Decorations of the Victorian Independent State

The Victorian Independent State had a number of decorations and awards, with several established under the order of General before the organization came to power in . These pre-revolution decorations were supplemented after 2537 with a number established by bills of the Independent State, mainly in order to recognize those that had performed remarkably during the coup, and in later fighting against pro- insurgents. Outside of the official decorations, most VIS-aligned militia units also had their own decorations, which were sometimes awarded to Victorian Independent Military troops as well in recognition of an operation they had performed in support of the militia or in protection of the operating area of the group.
Very few, if any, decorations of the VIS had an accompanying medal, with most denoted by a small rectangular ribbon worn on the awardee's uniform's left breast in a similar manner to the UNSC's method of display. Those medals that were struck were generally those awarded for exceptional acts of valor. One such medal, a Cross of Independence awarded to Nathaniel Wright in , was sold at auction in for almost 3,000 .
==List of Decorations==
===Official Independent State Decorations===
====Medals====
=====Cross of Independence=====
The Cross of Independence was the highest decoration of the Victorian Independent State, as well as being the oldest. Created by order of General in soon after his declaration of the existence of the VIS. However, the medal was never awarded until , when two were awarded, one to Samuel Chase, commander of the Terran Wolfpack, and the other to Aidan Roberts, a sailor aboard the who charged as they boarded the vessel. Both medals were posthumous, as Roberts was confirmed dead and Chase was assumed dead. Five more medals were awarded after the coup in , with the only five medals ever known to be struck being created during this time, with the name of each recipient and date of the action that merited the awarded engraved on the back of the cross.
For the next fourteen years, not a single Cross of Independence was awarded, with most acts of valor warranting the Order of Elisa or the Heroism Medal. However, in late , after the fall of the Independent State, Nathaniel Wright, himself a recipient of the Cross of Independence, gathered a list of names of those who had performed in such a way that they would be eligible for the decoration. Wright proceeded to broadcast this list, about twenty names long, along with a propaganda broadcast after taking over a communications outpost.
The Cross' suspension ribbon was a plain blue silk ribbon with the same color as the UNSC's ribbon. The cross' general shape was very similar to the Victoria Cross, however, it was made of white gold, and the center of the medal was adorned with the initials V.I.S., with the words For Exemplary Valor engraved above the initials. Only two medals from the five struck in are known to still exist, with both, one awarded to Nathaniel Wright, the other awarded posthumously to General Graves, being on display as part of the Temporary Triumph exhibit. The whereabouts of the remaining three are unknown, though some theorize they are either held by the descendants of the recipients or by UNSC troops who pilfered them during the retaking of Victoria.
=====Order of Elisa=====
The Order of Elisa was an award bestowed upon both civilian and military members of the Independent State for valorous actions during spaceflight. The award was first established in after the actions of Ishmael Jackson, a civilian smuggler ship crewman, saved a cargo ship ferrying supplies back to the Independent State from the Glabetovan People's Republic by manually repairing the ship's slipspace drive while the craft was in the slipstream, preventing a possibly deadly accident. Upon return to Victoria, Jackson was treated to a hero's welcome, and a medal established for award for actions during spaceflight, of which he was the first recipient. Over the course of the next fourteen years, twenty five more medals were awarded, about sixteen of them to civilian spacers, who by the nature of their job, put themselves in harm's way more frequently than the sailors of the Victorian Independent Navy, which only had one warship, the URF Origami II. The remaining nine medals were awarded to Independent Navy sailors aboard the Origami II for actions during raids on UNSC convoys.
Unlike the Cross of Independence, all twenty five medals were struck, with the award receiving both the ribbon and medal, and, if they were civilian, a sash to wear with formal attire in the same colors as the ribbon. The medal was of a circular design, mainly composed of a disk of black onyx with the faces of and Yuri Gagarin etched in the stone,and a band of surrounding the disk.
=====Heroism Medal (Aerial, Naval, or Ground)=====
=====Medal For Meritorious Service=====
=====Medal For Victory Over The UNSC=====
=====Frontier Defense Medal=====
Category:Safe Havens