Although a variety of pokemon have been depicted in heraldry, none are quite so prolific as Murkrow. This is not the most obvious choice, for they are a cowardly race of birds which gathers in flocks to peck people and pokemon repeatedly and feast upon their eyes – quite far from a symbol of majesty or power! What Murkrow did represent was the ability of nations to rise to power through cloak-and-dagger schemes.
For one of these nations, it was a matter of personal preference turned into a national symbol. A great and terrible king had declared Murkrow his favorite of pokemon, mostly because he identified with their reputation and enjoyed blinding as a means of punishing his vanquished foes. For another, it represented their nation's roots as a group of thieves and brigands plundering shiny objects in the name of their god. And for the last, it was a two-headed Murkrow, which was claimed to represent east and west, the two halves of their perpetually divided nation: in reality, a mutant Murkrow had a nest in their castle when they had gained independence from the Emperor so many years ago.
Inherited kingdoms and fabricated casus belli were the ways of empire in this age, and those who rose to the top in such a tumultuous world would inevitably be compared to Murkrow; cartoonists portrayed them as a flock of three when they acted together to partition a rival; even without the coincidences of history, the comparison was inevitable. As for the birds themselves, they flourished behind kings who, caring more for their symbols than their subjects, forbade them to be killed. Then came revolution, and the republic which followed the old empires slapped a Honchkrow on the flag to demonstrate the evolution of government.