What flag does the Grinning Pixie fly?

[Starocotes]

we are debating whether the Grinning Pixie flies the flag of the Pathfinder Society, Absalom or non at all.
Usually a ship flies the flag of the nation it hails from. In this case this would be Absalom since the society has it's headquarter there. I personaly think that it would NOT fly the glyph of the open road since this would elevate the society into some kind of government status.

I really would like to have a bit more input form different people.

[Claxon]

In the way that I imagine individual Hellknight orders fly the banner of their specific order, I imagine that this mobile lodge boat would do the same.

I don't think anyone would be concerned about "that's what governments do" because all sorts of organizations have banners, specifically for the purpose of identifying them.

It would be incorrect to identify the ship as belonging to a country, since it's not associated with Absalom's government. So the only identifiable banners that makes sense in my mind are the society banner and or the banner of the specific lodge.

[keftiu]

Many pirate ships historically flew their own, original flags, right? That’s what I’d imagine happens here.

[Perpdepog]

The other important aspect to consider is why ships fly flags in the first place; either to have themselves be easily identified by friendly ships, or to warn away potential enemies by telling them the aegis that the ship is flying under.

The Pathfinder Society has many friends. Many enemies too, true, but given they are an organization expressly made up of adventurers and PCs that's still a lot of aegis to be throwing around.

Both are reasons why I could easily see the Pathfinder Society flying their own flags if they were piloting their own vessels.

[zimmerwald1915]

Private ships (as opposed to merchant marine ships and naval ships, which are owned by the state) fly the flags of states under two circumstances: 1) if they expect and/or want to invoke the protection of those states' fleets; and 2) if they derive some tax benefit from it (exemption from import duties in those states' harbors, for instance). Absalom has a notable greenwater fleet but doesn't seem to project power outwards so is of negligible protection to its ships on the high seas, and its import duties for foreign merchants are said to be "modest," with other revenue sources being either equal (docking fees), or forced by circumstance (piloting fees).

In these circumstances, could see the Pixie being registered with Absalom's government as a native ship, but flying Absalom's colors only nearby to Kortos and when it puts into harbor there, and flying the Society's colors on the high seas.