The name of "badge" comes from the ability and tradition of these symbols with great flexibility, usually being very simple and worn as pins on the clothes of many a House member. They can also be worn on clothing of followers, retainers, dependents, and partisans of famous and powerful person or House. House leaders each wear ornate and expensive collars to ceremonies and important events, with the "badge" worn as a pendant.
It is common to also come across these symbols on things other than clothing - they are usually in employ on standards, uniforms, buildings and coats of arms. Many of these also survive over the entrances of many pubs, denoting the general sympathies of the patrons of that pub.
Badges usually are principal elements in the bearer's coat of arms. Union heraldry rules require that a bearer's coat of arms reference their House or person badges for easy identification. In the vast majority of the cases, badges commemorate remarkable exploits, or illustrate a family or feudal alliance, or indicate rights and possessions to lands or wealth. Badges can also make a pun or a play-on-words of the bearer's name.
In rare cases, a person or a family could use more than one badge; or two or more badges borne in some form of combination in order to create a grouped compound badge.
A badge can be granted by His Most Serene Highness the Prince through Letters Patent. These Letters Patent are granted much credence throughout the Union, as the Letters Patent give the holder the exclusive legal right in Union law to use the badge in any capacity, and to authorize others to do the same. These rights are protected by law and custom of the Union, and the false or unauthorized use of a badge is seen as a libelous offense that carries stiff penalties. Although anyone could in theory simply just create a badge and say it's theirs, they carry legitimacy and value when officially recognized by the Prince.
(Officially recognized by HSH, the Prince of the Union)