I didn't answer to that thread because there is not much in the lore covering Allag's form of government or their flag.Â
I'm not sure I totally agree with your analogy and I believe that it might just be a case of Occam's razor in that no lore about it can also mean a flag actually exists but isn't covered by the lore (yet).
I agree that nationalism is not that old IRL for the reasons you presented, but heraldry is, and was widely used as flags since the dawn of humanity. Just with a different meaning behind. And while nationalism as a true doctrine didn't show up until 20th century, actual states started to real form and act as nations as early as late middle ages (especially during the Hundred Years War where the ideology started to appear). Kingdoms like England, France, Spain, etc, all had their flags even in the early middle ages, even if it was more related to the king's heraldry.
Overall it's hard to tell, but the Allagan Empire was a true Empire, spanning almost all over the planet at its peak as well as in space, and seemed to boast a big amount of corporate and military labs and scientific complexes (like Azys Lla or Seal Rock), and while it seemed to work more as a very autocratic regime backed up by an overblown military, they still had an active population and a certain amount of national culture of active military service.
I'm not sure I totally agree with your analogy and I believe that it might just be a case of Occam's razor in that no lore about it can also mean a flag actually exists but isn't covered by the lore (yet).
I agree that nationalism is not that old IRL for the reasons you presented, but heraldry is, and was widely used as flags since the dawn of humanity. Just with a different meaning behind. And while nationalism as a true doctrine didn't show up until 20th century, actual states started to real form and act as nations as early as late middle ages (especially during the Hundred Years War where the ideology started to appear). Kingdoms like England, France, Spain, etc, all had their flags even in the early middle ages, even if it was more related to the king's heraldry.
Overall it's hard to tell, but the Allagan Empire was a true Empire, spanning almost all over the planet at its peak as well as in space, and seemed to boast a big amount of corporate and military labs and scientific complexes (like Azys Lla or Seal Rock), and while it seemed to work more as a very autocratic regime backed up by an overblown military, they still had an active population and a certain amount of national culture of active military service.
Balmung:Â Suen Shyu
