Flags of the American (Space) Commonwealths, 2019

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Da Lore
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The realities of space colonization meant that administering extraterrestrial states and territories would require the autonomous “franchising” of American governance, something every other power has done when they colonized space - the Soviets, the Europeans, the Japanese, the Jordanians.

The states and territories on Earth, in orbit above Earth, on Luna, at the Earth Lagrange points, and at the near-Earth asteroids, are all under DC’s jurisdiction, due to communication and logistical realities being conducive to this being the case. However, the American colonies on Mars, Mercury, the Asteroid Belt, Europa and Titan are organized into autonomous entities within the "Greater United States”.

We have the "Commonwealth of Tharsis" on Mars, the "Commonwealth of Icaria" on Mercury, the "Commonwealth of Minerva" in the Asteroid Belt, the "Commonwealth of Astoria" on Jupiter’s moon Europa (which also oversees US colonial interests elsewhere around Jupiter), and the "Commonwealth of Fredonia" on Saturn’s moon Titan (again, has jurisdiction over all American holdings around Saturn). These "commonwealths" operate basically as "mini" US governments, *de jure* subordinate to the United States of America, though in practice *de facto* independent from it as a matter of practicality. They even have their own federal districts and capitals. Tesla, District of Ares (Tharsis); Gemini City, District of Hermes (Icaria); Bonneville, District of Orion (Minerva); Terra Nova, District of Enterprise (Astoria); and Nivia, District of Prometheus (Fredonia).

These autonomous sub-federations start out with identical constitutions to that of the US, and elect their own President and Vice President, with a High Commissioner being appointed by the POTUS in DC to serve as his representative, though for logistical reasons, only Americans in the Earth Cluster are able to vote for the POTUS, which is sort of the price of off-world autonomy. All of these commonwealths use local variations of the US dollar, have their own “franchise” of the United States Armed Forces, and anyone born within any of these states is automatically a US citizen; all American citizens can freely travel between other US territories, anywhere in the Solar System, and can freely engage in commerce with any of the colonies. While off-world citizens cannot vote in POTUS elections, this is more of a practical consideration; Martians have no investment in the nitty-gritty of North American politics - they're Americans by blood, spirit and tradition, but they'll tell you upfront that when they put "Martian" in front of "Martian-American", they mean it.

There are a total of 62 states on Earth, in Earth orbit, on Luna and at Earth's fifth Lagrange Point; eighteen states on Mars and Phobos; six states on Mercury; five in the Asteroid Belt and another five on Europa; and four on Titan. The states of the Earth Cluster send senators and representatives to DC. However, due to the aforementioned distances, points beyond the Earth Cluster do not have such representation. Instead, the commonwealths have "colonial delegates" in the House of Representatives. Colonial delegates can sponsor legislation, serve on committees, vote in committees, but not vote on the House floor. The number of colonial delegates a commonwealth sends to DC is proportional to the number of states that each commonwealth has. Ergo, Mars sends eighteen, Europa and the Belt both send five; Mercury has six, and Titan has a mere four as of 2019.

Additionally, offworld territories beyond the Earth Cluster are within the jurisdiction of their nearest respective Commonwealth. So for instance, American outposts among the Vulcanoid asteroids located between Mercury and the Sun are administered by Icaria, and American space stations in orbit above Mars are under Tharsian administration. And in the case of Minerva, while there may only be five states, each oversees many tens to a few hundred asteroids, many with tiny colonies of ten to a hundred people, which more or less act as counties.

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Da Flags
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The US flag is straightforward. Thirteen stripes for the original thirteen colonies, 100 stars for the 100 states of the Greater United States which spans the Solar System. This flag is found flying alongside all of the other flags shown here, at the same height or higher, but never lower.

Tharsis' flag features the "Shield of Ares" - a red circle with a white chevron, surrounded by thirteen stars. This symbol originates from the mission patch of the Ares Program, which first colonized Mars in 1976. The Shield is intended as a gender-neutral alternative to the classic astrological symbol for Mars. While the thirteen stars were present on the mission patch to represent the Program's objective of landing the first man on Mars in time for the bicentennial anniversary of American independence (and they were successful in this endeavor; Martian and American civilization share the same birthday, July 4th), thirteen stars in a circle are a recurring motif for all of the commonwealth flags, as a shorthand for the United States. Hey. It's better than all of these flags having a hundred stars.

The flag of Icaria has a yellow bar to represent the sun, a grey disk for Mercury itself, and blue stripes for the dark side of Mercury, whose existence proved invaluable to colonizing the planet. A very large number of Icarians live underground in massive, paraterraformed lava tubes and caves, so having a flag with light colors was desirable so that it would pop in dim lighting. The Mercury symbol on the grey disk is actually a modified form of the symbol used for the Mercury Program - the NASA project which put Alan Shepherd (the first American in space) into orbit in 1961.

Next up is the flag of Minerva. Tot a lot of deep symbolism, honestly, this flag was mostly designed for visibility in the darkness of space, and to be American as Hell. Mission accomplished. The torch might be seen as indicative of either the goddess which the commonwealth is named after, or the libertarian tendencies of the American colonists who moved to the Belt.

Astoria's flag has lots of white and blue, because Europa is mostly water and ice. The white sailing ship is taken directly from the mission patch of the Enterprise Program, which established the first human colony on Europa, Terra Nova, in 1993. The black background is there to represent space, yo.

Fredonia's flag has a bit more symbolism than Astoria or Minverva's flags. Blue for space, the stripes for Saturn's rings, thirteen stars for Murica, and the Pioneer 11 probe, which passed by Saturn in 1979, becoming the first man-made object to reach the ringed giant. The original design for this flag featured the two nude figures from the plaque aboard Pioneer 11. Tragically, this design was rejected, though crazy devils on Titan do occasionally fly unofficial versions with the figures on them, occasionally in lewd situations.

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MOAR LORE
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Because "America Fuck Yeah", here's all 100 states of the Union in Overheaven's version of 2019:

EARTH

1. Delaware - 1787

2. Pennsylvania - 1787

3. New Jersey - 1787

4. Georgia - 1788

5. Connecticut - 1788

6. Massachusetts - 1788

7. Maryland - 1788

8. South Carolina - 1788

9. New Hampshire - 1788

10. Virginia - 1788

11. New York - 1788

12. North Carolina - 1789

13. Rhode Island - 1790

14. Vermont - 1791

15. Kentucky - 1792

16. Tennessee - 1796

17. Ohio - 1803

18. Louisiana - 1812

19. Indiana - 1816

20. Mississippi - 1817

21. Illinois - 1818

22. Alabama - 1819

23. Maine - 1820

24. Missouri - 1821

25. Arkansas - 1836

26. Michigan - 1837

27. Florida - 1845

28. Texas - 1845

29. Iowa - 1848

30. Wisconsin - 1848

31. California - 1850

32. Minnesota - 1858

33. Oregon - 1859

34. Kansas - 1861

35. West Virginia - 1863

36. Nevada - 1864

37. Nebraska - 1867

38. Colorado - 1876

39. North Dakota - 1889

40. South Dakota - 1889

41. Montana - 1889

42. Washington - 1889

43. Idaho - 1890

44. Wyoming - 1890

45. Utah - 1896

46. Oklahoma - 1907

47. New Mexico - 1912

48. Arizona 1912

49. Alaska - 1959

50. Hawaii - 1959

51. Puerto Rico - 1998

52. American Samoa - 1998

53. Marianas - 2005

EARTH ORBIT

54. Columbia - 1998

55. Olympia - 2004

56. Elysia - 2004

57. Arcadia - 2010

LUNA

58. Kennedy - 1984

59. Armstrong - 1992

60. Plymouth - 1992

61. Apollo - 1992

EARTH-L5

62. Aurora - 2010

MARS

63. Laurentia - 1979

64. Eisenhower - 1979

65. New Saigon - 1979

66. Jefferson - 1979

67. Shambhala - 1979

68. King - 1979

69. Tempe - 1979

70. Valles Marineris - 1979

71. Olympus Mons -1979

72. Munemori - 1979

73. Cydonia - 1979

74. Roosevelt - 1979

75. New California - 1979

76. Zephyria - 1982

77. Pomaika’i - 1982

78. Boralia - 1982

79. Reagan - 1995

PHOBOS

80. New Archangel - 1979

MERCURY

81. Yeager - 1985

82. Fremont - 1987

83. Metropolis - 1989

84. New Austin - 1993

85. Edison - 1996

86. Caloris - 2000

ASTEROID BELT

87. Juno - 1989

88. Cybele - 1996

89. Psyche - 1998

90. Iris - 1999

91. Astraea - 2003

EUROPA

92. Buckeye - 2005

93. Lonestar - 2005

94. New Juneau - 2005

95. Keystone - 2005

96. Northstar - 2005

TITAN

97. Sagan - 2018

98. Bradbury - 2018

99. Asimov - 2018

100. Heinlein - 2018