On Thu, 12 Dec 2019 10:26:32 +1000, Kenneth Barns <xxxxxx@gmail.com>
wrote to Freelance Traveller:

>I hear your objections about the Red Cross, but it by far and away would be
>the leading candidate.  The Cross (versus the Red Crescent) is the logo in
>a number of Islamic nations (Indonesia, Mali, Kosovo) and throughout
>non-Christian eastern Asia.  If the issue is "real-world 2019" issues (ie.
>YOU cannot publish that logo, even for use in a fictional setting), then
>just change the colour.  In general terms:

Were I to find that I _could_ use an ICRC symbol in a fictional context
that does not portray the ICRC or hypothetical successor organizations in a
negative light, I would choose the Red Crystal (Argent, a lozege gules
voided) as a non-sectarian "universal" symbol that can, under its terms of
use, be modified to show "national" identification by placing a national
symbol inside it - including hypothetical non-Terran organizations.

>*  white cross on green = first aid (per International Standards
>Organisation), or occupational health

I'm not sure that either of these meanings could legitimately be extended
to treating it as a symbol for organizations like MSF or Mercy Ships,
although _some_ of what they do would certainly fall under those headings.

>*  green cross on white = alternative symbol for first aid (per ISO), but
>used by a few private companies

Again, not sure this meaning can be legitimately extended.

>*  white cross on blue = used to indicate a hospital, usually on road maps
>or street signs (perhaps this is just an Australian thing)

The cross used this way is definitiely not an American thing; maps and road
signs pointing to hospitals seem to be a 1-em block capital sans-serif "H"
on blue.

>You get the idea.  If colour is disassociated from the symbol (as per the
>Imperial Sunburst), then there is no reason to NOT have the cross as the
>symbol.

>[BTW, to separate the symbol from Christian symbols, a difference needs to
>be drawn between the "Greek cross" - four equally long arms - and the Red
>Cross - arms with length equal to their width.  In other words, the Red
>Cross is stubbier than any previous Christian cross variant.]

>Alternatives?
>
>The snake +/- staff of Asclepius (For the love of God, NOT the caduceus ...
>that symbol of the god of merchants and thieves!)

>The Star of Life (A bit US-centric)

This seems, per Wikipedia, to have been adopted outside the US, but it is
more-or-less designated specifically for emergency medicine - even here in
the US, the only place it's generally seen is on emergency medical
transport and hospital _emergency departments_ - not a general symbol for
hospitals. The Staff is usually, but not invariably, placed on the vertical
stripe of the Star. Because of its association with specifically
_emergency_ medicine, I'm not confident that it's a good choice for
MSF/Mercy Ships-like organizations.

>An Ankh (especially if simplified to a "crux ansata" - a melding of the Red
>Cross and a classic ankh)

Now, this offers an interesting possibility, if adjusted to be the bottom
three arms of a Swiss-style cross with a 'red crystal'-style diamond as the
loop. Since the actual ankh is also called the "key of life", and
ostensibly carries the meaning of "life" in Egyptian hieroglyphics, it
would definitely be a not-inappropriate choice.

>Non-Solomani:
>
>* The Star of David, perhaps stretched in the Y-axis  (Bear with me here
>..)
>Separate to its Hebrew connotations, I can see the same symbol as overlap
>of a gynoid figure (upward pointing triangle) and an android figure
>(downward pointing triangle) and, thus, a symbol for the totality of
>humanity.  (Much like overlapping Mars/Venus icons.)

I wouldn't have any fundamental objections to it, except for the
association with Judaism.

>* A letter "T", perhaps with arms running slightly downwards.
>Human figure, arrow point up, aspiration to raise people to higher things.
>Perhaps stylised shugilii blessing food.

An interesting idea; perhaps even combinable with the ankh, or
"crystalankh" idea from before.

>Cannot see a separate Sylean symbol.  At the time of Vilani contact in

This is a justifiable position to take - and yet it was Sylea, not Vland or
Terra, that became the nucleus of the Third Imperium. I would agree that
their symbology might overlap - even significantly - with Vilani and Rule
of Man symbology, but the millenium or so of no interstellar contact would
provide ample opportunity to develop their own symbols - perhaps for some
of the same reasons that alternatives to common symbology were developed
here, in only the last hundred years.

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