Also:

There are a LOT of different minor races (human-ish a good many) that have very different histories. There are a lot of non-humans in the Imperium and beyond.

It seems very hard to come up with a common symbol. Would a symbol that was sensible in Sylea or Vland or Sol have any traction along the borders with the Aslan or the Vargr? Possibly not so much.

My best alternative symbol for a humanocentric view would be a figure placing its hand on a downed companion (helping/healing).

Jeff also wants to include evac ships, various non-directly medical forms of compassion, etc. so that's another issue. Compassion as a concept is hard to embody in a simple icon.

Given the hundreds of alien races covered by the Imperium (maybe thousands), the vast number of different human cultures, and the long messy history of the Imperium, maybe they'd go with something like the EU strategy:

We have too many flags and too many symbols an colours to easily define a common EU flag. Except... we can create a massive rainbow thing without any symbols but including most or all of the colours used by our members.

Maybe some sort of dead simple symbol (for instance, a text character in one of the non-English scripts that happens to translate as Compassion) could be used.

It's either pick something specific to a major culture/political group (Solomani, Vilani, Syleans) that will only be relevant to a portion of the viewers but that can be made familiar (because the Imperial Government uses it ubiquitously (locals can do otherwise) or else try for something so generic that it can be made acceptable for all (like the the messy EU flag).

TomB

On Thu, Dec 19, 2019 at 9:17 PM <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
The Caduecus is a greek symbol originating w an attempt by Hermes to get two snakes to cease fighting. Solomani medical traditions use this as do low tech medical alert bracelets if I recall.

That or a variant might work for your Solomani symbol.

Tom B


On Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 18:59 Jeff Zeitlin, <xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com> wrote:
Folks, I'd like you all to rev up your drawing implements, whether
classical or electronic. I need three Imperium-wide symbols that will
represent medical assistance from the Compassion Corps. Three, because I
want one "Solomani" symbol - and for good and sound real-world legal
reasons, it cannot be the Red Cross/Crescent/Crystal, even if that would be
the most likely/rational/realistic - one "Vilani" symbol, and one "Sylean"
symbol. Ideally, they should be designed to be recognizeable if not
colored, though having a 'default' color is OK. If your imagination extends
to writing a brief history of the symbol and its adoption, I'll take that,
too!

In addition, if you have any ideas for symbols that might be appropriate
for particular regions or particular minor races, I'd like to see them (and
their stories, if you know them).



®Traveller is a registered trademark of
Far Future Enterprises, 1977-2018. Use of
the trademark in this notice and in the
referenced materials is not intended to
infringe or devalue the trademark.

--
Jeff Zeitlin, Editor
Freelance Traveller
    The Electronic Fan-Supported Traveller® Resource
xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com
http://www.freelancetraveller.com

Freelance Traveller extends its thanks to the following
enterprises for hosting services:

onCloud/CyberWeb Enterprises (http://www.oncloud.io)
The Traveller Downport (http://www.downport.com)
-----
The Traveller Mailing List
Archives at http://archives.simplelists.com/tml
Report problems to xxxxxx@simplelists.com
To unsubscribe from this list please go to
http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=RDHE7iRpfwqlHvVvWBIhpJZsbTiD5NnL