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The New RK Symbol

Back in 2006, with the RK winged swords becoming more personalized & specific for each RoachKing, GM Charlie Hail started working on a new, compact symbol to represent the RoachKings as a group.   He researched dozens of ancient symbols & their meanings and combined 2 of them into something he thought was appropriate.

First, there was a symbol that came as close as possible to reflecting the spirit of the term "roach."  An alchemical symbol for "burn out by making white-hot," the circle with an "X" through it represents purification as well as destruction:

Second, there was the ancient Hittite hieroglyph for "king," which combined a triangle (a symbol for "power" & "divinity") with a vertical line (which signified "oneness.")   Another ancient symbol, it was sometimes used for "fire" as well:

Obviously, "RoachKings" is plural, so Charlie used multiple "king" triangles, placing them on each of the 4 points of the "X." He also gave the symbol the same red color (with black outline & 3D bevel) as the "RK" letters on the Winged Swords. Thus, we have a symbol that actually means "RoachKings:"

Once the new symbol was established, Charlie & Shag began studying their Tolkien dictionaries, looking for an accurate Elven translation for the term "RoachKings." This led to their development of the Elven phrase "Echlith Erain," which literally translates as "kings of reducing things to ash."  They thought that pretty much summed it up.