HOME | DD

Description

Here are the thirteen flags of the Confederation of Avalon, a conglomeration of colonies in and around the Hellas Basin on Mars, originally established in 1983 by the Commonwealth of Nations on the one-year anniversary of the Darwin One manned lander touching down on the Martian surface in 1982.

Long story short: Britain stays out of the European Community from the very start in 1973, and turns the Commonwealth of Nations (sans India and Pakistan) into its own free trade bloc with blackjack and hookers, and after the NATO band breaks up (a reformed USSR plays the Yoko Ono to Britain, Canada and America’s John Lennon), the Commonwealth becomes a military alliance, folded into the Anglo-American-Canadian “Atlantic Defense Community”. (NOTE: this isn’t Overheaven’s main point of divergence: that would be the Outer Space Treaty never being signed in 1967; I’ve just put a bunch of other lesser POD’s into the timeline)

Anyway, Britain's space ambitions become the combined effort of the Commonwealth Space Agency (CSA) in the 1970’s. And through this cooperation, eleven colonies were established on Mars, collectively known as “Avalon”. Avalon was one of the four "Great Nations" of Mars established in the 1980's, along with the Tharsis Commonwealth (United States), Kasei Federation (Japan) and Euromars (European Union).

The official Avalonian flag is of course patterned after the classic British red ensign, but with the blue and yellow banner of the Commonwealth of Nations in the upper left-hand corner instead of the Union Jack. To modern Avalonians in the 23rd century, the blue is interpreted as representing Earth; the yellow rays stand for the many nations on Earth which made up the Commonwealth (represented by the yellow "C"); and the red field of course represents Mars. While Earth is far away and Mars is all around Avalon, Earth is always with Avalon; the Commonwealth may be gone (collapsed in the aftermath of World War III in the 2020’s), but Avalon carries on its proud legacy on Mars.

In the year 1999, Avalon has a total population of 238,094 people, and the polity operates as a parliamentary confederation. Each colony has a Governor appointed by their elected Colonial Parliament. Each colony also sends elected representatives to the lower house of the Avalonian Parliament, while the upper house is made up of appointed representatives of each of the “metropole” nations back on Earth. The capital city of the Confederation changes every ten years. The current capital is in Mawson, capital of the Australian colony of Uluru, though it is currently in the process of being shifted to Sango Base, capital city of the Nigerian-Ghanaian colony of Sango.

The colonies of Avalon are:

ANTILLIA

Capital: Tortuga

Population: 20,511

Established by the West Indies Federation, which is a Caribbean superstate spanning Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Trinidad & Tobago, Belize and Guyana. The WIF provides the Commonwealth Space Agency with aluminum via its bauxite reserves, as well as a number of very important launch sites near the equator.

ARCADIA

Capital: McKellar Base

Population: 24,122

A Canadian colony. Since its inception in the early 1980’s (before any people were sent up and the colony was still on paper), Arcadia has insisted upon “looking like Canada”, and worked hard to get fair numbers of Anglo-Canadians, Franco-Canadians and First Nations people. Things got awkward after Quebec seceded in 1995, but the 7,000 or so French-Canadians on Mars have opted to keep their Canadian citizenship rather than hitch a ride back to Earth. Canada’s biggest contribution to the CSA has been research, development and large-scale rocket production.

DARWIN

Capital: Halley

Population: 42,152

A British/UK colony, and the largest of the Avalonian colonies. Mostly English people, but with fair numbers of Scotts, Indians, Irish, Pakistanis, Welsh and Sikhs. Darwin hosts the first and third largest Avalonian settlements - Halley and Londinium.

MKUTANO

Capital: Rhapta

Population: 36,306

A joint Kenyan and Tanzanian colony, mostly populated by Sukuma and Haya people from Tanzania, and Kikuyu and Luo people from Kenya, though small numbers of Somalis and Indians are also present in Mkutano. The name of this colony means “summit” in Swahili, which is very appropriate, given that Kenya and Tanzania host the Mount Kenya Space Centre and Kilimanjaro Space Centre, respectively, which are two of the CSA’s two most important launch sites. Both were invaluable to making the Commonwealth’s Mars program a reality. As of 1999, Uganda operates a small, seasonal research base in Mkutano, and is in talks to establish a permanent Ugandan settlement on Mars by 2003. Rhapta, the capital of Mkutano, is the second-largest Avalonian settlement, with 23,650 residents.

SANGO

Capital: Sango Base

Population: 23,108

A joint Ghanaian and Nigerian colony. The predominant population groups are Akan and Ewe people from Ghana, and Yorubas and Igbos from Nigeria, with small numbers of Hausa and Fulani colonists as well. There’s been talk about possibly bringing Sierra Leone into the project, but Freetown’s ongoing internal problems have made them unreliable partners within the CSA as of 1999.

SEMPADAN

Capital: Kubah Merah

Population: 21,130

A joint Singaporean and Malaysian colony. While some in Singapore worry about this partnership entangling Singapore too closely with Malaysia for the former to remain independent, so far, it’s done wonders with helping to iron out a few long-standing disputes between the two countries. Malaysian and Singaporean chemical industries, when combined, produce around half of the CSA’s rocket fuel.

SUNON

Capital: Tuen Mun

Population: 362

The most recent addition to Avalon, Sunun was established in 1998 by the Commonwealth as a colony of the Republic of Hong Kong and Macau. Thatcher argued that that pesky treaty was with the Qing Dynasty rather than the People’s Republic, and therefore Hong Kong had the right to decide its own destiny. Beijing waited and hoped for the British to “come to their senses” by 1997. Then the PLA responded predictably when the British recognized Hong Kong’s independence in ‘97. The Brits, Aussies, Kiwis and Canucks rallied at the mouth of the Pearl River to back-up Thatcher's Insane Troll Logic. There was some pew-pew along the border with China, but when the Yanks came in to back up the Commonwealth, Beijing reluctantly permitted HK independence. Macau merged with HK to keep China from gobbling it up. Sunon is situated in the southernmost reaches of Avalon, and comprises part of Mars’ icy south pole.

TAGAROA

Capital: Tagaroa Base

Population: 5,858

A small joint colony of the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati and Vanuatu. The boat on the flag is a symbol of significance to both Melanesian and Polynesian people, and represents the next great voyage of the island peoples of the South Pacific: this time from the Blue Island to the Red Island. Back on Earth, seaborne rockets like the Sea Dragon are getting launched from facilities in the South Pacific near the equator, providing a major economic boom for the region as a place for investors interested in dirt-cheap space launches.

ULURU

Capital: Mawson

Population: 34,859

An Australian colony, though Nauru and Papua New Guinea are also involved. Australia’s role in the CSA has been to provide the fairly controversial (but extremely vital) testing grounds for nuclear-electric and nuclear-thermal rockets, as well as provide the CSA with virtually all of its nuclear fuel.

WHEROTEAO

Capital: Arrival Heights

Population: 25,167

A Martian colony established by New Zealand, Niue, the Cook Islands and Tuvalu. Wheroteans are of European, Maori, Samoan and Chinese descent, with small numbers of other Pacific Islanders. Not much else to say, really.

ZIMBAVOKU

Capital: Zimbavoku

Population: 4,519

A colony originally established by Rhodesia. Robert Mugabe falls down a flight of stairs and dies in '67; Abel Muzorewa rolls all sixes, gets the country over the whole Apartheid thing, but decides to keep the name "Rhodesia" because it was already printed on everything. By building bridges and mending the country’s wounds, Rhodesia remains the breadbasket of Africa and even develops a light technology sector. Zimbavoku has an equal white-black population and is intended to be a symbol of cooperation and brotherhood for Rhodesians back on Earth.

Description

Here are the thirteen flags of the Confederation of Avalon, a conglomeration of colonies in and around the Hellas Basin on Mars, originally established in 1983 by the Commonwealth of Nations on the one-year anniversary of the Darwin One manned lander touching down on the Martian surface in 1982.

Long story short: Britain stays out of the European Community from the very start in 1973, and turns the Commonwealth of Nations (sans India and Pakistan) into its own free trade bloc with blackjack and hookers, and after the NATO band breaks up (a reformed USSR plays the Yoko Ono to Britain, Canada and America’s John Lennon), the Commonwealth becomes a military alliance, folded into the Anglo-American-Canadian “Atlantic Defense Community”. (NOTE: this isn’t Overheaven’s main point of divergence: that would be the Outer Space Treaty never being signed in 1967; I’ve just put a bunch of other lesser POD’s into the timeline)

Anyway, Britain's space ambitions become the combined effort of the Commonwealth Space Agency (CSA) in the 1970’s. And through this cooperation, eleven colonies were established on Mars, collectively known as “Avalon”. Avalon was one of the four "Great Nations" of Mars established in the 1980's, along with the Tharsis Commonwealth (United States), Kasei Federation (Japan) and Euromars (European Union).

The official Avalonian flag is of course patterned after the classic British red ensign, but with the blue and yellow banner of the Commonwealth of Nations in the upper left-hand corner instead of the Union Jack. To modern Avalonians in the 23rd century, the blue is interpreted as representing Earth; the yellow rays stand for the many nations on Earth which made up the Commonwealth (represented by the yellow "C"); and the red field of course represents Mars. While Earth is far away and Mars is all around Avalon, Earth is always with Avalon; the Commonwealth may be gone (collapsed in the aftermath of World War III in the 2020’s), but Avalon carries on its proud legacy on Mars.

In the year 1999, Avalon has a total population of 238,094 people, and the polity operates as a parliamentary confederation. Each colony has a Governor appointed by their elected Colonial Parliament. Each colony also sends elected representatives to the lower house of the Avalonian Parliament, while the upper house is made up of appointed representatives of each of the “metropole” nations back on Earth. The capital city of the Confederation changes every ten years. The current capital is in Mawson, capital of the Australian colony of Uluru, though it is currently in the process of being shifted to Sango Base, capital city of the Nigerian-Ghanaian colony of Sango.

The colonies of Avalon are:

ANTILLIA

Capital: Tortuga

Population: 20,511

Established by the West Indies Federation, which is a Caribbean superstate spanning Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Trinidad & Tobago, Belize and Guyana. The WIF provides the Commonwealth Space Agency with aluminum via its bauxite reserves, as well as a number of very important launch sites near the equator.

ARCADIA

Capital: McKellar Base

Population: 24,122

A Canadian colony. Since its inception in the early 1980’s (before any people were sent up and the colony was still on paper), Arcadia has insisted upon “looking like Canada”, and worked hard to get fair numbers of Anglo-Canadians, Franco-Canadians and First Nations people. Things got awkward after Quebec seceded in 1995, but the 7,000 or so French-Canadians on Mars have opted to keep their Canadian citizenship rather than hitch a ride back to Earth. Canada’s biggest contribution to the CSA has been research, development and large-scale rocket production.

DARWIN

Capital: Halley

Population: 42,152

A British/UK colony, and the largest of the Avalonian colonies. Mostly English people, but with fair numbers of Scotts, Indians, Irish, Pakistanis, Welsh and Sikhs. Darwin hosts the first and third largest Avalonian settlements - Halley and Londinium.

MKUTANO

Capital: Rhapta

Population: 36,306

A joint Kenyan and Tanzanian colony, mostly populated by Sukuma and Haya people from Tanzania, and Kikuyu and Luo people from Kenya, though small numbers of Somalis and Indians are also present in Mkutano. The name of this colony means “summit” in Swahili, which is very appropriate, given that Kenya and Tanzania host the Mount Kenya Space Centre and Kilimanjaro Space Centre, respectively, which are two of the CSA’s two most important launch sites. Both were invaluable to making the Commonwealth’s Mars program a reality. As of 1999, Uganda operates a small, seasonal research base in Mkutano, and is in talks to establish a permanent Ugandan settlement on Mars by 2003. Rhapta, the capital of Mkutano, is the second-largest Avalonian settlement, with 23,650 residents.

SANGO

Capital: Sango Base

Population: 23,108

A joint Ghanaian and Nigerian colony. The predominant population groups are Akan and Ewe people from Ghana, and Yorubas and Igbos from Nigeria, with small numbers of Hausa and Fulani colonists as well. There’s been talk about possibly bringing Sierra Leone into the project, but Freetown’s ongoing internal problems have made them unreliable partners within the CSA as of 1999.

SEMPADAN

Capital: Kubah Merah

Population: 21,130

A joint Singaporean and Malaysian colony. While some in Singapore worry about this partnership entangling Singapore too closely with Malaysia for the former to remain independent, so far, it’s done wonders with helping to iron out a few long-standing disputes between the two countries. Malaysian and Singaporean chemical industries, when combined, produce around half of the CSA’s rocket fuel.

SUNON

Capital: Tuen Mun

Population: 362

The most recent addition to Avalon, Sunun was established in 1998 by the Commonwealth as a colony of the Republic of Hong Kong and Macau. Thatcher argued that that pesky treaty was with the Qing Dynasty rather than the People’s Republic, and therefore Hong Kong had the right to decide its own destiny. Beijing waited and hoped for the British to “come to their senses” by 1997. Then the PLA responded predictably when the British recognized Hong Kong’s independence in ‘97. The Brits, Aussies, Kiwis and Canucks rallied at the mouth of the Pearl River to back-up Thatcher's Insane Troll Logic. There was some pew-pew along the border with China, but when the Yanks came in to back up the Commonwealth, Beijing reluctantly permitted HK independence. Macau merged with HK to keep China from gobbling it up. Sunon is situated in the southernmost reaches of Avalon, and comprises part of Mars’ icy south pole.

TAGAROA

Capital: Tagaroa Base

Population: 5,858

A small joint colony of the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati and Vanuatu. The boat on the flag is a symbol of significance to both Melanesian and Polynesian people, and represents the next great voyage of the island peoples of the South Pacific: this time from the Blue Island to the Red Island. Back on Earth, seaborne rockets like the Sea Dragon are getting launched from facilities in the South Pacific near the equator, providing a major economic boom for the region as a place for investors interested in dirt-cheap space launches.

ULURU

Capital: Mawson

Population: 34,859

An Australian colony, though Nauru and Papua New Guinea are also involved. Australia’s role in the CSA has been to provide the fairly controversial (but extremely vital) testing grounds for nuclear-electric and nuclear-thermal rockets, as well as provide the CSA with virtually all of its nuclear fuel.

WHEROTEAO

Capital: Arrival Heights

Population: 25,167

A Martian colony established by New Zealand, Niue, the Cook Islands and Tuvalu. Wheroteans are of European, Maori, Samoan and Chinese descent, with small numbers of other Pacific Islanders. Not much else to say, really.

ZIMBAVOKU

Capital: Zimbavoku

Population: 4,519

A colony originally established by Rhodesia. Robert Mugabe falls down a flight of stairs and dies in '67; Abel Muzorewa rolls all sixes, gets the country over the whole Apartheid thing, but decides to keep the name "Rhodesia" because it was already printed on everything. By building bridges and mending the country’s wounds, Rhodesia remains the breadbasket of Africa and even develops a light technology sector. Zimbavoku has an equal white-black population and is intended to be a symbol of cooperation and brotherhood for Rhodesians back on Earth.