PLAYER
Name: Alyssa
Personal Journal:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pohmelyatsya
E-mail: andalltheworlds@gmail.com
AIM/MSN/etc: plurk & AIM @ andalltheworlds
CHARACTER
Character Name: Anya Bragiskaya | Russia
Canon: Axis Powers Hetalia
Timeline: Modern Day
If playing another character from the same canon, how will you deal with this?: I’m currently playing Spain, and though these two are from the same canon, Anya is actually an AU version of Russia and does not exist in Spain’s version of the world. Thus, he wouldn’t actually know her. That said, they both also run different circles, and it’s highly likely he wouldn’t meet her outside of occasional nation things or other such things. Because of this I feel that it wouldn’t truly be a conflict to have both of these guys here.
Personality:
Himaruya has given very little in terms of personality, saying only that Russia is the “wearied mother type” and I’ve taken creative liberty to work around that.
Anya is a woman of several strengths. She’s beautiful and witty, strong and full of passion. But she is also a woman who has been through hardship her whole life. In this, it becomes increasingly apparent that as a person she is jaded to the world and the people around her. She is warm without the depth of caring to an overarching general, vicious in her dislike to those who have wronged her in some perceived fashion and thorough in her grudges. Because of her rough past, Anya finds it increasingly hard to trust people and will often keep other nations and people at an arm’s length away from her simply because she’s afraid of them getting too close and hurting her.
So yes, trust is a thing that is hard to come by with Anya. She would love to have people who understand and trust her, people to go to when something is wrong and she doesn’t know what to do, but Anya is aware that this is a simple dream and she is incapable of this. So often she doesn’t try, too set into her ways to let others in. She’s strong willed and a force of nature. If anybody can do it, it’s Anya. However, this is a bit of a double edged sword. Because of her attempts at doing everything herself, Anya has the habit of wearing herself to the bone and continuing on past this. Because she’s done this for a long time, she’s extremely capable of hiding this and making it seem like nothing’s wrong, but often she’s about to drop. But she is a stubborn woman and will not turn back and accept ways that she knows does not help her. So here, we can see that Anya is a person who would rather surge forward and make her own path, carve it with her own hands if need be than to depend on somebody else’s help.
She is also a master of masks and wields them as easily as she pleases. As I mentioned before, trust is a tenuous thing with Anya and given the masks she weaves into her everyday life it’s easy to see why. She’s a liar and a manipulator, twisting words and situations to what best helps her and her situation. This isn’t always something that can be picked up on, however as Anya is subtle and takes caution not to get caught. If and when she does, however, Anya is not afraid to lash out with words or physically, she’ll be a cornered animal in her attempts to get away and vicious in her words and touch.
That said, Anya is for the most part, remarkably calm. She tends to spend her days with a smile on her face and an even tone, despite all the teasing she does. She’s also incredibly loyal to her people and her loved ones and is willing to go to any lengths for them. She loves strongly once she lets you into her heart and will go above everything if the situation calls for her help. Likewise, she can be blind to faults and will defend a person no matter what.
So in the end, Anya is a complex sort of woman, one who can lie on either end of the spectrum and be perfectly comfortable. She’s beautiful and deadly, vicious and caring, and above it all she’s the representation of the Russian Federation and things defer to this. She’s not one to let herself get walked over and that’s exactly how her country is too.
History:
Russia is an old nation, and her history could be very, very, long, so I’m going to be vague in some of the places I touch upon. If there are any comments please ask!
Russia’s history starts early, sometime in the 800s when the Varingian Rus reached Kiev. However, the “Russ” state at Novgorod is when Russia’s people and lands truly started forming and that is not till around 862. The people were simply a loose conglomerate and not really nation material just yet, and for these earliest parts of her life, Russia and her two brothers basically wandered the lands. They were still very small in form and had nothing to do with any loose governments that had formed around Novgorod and other places. The capital move to Kiev in 882 drew them closer to their people enough so that they built themselves a small little house on the outskirts of town. They still didn’t really interact with the rulers of Kieven Rus, but up through the next few centuries until the Golden Horde invades in 1237 they are drawn closer and accept parts of their nation business. For Russia, this happens more when in 1169 the capital moves to Vladimir, which is by Moscow.
As stated before, the Golden Horde invades and devastates Kieven Rus from 1237-1240, and from this point onwards through 1380 Russian land is under the Tartars’ rule. This means that in essence Russia was with the Golden Horde and kept like a little pet until the other nation got tired of her and foisted her off to her own people. This is, ultimately, part of the Golden Horde’s undoing as it led to Rus being able to grow up a bit with her own people and while she was not exactly out of a child’s body by this point, she had grown some. It was enough for her people to rise up and throw out the Golden Horde and form the Grand Duchy of Moscow. They were still a tributary to the Golden Horde until 1480, however, so Russia was still not completely her own yet.
Now, the Grand Duchy of Moscow lasted up until 1547 when Ivan IV (Hint: There are a lot of Ivans.) takes the throne and becomes the first official Tsar of the Tsardom of Russia. So we have about 200 hundred years, where Russia’s people conquer and annex surrounding lands such as the Novgorod Republic and the Grand Duchy of Tver. Ivan III adopted the title tsar, and also claimed “Ruler of all Rus” as his title. For 43 years Russia was ruled by Ivan III and it lead to her territory tripling in size and the ability to successfully campaign again the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which was a major rival power at this time. In addition, Russia became known as the “Third Rome” through her ruler’s marriage to the niece of Byzantium’s last emperor. In 1500, Russia is actually able to defeat Lithuania and take lands away from her; something the next ruler also succeeds in doing and gains lands all the way to the Dniepr River. This river just so happens to be one of the major rivers in Europe and it allowed Russia to open up trade down the line.
So basically, Muscovy was a period of strengthening and growth for Russia. Speaking in age, she was in about her preteens at this time. She manages to grow a bit more during the Tsardom, enough to hit that awkward teenage stage, which she only manages to grow out of during her time as an empire.
Being stuck as a teenager for centuries is just one of the reasons why we do not envy nations.
Moving on, the Tsardom was declared and led by Ivan IV, who is perhaps better known as Ivan the Terrible. Ivan IV expanded Russia’s lands even further and begun the task of annexing Siberia. We could explain more on Ivan the Terrible, but really all you need to know is he created a treaty with England, added more lands, created a new set of laws and a rural government, oh and there was a reign of terror somewhere in there.
Around 1589 the Russian Orthodox Church becomes independent and kicks the other orthodox churches to the curb, this is significant only in the fact that the Orthodox shaped Russian culture from the Keiven Rus conversion for a millennium. It’s not until the Soviet Union goes Atheist that the Orthodoxy has to go underground. The majority of Rus’ people practices underground, and switch holidays and traditions around to be able to keep practicing their faith. Though Russia has lost a lot of faith in any deities out there, she does follow the people’s example in this.
Going back to the topic, however! After a few Tartar raids on Moscow, and several years go by the Time of Troubles rears its head. This period can basically be explained away by a lot of fake Dmitri’s and also a lot of dead Dmitri’s. Simply put, the heirs to the throne have all either been killed, plague’d, famine or died long since. When things turn almost impossibly cliché and the cold weather led to famine, famine led to economic collapse, disorganization and depopulation led to banditry, the Cossacks grew restless, starvation and plagues broke out in the cities everyone blamed the not very popular ruler.
So, Russia is in a panic trying to find the new heir when all out of the blue, Poland comes trotting up on her pony and declares she has Dmitri, an heir, back home. Which is great and all, but really, Russia was pretty sure this guy had died a while back. Through shenanigans, and a dead Dmitri and the current ruler of Russia later, Poland invades and it’s with the help of Sweden that Russia manages to drive away Poland, and a second Dmitri she’d dug up out of the woodwork. The guy who’d got put on the throne, a highly unpopular member of the National Assembly, was forced to abdicate. The second Dmitri didn’t take the throne however, because Poland had a brilliant plan.
Said plan was for her prince to rule Russia.
Now, Sweden had some beef with Poland around that time, and this was not cool in her boat. So what does she do? She turns around and declares that Dmitri was with her all along.
So they go to war.
But Poland isn’t done just yet. She decides that hey, it would totally be cool if her prince didn’t become Tsar, but her king became the king of Russia instead. Okay, so we’ve got Catholic Poles controlling Moscow and Smolensk. Protestant Swedes occupying Novgorod. The throne is still empty, the National Assembly is feuding amongst themselves, and two rival imposters, a prince, and a king are all vying for the tsardom. Elsewhere in Russia, banditry and starvation has brought the country to her knees.
Sounds like a pretty hopeless situation, doesn’t it? How on earth does a nation bring themselves out of this?
Basically? A huge surge in patriotism. No, seriously. The dismal state of the nation basically convinced everyone that they really needed to band together as Russians and throw these guys out.
So they did.
Once the Russian resistance had ganked themselves an efficient leader, the sheer ferocity of the resistance shocked the occupiers and Russian cities were quickly reclaimed with only a few land losses to end the war. These lands would be gained back over the next centuries however. This whole thing led up to the start of Romanov rule, and they would be Russia’s ruling family to the death of their line in 1917 with the end of the Empire.
But we have yet to truly reach the empire yet. See, it doesn’t start till Peter I takes the throne in 1689. Peter the Great, as he’s more commonly known, was one of the most influential leaders of Russia. He developed it from a still medieval state that had yet to go through the renaissance the rest of Europe went through, and opens up Russia to Western culture. He develops the nation into a then modern power, and creates a new Capital that will be called the “Window to the West” and later on Leninsburg.
This capital is St. Petersburg.
This growth and modernization is enough to send Russia through a growth spurt, and through Peter, and Catherine’s rule she grows until she reaches the extent of her growth a bit before Napoleon’s invasion.
Peter did a lot for the nation, including starting Russia's first newspaper and editing the first issue himself, raising woman's status by having them attend social gatherings, ordered the nobles to give up their traditional clothes for Western fashions and also requiring they shave off their beards. He advanced Russian education by opening a school of navigation and introducing schools for the arts and sciences while also reorganizing and reforming the Russian armed forces and created a modern navy modeled on European practices.
Also, he introduced potatoes. Yay, Potatoes.
Peter’s death in 1725 does not spell the end for the growth of the nation, but it does provide a running start for Russia to grow and prosper. During this time is when Russia is able to interact the most with the rest of the world for the first time in her life, but she finds herself increasingly different from the others and not as easy to integrate into modern society in other countries. She’s sort of that country bumpkin trying to make it big in a capital city. It doesn’t really work out too well. Also during this time there are a lot of pretty constant wars with Turkey, Prussia, Poland, France and Britain, and though Russia has actually grown enough at this time to be able to join the war front if she was a man, she’s instead kept at home. Occasionally, however, her stubborn streak shines and she slips away to join as a nurse. She still manages to sharpen her capacity for strategy in this situation and grows in her strength as nation and person. This basically dominates her life for the next several decades off and on.
Catherine II’s rule is really the next big milestone, as she turns Russian into one of the strongest powers in Continental Europe, but more so, she’s important to Anya because of the strength of a female ruler who in turn strengthens Anya’s resolve and her abilities with in her court. It’s during Catherine’s rule that Anya actually flourishes the most a person, but it also had the bad habit of fostering her stubbornness. There’s more I could expand upon here, but it would simply come back to the sheer amount of renovation Russia undergoes during Catherine’s rule and the fact that Russia herself rises up and becomes stronger in her own self. But I’ll stop here and move on to more interesting things.
Because in 1812, Napoleon invades, and Russia follows the scorched earth strategy by burning down Moscow to force him back. With General Winter’s help, and the Russian peasants’ guerrilla warfare, thousands of French soldiers are taken down and driven out.
Badass, am I right?
So we have Russia, burning down her capitol to drive back France, who had been something of a mentor to her a century or so ago. Ultimately, this just strengthens her distrust of the other nations.
Even with Napoleon out of the picture, however, Russia is not done with war. For the next several decades various wars and campaigns sweep Europe and Russia continues to gather land and power until WWI rears its ugly head and drags Europe down with it.
WWI is essentially not very successful for Russia to put it lightly. In the beginning, it starts out with devastating military loses at Masurian Lakes and Tannenburg and greatly weakens the Russian army in the very first stages of the war. Lending more damage to the moral of the people was Rasputin’s growing influence over the royal family. Russia spent WWI split between the battlefields and at home, but she too, like the vast majority of her people did not trust Rasputin and his influence over the tsarina. The stirrings of rebellion were getting louder, and Russia was split between both sides. On one hand, her royals had been there since day one, she’d seen them grown up, and been there all their lives, but the people are intrinsically tied to her and her psyche. So in the end, she caves in and follows the revolution.
In January of 1905 protestors gathered at the gates of the palace. They were peaceful striking workers, however the palace guards and Russian troops stationed there fired on the workers, wounding and killing hundreds. This event, “Bloody Sunday”, cracked Russia’s mentality because of the strain her people killing their kin caused.
After 1905, Russia is never quite the same. She’s able to keep himself together for the most part and go to war like a good little nurse, but often she’s unsure in her stance and the hold of her royals upon her people. In addition, she worries over the state she’s in and the corruption and poverty that is rampant. Eventually, she finds herself being dragged out of a world war and into a revolution. It is her hope that this will stabilize her and help her people. But it becomes increasingly apparent that this is not the case and she simply withdraws within herself. Her distrust of nation and people comes to the forefront here and she’s increasingly jaded.
The 1917 overthrow of the monarchy and their following execution is possibly a furthering cause of this, but while she was there for the Romanov’s deaths, she did not personally kill them. The death of the monarchy doesn’t exactly stop the problems in Russia at this time. There’s still civil war going on, even though the nation is under Lenin’s control and stability is not something that seems on the horizon. With the Red Terror pushed forward by Stalin, and the communist party itself getting purged for three years and five million dying of famine nothing seems secure. The formation of the USSR in 1922 seems as if it will lend more stability but Stalin taking power and collectivizing agriculture and starting up industrialization doesn’t help and famine strikes once more. For almost twenty years after this, Stalin’s Great Purge kills millions. This and the upcoming WWII means that Russia is a very sick nation. Famine strikes hard, and not even a nation can escape that.
Russia had an alliance with Germany around this time, and they invade Poland together, throwing the world into WWII, however, in 1941 Russia is betrayed and Germany invades. Once more, Russia relies on the scorched earth policy, and it’s with remarkably similar instances that Napoleon faced that Russia is able to drive out Germany. It is not without casualty however, millions were killed and it left Russia weak and thirsty for revenge.
Which she got.
Pushing the Germans out of her heartlands meant that they had nowhere but towards Germany to go and Russia kept pressing them backwards, capturing and holding the lands between them for the Union. Russia was vicious in her pursuit, and she does eventually manage to catch up with Germany. With the end of WWII Russia rises to the position of a superpower, and this also kicks off the Cold War. Insert nuclear threats, arms races, space races and just all out tension between Russia and America for the next half a century and you get the picture. There’s a lot more detail I could go into this because it was obviously a big deal between not only Russia and America, but the rest of the world who basically had to wait on pins and needles to see if the two superpowers would unleash nuclear annihilation on each other and the world.
By the time of Khrushchev’s reign, Russia was a little better at holding herself together and controlling the little slips of mania she occasionally had. This goes hand in hand with the thaw in the Cold War, though the Cuban Missile Crisis and the end of the thaw does not help much. When the battles pick up in Korea and Vietnam, Russia simply packs up, picks up her gun and heads out to fight once more. Unfortunately for her, she also had to deal with the incredibly disheartening treatment of women soldiers from her own people. Given her strength and sheer force of will, Russia proved herself quite easily, but it is still something I thought to be worth mentioning. It means much to her because it strengthened her belief that she must hold herself up and expect no help. Her already tenuous ability to trust fades further and she pulls away from people. In a sense, she never shows her true self, because she’s been taught and forced into shoving her emotions and reactions down so nobody can get to them and hurt her. Russia is incredibly guarded, and she doesn’t trust easily. This is offset by her dream to live happily with everyone in a warm place filled with sunflowers. But again, it makes perfect sense because one of Russia’s biggest fears is being left all alone. During her time as the Soviet Union, she tried to combat this by “hoarding” other nations, in a sense. For a while it worked and her house was full of others, but they didn’t truly want to be there and fought to get away. Eventually they succeeded, and one by one everyone left Russia behind as they once more gained independence. Shee fought this fiercely, and sometimes in an over the top manner, but it didn’t matter because her government was crashing and she could not keep everyone together.
So they left, and she fell.
In December of 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia’s economy was down in the dumps. Mobsters took over and she found the corruption inescapable. It does not help when in 1998 the stock market crashes and Russia’s economy once more takes a swan dive into the deep end. But Russia has been slowly working herself up and as of modern day she’s doing relatively okay. Relatively being the key word. That said, some things have definitely not changed.
Strengths/Weaknesses: Your characters’ strengths and weaknesses, which may include physical, psychological and emotional.
Strengths
Physical: Because she is a nation, Anya is physically stronger than an average human would be. She is not as strong as say, America, nor is she as strong as her Russian counterpart would be, but Anya is still capable of a lot. In addition to this, nations have incredible healing skills. This is limited, as it’s influenced by the general state of their nation-form, economy and their people. So if their nation is not doing well, then healing might be the same as a human’s or even slower, but if they’re doing well then healing will go over quickly. This, however, speaks only of personal injury. If a natural disaster or something that affects the nation as a whole wounds them, then it will take infinitely longer to recover from.
Psychological: Again, speaking as a nation and more so, speaking as a female nation, Anya has an incredible will. However, because of the things she’s seen and lived through, this has been tested and Anya is not exactly the most stable of nations.
Emotional:> Emotionally, Anya is a bit complicated. She can be manipulative and mothering, caring and disinterested. This stems from the hard past she bears and the fact that as both nation and as a woman, she was not listened to as much as she would have liked to be. She’s incredibly compassionate, however, and tends to want to help people. Children are a weakness of hers and she will instantly mother them.
Weaknesses
Physical: Anya is, as I stated above, strong. However this can be a hindrance to her when she loses control of her strength. Aside from this, Anya is physically rather fit in modern day, but given the state of her economy, she’s actually not in peak health.
Psychological: Again, as mentioned before Anya is not the most stable of nations. This is not something that would prove disastrous for her or others, as it’s not an incredibly major thing. But it’s enough that often she will worry about things and if they will change. She doesn’t have the tendency to shift like Ivan does, nor is she as childishly broken. She does, however, have a rather large amount of trust issues and the inability to seek for help in other people.
Emotional: Anya is sassy and full of wit. But she’s also mercurial and in this, her sass and wit works against people. She’s quick with a sharp reprimand and cold voice if she wants to hurt someone or keep them from hurting her. Likewise her fury is quick and cold, she will not hold back from striking out if someone threatens her and she most certainly is a stereotype of holding a grudge like a woman scorned.
Abilities: In Nation terms, Anya is stronger than an average mortal, heals faster, and is effectively immortal as long as she is not forgotten and her people and Nation exist. In addition, she has an instinctive connection to her land and her people and is able to know them all if she wished. It’s not a one way street, however, as she is influenced by their wishes and their beliefs. In more human like abilities, Anya is an incredibly good shot and is skilled in warfare as well as trained in first aid and all of the more traditional female war time roles that were available. She’s handy with a shashka though not as good as she could be and as it’s an old skill, she’s also a bit rusty with it. Anya is also fluent in several languages, Russian, English, French, as well as Dutch and German to a lesser degree.
Relationships to Canon Characters:
Russia ; Brother and counterpart.
Belarus; Brother and someone she’s uncomfortable with. Wants her to marry him because of reasons.
Ukraine: Brother and confidant, she’s rather close to him but there are bumps in their relationship because of their past and bosses orders. He still won’t pay back his gas debt .
All the other nations; She knows their genderswapped versions but not the mainverse.
First Person:
[The watch doesn’t turn on by accident. It’s something that comes after its owner has spent precious minutes looking over her surroundings, gaze intent upon the unfamiliar streets. So when Anya lets her hands slip into her pockets, she’s startled at the rounded edge of something that’s not her cellphone and plucks the watch from her pocket, brows drawing together.
It’s here that the watch turns on, slender fingers pressing buttons to see what they do. There’s a shot of pale lashes, bright violet eyes and hair of white gold that falls about the watches face. Anya’s intent upon the whatever she’s doing (Which is actually little more than seeing if this button can do more than one thing, but details) and yet it takes her but a few seconds for her gaze to lift and startle upon her visage in the watches’ face. So here, residents, have a smile that’s tinged with just the right amount of curiosity and sheepishness.]
Ah, privjet, I didn’t mean to bother anyone, but could someone tell me when the next train stops by?
[Her voice is soft, professional, and carries a rather heavy Russian accent. She shuts off the feed with another warm smile and settles down to wait for a reply.]
Third Person:
She’s on fire.
It’s in her hair, burning through the hems of her clothes, blood bubbling and blackening as her city burns. And yet Russia stands strong, torch burning brightly in her hand, chin raised as if she wasn’t standing in the middle of a broken, burning street, dirty snow and ash whipping around her.
Dimly Russia becomes aware that her smile has shifted, laughter ripping from her lips, body arching under the force of her mania. And she’s still burning, the stench of metal and wood and people. She can feel it in her bones, body caving in under the hole where her heart used to be. People are screaming around her: French, Russian, pleading and accusing. There’s gun shots and the slice of blades through air and they all fall.
But she’s not just a woman holding the thrum of a nation and its people in her veins. She is an avenger made flesh, torch arching forward to slam into the face of a young Frenchman, teeth bared as his skin blisters and peels under flame, screams jerking half way as he runs out of air. She moves forward with the force of a wildfire, body light and her strikes vengeful. She can feel the buildings fall, the little blips of lives going out a reminder that she’s got to drive out these invaders.
Come now Motherland, protect that which is yours.
And she does, sets people and building alight, pulls a gun from a dead soldier’s hands and shoots down fleeing men. Somewhere out there, France is moving about her own army. Perhaps she’s retreating, perhaps she’s urging them forward. But either way, they’ll meet their fate at her hand or that of her father’s.
And really, hers was a much better way to go.
So Russia stands proud among the burning wreckage of her heart, feels the chill of General Winter’s fingers upon her shoulders, the heat of her burning city licking at her sides and grimly faced she watches France’s men scramble into the forests. She’s lost many men here, can feel it in the thrum of her pulse, the scream of mothers and lovers and children in the roar of her mind. But France has lost just as many, and she’s not prepared for the fierceness of a Russian winter. Already Russia can feel the beat of enemy feet fall and with her job done she turns on her heel.
There’s a burning city to her back, a dying army, but she’s got men to patch up and homes to salvage. The war is not over, it's merely a tide receding from shore.
Name: Alyssa
Personal Journal:
pohmelyatsyaE-mail: andalltheworlds@gmail.com
AIM/MSN/etc: plurk & AIM @ andalltheworlds
CHARACTER
Character Name: Anya Bragiskaya | Russia
Canon: Axis Powers Hetalia
Timeline: Modern Day
If playing another character from the same canon, how will you deal with this?: I’m currently playing Spain, and though these two are from the same canon, Anya is actually an AU version of Russia and does not exist in Spain’s version of the world. Thus, he wouldn’t actually know her. That said, they both also run different circles, and it’s highly likely he wouldn’t meet her outside of occasional nation things or other such things. Because of this I feel that it wouldn’t truly be a conflict to have both of these guys here.
Personality:
Himaruya has given very little in terms of personality, saying only that Russia is the “wearied mother type” and I’ve taken creative liberty to work around that.
Anya is a woman of several strengths. She’s beautiful and witty, strong and full of passion. But she is also a woman who has been through hardship her whole life. In this, it becomes increasingly apparent that as a person she is jaded to the world and the people around her. She is warm without the depth of caring to an overarching general, vicious in her dislike to those who have wronged her in some perceived fashion and thorough in her grudges. Because of her rough past, Anya finds it increasingly hard to trust people and will often keep other nations and people at an arm’s length away from her simply because she’s afraid of them getting too close and hurting her.
So yes, trust is a thing that is hard to come by with Anya. She would love to have people who understand and trust her, people to go to when something is wrong and she doesn’t know what to do, but Anya is aware that this is a simple dream and she is incapable of this. So often she doesn’t try, too set into her ways to let others in. She’s strong willed and a force of nature. If anybody can do it, it’s Anya. However, this is a bit of a double edged sword. Because of her attempts at doing everything herself, Anya has the habit of wearing herself to the bone and continuing on past this. Because she’s done this for a long time, she’s extremely capable of hiding this and making it seem like nothing’s wrong, but often she’s about to drop. But she is a stubborn woman and will not turn back and accept ways that she knows does not help her. So here, we can see that Anya is a person who would rather surge forward and make her own path, carve it with her own hands if need be than to depend on somebody else’s help.
She is also a master of masks and wields them as easily as she pleases. As I mentioned before, trust is a tenuous thing with Anya and given the masks she weaves into her everyday life it’s easy to see why. She’s a liar and a manipulator, twisting words and situations to what best helps her and her situation. This isn’t always something that can be picked up on, however as Anya is subtle and takes caution not to get caught. If and when she does, however, Anya is not afraid to lash out with words or physically, she’ll be a cornered animal in her attempts to get away and vicious in her words and touch.
That said, Anya is for the most part, remarkably calm. She tends to spend her days with a smile on her face and an even tone, despite all the teasing she does. She’s also incredibly loyal to her people and her loved ones and is willing to go to any lengths for them. She loves strongly once she lets you into her heart and will go above everything if the situation calls for her help. Likewise, she can be blind to faults and will defend a person no matter what.
So in the end, Anya is a complex sort of woman, one who can lie on either end of the spectrum and be perfectly comfortable. She’s beautiful and deadly, vicious and caring, and above it all she’s the representation of the Russian Federation and things defer to this. She’s not one to let herself get walked over and that’s exactly how her country is too.
History:
Russia is an old nation, and her history could be very, very, long, so I’m going to be vague in some of the places I touch upon. If there are any comments please ask!
Russia’s history starts early, sometime in the 800s when the Varingian Rus reached Kiev. However, the “Russ” state at Novgorod is when Russia’s people and lands truly started forming and that is not till around 862. The people were simply a loose conglomerate and not really nation material just yet, and for these earliest parts of her life, Russia and her two brothers basically wandered the lands. They were still very small in form and had nothing to do with any loose governments that had formed around Novgorod and other places. The capital move to Kiev in 882 drew them closer to their people enough so that they built themselves a small little house on the outskirts of town. They still didn’t really interact with the rulers of Kieven Rus, but up through the next few centuries until the Golden Horde invades in 1237 they are drawn closer and accept parts of their nation business. For Russia, this happens more when in 1169 the capital moves to Vladimir, which is by Moscow.
As stated before, the Golden Horde invades and devastates Kieven Rus from 1237-1240, and from this point onwards through 1380 Russian land is under the Tartars’ rule. This means that in essence Russia was with the Golden Horde and kept like a little pet until the other nation got tired of her and foisted her off to her own people. This is, ultimately, part of the Golden Horde’s undoing as it led to Rus being able to grow up a bit with her own people and while she was not exactly out of a child’s body by this point, she had grown some. It was enough for her people to rise up and throw out the Golden Horde and form the Grand Duchy of Moscow. They were still a tributary to the Golden Horde until 1480, however, so Russia was still not completely her own yet.
Now, the Grand Duchy of Moscow lasted up until 1547 when Ivan IV (Hint: There are a lot of Ivans.) takes the throne and becomes the first official Tsar of the Tsardom of Russia. So we have about 200 hundred years, where Russia’s people conquer and annex surrounding lands such as the Novgorod Republic and the Grand Duchy of Tver. Ivan III adopted the title tsar, and also claimed “Ruler of all Rus” as his title. For 43 years Russia was ruled by Ivan III and it lead to her territory tripling in size and the ability to successfully campaign again the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which was a major rival power at this time. In addition, Russia became known as the “Third Rome” through her ruler’s marriage to the niece of Byzantium’s last emperor. In 1500, Russia is actually able to defeat Lithuania and take lands away from her; something the next ruler also succeeds in doing and gains lands all the way to the Dniepr River. This river just so happens to be one of the major rivers in Europe and it allowed Russia to open up trade down the line.
So basically, Muscovy was a period of strengthening and growth for Russia. Speaking in age, she was in about her preteens at this time. She manages to grow a bit more during the Tsardom, enough to hit that awkward teenage stage, which she only manages to grow out of during her time as an empire.
Being stuck as a teenager for centuries is just one of the reasons why we do not envy nations.
Moving on, the Tsardom was declared and led by Ivan IV, who is perhaps better known as Ivan the Terrible. Ivan IV expanded Russia’s lands even further and begun the task of annexing Siberia. We could explain more on Ivan the Terrible, but really all you need to know is he created a treaty with England, added more lands, created a new set of laws and a rural government, oh and there was a reign of terror somewhere in there.
Around 1589 the Russian Orthodox Church becomes independent and kicks the other orthodox churches to the curb, this is significant only in the fact that the Orthodox shaped Russian culture from the Keiven Rus conversion for a millennium. It’s not until the Soviet Union goes Atheist that the Orthodoxy has to go underground. The majority of Rus’ people practices underground, and switch holidays and traditions around to be able to keep practicing their faith. Though Russia has lost a lot of faith in any deities out there, she does follow the people’s example in this.
Going back to the topic, however! After a few Tartar raids on Moscow, and several years go by the Time of Troubles rears its head. This period can basically be explained away by a lot of fake Dmitri’s and also a lot of dead Dmitri’s. Simply put, the heirs to the throne have all either been killed, plague’d, famine or died long since. When things turn almost impossibly cliché and the cold weather led to famine, famine led to economic collapse, disorganization and depopulation led to banditry, the Cossacks grew restless, starvation and plagues broke out in the cities everyone blamed the not very popular ruler.
So, Russia is in a panic trying to find the new heir when all out of the blue, Poland comes trotting up on her pony and declares she has Dmitri, an heir, back home. Which is great and all, but really, Russia was pretty sure this guy had died a while back. Through shenanigans, and a dead Dmitri and the current ruler of Russia later, Poland invades and it’s with the help of Sweden that Russia manages to drive away Poland, and a second Dmitri she’d dug up out of the woodwork. The guy who’d got put on the throne, a highly unpopular member of the National Assembly, was forced to abdicate. The second Dmitri didn’t take the throne however, because Poland had a brilliant plan.
Said plan was for her prince to rule Russia.
Now, Sweden had some beef with Poland around that time, and this was not cool in her boat. So what does she do? She turns around and declares that Dmitri was with her all along.
So they go to war.
But Poland isn’t done just yet. She decides that hey, it would totally be cool if her prince didn’t become Tsar, but her king became the king of Russia instead. Okay, so we’ve got Catholic Poles controlling Moscow and Smolensk. Protestant Swedes occupying Novgorod. The throne is still empty, the National Assembly is feuding amongst themselves, and two rival imposters, a prince, and a king are all vying for the tsardom. Elsewhere in Russia, banditry and starvation has brought the country to her knees.
Sounds like a pretty hopeless situation, doesn’t it? How on earth does a nation bring themselves out of this?
Basically? A huge surge in patriotism. No, seriously. The dismal state of the nation basically convinced everyone that they really needed to band together as Russians and throw these guys out.
So they did.
Once the Russian resistance had ganked themselves an efficient leader, the sheer ferocity of the resistance shocked the occupiers and Russian cities were quickly reclaimed with only a few land losses to end the war. These lands would be gained back over the next centuries however. This whole thing led up to the start of Romanov rule, and they would be Russia’s ruling family to the death of their line in 1917 with the end of the Empire.
But we have yet to truly reach the empire yet. See, it doesn’t start till Peter I takes the throne in 1689. Peter the Great, as he’s more commonly known, was one of the most influential leaders of Russia. He developed it from a still medieval state that had yet to go through the renaissance the rest of Europe went through, and opens up Russia to Western culture. He develops the nation into a then modern power, and creates a new Capital that will be called the “Window to the West” and later on Leninsburg.
This capital is St. Petersburg.
This growth and modernization is enough to send Russia through a growth spurt, and through Peter, and Catherine’s rule she grows until she reaches the extent of her growth a bit before Napoleon’s invasion.
Peter did a lot for the nation, including starting Russia's first newspaper and editing the first issue himself, raising woman's status by having them attend social gatherings, ordered the nobles to give up their traditional clothes for Western fashions and also requiring they shave off their beards. He advanced Russian education by opening a school of navigation and introducing schools for the arts and sciences while also reorganizing and reforming the Russian armed forces and created a modern navy modeled on European practices.
Also, he introduced potatoes. Yay, Potatoes.
Peter’s death in 1725 does not spell the end for the growth of the nation, but it does provide a running start for Russia to grow and prosper. During this time is when Russia is able to interact the most with the rest of the world for the first time in her life, but she finds herself increasingly different from the others and not as easy to integrate into modern society in other countries. She’s sort of that country bumpkin trying to make it big in a capital city. It doesn’t really work out too well. Also during this time there are a lot of pretty constant wars with Turkey, Prussia, Poland, France and Britain, and though Russia has actually grown enough at this time to be able to join the war front if she was a man, she’s instead kept at home. Occasionally, however, her stubborn streak shines and she slips away to join as a nurse. She still manages to sharpen her capacity for strategy in this situation and grows in her strength as nation and person. This basically dominates her life for the next several decades off and on.
Catherine II’s rule is really the next big milestone, as she turns Russian into one of the strongest powers in Continental Europe, but more so, she’s important to Anya because of the strength of a female ruler who in turn strengthens Anya’s resolve and her abilities with in her court. It’s during Catherine’s rule that Anya actually flourishes the most a person, but it also had the bad habit of fostering her stubbornness. There’s more I could expand upon here, but it would simply come back to the sheer amount of renovation Russia undergoes during Catherine’s rule and the fact that Russia herself rises up and becomes stronger in her own self. But I’ll stop here and move on to more interesting things.
Because in 1812, Napoleon invades, and Russia follows the scorched earth strategy by burning down Moscow to force him back. With General Winter’s help, and the Russian peasants’ guerrilla warfare, thousands of French soldiers are taken down and driven out.
Badass, am I right?
So we have Russia, burning down her capitol to drive back France, who had been something of a mentor to her a century or so ago. Ultimately, this just strengthens her distrust of the other nations.
Even with Napoleon out of the picture, however, Russia is not done with war. For the next several decades various wars and campaigns sweep Europe and Russia continues to gather land and power until WWI rears its ugly head and drags Europe down with it.
WWI is essentially not very successful for Russia to put it lightly. In the beginning, it starts out with devastating military loses at Masurian Lakes and Tannenburg and greatly weakens the Russian army in the very first stages of the war. Lending more damage to the moral of the people was Rasputin’s growing influence over the royal family. Russia spent WWI split between the battlefields and at home, but she too, like the vast majority of her people did not trust Rasputin and his influence over the tsarina. The stirrings of rebellion were getting louder, and Russia was split between both sides. On one hand, her royals had been there since day one, she’d seen them grown up, and been there all their lives, but the people are intrinsically tied to her and her psyche. So in the end, she caves in and follows the revolution.
In January of 1905 protestors gathered at the gates of the palace. They were peaceful striking workers, however the palace guards and Russian troops stationed there fired on the workers, wounding and killing hundreds. This event, “Bloody Sunday”, cracked Russia’s mentality because of the strain her people killing their kin caused.
After 1905, Russia is never quite the same. She’s able to keep himself together for the most part and go to war like a good little nurse, but often she’s unsure in her stance and the hold of her royals upon her people. In addition, she worries over the state she’s in and the corruption and poverty that is rampant. Eventually, she finds herself being dragged out of a world war and into a revolution. It is her hope that this will stabilize her and help her people. But it becomes increasingly apparent that this is not the case and she simply withdraws within herself. Her distrust of nation and people comes to the forefront here and she’s increasingly jaded.
The 1917 overthrow of the monarchy and their following execution is possibly a furthering cause of this, but while she was there for the Romanov’s deaths, she did not personally kill them. The death of the monarchy doesn’t exactly stop the problems in Russia at this time. There’s still civil war going on, even though the nation is under Lenin’s control and stability is not something that seems on the horizon. With the Red Terror pushed forward by Stalin, and the communist party itself getting purged for three years and five million dying of famine nothing seems secure. The formation of the USSR in 1922 seems as if it will lend more stability but Stalin taking power and collectivizing agriculture and starting up industrialization doesn’t help and famine strikes once more. For almost twenty years after this, Stalin’s Great Purge kills millions. This and the upcoming WWII means that Russia is a very sick nation. Famine strikes hard, and not even a nation can escape that.
Russia had an alliance with Germany around this time, and they invade Poland together, throwing the world into WWII, however, in 1941 Russia is betrayed and Germany invades. Once more, Russia relies on the scorched earth policy, and it’s with remarkably similar instances that Napoleon faced that Russia is able to drive out Germany. It is not without casualty however, millions were killed and it left Russia weak and thirsty for revenge.
Which she got.
Pushing the Germans out of her heartlands meant that they had nowhere but towards Germany to go and Russia kept pressing them backwards, capturing and holding the lands between them for the Union. Russia was vicious in her pursuit, and she does eventually manage to catch up with Germany. With the end of WWII Russia rises to the position of a superpower, and this also kicks off the Cold War. Insert nuclear threats, arms races, space races and just all out tension between Russia and America for the next half a century and you get the picture. There’s a lot more detail I could go into this because it was obviously a big deal between not only Russia and America, but the rest of the world who basically had to wait on pins and needles to see if the two superpowers would unleash nuclear annihilation on each other and the world.
By the time of Khrushchev’s reign, Russia was a little better at holding herself together and controlling the little slips of mania she occasionally had. This goes hand in hand with the thaw in the Cold War, though the Cuban Missile Crisis and the end of the thaw does not help much. When the battles pick up in Korea and Vietnam, Russia simply packs up, picks up her gun and heads out to fight once more. Unfortunately for her, she also had to deal with the incredibly disheartening treatment of women soldiers from her own people. Given her strength and sheer force of will, Russia proved herself quite easily, but it is still something I thought to be worth mentioning. It means much to her because it strengthened her belief that she must hold herself up and expect no help. Her already tenuous ability to trust fades further and she pulls away from people. In a sense, she never shows her true self, because she’s been taught and forced into shoving her emotions and reactions down so nobody can get to them and hurt her. Russia is incredibly guarded, and she doesn’t trust easily. This is offset by her dream to live happily with everyone in a warm place filled with sunflowers. But again, it makes perfect sense because one of Russia’s biggest fears is being left all alone. During her time as the Soviet Union, she tried to combat this by “hoarding” other nations, in a sense. For a while it worked and her house was full of others, but they didn’t truly want to be there and fought to get away. Eventually they succeeded, and one by one everyone left Russia behind as they once more gained independence. Shee fought this fiercely, and sometimes in an over the top manner, but it didn’t matter because her government was crashing and she could not keep everyone together.
So they left, and she fell.
In December of 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia’s economy was down in the dumps. Mobsters took over and she found the corruption inescapable. It does not help when in 1998 the stock market crashes and Russia’s economy once more takes a swan dive into the deep end. But Russia has been slowly working herself up and as of modern day she’s doing relatively okay. Relatively being the key word. That said, some things have definitely not changed.
Strengths/Weaknesses: Your characters’ strengths and weaknesses, which may include physical, psychological and emotional.
Strengths
Physical: Because she is a nation, Anya is physically stronger than an average human would be. She is not as strong as say, America, nor is she as strong as her Russian counterpart would be, but Anya is still capable of a lot. In addition to this, nations have incredible healing skills. This is limited, as it’s influenced by the general state of their nation-form, economy and their people. So if their nation is not doing well, then healing might be the same as a human’s or even slower, but if they’re doing well then healing will go over quickly. This, however, speaks only of personal injury. If a natural disaster or something that affects the nation as a whole wounds them, then it will take infinitely longer to recover from.
Psychological: Again, speaking as a nation and more so, speaking as a female nation, Anya has an incredible will. However, because of the things she’s seen and lived through, this has been tested and Anya is not exactly the most stable of nations.
Emotional:> Emotionally, Anya is a bit complicated. She can be manipulative and mothering, caring and disinterested. This stems from the hard past she bears and the fact that as both nation and as a woman, she was not listened to as much as she would have liked to be. She’s incredibly compassionate, however, and tends to want to help people. Children are a weakness of hers and she will instantly mother them.
Weaknesses
Physical: Anya is, as I stated above, strong. However this can be a hindrance to her when she loses control of her strength. Aside from this, Anya is physically rather fit in modern day, but given the state of her economy, she’s actually not in peak health.
Psychological: Again, as mentioned before Anya is not the most stable of nations. This is not something that would prove disastrous for her or others, as it’s not an incredibly major thing. But it’s enough that often she will worry about things and if they will change. She doesn’t have the tendency to shift like Ivan does, nor is she as childishly broken. She does, however, have a rather large amount of trust issues and the inability to seek for help in other people.
Emotional: Anya is sassy and full of wit. But she’s also mercurial and in this, her sass and wit works against people. She’s quick with a sharp reprimand and cold voice if she wants to hurt someone or keep them from hurting her. Likewise her fury is quick and cold, she will not hold back from striking out if someone threatens her and she most certainly is a stereotype of holding a grudge like a woman scorned.
Abilities: In Nation terms, Anya is stronger than an average mortal, heals faster, and is effectively immortal as long as she is not forgotten and her people and Nation exist. In addition, she has an instinctive connection to her land and her people and is able to know them all if she wished. It’s not a one way street, however, as she is influenced by their wishes and their beliefs. In more human like abilities, Anya is an incredibly good shot and is skilled in warfare as well as trained in first aid and all of the more traditional female war time roles that were available. She’s handy with a shashka though not as good as she could be and as it’s an old skill, she’s also a bit rusty with it. Anya is also fluent in several languages, Russian, English, French, as well as Dutch and German to a lesser degree.
Relationships to Canon Characters:
Russia ; Brother and counterpart.
Belarus; Brother and someone she’s uncomfortable with. Wants her to marry him because of reasons.
Ukraine: Brother and confidant, she’s rather close to him but there are bumps in their relationship because of their past and bosses orders. He still won’t pay back his gas debt .
All the other nations; She knows their genderswapped versions but not the mainverse.
First Person:
[The watch doesn’t turn on by accident. It’s something that comes after its owner has spent precious minutes looking over her surroundings, gaze intent upon the unfamiliar streets. So when Anya lets her hands slip into her pockets, she’s startled at the rounded edge of something that’s not her cellphone and plucks the watch from her pocket, brows drawing together.
It’s here that the watch turns on, slender fingers pressing buttons to see what they do. There’s a shot of pale lashes, bright violet eyes and hair of white gold that falls about the watches face. Anya’s intent upon the whatever she’s doing (Which is actually little more than seeing if this button can do more than one thing, but details) and yet it takes her but a few seconds for her gaze to lift and startle upon her visage in the watches’ face. So here, residents, have a smile that’s tinged with just the right amount of curiosity and sheepishness.]
Ah, privjet, I didn’t mean to bother anyone, but could someone tell me when the next train stops by?
[Her voice is soft, professional, and carries a rather heavy Russian accent. She shuts off the feed with another warm smile and settles down to wait for a reply.]
Third Person:
She’s on fire.
It’s in her hair, burning through the hems of her clothes, blood bubbling and blackening as her city burns. And yet Russia stands strong, torch burning brightly in her hand, chin raised as if she wasn’t standing in the middle of a broken, burning street, dirty snow and ash whipping around her.
Dimly Russia becomes aware that her smile has shifted, laughter ripping from her lips, body arching under the force of her mania. And she’s still burning, the stench of metal and wood and people. She can feel it in her bones, body caving in under the hole where her heart used to be. People are screaming around her: French, Russian, pleading and accusing. There’s gun shots and the slice of blades through air and they all fall.
But she’s not just a woman holding the thrum of a nation and its people in her veins. She is an avenger made flesh, torch arching forward to slam into the face of a young Frenchman, teeth bared as his skin blisters and peels under flame, screams jerking half way as he runs out of air. She moves forward with the force of a wildfire, body light and her strikes vengeful. She can feel the buildings fall, the little blips of lives going out a reminder that she’s got to drive out these invaders.
Come now Motherland, protect that which is yours.
And she does, sets people and building alight, pulls a gun from a dead soldier’s hands and shoots down fleeing men. Somewhere out there, France is moving about her own army. Perhaps she’s retreating, perhaps she’s urging them forward. But either way, they’ll meet their fate at her hand or that of her father’s.
And really, hers was a much better way to go.
So Russia stands proud among the burning wreckage of her heart, feels the chill of General Winter’s fingers upon her shoulders, the heat of her burning city licking at her sides and grimly faced she watches France’s men scramble into the forests. She’s lost many men here, can feel it in the thrum of her pulse, the scream of mothers and lovers and children in the roar of her mind. But France has lost just as many, and she’s not prepared for the fierceness of a Russian winter. Already Russia can feel the beat of enemy feet fall and with her job done she turns on her heel.
There’s a burning city to her back, a dying army, but she’s got men to patch up and homes to salvage. The war is not over, it's merely a tide receding from shore.
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