While I never implemented this, when I reformed the Zuavs and created the current system, I imagined that their colours would be blue and red, in keeping with their Berber origin.  The French Zuoaves wore a stylized version of a traditional Berber costume, with blue jackets with red trim and red pants.  So blue with red trim would be my advice, but of course the current commander gets to set all of that policy (unless the MinDef overrules him).

The current award design -- as far as it goes -- has one silver bar awarded for PSC, two silver bars for PFC, one gold bar for SPC, and two gold bars for CPL.

Where did "Talossa Prime" come from?  It's not GTA anymore?  Talossa Prime makes me think of Giedi Prime from Dune.

Quote from: Mic'haglh Autófil on March 07, 2022, 10:49:09 PM

Would've been helpful if I had seen this before doing my grocery shopping for the week, because I am liking what I'm seeing. Can't believe it took me 20-some years to try bok choy...all that time, wasted.

If you try it, let me know if you like it!

Quote from: Mic'haglh Autófil on March 07, 2022, 10:45:12 PM

And thank you! Having the interests I do, I cannot see "Dien" without seeing "Dienst" (the German word for "service"/"maintenance") and the old VW Dienst enamel signs at their licensed mechanics. Using that as a template with S:reu Tresplet's arms for the shade of blue and replacing the I with a 1 to symbolize his status as an independent felt almost too natural there.

The one is also fitting because I think (if I understand correctly) that by rejecting the mandatory party list requirement, Dien will be required to hold any seats he wins by himself!

This might have to wait for volume two, but I finally harassed my wife into providing a recipe.

Crispy Tofu and Bok Choy

Ingredients
-Extra firm tofu
-A large head of bok choy
-Glutinous rice
-Korean gochujjang
-Toasted sesame seeds
-Sesame oil
-Soy sauce
-Sugar
-Cornstarch
-Rice wine vinegar


Directions
1.  Start the rice in your rice cooker.  1 cup per person.  If you don't have a rice cooker, use the directions on the bag of rice.
2.  Preheat oven to 400 F / 204 C / 477 K.
3.  Remove the tofu from the package and pat it gently but firmly dry with a clean towel.  You want to remove as much moisture as possible, since this improves the texture.
4.  Cube the tofu into half-inch cubes.  Pat them dry again if they seem very wet.  Put into a bowl and add a half-cup of soy sauce and a half-cup of sesame oil.  Let sit and marinate for five minutes, stirring around halfway through to make sure everything gets coated.
5.  Put the tofu on a baking sheet in a single layer, spread out evenly.  If you have a silpat, use it to save yourself cleanup.  Sprinkle with a fine dusting of cornstarch.  Don't worry if you can't see any visible cornstarch after it sticks and absorbs moisture.
6.  Chuck the tofu in the oven once it's hot.  Let it bake for 20 to 30 minutes, flipping once halfway through.  Longer will make the tofu chewy, which some people like.
7.  Drink a beer.
8.  After you turn the tofu, wash the bok choy, chop it coarsely, and throw it in a skillet on a high heat.  If you have cast iron, use it.  Stir it frequently, but not continually, so that the bok choy gets some good browned bits.  It will take about five minutes or six minutes.  Keep going if you don't like it crunchy at all.
9.  Make the sauce by adding two or three tablespoons of gochujjang, a tablespoon of sugar, a splash of rice wine-vinegar, a handful of toasted sesame seeds, and a splash of sesame oil into a small bowl.  Mix it all together and add warm water until it's at a consistency you like (for me, not much).  You can make this ahead of time if you don't want to feel rushed.  This sauce has a slight spice to it, but it's mostly sweet.
10.  The rice, tofu, and bok choy should be ready pretty much at the same time.  Put the sauce in a small bowl or personal ramekins, and serve everything else in separate small piles on the plate.  The sharply contrasting colors will be pleasant to see, and the whole dish is fun to eat for everyone.  If you or your guests aren't that good with chopsticks, it is recommended to prepare the rice ahead of time and roll it into small balls to make it easier to handle; if you dip your hands in cold water after each one, the rice won't stick to you.
11.  Eat.

I don't know if the animal thing was a tradition before the RUMP, actually.  When I first immigrated, the CLP and the CRO were the only existing parties, with the RUMP just formed and the MN just gone, I think.  Of those, I think only the RUMP had a mascot, and maybe the CRO (a bat maybe? something drawn in a surrealist way that was extremely cool.)  The MN didn't have one unless you count a fascist black handprint, and the CLP seemed like they were too busy steamrolling a tyrant to choose a mascot.  It is a fun tradition, though.  I guess maybe it mostly comes from American politics -- I don't think it's that common in other countries.  A friend tells me, for example, that in Britain they don't have the same thing: instead, the UK Labour party has a rose, and the Tories are symbolized by the blood of the poor.  That might not be an unbiased accounting, though.

I love the D1EN one, by the way.

Yes, put that guy to work! Get some of those geometric fonts going in here.

Pretty great start!  Only a few suggestions.

#4 touches on a pretty sharp nerve by recognizing the secession of territory when the Republic formed, and also seems to suggest that the Republic was just absorbed into the Kingdom, which the terms of Reunision state wasn't quite the case (even if we sometimes speak in that shorthand).  Both entities chose to merge together, one didn't absorb the other.  Maybe it can be more neutrally phrased as, "What is the name of the event of 2012 in which the Republic of Talossa merged back with the Kingdom?"

#9 is poorly phrased.  Maybe, "Which languages inspired the creation of Talossan?"

#11 is confusingly phrased.  Maybe, "Which of these choices is NOT the name of a real Talossan political party from the past?"

#14 should probably use the full names of the offices.

For my money, the mercury symbol seems like a bad idea.

You're not excessively complex, since you have four tinctures (argent, sable, azure, and or) and three charges plus a line of division.  That's eight "complexity points," the maximum allowed, as you noted.  But that's still very complex and contributes to why I think this looks so busy.

There's also practical reasons to avoid a small complicated symbol on a large complicated charge.  The bear itself is already on a divided field and so it's going to be small when emblazoned in most instances, and the mercury symbol has to thus be even smaller to be on a "clean" section of the bear so that both can be understood.  If you shrink down this sample emblazonment by 50%, it's hard to tell that it's mercury.  This blazon doesn't quite violate the rule of contrast, but it does violate the principle that rule is intended to protect (designs should be easily-distinguished at a distance).

I'd advise that you should perhaps decide whether you like the bear or the mercury symbol more, and just pick one.

Beyond that, this is beautiful and balanced.

-NRH

Well, then by the power vested in me by the Dean and with the agreement of my colleague, I hereby pronounce it so.  And I believe the new OAF should get to work as the Rouge Elephant Herald suggests!

Okay, finished making dinner for the kids, so I had a spare few minutes.  Here you go.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DPgq82nTvmlgXkHQuoGqDkC5ZcnM1VzR/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q3WpYRMLpaBiIdp-cSYZwTI9hEqguUB_/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ad1zqQGmPv5R_R55xKqu1aqPctBxB0Bt/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qjeF-au3xk8NzKll7CYIgzHwWoUPsZoh/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qzrfexSUr6s9TGEGwqznQtcUQqlpEhWO/view?usp=sharing, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ssLyP6S9I9VzIG-kxR5fy0YG4vlbnXvh/view?usp=sharing, http://wiki.talossa.com/TalossaWiki:Library#Audio_Collection

Cool, I'll post some links here tonight once I get back to my computer.

Well, it's played online, so I don't see any reason why I couldn't record it. I let all these subscriptions to my fancy online D&D apps go dormant once the pandemic receded enough for my game here at home to return to in person, but I can figure out some alternatives without too much trouble.

So what's the next step for this? I'd love to be able to support, even if no one wants to place any bets. If it's getting going in April, then should we set up teams?

Also, I think our magnificent organizer here should award himself a fancy job title.

Maybe I should run another D&D game? I had fun with the last one, and it seemed like the other players did too.