What were they thinking? Rule of Man.

[CarlP]

I just downloaded the "101 Starships" PDF file from BITS. Nice file. But as I was looking through it, I noticed the emblem for the "Rule of Man." It's, um, not the emblem any man *I* can think of would want to be associated with. I mean, really. Is this the *official* emblem of the Rule of Man? The, ahhhh, symbolism of this is just so wrong.

If y'all aren't familiar with the emblem, you really need to check it out. If you go to the BITS website you can find the 101 Starships PDF in the Archive. I'm curious to know what others think. Thanks.

 

[Evo Plurion]

I, too, thought it was a limp excuse for a symbol.

 

[etherflyer]

Originally posted by CarlP:
Is this the *official* emblem of the Rule of Man?

Yup, it's official. Pulled from the Imperial Encyclopedia, if memory serves.

 

[daryen]

The symbol is straight out of CT AM 6: Solomani. (Page 6)

 

[far-trader]

Yep, AM6 was my first exposure to it too (copyright 1986 so it may have been around longer). So anyway, I never thought of it that way before thanks now how am I s'posed to ever open that book again

hmm, for sale, one well cared for AM6, warning, material may offend some viewers

offers??

But seriously, if we can, I am curious just what the symbology is supposed to be, I mean it can't be that, can it?! All I remember thinking when I first saw it almost 20 years ago was how lame it was (apologies to the designer, but there you are, hmm, W.H. Keith, Jr or Steve Venters?). The Terran Confed symbol, nice and a story to it, same for the Solomani Confed symbol (though rather plain), but yeah, now that my eyes are opened and must be plucked because of it, JUST WHAT THE HECK IS IT WITH THE RULE OF MAN SYMBOL?!?!

 

[mike wightman]

Maybe it's a Vilani symbol.

It could translate to "rain over you"...

 

[Shadowdancer]

Reminds me of Hustler magazine's rating system for ⌧o movies. Obviously, that movie is not recommended.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Certainly explains why the RoM collapsed. Probably died of embarrasment...

And I bet the government paid millions to some ad agency to come up with that design

 

[Gruffty]

It is a silly symbol. Pay it no heed...

 

[jchurchill]

Clearly Viagra was not a sponsor for the "Rule of Man."

 

[TJP]

I always thought it was a poor symbol, but I never looked at it that way. Now that you mention it... Geez, "Rule of Man" indeed.

 

[Malenfant]

Are we talking about the circle with a cross in it here? 'Cos that's the astrological symbol for the Earth, so it makes sense in a way.

 

[jchurchill]

Malefant,

No, this symbol is more phallic but phallic in a sad way.

 

[clementk]

No that's for the Solomani Confederation.

The RoM symbol is kinda a solid half rainbow. I believe the right hand side was supposed to be the symbol of Ziru Sirka (hence the um...circle) but I can't remember where I read that now.

Casey

 

[Gruffty]

Just call it the Mr. Floppy symbol.............

 

[Spinward Scout]

Funny you should mention symbols. I keep looking at that damn Solomani Confed circle divided into quadrants (the greek/astrological symbol for Earth), and my imagination keeps saying "what would it look like if you took away or erased the right half of each quadrant's arc...

Something to think about,

Scout

 

[clementk]

<shrugs> Well the Swastika is a Hindu sun symbol and with the whole Indo-European thing filtering into Ancient/Classical/Hellenistic Greece there likely could be some connection between the two.

Interestingly the Sun symbol became square in China. Not sure when that happened though. 日[ri4]

Casey

 

[Border Reiver]

Just a point about the Solomani Confedration emblem, for many years it has in one form or another been in use by extreme right wing political organisations such as the Fronte della Gioventu & the New British Movement which in turned based them on the Celtic cross (a symbol that suprisingly predates Christianity). Is this its origin or was it based on yet another Celtic Cross derivative, that of the KKK? I know it was based upon the Alchemical earth symbol but it's quite a coincidence that the biggest bunch of right wing lunatics the galaxy's ever seen should choose such a device,

Avoiding politcal issues (except Traveller ones) it is interesting to note how many traditional symbols have been lifted and reused in modern times.

 

[Malenfant]

It's a circle with a cross in it - you could probably argue that cart wheels are based on that if you want to stretch it far enough .

 

[Relic]

It is also a symbol for the benchmark or standard by which all else is judged.