Flag of Antrium
The National Flag of Antrium, also known as the Seventh Antrian Flag, is a base black flag with six diagonal stripes in three colors: red, green, and white, with the IDU scales in the center, in white. It has been in use since February 2006.
Contents
Design
The current Antrian flag was designed by vexillographer Làrîjîen Metarumû. Prime Minister Aranti Devaléra accepted the flag design on February 20, 2006. The first flag of this design was sewn on February 17, 2006, by Claudette Bechard, and is now flown from Government Tower in Sivaris.
This design was made to incorporate the three newly annexed provinces of Monvelàro, Lakitéo, and Kostatero. Each stripe and section (there are six stripes and three sections, for a total of nine) represents a province.
Each provincial flag has one of the stripes on its flag as well. The upper left section represents Norato, the first stripe represents Véo, then Lakitéo, then Kostatero. The middle section represents Sivaris. The next stripe represents Monvelàro, then Esto, then Soréto, and finally, the lower right section represents Alvés-Navlan. Each flag has its own design representing its unique culture and history, and its stripe represents the country of Antrium.
The scales are one of the symbols of the flag of the region of International Democratic Union, which Antrium belongs to. Many IDU nations have the IDU scales of justice on their flags. In very small versions of the flag, the scales are sometimes removed, to avoid blurriness.
The colors are said to represent white for peace, green for the environment, and red for bravery. The black represents ethnic heritage.
It has a roughly 3:2 ratio of width to length.
History
Antrium has had 6 other flag designs in its short history. Some were flown for as short of a time as three days before a new design was implemented.
The First Antrian Flag
The First Antrian Flag was designed prior to Antrium's founding in 2005, as a provisional flag of the future state of Antrium. It was designed by the group "Federalists for A New State", or FANS. It was the flag used both by the group, and to show support for Antrium's founding. It was the official flag of Antrium for a month between August 12 and September 12, 2005.
Its colors are green, red, and yellow, two of which are still the Antrian flag colors.
The Second and Third Flags
The Second Antrian Flag was designed in early September 2005 by Léon Tînîm, a graphic designer from Sivaris. It was used for only 3 days from September 12 to 15, 2005. It hadn't even been distributed in most areas except large cities by the time the Third Antrian Flag was made official. The Second Antrian Flag was used as the flag of the Antrian Army during the use of the Third Antrian Flag, but was discontinued afterwards.
The Third Antrian Flag was also designed in early September 2005. It was designed by Désunàr Kwîàlno, a vexillographer from Marnezjalis. It was first proposed as the first flag of the proposed nation of Alvés-Navlan, which later became a province of Antrium. It was not chosen and was then submitted by Kwîàlno as a new national flag. Parliament made it official on September 16, 2005. It was then used for ten days, until September 26.
The Second and Third Flags can be identified by their four colors: teal, dark red, black, and white.
The Green Flags
The Fourth Antrian Flag was designed in mid-September 2005. It was designed by Prime Minister Aranti Devaléra himself to represent the values of environment, ethnicity, and bravery, which continue to be represented on current Antrian flags. It was also a compromise between the first two flags used. It used the red that was on all of the older flags, the black from the Second and Third flags, and the green from the First. It was made official by Devaléra on his birthday, September 27th. It was used for 1 month, until October 27th.
The Fifth Antrian Flag was designed by Léon Tînîm, the designer of the Second Antrian Flag. It was designed in October 2006. It added the color white, to represent peace. It also represented the five provinces of Antrium, with Sivaris as the black circle in the center, and the other four as lines going toward it. It was used until the addition of the province of Alvés-Navlan on December 3rd.
The "Green Flags" can be identified by their use of the colors green, black, and red. They are the flags which use the most green in their design, and represent a short period where the environment was extremely important to Antrians.
The Sixth Flag
The Sixth Antrian Flag is the predecessor of the current flag, and has a similar design. One reason for this is that it was designed by Làrîjîen Metarumû, the designer of the Seventh Flag. It was put into use to represent the changes brought by the addition of Alvés-Navlan, including the use of a new language, Alvésin, among other changes. Its five sections were not intended to represent the five Original Provinces, but many thought they did. The reason for its discontinuation is partially because of Alvés-Navlan's complaints about feeling unincluded. It was also used for the colony of Antrium in Iowa, with blue stripes instead of green, to represent the Iowan flag.
Protocol
There are no formal rules regarding flying the Antrian flag. It is legal to burn or otherwise destroy the flag, as it is regarded as only a symbol of the country. When a flag is retired, the Antrium Vexillogical Association recommends burning the flag rather than throwing it away, but it is not illegal to dispose of it in any way.
Generally, if a person dies, flags are flown at half-staff for a week in mourning. Flags are generally flown on Flag Day, on February 20th, and on Founding Day, on August 12th. There are no laws requiring this, but it is a custom that most follow.
Flags are generally free or extremely cheap and can be picked up at most government buildings. If a new version of a flag is made, the government will replace old flags with the new version at no cost.
