30 Symbols for Various Societies or Shop Signs
An assortment of symbols and images associated with various societies and shop signs
Fantasy Setting
Society Emblems
1. A fallen down Hourglass with spilled sand pooled on a side- an emblem used as letterheads for the Order of Priori Historicus, supposedly symbolising that everything becomes history with the flow of time.
2.Two duelists shaking hands- an emblem for a martial arts association that brokers duels (it is affiliated with the Church of Peace but is really a cover up for a criminal syndicate)
3.A 'leech' swimming amidst a river (represented by three curvy strokes)- 'These leeches will drain the blood out of ye' ~ Old Ralf
This is how the common people in the Town describe the emblem for the moneylenders' association. The depicted animal in its emblem is really an eel, believed to bring wealth and prosperity in folklore.
4. A Seers' Stick on a starry background- emblem for the Seers' Association whose founder is a orphan raised up by a shepherd. The Seers' Stick is an ornament hung on a chain and worn around a Seer's hips.
5. A lone flower opening amidst wastelands- emblem for The Order of Demicus, a reminder to its members to always believe in hope and miracles
6. An image of a Scavenger on a misty gray background- the emblem for an association of the lowest rungs in society- the Beggars and Thugs. For beggars, the depicted scavenger is a rat (reflective of the fact that they have to be quick in scurrying for left-overs) whereas for thugs, it is a vulture (symbolising their survival of the fittest style of living).
7.A pair of eyes,one healthy (with an orb of scintillating colour) and one Blind (milky white)- religious symbol for the Observer and The Judger (also known as the Lady of Scrutiny). Her domain lies in observing the deeds of mortals and passing judgements on them in the after-life. It is from this symbol that pleads of ‘turning /not turning a blind eye on....' arose.
Shop signs
1. An upside down tea cup- printed on signs hung outside funeral services all around the Kingdom, meaning 'visitors not welcome'. Such a custom arises from the belief that it will decrease mortality rates.
2. A furry ball with a smiling face and stick-like appendages- an previous-edition emblem for the Maid to Order, long out of use. The reason? Well, noble ladies or maids kept dropping in to enquire about dolls of these creatures which quickly prompted the owner of Maid to Order to start a new enterprise in doll-making (and this particular emblem has been transferred over).
3. A jaw-ful of crooked teeth- printed on an aged sign protruding sideways out of the Town apothecary, so worn that the contents are barely discernable. It has been hung there for as long as the town inhabitants can remember and provides one of the noticeable ‘landmarks' in a small town.
4. A pair of eyes gaping open as if in disbelief- artistically painted on a sign hung outside the most bustling business enterprise in town, a one-stop place for all the whims of a ladies ranging from exquisite dining, clothing, jewels to exotic pets. If one looks at it closely, however, there is something slightly odd about this sign.
This time it we have creative challenge.
Use the following freetext words and tie them all together in a single submission.
wastelands, hourglass, tea, duelist, blind, seer, criminal, scavanger, orphan, leech
There are no specific rules, however, you will loose creative points if you slap them all together like "The blind seer saw the scavanger through the secret hourglass in the wastlelands..."
Make sure to link your freetext in your submission! [freetext|wastelands]
Not Registered Yet? No problem.
Do you want Strolenati super powers? Registering. That's how you get super powers! These are just a couple powers you receive with more to come as you participate.
- Upvote and give XP to encourage useful comments.
- Work on submissions in private or flag them for assistance.
- Earn XP and gain levels that give you more site abilities (super powers).
- You should register. All your friends are doing it!
? Responses (17)
Update: I don't know where I'm going with this sub. The content is a jumble of references to previously subs and some kind of unexpected association of societies and their emblems/weird shop signs. I'm probably just the wrong person to do this sub since I'm not artistically inclined. Anyway, I'm looking for advice on the general positioning of this sub and whether content need to be re-structured (and if so, suggestions on how)
I've locked this sub for the moment (against user-submitted ideas) b/c of the specificity of where I need help with. When I've determined that I'm happy with the positioning and structure of this sub, I will open it up.
Well, I think it does look kind of messy as it stands. You're off to a good start though by dividing them into categories like Shop signs, but maybe make the Headers for the categories bigger.
I would reset the count though, for each category. And you might want to skip the quote box, it breaks up the flow of the text a bit too much.
All of those linked submissions create a disorganized pattern as well, maybe wait until the end of the text, or the beginning and add the links there, so it looks more uniform?
Edit: Meant to say, until the end of the sentence.
Thanks, Gossamer, for the comments. Your advice on formatting are sound and I will make the suggested changes.
For the linking, it is one of the requirements for the Freetext mashup quest although looking at actual quest subs, some do skip the links. Also, somehow I didn't get the freetext links to work anyway, will need to talk to Strolen abt this.
Anything abt the positioning of this sub? I mean, the 30s is a list but usually the good ones have a unifying theme beyond 30 xxxs i.e. they are all 30 unique and rare xxxs or 30 xxxs that have good utility use for games etc. This sub, however, is currently a mixture of the weird (no 7 and no 10 in particular) and the more common (no 4 and 5). Does this bother anyone besides myself?
I didn't say skip the links altogether though, I meant you can put them at the beginning or the end of the sentence, that way it won't be bold text all over the place. For example:
4. Seer, Orphan A Seers' Stick on a starry background- emblem for the Seers' Association whose founder is a orphan raised up by a shepherd. The Seers' Stick is an ornament hung on a chain and worn around a Seer's hips.
or
4. A Seers' Stick on a starry background- emblem for the Seers' Association whose founder is a orphan raised up by a shepherd. The Seers' Stick is an ornament hung on a chain and worn around a Seer's hips. Seer, Orphan
When you have one or two links total, putting them inside the text isn't a problem, but when you have so many, it easily gets messy otherwise. In my opinion at least.
As for it being a 30. I would say that since you have two or more categories, it makes sense to reset the Count for each category, but as long as the total have a potential of one day reaching 30, I see no problem with it. There are plenty of 30s out there, that stopped at a whole lot less, or went above and beyond for that matter. And as for a unifying theme, they're all signs/emblems after all. Which is kind of the same thing, no?
Links embedded in paragraphs and the like are a bit of a tradition here in Strolens, and in my opinion the links at the end are distracting.
Each to his/her own. I find that when you have that many random bold words, it breaks up the text and makes it harder to read. Putting them at the end or beginning was intended as a way to balance the text. The human eye preferes it that way.
Okay, this is getting to be the debate of 'nose against mouth' with one on each side and me indifferent. Since Muro has promised some additions, I'm going to leave it to Muro to decide how he wants to do the formatting of the links.
Update: Unlocked this sub and did some formatting changes.
This is great idea, really enriches a world. Perhaps deciding on a voice and a theme would give this a little more focus. I am assuming that these exist in a fantasy/iron age type setting. Are you writing this with an in-world voice or meta-voice?
I think a title such as these below would be fun.
'A Traveller's guide to to obscure picto-graphs'
'A catalog of peasant heraldry'
'Commercial Heraldry'
If it is in game/in world voice why is somebody writing this piece?
Yes, this is for a fantasy setting. I'm an avid fan of fantasy and doesn't really cross into other genres. But symbols for a modern setting could also be fun. So I've added a header now to separate symbols under different genres/settings.
It is in meta-voice which I presume you mean I'm writing this up in third person tense and not in the voice of a NPC/PC. Anyway, I changed this to a Wiki now cos if ppl add their inputs as user-submitted ideas, it will look very messy for the sub.
I really like the first title you suggested. Unfortunately from v.3 of the Citadel onwards, title changes need to be made by admins. So unless I get massive amounts of input beyond a 30, I don't think I can be bothered asking Strolen to change the title for me.
Ok, i get how these work after a re-read. Will add 2 or 5 tomorrow!!
Look forward to the additions. btw, how come it's me and you again?
Fate :p
Muro, Val and Gossamer are taking different sides on where to put in the links. I'm indifferent so I leave it up to you to decide how to format the links since you promised some additions :P
A couple of suggestions.
1. The orphaned freetexts should blend naturally into the sentance, rather then hang loose at the head or tail.
eg:
1. An upside down tea cup- printed on signs hung outside funeral services all around the Kingdom, meaning 'visitors not welcome'. Such a custom arises from the belief that it will decrease mortality rates.
2. Test your links, several lead to grues. Freetexts are linked using {freetext|actualword} where { = [, freetext is extactly that text, and actualword is the word in question.
Aaand, I see this is a wiki.... So I probably should take that into account :)
Val, you know what? I was just stupid, when Strolen mentioned the way to put a link is to use the syntax {freetext|actual word} where {=[, I interpreted it to mean, the syntax is {the actual word of the freetext|actual word in the sub} but just looked at your code, I now understand that I just interpreted it wrong. No wonder when I PM Strolen and ask him to look into it, he says he can't find where I'm trying to put in links.
