This are flags I made for OC micronations I concieved yesterday for a possible story to write in the future.
All these micronations are found very close to each other, as their activities and conflicts converge in the fields around the Balze del Valdarno, a beautiful formation of steep hills in Tuscany.
Also keep in mind that these are meant to be micronations founded for fun by early/late teenagers, and their various wars are fought using all sorts of things: Bamboo sticks, slingshots, airsoft weapons (think of it like a "War of the Buttons" scenario, if you've seen the movie).
So, the first one is the flag of the Arme delle Balze for the micronation founded at Pian di Scò, in Tuscany, where a small group of friends passionate about art, history and outdoors joined together to defend (have exclusive access to) their surroundings, the closest to the Balze, between the hamlets of Faella, Pian di Scò and Castelfranco di Sopra. This faction fights the other two mostly defensively, and they resort to guerrilla warfare almost always. It was founded to retaliate against the Grinta, who harassed them regularly in the past.
- GOVERNMENT: Military dictatorship led by the "Bellide", who is aided by his subordinate commanders, the "Gonfalonieri" (flag-bearers). The Bellide was elected into his current position by the rest of the group for his knowledge of history, of the outdoors and obsession with strategy games.
- TRAITS: Few members, Zealotry to the group, International support (from online friends), great knowledge of strategy and military matters (due too many hours on strategy games), foreign volunteers (friends from abroad coming to visit), effective propaganda (a discord server and other accounts related to the group online), decentralized command, perfect knowledge of the terrain, stable source of income (online art commissions opened by the members).
The second one is the flag for the Sacred Republic of the Valdarno, a micronation founded next to the Arme, right across the Arno river and the Highway of the Sun, in the ex-commune of Figline Valdarno. Here, another larger group of friends passionate about the military, history, outdoors and fishing have birthed a democracy (which isn't actually that democratic).
This group often crosses the river and goes trekking and fishing near the Balze, causing the instinctive aggressive response of the Arme, who believe them to be just like the guys of the Grinta and have thus brought them into conflict (or perhaps because they just wanted to add another player into the fold out of boredom).
- GOVERNMENT: Presidential Republic (de iure), in fact ruled with an iron fist by a "Captain of the People", assisted by two consuls who help him to keep the rest of the group from attempting to sieze power. One of the Consuls is a boy from the Italian Scouting movement (and also the Captain's best friend), thus explaining the "Sacred" attribute of the Republic.
- TRAITS: Numerous members, Frequent discussions among the members, disorganized central command, powerful "Scout" faction, knowledge and passion of military matters, greater access to tools and weapons, moderately wealthy members, but no source of income, foreign volunteers (friends from other bouroughs/cities of the province of Florence).
Last but not least (having initiated the conflicts), the Grinta of Tosi.
This officially became a micronation only after it witnessed the formation of the other two, even though it technically was the first organized group to exist. The Grinta is a group passionate about bikelife, and they love to cruise through the countryside aboard their scooter, motorcycles, karts and even simple bikes, causing great ruckus and acting brashly towards anyone different from them. They eventually developed a habit of picking on the younger members of the group of Pian di Scò, a situation which eventually prompted them to found the Arme and initiate a guerrilla campaign in self-defense against the bullies coming from the barbarous north (hamlet of Tosi, Province of Florence).
- GOVERNMENT: Autocracy, with their Archduke having absolute powers and the final say on everything. There is no organizational structure. The only government comes from the Archduke. The Archduke says he created the flag himself (when he really stole another design and just put a racing chequered flag on it), adopting the current as a reference to the Mongol Empire, an empire of raiders, just like he wants his group to be.
- TRAITS: Members slightly older than those of the other groups, obsession about racing, lack of any structure of command, total reliance on the Archduke, they disturb the quiet and anyone younger than them that they come across, complete lack of strategies, they attack as a single hoard, fixation on speed.
*The tendency for conflict between these groups of friends could also be attributed to the historical Tuscan tradition of conflict between cities. In this case, the historical rivalry between Arezzo and Florence could have been one of the causes.
*The idea of creating micronations came spontanously in the Arme and the Republic, with inspiration coming from their passions and other micronations abroad. The Grinta began regarding itself a micronation in order to be on par with the other two.
*The factions fight alternating their battles, and EXCLUSIVELY in the weekends, though small - inconclusive - skirmishes are allowed in the weekdays
*I didn't make the base for the last flag. I found u/AcceptableTeach5838's Mongol flags on the Kaiserredux sub. +The first flag (as can be noted) is just a recoloured and more detailed Cross of Burgundy.
