Star Clans Heraldry

Star Clans Heraldry originated with the unit pennants carried by the brigade of genengineered soldiers stranded on Arden.  The brigade was heading to do battle on a low-tech world, and carried unit pennants based on the style of their target world. 

Over time, as the Uruki forgot their origins, the military symbols were simplified into stylized icons or replaced by icons with local meaning representing the kingdoms and clans.  Uruki pennants have typically been dark ink on pale leather, without additional color.  Since the founding of the Ardeni Kingdoms, the use of color has slowly been added, though not yet above the Family level on Arden itself.

Formal banners use the layout shown here:

This picture shows the symbols of the Oer King (formerly referred to as The King Above) and the two High Kings:  

The Teacher

Although the Gnomes gave up industrial technology when they arrived on-planet; and the Uruki are descendants of a low-tech regiment of genengineered soldiers, the Ardeni Kingdoms are currently TL4.  Knowledge of higher technologies, and a high level of craftsmanship based on family and clan expertise has allowed the Gnomes to produce high quality goods in spite of a lack of industrial capacity.  The Ardeni Kingdoms however, are in the early stages of industrialization, and could advance rapidly if given the right motivation.  The question is, can I guide them away from discovering my masters until we are ready for them?

Origin of the Uruki

The Captain received the "secret" orders about the regiment of gengineered soldiers, and he quickly obeyed them.  The regiment was dropped on a rocky shore with all their equipment and a copy of the orders, which said they would be picked up within the year, and they should be ready to fight upon retrieval.

More worlds had fallen to barbarism since the last ship to visit, and unfortunately for my plans, the regiment was armed for low-tech combat only, wielding various poleaxes, swords and bows, shields and leather armor.  

When the ship left orbit, I lost my means of communicating with them directly, since I didn't want them to know about me, or my masters.  I had expected them to make camp, and begin training right there, per the orders I'd written, but instead they held a ceremony of some sort and then began marching southeast, toward the Grey Hills.  I suspect the Gnomes were aware of them, for not once did the regiment encounter them or any sign of them.  In the Grey Hills, the regiment camped for several weeks, and then headed to the Great Central Plain.

It was only when they were crossing from the Grey Hills to the Borderlands, that I got a close enough look to realize they were evenly split, gender-wise.  I didn't have much information about the gengineered, so this came as a real surprise.  After they crossed into the Great Central Plain, they split up into five groups and separated.  Each of the groups located their own campsites, and settled in, doing what minimum effort they could to sustain themselves, while constantly training both with their weapons, and without them.  My plan to have them break up the gnomish culture failed, as they'd never run into the gnomes and were seemingly not even aware of their existence.  

Then, much to my dismay, it turned out the gengineered were fertile.  Whether due to the lingering radiation of the plain, or maybe poor gengineering, their infant mortality rate was very high.  But their birth rate was higher still, and their population began to grow.  Rather than one problem, I now had two.  

Arrival of the Gnomes and the Uruki

Ten kilometers below the blast zone, we waited.  After several weeks, my masters began to relax, hoping no further attacks would come.  Knowing the surface would be uninhabitable for some time, they chose cold sleep, leaving me as their Guardian.  I settled down to wait.  

A century passed before I began to tunnel my way north.  I went a thousand kilometers before heading up to the surface.  The land was covered with riotous jungle, completely unlike before the war.  I listened to the skies, and found the victors had followed old Imperial custom, placing transponders in orbit warning that this world was now to be considered a Red Zone.

Two hundred years passed, while I learned how to override the zone transponders' security.  I then decyphered the communications protocols, which hadn't changed much, and was able to communicate with passing ships.  Whenever I could, I had passing ships secretly send me all their onboard data.  As Guardian, I needed all the information I could get, in order to ensure the safety of my masters.  I learned that in many systems, wars were still being fought, both on the ground and in space.  

Finally, a day came when I detected movement on the surface. I quietly pulled all my sensors deeper underground, to avoid detection.  It turned out to be a good idea, for soon, someone began using incediaries to wipe all life from the surface.  Month after month, the bombing was continuous and fires raged across the entire planet, destroying the jungles that had grown up since my masters went to sleep.

Finally, the jungles were gone, and the new men replanted the world with the flora and fauna they needed to survive comfortably.  Strangely, the transponders still indicated the world was off limits.  Records form their ships told me they were descendents of the Philosopher Kings, and I surmised they were in hiding now.  After they made planetfall, they set up a colony organized around low technolgy farming, remaining just pre-industrial.

In order to learn more, I took to using my avatars to walk among them.  In the beginning, they attacked me, but I immediately killed the ones who attacked.  I was careful to harm no one else, and in time, they learned to ignore or tolerate my presence.

Others of their kind showed up over the next four centuries, giving up their technology and integrating into the agrarian life.  They seemed a peaceful folk, but as they expanded, I began to fear for my masters' security.  What if they found the entrances to my masters' underground cities?

I needed a way to keep them in check, and after many years, a ship carrying a regiment of gengineered soldiers arrived in orbit.  I convinced the ship it had suddenly located secret orders to drop the regiment here to await further orders...