#doing dream smp meta in the year of our lord 2024. my god.

[pinkpeachypoppies]

Hey, has anyone thought about how the nation of L'Manberg had three canon lives, symbolically represented on the flag itself? It's been established that "canon deaths" are narratively significant deaths, typically causing massive emotional changes in the individual. For the purposes of this, the "life" of L'Manberg is the spirit of the nation and the culture.

The first "canon death" of L'Manberg was Eret's betrayal, represented by the yellow X on the left, causing a change in the anthem and the culture of L'Manberg, and leading to an overall tone shift in the server as a whole, eventually leading to moral greyness and a descent into darkness. Notably, the first canon death occurred from within "the walls" (betrayal by a citizen), and during a time of war, represented by darkness. I personally associate yellow with gold in this instance, and it's notable that Eret betrayed L'Manburg for political power, for a crown.

(Aside- the common meanings assigned to flag colours in vexillology are:

Blue - liberty

White - Peace

Red - Blood

And I personally choose to assign black the symbolic meaning of war and conflict. Notably, during Schlatt's rule of Manburg, the flag turned all black with red X's, it was neither a time of peace nor liberty, and the nation was steeped in conflict and grim darkness like never before.

I also believe that the order of the colours on the original flag is relevant - they are a nation built on blood and conflict (lowest red stripe), even in times of peace (white) L'Manberg's citizens are still prone to conflict (red X's), and they strive for liberty (blue stripe), but never seem to actually reach it, at least not for long. If we take the colour of the X's during each of the deaths to represent the mentality of L'Manberg's citizens, we'll note the yellow X during the first death, just prior to Eret's betrayal was probably the brightest and happiest time for L'Manberg in terms of interpersonal conflict, despite the war going on. It was clear then who the enemies were and the populace was united and optimistic.)

The second death of L'Manberg was the first November 16th - when c!Wilbur blew up L'Manberg. This death was caused by someone who was narratively and politically an "outsider", no longer truly a part of L'Manberg, someone from "outside the walls", and against the backdrop of a supposed peace (white) - they'd just won back L'Manberg and were celebrating entering a new era, before L'Manberg was suddenly plunged back into bloodshed and chaos by Technoblade turning against the L'Manbergians and c!Wilbur Soot blowing up the state. Continuing with "the X's represent the emotional state of the citizens" line, this was also a time of serious interpersonal emotional strife for L'Manberg's citizens (in both Pogtopia and Manburg).

The third canon death of L'Manberg was during a relatively peaceful era of rebuilding (white), though there was still conflict and trauma felt by the citizens (red X), again committed by an outsider (Phil and Techno). Note how the state was never rebuilt after this death, and former citizens went their own ways, making their own settlements elsewhere.