red bars each on top of a bigger yellow bar and those yellow bars on top of green, good.

(You can do just about anything with furs, though -- I mention it only because the canton on the Cézembre flag is a fur.)

Hool

[D. N. Vercáriâ]

How is heraldry written into the Talossan body of laws?

[Hooligan]

May 8, 2012 15:54:57 GMT -6 Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN said:

Hold on, does this mean the FLAG OF THE KINGDOM ITSELF defies the laws of heraldry?

Nope. The flag of the Kingdom is a valid flag.

We don't have anything green ON TOP OF anything red. Nor do we have anything red ON TOP OF anything green. Instead we have a single field divided into a red part and a green part.

Subtle distinction, I know, but it's the rule and it works.

Note how the validity of the U.S. flag is similarly (kinda) ascertained. The field is divided into bars, making it half-red, half-white. Then a blue canton is put on top of it. Can blue be on top of red? No. But blue CAN be on top of "half-red, half-white". As long as half-or-more of something tinctured as a colour (or metal) is atop the opposite tincture, all is well.

Hool

[Hooligan]

May 8, 2012 15:56:19 GMT -6 D. N. Vercáriâ said:

How is heraldry written into the Talossan body of laws?

It's not. It's just cool.

Hool

[D. N. Vercáriâ]

Which, then, is a matter of taste.