Ancienne fierté rendue égalitaire
Since its very origin the purpose of heraldry has been to declare identity. It was born, as a system of symbols with a grammar of its own, from all those symbols created whole-cloth by generations gone before.
The language of blazonry, a shared vocabulary of forms and strictures, used to describe decorations upon a shield and helm and lend meaning to the same, began to assume its modern form somewhere between tenth century France and fourteenth century England. This is evident from the plethora of Old French terms used even in anglophone blazonry. However the origins of heraldry lie to the east in Persia, with even some Persian vocabulary surviving in modern blazonry. Today heraldry is shared on a global scale, with variations in both blazonry and the underlying symbolic language to fit every culture wherein it is used.
Among the uses of early armorial bearings was group identification; upon the battlefield would every man of a regiment bear some reflection of their commander's identifying emblems. Being wholly pictorial even the illiterate common soldier could identify friend from foe. Yet inevitably, and early on, the splendid clarity of armorial bearings was claimed by the powerful to the exclusion of all others.
Many authoritative voices will attribute to heraldry the conveyance of rank and pedigree. It is certainly true that the various heraldic traditions have developed the means to represent those things, but they are additions to that fundamental purpose which is identification. It is particularly telling that the systems adopted to communicate that pedigree rely on the combination of atomic identities, describing an individual as a collection of elements.
Furthermore it is a fact of modern usage that the same traditions are employed in identifying groups as well as individuals; not only organs of state such as governmental and military divisions but even entire geographic regions and non-state organisations.
So it is that this project will turn the symbolic and essentially universal language of heraldry to the modern and defiant declaration of identity that is Pride. Taking from the oppressor these ancient symbols of pride and using them to uplift the marginalised. Ancienne fierté rendue égalitaire!
Know yourself, take pride in your identity and shield each other with every display of unity!
