Faction Motto

"Because we need beer money."

— AcolyteProtectionAgency

Some organizations in fiction as well as Real Life like to introduce themselves with a motto that sums up their mission, philosophy, and attitude. It is often found written across their crests, logos, or emblems and can double as Arc Words.

Supertrope to Pretentious Latin Motto and Badass Creed. Not to be confused with a Battle Cry, which is something shouted in the heat of battle, while a motto is usually written down somewhere (although the two may overlap).

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Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Blue Reflection Ray: "Girls living in a world of lies, your flowers of sadness, and the despair that blooms from them, we'll take them all away, now and forever" is the motto of the Red Reflectors, representing how they aim to rip away the feelings of girls so that they won't be burdened by their negative emotions.
• In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, the titular Corps has two prominent ones regarding their grudge against demons, “Metsu” (Destroy) and “Akimessatsu” (Destroy All Evil Demons), the former is seen engraved on the back of the member’s unforms, and the latter is seen engraved on the blades of the 9 elite and most powerful members, the Hashira.
• Moriarty the Patriot: The Moriarty family heraldry comes with the motto "Je Crois en Moi," or translated from the French, "I believe in myself." While these words are never actually said, they very much emphasize the Moriarty family's philosophy on life, especially William's, and also underscores William's attempt to emulate Robespierre.
• My-HiME: The SEARRS Foundation, with "For the Golden Millennium", which is prominently displayed on the OS of one of their android agents.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: NERV has "God's in his heaven, all's right with the world."
• Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: The Gurren Brigade's motto is "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM/WE ARE!?"

Literature

• Discworld has a handful of examples, most of them being in Canis Latinicus:
  • "Quanti Canicvla Illa In Fenestra" (How much is that doggy in the window) for the City of Ankh-Morpork
  • "Fabricati Diem, Pvnc" for the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. It's officially translated as "To protect and serve" (It's actually "Make my day, punk" in Canis Latinicus), but actually used to be "Fabricati Diem, Pvncti Agvnt Celeriter" - "Make The Day, The Moments Pass Quickly" before the rest of it fell off.
  • "Non Temetis Messor" (Don't fear the Reaper) for Mort, Duke of Sto Helit, Death's apprentice.
  • See more examples here.
• The ducal houses in Gleams of Aeterna have their family mottoes: the Alvas (House of the Wind) have "Against the Wind"; the Epines (House of the Lightning), "Heralds Victory"; the Pridds (House of the Waves), "From the Depths"; and the Oakdells (House of the Rocks), "Firm and Unshakable".
• Harry Potter:
  • Illustrations show that the Hogwarts coat of arms has the motto "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus" (Never tickle a sleeping dragon).
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix reveals that Sirus Black's family, The House of Black, has "Toujours pur" ("Always Pure").
• In the Isaac Asimov's Robot 'verse, the unofficial motto of U.S. Robots & Mechanical Men, Inc. is "No employee makes the same mistake twice. He is fired the first time."
• A Song of Ice and Fire: Each noble house has a motto.
  • Stark: "Winter Is Coming"
  • Targaryen: "Fire and Blood"
  • Lannister "Hear Me Roar!" (their more indicative unofficial motto is "Lannisters always pay their debts")
  • Tully: "Family, Duty, Honor"
  • Tyrell: "Growing Strong"
  • Baratheon: "Ours Is the Fury"
  • Martell "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken"
  • Arryn: "As High as Honor"
  • Greyjoy: "We Do Not Sow"
• In Vampire Academy, for the guardians: "They come first". "They" means the Moroi, the motto translates to putting Moroi lives and needs before their own.

Film

• James Bond: It is revealed in On Her Majesty's Secret Service that the Bond family motto is "The World is Not Enough". Naturally, this means that in The World Is Not Enough a Title Drop happens.

Live-Action TV

• Adam-12: The precinct's patrol cars bear the slogan "to protect and serve" emblazoned on the side (which is a common motto for Real Life police, as well).
• Killjoys: The entirety of the existence of the Reclamation Apprehension Coalition (the setting's Bounty Hunter guild) is predicated on one single guiding principle: "The warrant is all".
• In The Mandalorian, the Children of the Watch frequently say "This is the way" as a means of affirming their beliefs.
• The Order: The Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose has the motto "Silence. Subservience. Observance."
• Square One TV: Mathnet's motto is "To cogitate and to solve."
• Star Trek
  • The Opening Narration ("...to boldly go where no one has gone before!") is part of the in-universe Starfleet Charter.
  • In Star Trek: Discovery, the slogan of House T'Kuvma is "tlhIngan maH! taHjaj!" ("Remain Klingon!" or "We are Klingons! Let it remain!")
  • Star Trek: Picard:
    • The Qowat Milat motto is Sem n'hak kon ("Now is the only moment" ^note confirmed by showrunner Michael Chabon), which is printed repeatedly along the customary belt worn by the sisterhood and Elnor.
    • The motto of the planet Freecloud (which is Space Las Vegas) is "Freecloud keeps your secrets."

Professional Wrestling

• Aces And Eights: "When you ride with Aces And Eights, you never walk alone."
• The Authority: "This is what's best for business!"
• The Beautiful People: "Cleansing the world, one ugly person at a time."
• D-Generation X: "If you're not down with D-Generation X (or the New Age Outlaws), we've got two words for ya!" "Suck It!"
• The Four Horsemen: "You don't join The Horsemen, you're chosen."
• The Nation of Domination: "Know your role."
• nWo: "WCW Sucks!"
• The Nexus: "You're either Nexus, or you're against us!"
• Perros Del Mal: "Dios perdona, los perros no." (Translation: "God forgives, Los Perros don't.")
• S.C.U.M.: "Honor dies."
• The Shield: "Believe in The Shield."

Tabletop Games

• Shadowrun: Each of the Big Ten has a corporate motto. While mostly generic corporate-speak, they also tend to give a minor insight into their priorities (for instance Saeder-Krupp, the traditionally biggest and most powerful of the Megas, has "One Step Ahead" and very much lives up to it on most fronts).

Video Games

• Assassin's Creed: The Assassins have "Nothing is true, Everything is permitted," as well as "We work in the dark to serve the light. We are Assassins." Their rivals, The Knights Templar, have "May the Father of Understanding guide us."
• Command & Conquer: Tiberium: The Brotherhood of Nod has a couple. Tiberian Dawn had the motto "Brotherhood, Unity, Peace." This seems to have been dropped from Tiberian Sun onward in favor of "Peace Through Power."
• Dynasty Warriors 7: The Shu Kingdom's motto can be summarized as Benevolence (with emphasis, as it is often spoken with much well, benevolence), i.e. value the land's people first over efficiency or profit. seen here.
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: The Vigilant of Stendarr are a Knight Templar organization, sponsored by the church of Stendarr (who is, ironically, the setting's god of mercy) to hunt down and destroy vampires, werewolves, daedra worshipers and anyone else deemed to be violating the teachings of the Eight Divines. Their motto is "Stendarr grant you mercy, for the Vigil has none to spare."
• Granblue Fantasy: The Holy Order of Lumiel Knights has a simple one with "Forever Pure... Forever Righteous".
• Might and Magic: Heroes VI: The five factions:
  • The Haven: "Born in the sacred light of Elrath, sworn to spread it all over Ashan."
  • The Sanctuary: "We strive for perfection in Shalassa's worship."
  • The Stronghold: "We walk our own path, alone."
  • The Necropolis: "Life is change, chaos, filth and suffering. Death is peace, order, everlasting beauty."
  • The Inferno: "We will burn the world to ashes and dance upon its ruins!"
• Team Fortress 2: The DeGroot family motto is "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king", very appropriate for a clan of Demomen who almost always invariably lose their eyesight before thirty. (Ironically, the RED Demoman gets grief from his mother about not yet "accomplishing" this.)
• Planescape: Torment: All factions have their own mottos.
  • Believers of the Source: "All life springs from the same divine source, ascending and descending in form as the cosmos tests it."
  • Dustmen: "Everyone is dead. Purge your passions, and in so doing, ascend toward the purity of True Death."
  • Revolutionary League: "Destroy the factions; they're built on lies and greed. Break them all down and rebuild with what's left; that's the way to the real truth."
  • Society of Sensation: "Know the universe by experiencing it fully. The senses form the path to truth, for the multiverse doesn't exist beyond what can be sensed."
  • Mercykillers: "Justice is everything. When properly applied, punishment leads to perfection."
  • Xaositects: "Truth chaos is. By randomness embracing the of the multiverse, secrets its one learns."
  • The Harmonium: "The ends justify the means."
• Pokémon Gold and Silver: You can find Team Rocket's motto by reading a book in their underground base. It says: "Steal Pokemon for profit. Exploit Pokemon for profit. All Pokemon exist for the glory of Team Rocket."
• Warframe:
  • The Grineer have "Glory to the Queens," referencing the Twin Queens who rule over the Grineer Empire. They are such an important part of the empire that if a "defective" clone is born without innate love of the Queens, they are not considered Grineer.
  • The Corpus Fortuna debt internment colony has "We all lift together." Fans quickly adopted it, especially when helping new players. We all lift together, Tenno.
• World of Warcraft:
  • The Knights of the Ebon Blade part by saying, "Suffer well."
  • The Kyrian of Bastion say goodbye by saying, "Go in service."

Webcomics

• Bitmap World: The Pixels' family motto is, "Never pass up a chance to use the washroom."

Web Original

• SCP Foundation:
  • For the Foundation itself: "We secure. We contain. We protect," and " "We die in the dark so you can live in the light," are both commonly used mottos.
  • The ☽☽☽ Initiative signs off nearly all communications with the creed "You are watched. You are protected. You are loved."

Western Animation

• In Transformers: Prime, Wheeljack reminds Bulkhead of the Wreckers' stance on calling for reinforcements. "Wreckers don't call for backup. They call for cleanup!"

Real Life

• Warships tend to have these. For example, the Aircraft Carrier USS Harry Truman has the motto "The buck stops here" (Truman's Real Life catchphrase, and with bonus pun points since "buck" can also refer to "buckshot").
• The US of A have "In God We Trust" on their money bills since 1956. More established (though never official) is E pluribus unum, Latin for "Out of many, one".
• Semper Fi are always faithful.
• The official seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity
• The United Kingdom has:
  • "Dieu et mon droit"^note "God and my right." in French. or "This Green and Pleasant Land" for England (and sometimes Britain in general).
    • The Order Of The Garter, which has been around since 1348 and is the highest Chivalric order and the third most prestigious honour^note after the Victoria Cross and George Cross awarded by the Crown, has the weirdly defensive-sounding "Honi soit qui mal y pense" - roughly, "Shame on whomsoever would think badly of it." It's sometimes rendered into English as "Evil to him who Evil thinks". ^note There are two backstories here. The actual one is that "whomsoever would think badly of it" refers to anyone who doubted Edward III's claim to the French throne. The legendary one is that a countess's garter came undone when she was at a royal event, and Edward said this to those who laughed at her — thereby also explaining why the order is named after what later centuries saw as an item of ladies' clothing (in fact, men wore garters in the 14th century)
  • "In my defens[sic] God me defend" or "Nemo Me Impune Lacessit"^note "Nobody provokes me with impunity" in Latin for Scotland.
  • "Cymru am byth"^note "Wales forever." in Welsh for Wales.
  • "Quis separabit"^note "Who will separate us." in Latin for Northern Ireland.
• Since The French Revolution, France has "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" ("Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood").
• Nazi Germany had "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer." (One People, one Empire, one Guide/Leader).
• There are way too many real-life heraldic mottoes to list them all here.

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