A coat of arms for the magical Sky River Academy, the setting of a future fanfiction story Fire Lily by rosypeaches on Asianfanfics.com.
About the Fanfic Behind the Coat of Arms
The fire lily - a flower that blossoms from the ashes in firy red just days after a fire has scorched the ground. This 'phoenix' of flowers lent its symbolism to the fantasy story "Fire Lily" by rosypeaches: It follows EXO's Park Chanyeol and Han Na Ri (an original character) on their adventure and life as students, friends, and soulmates at the magical Sky River Academy.
Colour Variations
Drafts of an Earlier, More Complex Design
In the early drafting stages, the setting the story was much bigger; it featured the entire SM Entertainment universe with the fandoms of all the label's different acts. Rosypeaches therefore initially commissioned a complete (in the heraldic sense) coat of arms featuring the fandom logos of TVXQ, Super Junior, SHINee, EXO, Girls Generation, Red Velvet, NCT, SuperM, and aespa.
Later, rosypeaches changed the story to focus on EXO only, which led to the less complex design you see at the top of this post.
However, I still wanted to show you the drafts of the more complex design because rosypeaches and I put a lot of thoughts into the design and the symbology behind it:
The shield/escutcheon shows a band or river of stars--the sky river--inspired by the SM Entertainment logo. There are exactly 12 stars on the band, representing the 12 schools (fandoms).
The crest was to be a "flower-star" or "star-flower". There were two final contenders: First, a band of stars that interwaved to form a peach flower entvined with a star. I desined the geometry in such a way that it is possible to draw it in one go without lifting the pen. And second, a peach flower, where some of the petal edges are highlighted to resembel a rotation spiral (a galaxy).
The mantling was to be a combination of cloth, plants and feathers.
The supporters are narwhals and vermilion birds: Narwhals are known as the unicorns of the sea, symbolising magical powers, freedom, and even remembrance of spiritual messages or missions. Their tusks are reminiscent of wands or swords, both of which are very fitting for a magic school. The vermilion bird--one of the Five Heavenly Beasts in Chinese cosmology--stands for energy, fire, and zest for action. The fiery and graceful vermillion bird nicely balances, or contrasts, the elusive and almost cold narwhal--one being from the sea and the other from the sky.
Designing the crown was a challenge: In western heraldry, the crown usually resembles the holder's crown jewels. For example, the crown in the coat of arms of the British monarchy is designed after the British crown jewels. However, the crowns or head pieces of Chinese and Korean rulers were often visually less intimidating than their female counterparts. So, designing a regal, celestial crown with an Asian look-and-feel, that was not dynasty-specific and did NOT look feminine but neutral, that was harder than I thought. Eventually, we settled on a solid gem-ladden crown that holds up the "flower-star" crest and added the characteristic tassels: 12 threads with 12 beads each, some of which are celestial bodies.
Credits and Acknowledgements
The conceptual design was really a close collaboration between rosypeaches and me. I had a lot of fun diving into her celestial fantasy academy universe and creating the designs for this epic story! rosypeaches, many many thanks for yet another fun and successful collaboration, despite our busy lives! May the stars be with you!
