That's actually a rather interesting design. Though I think it would make more sense to have the eagle sitting atop liberty bell.
Vestal Rome
The Vestal Virgins dated back to the ancient Kings of Rome, in the early decades following the city's founding. Their influence had grown and waned over the course of centuries, as the empire was first born and then swelled to cover most of Europe and the western edges of Asia, and their ascendancy would only come to be during the Great Schism of the 18th Century AUC*. In the 17th Century, the empire had nearly fallen to self-proclaimed dictators and errant governors in Britannia and Gaul, but had remained united against all odds. The rupture had begun, however, and it would take a religious crisis to see the fall of Rome as the greatest power in the known world.
The College of Pontiffs was split by the idea of Vestalism. The Vestal Virgins, with the influences of the Persian Zoroastrians, were seen as the keepers of the "sacred flame" of Rome and their significance in Roman society appeared to be crucial to the security of the city and the empire. This dedicated group of priestesses were above common social obligations and were made untouchable by Emperor Florianus IV - something that irked the College of Pontiffs (who believed that Florianus had taken a Vestal Virgin as a mistress and wanted to reward her order for "services rendered to the empire"). A doctrinal split occurred in the 18th Century, as Vestalism became a monotheistic religion in its own right. Those who held to the "Old Gods" were appalled when Emperor Florianus declared Vestalism the state religion of Rome, causing fighting to break out across the empire and the split of the northern provinces from "Vestal control" in the city of Rome. Decades of fighting were ended when the Dictatorate of Rome was declared and Vestalism retreated behind the Vallis Poenina - after then, Vestalism became the official religion in most of the new nations stretching from the former province of Hispania Ulterior in the west to Syria in the east. The Dictatorate was part-military dictatorship, part-theocracy - the Dictator had supreme legal authority and the command of the entire army of Rome, but was nominated by the College of Vestal Virgins (the ruling council of the matriarchal priesthood). The Dictatorate only controlled the central and southern provinces of Roman Italia, limiting the Dictator's power and reach. Vestalism stretched much futher... meaning the Virgins held great sway over hundreds of thousands of follower, all of whom were devoted to the sacred flame and the worship of Vesta.
* 1 AUC in this timeline is equal to 752 BC in our timeline.
Here's my entry; I decided to tie it to something I made months ago. Chalk inconsistencies up to biased historians. Note that this is intended more as a sort of conworld thing than serious allohistorical writing.
The Severian Empire
Few before the Great Eclipse would have thought that what had started as a series of barbarian raids on the borders of the empire would eventually culminate in its conquest. A savage horde from the east, known collectively as the Severians after its predominant tribe, had been making inroads into Roman territories for some time. The attacks had mainly been limited to skirmishes and raids of minor settlements, but one day they arrived in full force, and did not stop until they reached Rome itself. The day the Severians sacked Rome was also the day of a total solar eclipse. While it was at first taken as an ill omen by both sides involved, it soon became clear that the Severians were winning. Legend states that the Severian leader took the head of the Roman Emperor at the culmination of the eclipse, but it is unknown whether this is fact or fiction. Nevertheless, the event became known as the Great Eclipse by Romans and Severians alike, albeit with different connotations.
The Severian leader, declaring himself emperor to the cheers of his compatriots, took as his sigil a white, eclipsed sun on a black field. This symbol would later become widespread and important within Severian Rome not only as a symbol of the new dynasty's imperial authority, but also as a religious symbol. While the Severians were eventually assimilated culturally by the empire they had toppled, there were also cases of cultural and religious syncretism between the conqueror and the conquered. The faith that would eventually emerge from this was dualistic in nature, at first venerating various aspects of pagan sun and moon gods, but eventually evolving into a monotheistic religion which saw the sun and the moon as two faces of the same deity. There was an emphasis on cycles, with the life, death and rebirth of mankind, their empires and their God at the forefront. The Severian eclipsed sun became a symbol of this religion, representing not only death and rebirth, but also the moment the two faces of the Divine briefly unite.
This new religion did not arise overnight, however. For almost two centuries after the Severian conquest, the former Roman Empire (save Britannia) was consumed by warfare during what later became known as the Age of Darkness. It was not by any means a period of constant warfare, but the internal peace known in the heyday of Rome was all but gone in most of its former territories. While the first Severian emperor did not live long enough to see the end of the age he had helped usher in, he did start a lineage of emperors that would eventually unite much of the fractured Roman Empire under their rule. Italia, Hispania, Gallia and most of Illyrium had, mainly through conquest, become part of the so-called "Severian Empire" during the Age of Darkness, and it was in these territories the new Faith initially emerged.
The following century is known as the Age of Rebirth to historians. Its relative peace compared to the Age of Darkness, increase in trade and commerce, and the rise and spread of the new Faith all contributed to a sense of optimism among the inhabitants of the shattered remnants of the Roman Empire. The Faith- adopted, consolidated and spread with great zeal by the latest in the line of Severian emperors- spread far beyond its initial foothold in the Severian Empire, gaining many followers in Germania and beyond. The Faith took on a life of its own beyond the reach of Severian institutions, however: under the influence of the Britannian missionaries of Sol Invictus, duality aspects of the Faith would become heavily downplayed in favor of the concept of a single god of the sun; this resulted in a strange mixture of Britannia's brand of monotheistic sun worship and many concepts primarily associated with the Severian brand of the Faith, such as the ideas of cycles and rebirth.
While the Severian Emperor could have tolerated the misguided faith of the Germanians, he could not tolerate the rise and spread of the same heresy to his own provinces. Northern Gallia had been under Britannian religious influence for centuries, and was close to Germania to boot, and even parts of Illyrium and northern Italia were showing heretical tendencies. The Emperor clamped down hard on the rising heresy, hoping it would not take long before his realm was once again united under a single Faith. The local inhabitants did not exactly appreciate the presence of the Imperial Army, seeing it as an attempt to undermine their ancient privileges, nor did the Germanians across the borders, who saw it as a Severian preparations to launch an unprovoked attack on their homelands. The Emperor, on the other hand, was worried that the Germanians would ally with the Britannians to aid the heretics in his border provinces.
The Germanian tribes, banding together in the face of a perceived common enemy and backed by Britannian gold, soon became the greatest thorn in the Empire's side and ushered in an Age of Strife as they took up arms to defend their homes and beliefs. The violent war that resulted was as much a product of misunderstandings and overreactions as of real doctrinal differences, which would remain a theme throughout the long war of religion
During the Age of Rebirth and the Age of Strife that followed it, the Severian Empire used the banner pictured below. The eclipsed sun had, by then, come to represent the new Faith as much, if not more, than the imperial dynasty.
I bring you... CHIRAQ!
They didn't feel the Catholic, Celtic Irish deserved to be represented on the flag. Plus they don't control Ireland anymore, cue revanchism.
Czech Japan!
it is very similar indeed
