The icon for the Khumaak might look quite alike the Ardishapur family seal (and there is some reason for that) but the description that is given is not quite like that. According to EVElopedia the Khumaak "is a three-foot rod with a spiked solar disc on the top, the design of the original relic believed to date back to the pre-Reclaiming era of Amarrian prophet Dano Geinok. It isn't believed to have been intended as a weapon originally, but as a rod of command for high-ranking members of the Amarrian Conformist clergy." Thus, we see that the Khumaak is originally an Amarrian insignia, appropriated by the Matari as a symbol of rebellion.
Err, I never said it's a Minmatar symbol. I said that the Khumaak, as in the original rod design, almost exactly depicts the Ardishapur symbol. The
only difference is that the top bar is a circle instead of a bar. The spiked solar disc is still the eye of God. Considering that the Holder who wielded the Khumaak as a rod of power was an Ardishapur, I'd say it's pretty clear that the Ardishapur Family took that symbol from Geinok as their own, and crafted their rods of power based on that symbol. I don't know the difference in meaning between the double-barred cross and the double-circled cross, but I would assume that the Khumaak variation meant something like "God watches over the rulers of the Empire".
And the symbol is exactly as I described it, because it's
the only royal seal that is given a description in PF (aside from the Imperial/Khanid seals).The Ardishapur Family seal features a stylized eye sitting atop an inverted double-barred cross. The eye is meant to represent the eye of God, watching over the Ardishapur Family. The cross is an old heraldric symbol, dating back thousands of years. It is interpreted as being a combination of two older symbols, one representing the spirit and the other representing the earth.
Taken as a whole, the symbol is interpreted to mean “God watches over the soul of the Empire”. Opponents of the Ardishapur often claim the cross is impaling the eye and joke the symbol stands for “Blind to God by worldly cares”.
I don't think that the Kador family employs the first sign, which is a circle with a triangle at its base: it is, after all, two semi circles within a semi circle with a triangle. The semi circles refer to the break between god and man. As the semicircles don't intersect, there is no imperfect reunion and even less any full reunion. I'd think the multiple circles would indicate a plural 'men', and thus a less abstract level than the "man (in general)". After the fall It's more like "Men fallen, but upheld/elevated/exalted by God."
I didn't say they employed it exactly, I said they used one clearly inspired by it. It looks halfway between the first sign and the standard semi-circle sign. It's three-quarters, which indicates to me a near-reunion with God. Still not complete, but also not quite as broken as before.
"Men fallen, but upheld/elevated/exalted by God," might be a more accurate meaning, yes.
The Sarum seal, I agree, seems to depict crossed swords. The interpretation of the double guards as indicating the spirit and the earth-. Croosed swords traditionally represent military might, pointing upwards "ready to fight". I'm not saying that IRL symbology should inform us in interpreting Amarr symbolism, but it's quite fitting for Sarum. As question to me remains, why is there the dot between the weaknesses of the swords?
RL symbology is already explicitly used on the Ardishapur symbol. And by double guards, I'm referring to the crossguard (the hilt). Both swords have two crossguards, which makes them appear as double-barred crosses. We already see Ardishapur using the combined-spirit-earth symbol, hence my assumption that the Sarum swords having two crossguards each might indicate similar. The fact that they are curved, though, might indicate something else, though.
I'm also curious as to the meaning of the dot. A filled circle often means fullness, completeness, but how that relates to the swords I'm unsure of.
*Edit* It should be noted, that the Imperial Navy
also uses a filled circle, and in the same burnished orange color. Likely intended to have similar meanings. Interestingly, all the planetside military units/manufacturers use stars, while Navy, Crusade, and Sarum all use circles.
