This is what vexillologists (people who study flags) call a Nordic Cross flag. All the Scandinavian countries and a number of other places with links thereto (such as the Orkney and Shetland Islands and the West Riding of Yorkshire in England) have flags based on this same essential layout. The official spec for the Zetan flag, as displayed by government agencies, calls for it to have a two-to-one aspect ratio, with no fringes or fancy cords or what have you. (In movies, dressed-up versions with a gold fringe and other embellishments often appear in "official" contexts, to the amusement of anyone who knows the flag's origin story - see below.)

The original version of the Zetan flag was devised sometime during the startup phase of the Wedge Defense Force, mainly because one was needed for King Jerka of Salusia to hoist symbolically in front of the United Galactica Assembly building in Cheltopolis when that august body admitted the Republic of Zeta Cygni with Salusian sponsorship in 1992. As no one (least of all Baron von Fahrvergnügen) had thought of this ahead of time, the prototype was prepared in an almighty hurry on a completely ad-hoc basis by Gryphon, via "delegation" from Zoner, which is why the colors are the two shades of blue found on the flag of the State of Maine. His reasons for choosing the Nordic Cross design are unclear, but may have something to do with the fact that it has only straight lines in it and was therefore easy to sew.

The device in the upper left corner of the modern Zetan flag is called the Star of Avalon; it's the symbol of Avalon County, and appears somewhere in pretty much all official graphics relating to the county and the City of New Avalon (e.g. the license plates). It was added in 2384. The IPO uses a variation on the Star of Avalon, in red with extra points, as its own insignia.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
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