With 55% of the votes in the 17th round, the good citizens of Pelratha have selected the flag which will represent their colony and people in the Protectorate Senate. It was hand-woven by Julia Lubas, Age 638, and was raised high above the National Sejm in Korgathen.

The motif Julia chose to represent Pelratha as a colony of the Protectorate was to section off the top left quarter of the flag. This square is black, and on the four sides are two parallel dark blue lines with 24 blue stars between them. In the center of this black square is the familiar eye pattern of the Protectorate flag, a white circle with a large black dot in the center, both rimmed with blue.

I interviewed voters and they said Julia’s motif was one of the better designs. Other contestants circled the eye with the blue-black-blue strip with blue stars inside, and they stamped this circle in various locations around the flag. Or contestants decided to forgo the eye – which represents the watchful eye of God – and trimmed the flag with the blue-black-blue. Other designs simply clustered two dozens stars together or spread them out, and a few designs only had one white star highlighted by the blue-black-blue without more stars inside the strip.

The rest of Julia’s flag was light blue, representing Ciratha’s Grand Ocean, and two large golden circles, depicting the twin Cirathan suns as they would be seen from Pelratha in the summer. The gold is also a reference to cirathan hair.

Voters said that other flag designs tended to clutter the rest of the flag with too much symbolism. Julia’s design was simple enough to not be a pain to replicate, while having enough essential elements to be easily recognizable.