Monday 18 May 2020

History of Drachenwald: ‘Why the Dragon Has Its Tail Between Its Legs: Or, A Tale of How the Drachenwald Arms Came To Be' by THL Ommadan inigena Ru, OM (East Kingdom)

When I first arrived at Ramstein, Germany in AS XIII, being 1978 CE, stationed there with the U.S. Air Force, I found myself in the Protectorate of Thairis -- the East Kingdom's European holdings. Change was afoot, though, to sweep away some of the old and bring in the new, starting with a new name: Drachenwald. New arms would be needed for the new name, and it was decided to hold a contest. Being something of an artist as well as a budding armorial herald at the time, I figured I would give it a shot. What was the worst that could happen -- people wouldn't like my design, right?


So, the arms. Drachenwald in those days was largely based in Germany, so I chose the colors of the German flag: gold, black, and red. It made sense to me to make the field gold, and the other elements red and black, because I felt a field division might confuse it too much with the German flag. 


The name itself dictated the rest of the design, a dragon in the woods. Pine trees were what I decided to use, since most of the woods I had seen around Ramstein were coniferous. I drew them eradicated, with the roots torn, and decided to make them red and keep them simple in design, because I liked the look and figured a black dragon on red trees would offer better contrast. 


The dragon's design came from a book on heraldry; somewhere I had read that the typical German depiction of a dragon was cowed, with its tail between its legs, and this particular dragon was in fact described as a German dragon. Besides, I loved its overall look. So on it went, making sure it was sized so that a good portion of it was on the gold field in order to follow the heraldic rules of contrast. Voila!


I was pretty happy with the result. Now to see if the populace of Drachenwald liked it as well.


I don't remember where the contest was held specifically. There was one other design besides mine in the competition, and again memory fails me as to what it was or who submitted it. When it came time for a hand count, I didn't put my own hand up for either design -- I didn't want to come across as beating my own drum or voting against myself. But when I saw all the other hands shoot up at my design, I was beyond happy. I WON! My design, with the addition of a laurel wreath, was going to be the arms of the new Protectorate of Drachenwald. 


My original design still lives on in the Drachenwald populace badge. I hope you all like it as much as I still do.

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