![]() I’m having a hard time finding other examples of war banners from either Kievan Rus or Muscovy, but Ivan IV’s war banner from 1552 may suggest what an earlier Muscovite banner might look like.īut, let’s get to the actual image used by Age of Empires IV. None of these polities really had a flag in any way we’d recognize, although the ruling Rurik dynasts did have their own personal seals which varied from monarch to monarch (although as far as I can tell they wouldn’t use their personal seals for war banners). ![]() So, “Rus” in AoE4 is meant to encompass Kievan Rus, the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, as well as the Grand Duchy of Moscow (Muscovy). There may be evidence that Zanabazar was drawing from existing folklore in arranging this symbol, but it simply never existed before him in this way: 1/10 So, yes it’s Mongolian, but the timeline is way off. As for yellow, my understanding is that it's perceived similarly as a positive color of prosperity as it is in China. Albeit I can’t find any evidence to suggest that blue was any color of consequence during the dominance of the Mongol Empire. But it was unlikely very popular before the late 19th century, and definitely not before 1686.Īs for the blue background? There’s a hint there, the devs probably intended for it to represent the “eternal blue sky”. This is a pretty important Mongol national symbol and was adopted by Mongolian nationalists in the early 20th century it’s even on the flag of current-day Mongolia. The sun and moon symbolize the existence of the Mongolian nation for eternity…” The three tongues of the flame represent the past, present, and future. To take from Wikipedia: “Fire is a general symbol of eternal growth, wealth, and success. ![]() It’s actually part of a broader script designed by Zanabazar for use in decorative and religious contexts, although apparently it never picked up mainstream recognition. The symbol was created in 1686 (well after the Mongol polities represented by the game) by a Mongolian Buddhist spiritual leader, Zanabazar. So where did the devs get their flag from? That symbol in the image is indeed a Mongolian symbol, and from top to bottom represents fire, the sun, and the moon. As far as the actual Mongol Empire was concerned, their use of banners varied widely, albeit they were infamous for their use of horse-hair banners. There’s too much history of banners and flags to get into, but to put it simply, none of these places had anything resembling national flags. As far as I can understand, the “Mongols” in AoE4 are meant to encompass the “original” Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan, as well as its immediate successor states in the Yuan dynasty, the Chagatai Khanate, and the Golden Horde. So, traditional knotting + red + gold… although it’s an admirable effort, it’s still completely made up: 0/10Įasy too, because the flag here is also completely ahistorical. The symbol itself is meant to be a representation of Chinese knotting, an artistic practice which was (apparently) popular during the Tang and Song dynasties in China (that is, during the Middle Ages).Īs for the colors, red and gold have been imbued with plenty of meaning throughout Chinese history generally, yellow/gold is viewed as a color of prestige and beauty (often used by historical dynasts as a royal color, such as during the Jin dynasty) and red symbolizes luck and good fortune. So, they just grabbed some Chinese imagery and Frankenstein’d a flag together, making use of abstract symbolism. The Chinese were the easiest to investigate-because the “Chinese” civilization here is supposed to encompass numerous dynasties and states across the centuries, the developers would have a tough time picking just one flag. So, now diving into the flags of Age of Empires 4, from least to most historically accurate, by my measure: I’m oversimplifying it, but that’s basically the gist of it. Not to mention this varies widely over the centuries and across continents. A kid in Ancient Rome wouldn’t understand if you asked him to draw the flag of his country in fact, the portrait of the Emperor would probably be the closest thing to an emblem of the state (present on buildings and coins all over). Although the royal family (and by extension, all the lands under their control) might have a royal standard, flags as a distinct and cohesive national symbol (with specific rules for proportions and colors, and meant to encompass the citizens of that state) didn’t really exist as a “thing” until the 18th or 19th centuries. So, for basic context, historical states/empires/dynasties in history didn’t have flags in the way we’d understand them. My “research” is pretty basic (mostly public-facing websites with some academic texts), so I urge anyone to fact check anything I’ve claimed and let me know if I’m misrepresenting anything. A list of all the civilization flags in high resolution, so we can follow along:
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