Flag of the Morsian Empire

The flag of the Morsian Empire

The Flag of the Morsian Empire was the recognised flag of the Morsian Empire, consisting of a solid purple backing color, with two solid horizontal bands of back and medium green to the right. Off-center to the left was a Morsian Army helmet centered in a laurel wreath, and the edges of the flag was edged in a golden trim. The flag was introduced by the Morsian Empire some years after its creation, when the state was in a more stable position, and able to focus more on items such as a permanent flag.

Origins

The Morsian people had always used purple, medium green and black as their national colors, so the flag reflected this, featuring them exclusively as the primary colors of the flag. The helmet symbolised the status of the Morsian Army, as well as reflecting the militaristic nature of the Morsian people, whilst the wreath symbolised the Morsian Senate and Morsian Emperor, the ruler and governmental hearts of the Empire.

Variants

Horizontal

The horizontal flag was the most recognised variant of the flag. This flag was used on all government buildings, as well as most other official installations, such as military bases, embassies or official visits. In addition, the flag was often found at entrances to settlements across Mors, flying over gatehouses or other entrances. Ports usually had the flag flying at the top of lighthouses and other tall installations.

The pennant flag variant

Pennant

The pennant variant of the flag was less well known, and subsequently less used than the main flag. The flag was created as a smaller version which could be flown temporarily, or as a signal. Unlike the main flag, the pennant ended in a swallowtail design, and lacked the green and black bar. Instead, over the open end of the wreath was the Morsian crown, the ancient symbol for Morsian royalty. The symbol was picked up again by the Morsian Emperors and subsequently used to denote Imperial authority. As such, the pennant was sometimes seen as the official flag of the Imperial family, though this status was never confirmed.

The vertical variant

Vertical

The vertical variant of the flag was moderately well employed, often seen hanging down from columns, mostly on official structures. The flag could be seen on the Morsian Senate buildings in both the old capital of Volcanesis Magna and the replaced capital Malum, where it would be hung down from columns on the Senate buildings. In addition, the flag could be found on other official structures such as town halls, provincial government offices or embassy buildings. The flag used the same scheme as the horizontal variant, however the black and green bars were at the bottom, whilst the crown and a building representing the Morsian Senate was defaced below the wreath.

Military

The template used for the Morsian Army standard

The Morsian Army never had a central flag as their uniting image. Instead, they had a variety of standardized legion standards, which followed a governing set of rules to their size and dimensions. These military standards invariably changed throughout the change in governments for the Morsian people, however they were never notably tied to the flag of the government. As such, the flag of the Morsian Empire had little bearing to their design.

The naval flag

The Morsian Navy, however, followed the same design as the last redesign of the flag of the Morsian Empire. It retained the same color scheme, as well as the black and green bars on the far right of the flag, though the green was replaced with a deep blue. However, the defaced emblems were changed. The wreath was recolored to a deeper green, rather than the gold, and the helmet was removed, instead replaced with a planet with a backing red pointed sun. Atop the planet was a recolored royal crown, with a black crown and recolored banding.

History

Early creation

The Morsian Empire came to existence during the Twelfth Morsian Civil War, when the Sixth Morsian Republic was overthrown by the new empire. As such, the temporary flag of the Morsian Empire was repurposed from the Sixth Republic. The two white bars were kept on the sides of the flag, except the golden columns were replaced by Morsian gladius swords. The center of the flag was defaced with the wreath and helmet, replacing the design used by the Republic.

A more stabilised state

Once the state was stabilized, attention could be turned to more administrative details, such as a redesign of the flag. The white bars were recolored with the traditional green color, whilst the wreath was made bigger to fully accommodate the helmet. It was also decided that the royal crown emblem should be on the flag somewhere, to symbolise the Emperor, and as such it was placed atop the helmet.

Modern flag

The flag was once again redesigned at around the time that Pax Morsiana was declared in 13,200 BBY. The two large green bars were moved to the far right, made thinner and one recolored to black. The wreath and helmet were shrunk in size and placed more centrally on the purple, which shifted them to the left of the center of the flag. The crown was also removed, as it was decided that it was unnecessary.

Protectorate planet flags

Due to the status of Morsian Protectorate Planets as being within the Morsian Empire and under the protection of the Morsian Empire, a part of the deal was that on the national flags of the nations accepting Morsian protection, a symbol of the Morsian Empire needed to be present. These flags were recognisable due to the purple square in the top left of them, which bared the main Morsian symbol of the gold helmet. This easily identified any nation as being a Morsian protectorate.

The Britavanian flag

The Icenian flag

Non-state usage

Whilst the usage of the flag was generally confined to the Morsian Empire and its operation, sections of the flag were used elsewhere for other reasons, though it required authorization by the Morsian Senate. One such example was the Jedi Village in the nation of Icenia on the protectorate planet of Undulis. Following the Morsian Order 66 sanctuary offer by the Morsian Empire in 19 BBY, various Jedi sought refuge with its borders. Later, some of these Jedi came together to make a new sect of the Jedi Order within the Morsian Empire, eventually becoming the Morsian Jedi Order. Many of these Jedi now had families they were reluctant to leave, and so built a village in the nation. A part of this deal was that the Jedi had to follow the same laws and rules as the nation, so on the flag they designed for the village, they had to include the purple square of a protectorate nation in the top left.

In addition, the new emblem for the new Jedi Order also included the purple protectorate square and gold helmet, placed in the lower right of the emblem. However, this was more out of gratitude by the Jedi to the Morsian Empire for giving them sanctuary from prosecution by Galactic Empire Inquisitorius rather than as a requirement.

Historical Morsian state flags

The Morsian Empire was not the first Morsian state to govern over the Morsian people, and as such there were many preceding flags to the Morsian Empire of historical Morsian states that rose and fell due to various factors.

Flag of the Kalla'tarucc Tribe

The Kalla'tarucc Tribe was the original tribe that first called themselves "Morsians". The tribe initially formed in around 20,000 BBY and during its early existence, the tribe lived underground in cave systems so had no need for a flag. However, the tribe found an extinct volcano above ground, naming it Volcanesis Magna. Their flag reflected this, with a black background representing the dark Morsian atmosphere, grey ground for the terrain, whilst the volcano was represented in green, showing the winding path up the outside and the gatehouse at the top. The top left corner of the flag had two crossed stakes and a moon, symbolising the strong defensive nature of the tribe.

Flag of the Morsian Kingdom

The tribe eventually reformed into the civilized Morsian Kingdom in around 18,000 BBY, whilst also redesigning their flag. The tribe, now a kingdom, had expanded from their initial lands and settled further afield. This involved setting up stronger defenses, changing the wooden palisade walls to sturdier brick and stone ones. The flag design reflected this, with a solid medium green backing color and the Morsian crown in the center, overlayed with stone walls, representing the stronger defenses employed by the kingdom.

Flag of the Morsian Military Dictatorship

Due to enemy spies and assassins killing the king and his heirs, the kingdom was destabilised and broke into civil war. Eventually, the Morsian 1st Legion crushed the civil war and the legate took power for himself, declaring the Morsian Military Dictatorship, despite efforts by the Morsian Senate to crown him the new king. The flag of the dictatorship was based around the army, keeping the solid green background except with two large black bars, one of either side of the flag. Defaced in the center was an arm holding a Morsian gladius, illustrating the military power that had formed the dictatorship, as well as it being the ruling party of the state.

Flag of the First Morsian Republic

The ending times of the dictatorship was marked by bloody warfare and a destructive civil war. From the ashes of the realm came the First Morsian Republic, led by the Morsian Senate with the legate of the Morsian 3rd Legion being its first Consul. The First Republic repurposed the flag of the dictatorship, retaining the solid green backing and rightmost black bar whilst removing the left one. In the center of the green was the first usage of the wreath, with an icon of the Senate building in its center. The black bar featured another wreath with crossed swords in the bottom third, a memorial to the civil war. The upper third featured a banner with the acronym SPQM, which stood for Senatus Populusque Morsianus in Old Morsian, or "The Senate and People of Mors" when translated to Galactic Basic Standard.