#alternate history flags

[arthurdrakoni]

Flag of the Aztec Empire

This is the flag of the Aztec Empire. It comes from a world where the Aztecs defeated Cortez and his troops. Smallpox still ravaged the Aztecs, but due to the more limited exposed they were able to recover by the time the Spanish sent additional expeditions. It soon become obvious that the empire would need to reform itself if it was going to survive the European colonization of the Americas.   The debate around these reforms leads to social upheavals and rebellions. The empire ultimately survived, but with a Tlaxcalan ruling dynasty. The Tlaxcalans, always one of the more reform minded peoples of the empire, set about instituting serious reforms.   The first reform was the structure of the empire. The provinces became much more centralized in their organization. The emperor still ruled over all, but each province sent a group of delegates to represent the needs of the province in a special council in Tenochtitlan. The priests and priestesses also began to slowly phase-out human sacrifice from the traditional religion of the Aztecs. Trade relations were established with multiple European nations both to gain access to European technology and to play the various powers off of each other.   For the next few centuries the Aztecs would be prosperous and would have good relations with their neighbors. They provided troops to the Federated Provinces of Cabotia during their rebellion against the British Empire. To this day the two nations remain close allies to this day. The Aztecs also maintained good relations with the Incan Empire, which also managed to avoid European conquest. The Aztecs went on to expand their territory to stretch from the American Southwest to the tip of Panama, and even managed to nab a few islands of the Caribbean.   The next major wave of reforms occurred during the 19h century. The Aztecs, much like Japan during the Meiji Restoration, underwent a Westernization process. Though from the Aztecs points of view the term would more accurately be Easternization. Industrialization began to take off, and Western clothing and customs were slowly introduced to improve relations with the great powers of Europe. However, the Aztecs did not completely turn their backs on their traditional culture. Aztec clothing still remains very colorful and incorporates many traditional designs, and nose rings are still somewhat popular for men and women. More traditional clothing is usually reserved for special ceremonies and occasions, such as religious festivals and the emperor's birthday.   The Aztecs also still worship their old gods, and many temples and shrines can be found throughout the empire. On the other hand, secularism is on the rise, and many people only perform the old rituals out of habit and tradition. What was once an empire imfamous for its bloodlust is today known as a thriving center of technology and innovation.  The flag features the colors red and green, which are traditional Aztec colors. The maze pattern is a common feature in Aztec artwork. The red snake is the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl, god of the winds and one of the most important gods in the Aztec pantheon.

Link to the original flag on my blog: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2016/11/flag-of-aztec-empire.html?m=0

[helpmeiwasforcedtobehere]

I often think that when it comes to alternate American flags, the flag of the American People's Commonwealth from the Hearts of Iron IV mod "Red World" goes particularly hard.

It sends exactly the kind of message you want for the flag of a revolutionary socialist American state.

[justdavina]

Rikkie Valerie Kollé Miss Transgender Universe Netherlands 2023

[sunnysam-my]

Why I don't use 'Progressive flag'

And why you should consider not to either.

Short answer? It's not progressive. It's as simple as that. Oh, and it's ugly as hell. And the creator of the OG flag advocated to go back to the older flag before he died.

Seriously, it's a nightmare of a design. Just like saying LGBTQIA2S+ is impossible to properly comprehend. It's simply too busy, too long, there's too much going on. By adding more letters or stripes we lose the meaning.

There are so many flags, are we going to add them all?

The intentions are good, but unfortunately progressive flags are way less inclusive than any other rainbow flag.

You see, pride flag was always inclusive. It has always represented queer POC, and trans people and intersex and anyone else who see themselves as part of the LGBT+ community.

The idea in highlighting certain parts of community that are often left out and controversial in the community had it's reasons. Despite that it's a stupid ass decision that implies people of colour, trans and intersex weren't a part of the community. That the flag didn't represent them.

In 1978, the artist Gilbert Baker, an openly gay man and a drag queen, designed the first rainbow flag, urged by Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S., to create a symbol of pride for the gay community. Baker saw the rainbow as a natural flag from the sky, so he adopted eight colors for the stripes, each color with its own meaning (hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit).

Baker and a team of volunteers had made the first flag by hand, for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day parade on June 25, 1978. Quickly he wanted to mass-produce the flag for consumption by all. However, because of production issues, the pink stripe was removed while indigo and turquoise merged to create basic blue, which resulted in the famous six-striped flag.

{source of slightly altered text about the history of the flag}

Since 2003 Gilbert Baker has been advocating to restore the flag to its original 8 stripe state. He died in 2017.

So here's my proposal:

Let's get back to the pink. Let's give it a new meaning. Let's put pink on the 6 striped flag for those of us who were thrown out, just like the pink was, because it was inconvenient to keep us. Nowadays it's not as hard to produce pink, so why not? It doesn't divide or alienate us more, it pays tribute to the old flag while also being distinct and new.

[leravat-lat]

OFMD if the plot developed in the present day

Stede Bonnet is a billionaire businessman who abandoned his family to become the leader of a criminal biker gang.

Blackbeard is the leader of a gang of criminal bikers who keep the whole country in fear.

[sethian123]

Roman Empire Flag (if the Roman Empire converted to Gnostic Christianity)

[triflesandparsnips]

(eta 10/10/23: Having just realized that this is now a very easy to google explainer, please also see the full end-of-game roundup here: "when something is definitely not a game, but most definitely a gift" or my related #definitely not a game tag. We now return you to your regularly scheduled nonsense, currently in progress.)

So... so.

So this just dropped.

And listen. LISTEN. For people who haven't been following this Our Flag Means Death-related alternate-reality-shenanigan fest, the following will make no sense to you-- or, wait, fuck it--

A Brief History of the Javid Denkins Alternate-Reality Game

(I didn't intend "overly long essays about in-depth fandom-related shenanigans" to be my brand, but by god I'm here now and I will make us all suffer through it.)

Reality (As We Know It)

Established and verified gay pirate showrunner David Jenkins is a regular shenanigineer on twitter: retweets fanart, retweets cosplays, calls fans sluts (endearment), has ongoing fight with medieval cats.

Back in 2022, David Jenkins implied heavily that he had joined tumblr, but did not cough up his account name.

This is the sum total of real and actual events and identities.

Through the Looking Glass

Fans started looking for David Jenkins's tumblr. What fans found is the tumblr of one Javid Denkins, who appeared to be new, had a variant of Jenkins's twitter icon, and seemed to be cheekily maintaining an incognito by steadfastly asserting that he is definitely not David Jenkins.

Fans got weird about it, because that is the nature of fandom. I said something about it here, because I have Feelings about the Rules of Incognito and also about Not Being Weird About People Who Make the Content We Like. I put it as a reblog to the post, as per regular tumblring, no response requested/required because babes, if I'm going to be perceived, I want it to be organic. (ahem... FOOTNOTE 1)

I kept a cursory eye on things, because it can be Really Lonely to be a famous person who just wants to have a regular online experience, and if that's what whoever was on the other end wanted, then that's what they should get to have imo. Unlike a regular tumblr that I might reply to directly or engage with on a same-level kinda way, I let them set the rules of engagement because unless/until they came clean, they would always be Schrodinger's Showrunner to me, and therefore subject to my internal Don't Be Creepy ruleset.

My second Javid reblog was pretty much what I would do to any other newbie tumblr person (as they professed to be): adding on to a gag by referencing the "color of the sky" meme and also a seagull, for OFMD-related reasons (which fit within the ruleset, because Javid was actively connecting himself with OFMD type things). And Javid reblogged it, so hey, I was winning at tumblr interactions, a thing that is normal to want and possible to achieve.

Time passed. Javid dropped (what will be revealed to be the first of many) photo manipulations. (FOOTNOTE 2)

On the same day, Javid posted what looked like an accidental smashkey. I reblogged with a seagull, because again, established rules of engagement and me winning at tumblr interactions. He reblogged himself, though, with what looked like another smashkey, but was actually a goddamn Caesar cipher-- and started using the tag #definitely not a game.

From there, Javid started up a stream of fairly fun puzzles. I didn't keep up with it fully, but since it looked like Javid wanted people to interact, I interacted (while trying to ensure that other people could keep having fun too). He also started subtly changing his icon, his tumblr header, etc., expanding the bounds of the puzzle space, as it were. (And if you want a complete rundown of the puzzle history and the associated answers, this twitter thread is enormous and thorough, thank you @eefaevie.)

The seagull made an appearance every once in a while; I threw together various season 2 bingo cards in response to these potential spoilers; I spent my time largely keeping back so I could eat popcorn and Not Be Creepy. But... but.

The thing was, Javid's method of posting (in a "heeeere fishy fishy fishy" manner) seemed, to me, to be the actions of someone trying to play with the audience and/or provide enrichment for the enclosure. So after some thought and, again, remembering the loneliness of being a Creative Person but trying to be mindful that this person was still incognito and could be the actual dude, I started using the seagull to reblog extra content, links, whathaveyou, with the tag #enrichment can go in BOTH enclosures-- with the idea that, if Javid wanted to look, he had the option to do so-- and if he did, he'd be rewarded with, again, no demands on him or his attention, but just: some content. Some enrichment. Some fun. A "picking up what you're putting down" kind of vibe from one person to another, both of whom are, at the very least, interested in communicating with an audience.

To be clear: For me, at the end of the day, it had to be a choice. I needed to provide room for Javid to choose to enter the magic circle of my additional game play-- but I also wasn't going to hold my breath about it. This was Javid's space, with intentions and purposes I had no way of knowing (nor should I)-- I was just, metaphorically, bringing another set of dice and maybe some graph paper with an extra room drawn on it that he could easily enter if he wanted, to play in a space intended to complement his. He was putting in a shitton of labor for what was essentially just a gift; I wanted to show appreciation for that labor, while putting in some of my own to gift back.

So when the first round of puzzles ended, and a new one began, I linked the answers to one of his anagram puzzles inside some seagull gifs-- but I figured, why not add something extra? I used his pigpen cipher to dare him to use a book code next. To even see the dare he'd have to want to decode the gifs-- and if he ultimately didn't want to engage, no skin off my nose. (That's why there's a border around the magic circle with clear entrances and exits.) Either way, I was having a nice time.

The next puzzle type was a stereogram. (Neat.) The puzzle after that, though? I get tagged and informed that Javid has, in fact, posted a motherfucking book code. (FOOTNOTE 3)

Enter the Thunder Parasocial Dome

This is the point where I first have to be pulled down from the curtains by rational people who have only my best interests at heart.

(Having a whole Thesis Statement about why I was engaging with Schrodinger's Showrunner is one thing. Having possible evidence that my engagement was, like, actually engaged with is quite another.)

By sweet and loving friends and family I was reminded that:

Other people are, in fact, allowed to be clever about things too.

That all sorts of pre-planning may have gone into all this, and that therefore the timing was a coincidence.

That there are a limited number of easily accessible ciphers out there, so the code type could also be a coincidence.

And that either way I still have my important Don't Be Creepy code of ethics.

So. I took a deep breath. Cool. I was totally and absolutely cool about this.

...And in a totally normal manner I proceeded to lay an elaborate trap.

AHAHAHA JUST JOKING what I mean is: I replied to the tagged post, acknowledging that the sphere of potential puzzling had now expanded beyond tumblr. I used Javid's own fake-link trick to link to a seagull laugh. And in the tags I threw in a lot of potential internet-related alternate reality stuff.

But also, crucially... some more ideas for Javid to use. (FOOTNOTE 4) If he wanted them. If he was actually looking.

Since I was now playing In Earnest, I spent some time putting together a youtube channel, an alternate tumblr, a neocities account -- a whole new field of play, if Javid wanted to engage there. I pulled out the dusty memories of a Yuletide fic I wrote several years ago that used similar shenanigans to tell an interactive fiction story about Monty Python. (Hilariously enough, my first RPF.) I continued to play with all these new and fascinating toys.

A Strange Ship on the Horizon

What with one thing and another three years pass, a Javid puzzle eventually lead to an AO3 account-- which to me definitively opened Schrodinger's box: maybe this was a member of the production playing with fire, more likely it was a clever fan whose brain is fucking fascinating, but it most definitely was not David Jenkins.

But. Javid was still in incognito. And I still don't know if I had been perceived.

I read the fic the Javid account is writing (which is still a work in progress and pretty great ngl)-- it's a fandom AU, where Ed and Stede are fans of a gay pirate romcom called Blow the Man Down, featuring Sam Bellamy and Olivier Levasseur. The showrunner is named Javid, who doesn't have social media but gets cornered into agreeing to join twitter (rather than our universe's tumblr). And Ed decides, on a lark, to start a fake twitter account, tag it #definitelynotjaviddenkins... and then freak out because a large contingent of fandom shows up on his metaphorical doorstep saying HELLO, JAVID.

As if this weren't enough: beyond the fic itself, suddenly a whole multimedia alternate universe suddenly appeared, with multiple twitter and AO3 accounts beyond just Stede and Ed, forming an entire fucking fandom, Goncharov-style, around Blow the Man Down. It was and continues to be fucking wild. It's also amazing. And the porn is surprisingly approachable. (BUT SEE AGAIN FOOTNOTE 1)

Grappling Hooks Breaching the Parasocial Divide

The thing is, though. The thing. That is.

I have officially reached Level 2 Curtain Clawing.

As I read the fic and the accompanying universe, I started to. Notice things.

References to soap (but... but surely that's normal. Many people talk about soap, not just amateur history enthusiasts like myself).

References to obscure scents (LABDANUM. Someone referenced labda-motherfucking-num. But surely. Surely it is not an entirely unheard of thing; I am not the first person to discover it or the fact that it gets combed from goats jesus christ the goat thing I forgot about that--)

References to the drilled coin from the wreck of Sam Bellamy's ship, which appeared as a random bit of possible future lore for Javid in this bit of enrichment (but I put in lots of possible lore! I had a whole thing going about figureheads! Bad luck to kill a seabird! I had a whole thing for a while where I thought maybe the digraph code Javid was hinting at was actually a Playfair cipher! I have been wrong many times before and added lots of random possible narratives. SO SURELY THE COIN IS A COINCIDENCE).

References to... okay not really references, and I've never articulated it quite like this (though this is definitely my vibe), but references to the idea of these puzzles and enrichment being a conversation in and of themselves, held at a remove and existing entirely in call (Javid) and response (the audience).

Finally... I started to notice that Stede decodes/interprets Ed-as-Javid's puzzles in a long twitter thread (like... like the one linked above) but also... sends back puzzles. Like, well, me.

"But STILL," I screech from the top of the curtain rail. "This could ALL BE COINCIDENCE," I yowl as friends and family try to bat me down with a broom. Even, by god, today's drop... which uses a password-protected url shortener. The exact same one I used in an earlier enrichment. But! It's not like there are a lot of those! Maybe this was just the first one that cropped up for Javid, just as it was the first that cropped up for me! (BUT THEN AGAIN, MAY I REFER YOU BACK TO FOOTNOTE 4)

The fic is at chapter 14. There are, if AO3 is to be believed, 7 more chapters to go, plus who knows how much additional extra-universe material. There is so. much. here.

...And so many more opportunities to climb all the curtains.

“It's a great huge game of chess that's being played—all over the world—if this is the world at all, you know.”

So at this point... what, in fact, is happening?

I'm inside a Schrodinger's box whose sides are entirely composed of parasocial uncertainty.

Maybe Javid is here. (HELLO, JAVID.)

Maybe he isn't! (HELLO, THE MIRROR IN MY ENCLOSURE.)

Maybe I'm not actually being referenced at all, but the writer of that twitter thead, @eefaevie, is (HI EEFAEVIE WHAT'S UP HOW'S THE PARASOCIAL AIR IN YOUR ENCLOSURE DOIN')

I don't know. I can't know. Unless someone opens the box.

and my god, what if they never do?

tl;dr. This is the most enriching fun I've had in months, and if the magic circle is going to widen to include me, then friend, I intend to BRING MY A-GAME.

---

FOOTNOTES

1. During the course of that mini-essay, I say the following:

"If it's someone who is not the dude but just a tumblrite who managed to catch on really quick? Well goddamn, good for them, and also A+ Wink-Nudge acrobatics. Real dude can have a peaceful time reading critical analyses of Goncharov, Javid here can quietly start introducing strange lore and running gags and other fun-with-plausible-deniability shenanigans".

One day later Javid starts answering questions about characters with enigmatic season 2 spoilery things; a little less than ten days later, we get the first fake link (which, imo, is the real start of the game).

2. This is now only 24 days after my "strange lore and fun with plausible deniability" post.

3. My dare: January 26. Javid's book code: February 4.

4. My tags on the post wherein I acknowledge that the dare has, possibly, been taken up, read: #you know what's cool? besides how #enrichment can go in BOTH enclosures #is how much you can do with html #like sure sure we've all seen the embedded links #but I remember the days of hidden source code messages #websites with delayed redirects #passwords hidden on one site to open the locked contents of another #you know #~normal things~ #I'm certain none of this will become relevant #because this is #definitely not a game

[rosesandalfazemas]

The mental image of Port as head of the UK in the chance Eng died and was replaced by a baby is kinda interesting. What would then be the flag? I feel like the flag would change.

[i4eth0ld]

Juvelic Orientations Flag Re-Desing

I am proposing this redesign for the following reasons:

— The colors have no meaning, it's just the flags of other communities together, disproportionately.

— Uses "heterosexual flag" there isn't a pride flag to represent a majority, and I don't like the idea in which blue and pink were placed, because it reminds me of the "cisgender flag".

As this is not a new flag, but a redesign, the original credits for the original flag remain with the person who made the design, which in this case I am based on it.

Meanings:

Red Orange, yellow, blue and purple stripes represent ALL the queer attractions. Includes all flags and all gender/non-gender love terms.

I kept the gray and black stripes precisely because of the Agender, Asexual and Aromantic pride flags, I do not want these stripes to be erased in any way, I am an Aroace person and these stripes are very important to me, as they must also be important to agender and other non-binary people.

The white stripe represents everyone who is not queer, or some who are straight, cisgender, allosexual or alloromantic who are otherwise queer, Everyone who Has an identity, attraction, orientation labeled "marginalized".

Lavender has long been a symbol of the queer community, so I decided to claim it and put it on the flag.

(flag with quality)

F.A.Q.

"Do I have to use the flag?"

No, there is no official flag in any community, there are flags for all tastes, and everyone can disagree and agree on guidelines.

"Is the old flag problematic?"

Probably not, but I still wanted to make an Alternative that is more representative, and I welcome suggestions on how to improve it

"Who are you?"

My name is Ethan, I'm an Inclusionist, I'm gay/Vincian non-binary Aroace, I like cats, and I sometimes enjoy learning about queer community terms and flags.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I was once an exclusionist, but I totally regret these kinds of thoughts, but if for some reason you come across an exclusionist comment of mine, please send it to me, I will delete immediately.

Finalization

I hope you queers like the flag, I tried my best to make it as beautiful as possible, bye!

EDIT: According to some people's feedback I changed the gray tone of the flag, I also think it looks much better so thank you very much for the feedback!

[sendmyresignation]

finally reading dance of days (thank you ohiolink and oberlin college <3) but my most consistent takeaway thus far. is oh my god. people who think punk is primarily ideological and not subcultural/musical. are so out of touch.

[velimirphoenix]

日本社会主義民主共和国の国旗

Socialist Democratic Republic of Japan flag

[arthurdrakoni]

Flags of the Athenian Empire

These are the flags of the Athenian Empire.  I couldn’t decide which I liked better, so I went with both of them.  They come from a world where Athens won the Peloponnesian War.  Following the defeat of Sparta, the Delian League was expanded to include the Greek colonies in Italy, the city-states in Anatolia and all of Greece.  All of this new territory meant more treasure for Athens' coffers.  Athens used much of this new-found wealth to expand its military and navy.  The unification of the Greek city-states meant that the Macedonian Conquest never occurred, and Alexander the Great never came to power.  Though it was still known as the Delian League, in reality, all of the city-states knew that they were now part of the Athenian Empire.

The threat of Persia was an ever-looming concern.  Athens funded many rebellions against Persia in regions such as Egypt and the Levant.  Eventually, Athens declared war on the Persian Empire and conquered it in short order.  However, most of the territory was lost within a few generations.  Athens also went on to conquer Carthage, the fledgling Roman Republic and expanded its territory into Gaul.  Athens also expanded into Hispania and the British Isles, but never for too long.  

Following this series of conquest Athens began to focus more intellectualism and the acquisition of knowledge.  Many libraries and centers of learning were founded across the Athenian Empire.  The Athenian Empire never truly fell, but over the years it did lose territory; at its smallest, it was comprised of Greece and Anatolia.  However, Greek influence on language, art and culture is felt throughout its former empire and the world at large.  In many ways, the Athenian Empire can be seen as the Western world's equivalent of China in terms of influence and culture.  

The flags feature an owl clutching an olive branch, symbols of Athens patron goddess Athena.  The colors of the flags are black and orange in reference to Ancient Greek pottery.  The black on the first flag is also a reference to the black sails of Theseus, mythical king of Athens.

Link to the original flags on my blog: http://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2017/09/flags-of-athenian-empire.html?m=1

[timhendriksc]

The flag of the fictional region "Handelaar"

[sharma-the-terrible]

Alternate history and mapmaking is possibly my biggest hobby and i've never brought it up here, so here is the piece i'm the most proud of, i drew the borders first and then made all the flags by myself using the pixel art tool in Paint tool sai 2. I'm super proud of this ngl

[clockwrkpendrxgon]

I saw you love red, white, and royal blue and I've just gotta ask you: have you heard of Burn the House Down by Kenna Jenkins? It's an alternate history novel abt the 1st woman president and her secret sapphic relationship/bearded marriage with her mlm best friend. It also includes a subplot about arson at the White House, ft. An entirely queer main cast and really fleshed out characters, and has a really satisfying ending!

oh i actually haven’t, but it sounds exciting! one of the biggest twists that get me started on a book is it being an alternate history novel. it’s always intriguing (and fun ngl) to see the author’s vision of what could have happened (as what has actually happened) and secret relationships??? entirely queer mains??? and arson in the white house???? WHERE DO I SIGN

[giverofempathy]

I LOVE HISTORICAL FASHION SO MUCH im literally going to cry