Creating An Imperial Seal

[Malloriel]

I've been firmly rooted in the Aspiring Writers and Critique forums for a while now, and was kicking around a few ideas when I came up with a scenario, one in which I thought it would be interesting to see what other writers would do given the same or similar situation, so here it is.

Scenario:

<b>You have an empire-like situation. Forces are not stretched thin, the lands consider themselves united and are ruled by individual kingdoms who defer to one final authority. Aside from individual disputes between certain lands, the whole of your empire is considered to be in a time of peace and creative growth. You have yourself a renaissance.

Within the ruling family there is hidden dissent. For one reason or another the emperor's advisor kills the emperor and his wife, but manages to get himself killed that same night, leaving two young children parentless and unprepared to rule an empire.

The emperor's mother still lives and is given regency to the empire while grooming the eldest child to become the new emperor/empress.

The child grows up to become a quite benevolent, responsible, and well respected ruler.</b>

Your job is this:

What phrase would this new ruler choose as the seal of their reign that might not simply conjure up memories of their parents, but inspire the nations which they now govern?

Seal being an indicator of this particular ruler and their tastes, it would be imprinted on all official documents, on currency of the realm, and likely throughout the areas of imperial influence.

It's written in a language all have been taught, but few ever master (something like Latin during the Regency era), but has a meaning that everyone understands and acknowledges.

What sort of phrase would you have your character choose to represent their rule?

 

[BookStop]

Might'nt it be a pic instead of a phrase, as few have mastered the language, at least in written form? If it is a picture and a phrase, the phrase would have to be something simple with the pic conveying alot. I know a lot of old carvings are pics that are meant to go along with phrases. churches used carvings to tell biblical stories as it was accepted that not everyone knew the language, much less were they literate enough to actually read it.

You should probably give more background information on the scenario to get folks to come up with something pertinant and brilliant.

 

[Malloriel]

I should have been a bit more clear then. It is one of several languages, and like Latin, is rarely used, though that isn't to say that educated people wouldn't know the other languages. Just as Americans use Latin phrases on their money and various other things including law and science (more widespread than America of course), this language would be added to, say, the image of the ruler on coin of the realm, and as a sub-text to any official documents.

Not everyone speaks Latin, dead language that it is, but it's still used in phrases quite commonly, and that is the use this language reflects. Therefore, the truly pertinent information I believe is already contained in the scenario aside from adding that it's merely a very uncommon language, not the only one in existence, and it would be dissimilar from church carvings to convey a message because the general populace tends to be educated enough to read and write in their own language while knowing common phrases in at least one other.

We will assume for the purposes of this exercise that the people of the empire in question are all of an educated status, can read and write passably well, are educated in their formative years in the basics of this language, but very few people pursue it to a point that they may actually read or speak it with any degree of fluency.