i have a military division, so to speak of highly advanced humans meant to defend humanity's final city, they are broken up into four classes with different abilities for each class, but i dont know what their symbol is going to be, i got as far as to figure out that the symbols representing each class will go on a shield in one of four divisions, but dont know what the symbols will look like, any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated thanks!
Well I would like them to be simar to warlocks hunters, and titans I guess but with abilities that are drawn from their unique design? In terms of symbols, I'm stumped
I don't have suggestions per se - but I would advise you to look at the symbols used in existing militaries - and the United States Navy in particular. I like the Navy over the Army and Air Force for this question because they actually have two different layers of differentiation - which could help you depending on whether your "classes" are structured by superiority, function, or both. To start with, almost every armed force has significant symbolic differentiation between the officers - who serve management functions and operate as an upper class within the military - and the enlisted soldiers under their command. Plus, there is usually a third category - Warrant Officers - composed of former enlisted soldiers who have been given officer-level responsibility but not official officer commissions. Here are links to the three lists of insignia as defined by the US Navy. U.S. Navy ENLISTED Rank Devices U.S. Navy OFFICER Rank Devices U.S. Navy WARRANT OFFICER Rank Devices Now - the reason I really like US Naval insignia for your question is that, unlike the other services, their iconography further subdivides the lower-level level enlisted into four function-based categories: Seamen, Airmen, Firemen, and Constructionmen. These are identified by the COLOR of the rank stripes. Most of them are going to be Seamen (white stripes) - it's a Navy - but you can immediately identify sailors who are designated as Airmen (blue stripes), Firemen (red stripes), and Constructionmen (green stripes) Here is a list of those color insignia. Coincidentally - Star Trek used Naval based ranks and actually ripped off the function-color-coding concepts for their uniforms - Red for command staff, Blue for Science and Medical officers, Yellow for Engineering and Security. So, if you are sorting your military by social standing - separating the commanders from the commanded - then you'll want to have more elaborate and sophisticated imagery for the officers compared to the enlisted. If you're further differentiating them by function, color coding is the way to go. With the color coding - two people can see that they have the same number of stripes, and hence equal standing, but that they fulfill different tasks.
what @Commandante Lemming said. But. If your officers have a very distinctive uniform that enables an enlisted man to spot him in an instant, and immediately obey any order he gives, he also has a very distinctive uniform that enables an enemy sniper to target him. The Germans found this out the hard way at Stalingrad. Modern armies tend to have more subtle uniforms for that reason. We've come a long way since the British redcoats were an easy target for you colonials!
Really good point - but the caveat there is that the need to hide the officers depends on the context. If you're on a battlefield, yeah, hide those guys. If you're on a ship - especially a closed in space-ship - you can color-code the heck out of the officers because the enemy can't see inside the ship and battle is focussed on blowing up whole ships. You also see a lot of bright color coding on real-world aircraft carriers because that battle space is more about a bunch of people operating one big ship. So you also have to think about your battle space and what effects that has on conventions.
Now I'm thinking I'm confused. What I'm taking away is that you're looking for a device for the shield. So I was leaning towards Hunters - like a bow with arrow nocked. warlocks - Something symbolizing how they source their powers ( if it's self driven then a stylized fingerprint, 'manna' or the like could have a circle with gradient darkening towards the center, etc ) titans - a basic horizon and sky ( for mother earth and father sky that birthed the titans of mythology ), an outline of a mountain for Mount Othrys ( their home mountain ), and easy 12 dots for the 12 original titans I can think of stuff like that for real basic symbolism but I'm not good with rank signifiers and such.
Okay those symbol ideas are good I will definitely use some of you ideas, and when it is finished, ill post a picture thank you!
Military insignia come in several levels. What @Commandante Lemming was explaining was how rank was denoted, and also how function was indicated, by a combination of badges with different colours. This fits well with a naval environment, where, as he says, you're not close to the enemy and where you've got a multi-disciplinary team. In an army environment, you'll tend to have each unit being specialised, and a multi-disciplinary team being combined on the spot for each individual operation, calling for varying quantities of infantry, artillery, armour and logistical support. Each of these units will have its own "device for the shield", like this badge for Russian airborne troops. But you'd still have ranks.
Yeah there are lots of layers of military iconography, and it's sophistication is going to depend on your setting. I started this out for some reason thinking you were doing sci-fi which tends to mimic naval trends - but if you're doing fantasy then you're looking at armies and more specifically pre-modern armies. But you'd still see differentiation between your classes, and maybe also logos for individual units and such (this is still common in modern armies and air forces). But again, your iconography is really going to be defined by your setting and battle space.
well it was a sci fy but but it is that in terms of the technology and so forth, but in terms of military it isn't like mass effect or halo, its meant to be like a futuristic middle age and apocalypse type story but your ideas are all usefull : )
Go to a military site and ask a former Veteran. Not only will you get the best advice, but you'll have made their day that you asked.
