Cross of Santiago
 | |
| Use | Civil and state flag   |
|---|---|
| Proportion | 2:3 |
| Adopted | 1818 |
| Design | A light blue saltire over a white background, charged with a yellow-trimmed Cross of Saint James. |
The Cross of Santiago (Pelaxian: Cruz de Santiago/Cruz de Isuria) is a banner depicting a light blue Cross of Saint Andrew, the patron saint of the Isurians, charged with a Cross of Saint James, representing Pelaxia, surrounded by a yellow border. It is the historical banner and battle flag used by the Pelaxian Knights of Santiago, many of the members being Isurians who sided with the Levantines after the Great Schism of 1615, but the banner's origins seem to be in 1563 when it was prominently used to dedicate the consecration of the Abbey of Los Rumas, from which the banner became heavily associated with the Viceroyalty of Los Rumas, which included much of modern-day Castadilla and Vallejar, in turn making it one of the co-official flags of the viceroyalty in the 18th century.
Presently, the flag is used by Delepasian exceptionalists as an alternative to the flag of the Delepasian Commonwealth to sidestep laws against the use of hate symbols outside of an education and historical context, and as the national flag of Vallejar, where the banner became more and more associated with the Vallejarian Church for the past two centuries, which made it one of the most prominent symbols of the Vallerjarian War of Independence, making it the first Delepasian polity to have gained its independence from Pelaxia.
History
Prior to the beginning of the Viceroyalty of Los Rumas in 1497, there was no vexillological standard governing over the polities of Vallos. Most of the time, the Vallosi polities would simply use the banner of their royal families to identify their allegiances and origins. It would not be until the Caphiric hegemony that the beginnings of what could be considered proper national flags in the modern sense came to be. Many of these have long since been destroyed during the second warring states period on the subcontinent, save for the banners of the realms that have managed to survive to the early modern era, most notably the banners of the Romany Kingdoms, which served as the inspiration behind the coat of arms of Navidadia, a land ruled by the descendants of the Romany who have intermarried with the Mestizos who lived in the viceroyalty.
The Cross of Santiago banner was first introduced during the consecration of the Abbey of Los Rumas in 1563, from which it became the primary symbol of the Catholic Church in Los Rumas and one of the primary vexillological designs found in the viceroyalty. The banner proved to be popular, often being shown alongside the Banner of Los Rumas, ultimately becoming the co-official flag of the viceroyalty in the 18th Century. It also found use as the historical banner and battle flag of the Knights of Santiago, a group of Latin-aligned Isurian knights who protected Catholics against Caphiric bandits. Many of these knights have moved to Vallos after the Great Schism of 1615 to escape persecution from the Isurians of mainland Sarpedon who sided with the Caphiric Church when the schism began.
In the southern portion of the viceroyalty, now part of Vallejar, the banner began to be associated with members of the Vallejarian Church, a syncretic faith based around Catholicism and the indigenous faith of the Sumanians that was quickly growing in popularity amongst the populace, and most especially amongst the Delepasians in the area. This birthed the rise of a Vallejarian identity which, although closely-linked to the Navidadians, was deemed as a distinct Delepasian sub-group. When the Pelaxians attempted to crack down on this new sect, the Vallejarians declared independence in 1818, making it the first independent Delepasian polity in Vallos. Despite many offers from Pelaxia, including Vallejar becoming a separate viceroyalty and even it becoming a separate nation under a real union with Pelaxia (much like what the Delepasian Kingdom attempted to do in 1852), Vallejar opted for full independence, which it won in 1829. Nonetheless, the banner remained a major symbol of the viceroyalty, with the saltire being used in a proposed viceregal banner in 1820 (now the state flag of New Isuria).
The rise of Delepasian exceptionalism in the early 20th century led to the attempted reclamation of the banner in the northern Delepasian polities, with the more religiously devout exceptionalists using the banner instead of the uncharged flag of Bahia that was gaining in popularity at around the same time. These days, because the banner was never used as the flag of the Delepasian Commonwealth, the flag has found use in certainly exceptionalist circles to sidestep laws against hate symbols, much to the chagrin of Castadilla's Vallejarians, who continue to use the flag as an innocuous national symbol.
Description
Design
The banner is a light blue saltire, a cross that represents Saint Andrew's crucifixion, over a white background. This on its own is one of the banners of the Isurians. The banner is charged with a red Cross of Saint James trimmed with yellow, representing Pelaxia and the Knights of Santiago. It is a cross in the form of a sword, said to have come from a vision of Saint James during a battle many centuries ago.
Colours
The colours are precisely defined by the specifications laid out by the Knights of Santiago (by then having long since transitioned towards becoming a Catholic fraternal organisation engaged in charitable works) in 1896:
- light blue: (Tomb Blue), called in the text "Isurian azure";
- yellow: (Castadillaan Gold), called in the text "yellow-yellow-orange";
- white: (Bright White), called in the text "bright white";
- red: (Rosso Corsa), called in the text "red scarlet".
| Colour scheme | Light Blue | Yellow | White | Red |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pantone | Tomb Blue | Castadillaan Gold | Bright White | Rosso Corsa |
| CMYK | 80-20-0-20 | 0-20-100-0 | 0-0-0-0 | 0-83-83-17 |
| HSV | 195-100-80 | 48-100-100 | 0-0-100 | 0-100-83 |
| RGB | 0-153-204 | 255-204-0 | 255-255-255 | 212-0-0 |
| Hex triplet | #0099CC | #FFCC00 | #FFFFFF | #D40000 |