RIM WORLDS IMAGES

One of the interesting things to contemplate about the Rim is the look (which contributes to the feel) of the place. Chandler injects imagery into his works where it is important to the story, although often sparingly. Where detail is introduced, it is more often than not related to a subject that was important in Chandler's maritime life, particulary things relating to ships, their operation, shipping companies and the crews that work for them. Being able to quickly recognize the rank of an officer is not a task that is discussed in the stories - a mere presentation of the title would be sufficient - but is was important to Chandler's everyday performance of his job (if you are looking for promotion, it does not help your cause to serve coffee to the ensigns before you serve the captain) and he always makes sure to pass this detail on to his readers.

While the Concordance will catalog the various ornamental details, it still doesn't show us what they actually look like. Not being blessed with a single pixel of artistic talent, I'm forced to borrow from the real world in order to present some of these images.

One of the most important images we run in to are flags, ensigns and insignia. All of these devices were originally created to allow members of various military organizations to recognize friend and foe from a distance (pretty important when you just might have to start slinging lead - or might be having it slung at you) and are, therefore, generally simple iconic displays with highly contrasting colors. Most military symbols were originally drawn from chivalric heraldry, the coats-of-arms most people are familiar with, which in turn were probably derived from pre-literate symbology. As such, many of the symbols employed have a long history of meaning, a fact that Chandler was no doubt familiar with. For example, the Rim Runners Incorporated logo is described as a "winged wheel". The winged-wheel icon symbolizes progress, advancement, speed, all concepts that fit very well with the image that the Rim Runners shipping line would like to portray. Below are a few images I've prepared for flags and logos mentioned in the stories.

The Federation flag image required a bit of creativity on my part. The flag itself is described by Grimes as "a dark blue field with a pattern of silver stars on it". Minus the Union Jack, either the Australian or New Zealand national flags would fit that bill. However, a flag for the Federation would, in all liklihood, be depicting stars in a pattern significant to the history of the Federation itself - not the brightest constellation in the southern skies. In homage to Chandler's adopted home and representative of the southern skies, I incorporated the southern cross. In order to give it a scope that was encompassing of all of the galaxy, I added Ursa Major, providing a major northern constellation and thus incorporating the entire night sky. The larger star is, of course, representative of Sol.