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Sep. 21st, 2011 09:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crumpetsCharacter Information
Character Name: Rose Elizabeth Victoria Kirkland, or England
Character Series: Axis Powers Hetalia: Nyotalia
Character Age: About 1500, but she looks about 23
Character Gender: Female
Alternate Universe
Canon Point: Modern Day
Background Link: For the history, and for the Nyotalia.
AU Background:
Where Albion ends and England begins is debatable.
Her father, Britannia, was incredibly fond of the girl who would live to be one of his successors. Unlike her sister, Cymuru, Rose was not to be a product of just Rome and Britannia, but rather, Germania, Rome and Britannia.
Although she may have existed from the time Rome brought the Briton's lands his Latin influence, it was to be the Anglo-Saxon raiders of the 500's on that would establish England as the country she was today. It all stared with Hengist, a Germanic leader being hired by one of Britannia's native leaders to keep out the foreign invades. Well, that was all fine and dandy, because Hengist was getting paid and Vortigern's tribe was getting protected from some of the tribes, but the price for protection kept rising and rising, and Hengist's people continued to settle until one day, Germania's men just completely usurped the Britannian chief's power, thus beginning the Anglo-Saxon raids. It was obviously pretty early on that backstabbing for power became a part of Rose's itinerary, a trait which would function to bring her unparalleled power in the recent years, and of course, the complete alienation of friends.
Christianity had already swept through Britain in the 300's, but that didn't mean that it had spread to the invading tribes. Being that they would become the English people, this more or less meant that Rose wasn't quite as Christian as her father or sister was until later on. The English were divided between the Celtic church and the Roman Church, until in 664, king Oswy of Northumbria called the synod at Whitby. This meeting concluded with the king choosing the Roman church over the Celtic church, and with England turning her back on her Celtic heritage to become a full-blooded European.
Being that her sister to the North was already mostly imprisoned by Hadrian's wall, all England and her kings had to worry about was her sister to the west. King Offa built a dyke to keep the Welsh in, which her king reasoned was for the best. Of course, this was to do nothing but stir up resentments between the British siblings, and incur feelings of loneliness and isolation England would feel for the rest of her life, but she didn't have much say as she was a country serving her people, not the other way around. The kingdoms of England weren't united yet by this point, but that would come to change with the next round of invaders to her humble country: the Vikings.
The famous three ships of 787 brought the bloodthirsty vikings to the shores of Anglo-Saxon England. This was to make the ruthless Saxons look like oompa-loompas, For the first time in her relatively short lived life, England was really, truly frightened, feeling like these Norsemen just might be the products of the Devil himself. Tormented by these Danes, (or Vikings, or Norsemen, etc), it seemed like they were unstoppable in their conquest. England was easy for them to reach, because they were used to sailing in by boat. They would come, raid, terrorise and leave, only to come back the next year to start it all over again.
Come the alliance of Offa and Charlemagne; England and France teaming up to fight back against these dastardly foes. Except, well, Rose wasn't really the fighting type as she'd been so accustomed to the men fighting for her that she was all too pleased to let that tradition continue. Still, that didn't stop her from having her first real interactions with France, this interesting, pretty country to the south who England would admire for some time to come. It was a little frustrating to try and speak to her; Anglo-Saxon was definitely worlds different from Crude Latin, and being that she wasn't allowed to be a student of religion, Rose had no real access to Latin. Her first words would be taught to her by France.
Unfortunately, the trade alliance wouldn't be enough to give the pesky Vikings a much needed what-foring. Some hope seemed to rise out of the ashes when King Egbert united the kingdoms of England in 829, but his power wasn't very stable and he had far too many enemies to be worrying about to keep a steady grip.
Regardless, England wanted to be a strong nation and even when all hope seemed lost with the Vikings crushing the different kings, up sprung an angel that England would remember fondly all the way up until modern day; Alfred the Great. The first legendary king of the English, (not Arthur! King Arthur fought the English!) he crushed the Viking settlement in Edington and forced them at sword’s point to accept Christianity. Although she was only a little girl at the time, England had an almost pathetic crush on her heroic king, who reorginised Wessex's defenses, fought the Vikings at sea and won, and beat the Welsh back to their (in Rose's opinion!) rightful place. Alfred helped solidify England's status as a nation, drew up legal codes, translated many famous works into Anglo-Saxon and commissioned the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Riding high on the waves of victory, England thought her once-humbled nation could finally have it's chance at being great. Alfred's sons would prove to be just as strong as Alfred, until finally, the Vikings were gone. And England was a pretty happy little girl, because she was finally free of the meddlesome Vikings.
Well, of course, until they came back looking for blood. That was all well, she could just turn to her wonderful king to protect her, and that's just what she did; begged Ethelred II to tell those pesky Vikings to shove off. Ethelred was to be remembered by a different name in the history books: Ethelred the Unready. As one could probably guess, where Alfred the Great was, well, Great, Ethelred was pretty unready. And the Vikings pretty much had him on his knees, begging for mercy the second they landed. England was to fall out of Anglo-Saxon rule when the Danish king, Svein Forkbeard went and conquered England for himself, then died and handed over the throne to his son, the semi-famous King Cnut. (Cah-nute!)
This… wasn't the worst thing to have ever happened to her. Well, yes, it meant that she was conquered once again, and yes, Cnut rounded up a lot of the Saxon royalty and had them executed. But he also brought twenty years of peace. A few other kings followed, including Edward the Confessor, but it was to be Edward's death that would change history. The scuffle for the succession to the throne of England would turn out to be one of the more memorable battles of English history, and this particular showdown boasted four challengers: Edgar the Etheling, Harold Godwinsson, Harald Hardrada and the very famous, and obvious victor, William of Normany, or William the Conquerer.
Honestly, it didn't really matter to England who won. She liked Harold, that was true, but she doubted that any of the men rising to the throne would change her position much. Besides, she sort of liked the fact all these people were this desperate to secure her country for themselves. So when William ended up being the victor, that suited her just fine. He brought the feudal system to England, which once again, England herself was hardly a part of besides being a little princess of the king. The Norman kings had their up and downs, but it wasn't until Empress Matilda's son Henry Plantagenet would England start to really form an opinion on her royalty. And what an opinion it was.
It was true, since the 11th century, England was tainted with French kings. (Normans, really, which were more like Scandinavian French, but!) However, the French influence didn't start to creep into the English culture until the reign of the Plantagenets. Remember France, England's dear ally from the days of the Viking intrusions? Well now France had turned around and decided to crush England under the heel of her metaphorical boot, forcing her culture into every aspect of England's life. Before this, England admired France's clothing, food and style quite outwardly, though was a bit jealous of the elder nation. Now her jealousy had been twisted into some sort of a wrathful envy, and she grew hateful of France for controlling her life. She vowed revenge upon the other nation, and even though she was merely a woman in a world ruled by men, she would seize the opportunity when it was presented to her.
England was cruel to her siblings during this era. She bullied Wales, (though gave up because her sister was actually quite strong!) bossed Ireland around and more or less turned Scotland into her underling. These actions would come back to haunt her in later years, but like most things England did, she was looking without leaping, searching for short term solutions. Following the reign of a bad king, the famous Magna Carta was drawn up to limit the King's power. A great leap forward in the legal limitations and social equality of the country, this too would prove to be her undoing.
Come the death of a particularly bad king, England found herself in another weakened state. Nonetheless, she was right miffed with her current situation; she was paying royalties to France and promising to be her devoted, loyal subject until Kingdom come. Well, that might have suited France just fine but that just wasn't going to work for England. It wasn't going to be long before she got her own taste of revenge.
But before that was to happen, a few other changes took place in England: The famous English parliament was established… by a Frenchman! England's men also pulled Wales' power away from her, but in the process, managed to lose control of Scotland in the Scottish War of Independence. A little bit of a blow to her ego, but being she had other things to concentrate on, revenge on Scotland was put on the back-burner for another mischievous foe.
A few Edwards later and in comes Edward III: He's lean, he's mean, and he wants a piece of France. Well Hell, if it means getting revenge on France, England is game. Everyone else in England seemed to think Edward was out of his bleeding mind, being that France was a bigger, stronger more powerful country with the homefield advantage. But England had faith in him, (or perhaps was just believing in him because of her leap-without-looking policy), and he proved to be marvelous when it came to fighting France due to his employment of the longbow. When the dust settled, her king ended up with Calais and Aquitaine, which wasn't too much, but England had drawn her line in the sand. And she wasn't done.
The war started up again in 1415, and a few battles transpired between the English and the French. It was like they were beating around the bush for the grand event, and though England wasn't there personally, her temper was reflected quite well in the famous battle of Agincourt: it was a bloodbath. Lines of French soldiers were mowed down by English archers, and even her king ordered the slaughtering of all French prisoners. When her king returned, instead of being horrified by his ruthlessness, England was delighted by his stories. It was everything she'd wanted to prove to the Frenchwoman since the beginning of the Norman rule. And she still wasn't done. A rebellion rose against the English forces in France, as the French wanted their King, and not the English king, and in came the very famous Jeanne d'Arc. Or Joan of Arc. England didn't think her to be anything more than a megalomaniacal schizophrenic (England was known as a perfidious hypocrite after all!) but she was a maddening one. Firstly, because she kept winning, but moreover, because France was so deeply in love with her, so captivated by the woman in a way she never had been with England. England's hatred for Joan rivaled that of her King's, and her leader struck a deal with the Burgundians to have the saintly woman burnt at the stake for heresy. Actually, it wasn't really England's fault, as French soldiers had taken her prisoner, held her before a French court and a French bishop condemned her to death. But England made sure to let France know she was taking the credit for this hideous crime, and she was all too proud to do so. By the time England had come to regret that decision, as she saw it really had torn France to pieces, it was far too late to take it back.
It wasn't going to be right away that England was going to feel bad about her whole altercation with France anyway. She had the War of Roses to worry about at the same time; once again, her throne had come into question. A little older now, England wasn't as thrilled over this prospect as she was with the Battle of Hastings and 1066; this was more or less a civil war of sorts. And no country enjoys a civil war. It all started with a little disagreement between one of her leaders, Richard II and his nobles. Richard thought the nobles were trying to usurp his power, the nobles thought Richard was trying to destroy the nobility and England just thought Richard was a bit too French for her liking. When Richard took away one of the nobles' lands, it became clear he crossed a line: said noble, Henry Bolingbroke or the Duke of Lancaster snatched up the throne to England while Richard was distracted, had Richard arrested and a few months later, dear old Richard was dead. England supposed it was nice to be rid of the French kings for good, but something about the whole situation just spelled out unrest for her.
Well Henry ruled just fine, but he spent his whole reign defending his claim to the throne. A few generations later came Henry VI, and the poor boy was so timid with so many demands being put upon him, that he went completely around the twist. Insanity would come to touch upon quite a few English monarchs, but England was a little bit too busy worrying about what would happen to her country to spend much energy pitying the gentle albeit bonkers King. And then the real fighting started when the rather entrepreneuring Duke of York stepped into the playing field.
Between the years of 1455 and 1485, out and out battle was lodged between the two houses. At first, it would have seemed like Lancaster was winning the battle, as the Duke of York was executed when he tried to claim the throne. But the new Duke of York ended up claiming the throne anyway and forcing Lancaster and co. up and out to Scotland. Of course, it was only a matter of time before Lancaster came back with a number of traitors from York and kicked York out. Then York came back, executed his fair share of people, sent Lancaster to the Tower of London and reigned for twelve years. When he fell ill and left the throne to his sons, power was stolen from him by the infamous King Richard III and his sons were put in the Tower of London. (Having trouble following? So was England!) At least, justice was served in 1485 when Henry Tudor laid his claim to the throne, killed Richard at the Battle of Bosworth and thus started the famous Tudor line in England. And everything was going to change from there.
While Henry the Seventh hadn't drawn too much attention from England, as he was just another contender to the throne, his son stole every bit of breath England had at her young age. Henry the Eight was dashing, charming, smart, promising and more or less a rock star of the time, and England used to fantasise about Henry taking special notice to her. She'd promptly renege upon these thoughts when Henry's true colours came into question. She could only stand by and bear witness as Henry committed a variety of crimes against God, and being England was very religious at the time, this was a worrisome prospect indeed. First, he married his dead brother's ex-wife by getting special permission from the pope. When this wife failed to bear Henry a boy, the King demanded a divorce and begged the pope for his consent. The pope said no, and that was that. Then the unthinkable happened.
Henry broke from the Church of Rome and established the Church of England in 1534. Even England wasn't entirely behind this decision; she was frightened of the repercussions such an action could bring her country. Even more so, she was irritated that the King was doing this for no better reason than to marry some other woman, instead of having a really good reason for it. Her opinion on her glorious King was beginning to change, and when poor Anne Boleyn bore Henry another girl instead of a boy, the downward spiral continued until the paranoid king had her executed for supposed adultery; with her own brother! The case was carried out with little evidence, and instead of being frightened of her outward enemies, England was frightened of her own king's desires. He would go on to take four more wives, executing some, divorcing others. As if that wasn't disturbing enough, unrest was gathering for Henry's actions concerning the Church of England.
The Tudor period brought much confusion to England regarding her religion. At first, when Henry broke from the church, all signs pointed to him making his own church protestant. His chief minister was protestant, both Anne Boleyn and Anne of Cleves were protestant and when he established what his church believed in, he was almost clearly making himself out to be a protestant leading a protestant church. Maybe England would get a clear-cut deal on the whole issue. And then quite out of nowhere, Henry jumped back to being a Catholic and brought England with him. She already thought he was a fat syphilitic sod by this point, but what was she going to do? Say no? So England jumped back on the Catholic boat, so to speak, and stayed that way for a little bit. Then Henry died, leaving his sickly son, Edward VI to be king, and well, Edward was a protestant. So then England had to switch back to being a protestant.
As one could probably guess, little Edward didn't last long. When he died, Henry's oldest daughter Mary came to the throne and restored all the Catholic beliefs. England was actually all right with switching yet again, as Edward's reign had brought some really unclear ideas regarding the wine and bread relating to the blood and body of Christ. However, Mary would prove to be just as frightening as her father when she went on a spree burning Protestants. She also married Philip II of Spain, which left him as the King of England and honestly, England didn't like that idea too much. She also managed to lose Calais to France, which was more than inconvenient and didn't have England thinking too highly of her. Mary thought she was pregnant at the end of her life, but actually, she had stomach cancer and she ended up dying from that. Good riddance.
That brought England to perhaps her most famous Queen, the very famous Queen Elizabeth I. England grew fond of Elizabeth, and took inspiration from her to take her fate into her own hands for once in her life. Now Elizabeth brought England Protestantism, but also brought her a good deal of trouble when the pope excommunicated poor Elizabeth. The Queen also had her dear old cousin to worry about when Mary, Queen of Scots decided she had a right to the throne. So Elizabeth had her executed. Most of Elizabeth's people were pressuring her to take a husband so she could produce an heir to the crowd, but Elizabeth didn't want her husband to rule her or her country. This would gain England's respect like no other monarch before, and it was Elizabeth who taught her she didn't need anyone but herself to be a strong nation. (Not that this really helped with the loneliness, but.)
The years of Elizabeth's reign brought on England's first venture into piracy, as though she couldn't fight as a man on the battlefield, she could be a fearsome pirate at the seas. Plus it was more or less fun to steal from the Spanish, and ridiculously easy to boot. This resulted in Spain becoming furious with the island nation; first, England's Queen had snubbed her by refusing to marry her wonderful King Philip. Then she had the arrogance to steal from her, and Spain used the Pope's excommunication of Elizabeth as an excuse to launch the infamous Spanish Armada upon England. This was one of the few battles England herself did fight in, as it employed all sorts of dirty trickery, from floating bombs to pirates as 'privateers', which resulted in sending the supposedly undefeated armada back to Spain like a troop of kicked puppies.
When Elizabeth died, the Tudor line was
Now, while England had heard a little of magic from her father, her real interest in the occult came from King James' reign. He hated witches. And she just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. She ended up taking to the craft more than she should have, but had to work very hard to keep her interests private, as her king was incredibly paranoid and had even tried to have the Earl of Bothwell executed for being a Witch. (Which England had told James was the wrong term, as he would have been a Wizard or a Warlock.)
England's next monarch would run into a bit of trouble with, well, everything. Charles I was a terrible, horrible, mean-spirited human being that England couldn't say she was very fond of. Most of the time, she just tried to avoid him during his reign, burying herself in the aforementioned occult while he was off attending to his royal duties. Except he wasn't very good at being a king, and especially not skilled in being a competent one. He firstly dissolved parliament, then proceeded to launch himself into religious war. When he ran out of money to pay for said war, he put parliament back together to pay for his enterprises. Only, parliament was more than a little sore about being dissolved and treated like they didn't have much of a say in things, so they drew up the Grand Remonstrance which more or less stated Charles was useless and parliament was going to rule. Charles was of course, infuriated, and he decided he was going to take London back whether they liked it or not.
See where this is going? That's right. Civil War. The first of two, Charles proved to be just as incapable in leading a war as he was with being King. He lost the war, Parliament took his head and a certain Oliver Cromwell stepped up to the plate. He abolished the monarchy and turned England into a republic way before the French made it fashionable. However, Oliver made England just as miserable as Charles had made her, as although he was a more competent leader, he banned singing, dancing, and Christmas. Not a fun fellow. On top of this, England found herself torn between the Royalists and the Republicans, until Oliver died and his son came to power. Richard Cromwell wasn't nearly as strong of a fellow as his father, and Charles I's son came back from exile to steal power back from the younger Cromwell.
And then suddenly, everyone was back to supporting the monarchy and it was good. Well, except for the fact England's dear new King was buddy-buddy with the famous French Sun King, Louis XIV. This meant England had to interact with France on at least a cordial level, though after a little while, she found she didn't mind France so much. They were almost friends again, even. But England didn't really like how France was treating her people, and found herself pitying the poor of France. Of course, she attributed this to France being part of the wrong religion, but so was the trend of the times.
Then her next King tried to turn England catholic again. She was furious, though not as furious as her people, because they threw said King out of the country! Her people passed a rule that Kings couldn't rule without parliament, nor could they be Catholic, and that was good. Until her current King and Queen who had usurped the throne died without a heir. Though some dramatic stretch, they managed to find a distant relative to one of England's dead Kings, and the people put her on the throne. Except there wasn't much of a chance of this Anne having an heir, and England needed to do some quick thinking to avoid her country being ruled by another Catholic monarch. And she needed to think fast. The solution was undesirable. In fact, she still thinks it was one of the worst ideas she'd had to date.
Behold the Act of Union! This included England getting real chummy like with her sister to the north, good old Scotland, and therefor becoming Great Britain. But England was no fool. This Union would strip Scotland of both her independence and parliament. Bring on the Georges. First England had George I, who didn't do anything at all. Then she had George II, who was a deal more interesting than his predecessor, but England didn't see all that much of him as she spent a good amount of time during his reign being a pira--err, privateer. And George III, as most people know, was a bloody disaster if there ever was one.
The 18th century was about war, that's true. But it was about a very specific type of war, fought against a very specific type of foe: France. Although the Hundred Years War had been perhaps more of a spiteful war, a lot of hate was exchanged between the two in the 18the century. England's forces fought France in the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, The War of American Independence and another war with France during her revolution. Each war upped the ante, and every aftermath brought demands that came at a higher and higher cost to the other nation. England delivered her alleged coup de grâce after the Seven Years' War, stealing New France, or Canada, away from France. A big mistake.
In order to pay for the debts incurred by the aforementioned wars, England began to implement taxes in her colonies that had not been there previously. She didn't see anything wrong with it; none of the taxes put into effect were ones that weren't established in her own country back home. That probably would have been just fine if her people out in the colonies, and in particular, her dear little protege, America, had been given equal representation in Parliament. But the very idea of that was preposterous to England; she was the mother country, this was her colony, it was time that her colony offered her the same support England had provided her with.
Naturally, her perspective was skewed. Although proud beyond reason of being the younger nation's 'older sister', England had been anything but the appropriate mother country to America. She was neglectful and oftentimes cold when she should have been warm. Although she would hold on to her fond memories of America's youth for the rest of her life, a variety of them weren't as heartfelt and emotional as remembers them by.
So when her colony declared independence, and then eventually war on England, the elder nation was heartbroken. Just like any other experience in her life though, England masked her heartache with unprecedented rage and had every intention of tearing her colony to bits. And then France struck. And so did Prussia. England's little colony to the west now had some of the strongest nations in the world supporting her, and what seemed like an easy battle was now a fight to the death.
Although she didn't participate on the front lines like in every other war, England actually made sure to be present whenever it was possible. She couldn't be anywhere near the battles, but she could stay in capture territory while the battles waged on. America seemed to be doing pretty well for a while, but England had an ace up her sleeve: Benedict Arnold. If he were to succeed as the traitor he was, England knew that the war would be over and she would win. But when his plans were exposed, England knew the war was over, and America was lost. It was one of the biggest blows to her pride she'd ever receive, and England would remember for many years to come with the bitterest sense of regret. A grudge was to be formed against both America and Prussia, and her grudge for France deepened.
Not that France made it any better by declaring war on her in 1793. This war would waver back and forth, as the both of them would grow weary of fighting and come close to compromising. But given the stubborn nature of the both of them, the war simply changed into the famous Napoleonic Wars, a decided bloodbath for the both of them. (And Spain, and Portugal, and Russia, and Prussia…) England won this war too, but being she never served on the battlefield, she got see firsthand the trouble brewing back home.
Hungry people were dangerous people. This was something all countries would have to learn, England being no exception to this rule. When her leaders passed a law saying that no foreign corn could be imported, the corn farmers in the UK simply ramped up the prices of the corn they sold, maximising profits. This left the poorer folk in her kingdom hungry, and angry, and all signs pointed to a revolt. But the people weren't looking just to lower the price of corn: these hungry people were angry that parliament could pass laws on a whim without a greater consent from the people. They wanted the parliamentary system reformed as well as the right to vote. And guess what? This particular bit of England's history is rather anti-climactic, because for once the people got exactly what they asked for. And thus was the Great Reform Act, bringing England a step forward into the modern age.
Up to this point, England could have cared less about being viewed as a 'lady'. A waste of her time if she'd ever heard one, and both her manners and her hygienic habits were questionable anyway from her pirate tendencies. But with the innovation of the Victorian age, that was all to change: England was going to be a right proper English lady if it killed her to do so. For the newest generation of the English people, others would view her as refined, gentle-mannered and relatively soft spoken, even though she still was a bit hard-willed.
Her newest queen was… nothing like her famous Elizabeth. Victoria was stubborn, that was true, but she was a bit starry eyed and kind of a brat. England didn't think much of her to start. She did, however, like her husband, Prince Albert. England found him to be smart and sensible where Victoria was not.
The Victorian era brought a few new interesting things to England's repertoire: Sir Robert Peel established the English police force. (That's why they're sometimes called the Bobbies, or the Peelers!) The Charterists in England were a predecessor to today's labour party, though they were certainly a little less orginised. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was England's point to the world that she could and had already achieved a greatness that the others countries should have been humbled by. And most of all, the Victorian era brought upon a vast colonial expansion that would drive England to forget about America for the time being. Mostly.
She would go on to attain Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong and India during her wild megalomaniacal stage, either from wars or exploration. In addition to expansion, England herself would get to do something she'd never done before: Finally, finally, the age-old nation would be able to serve in the wars herself. Of course, she could only serve as a nurse, but it was clear she took her job very seriously as studying medicine almost entirely replaced her addiction to the dark arts. Florence Nightingale is still one of the first people England will bring up if asked about her favourite role-models.
With the colonial expansion, England would fall hopelessly, terribly, entirely in love with India, the handsome and very coveted country to the east. Her love would be driven to the limits of obsession, and instead of presenting herself as a dignified gentlewoman, England would make herself out to be a selfish, neglectful, cruel human being. She would come to lose India too, who might just have been the love of her life. Her ego in the Victorian ego would do more than just alienate lovers; it would serve to push away friends too. The Anglo-Portuguese alliance, one of the oldest in the world, would be put under strain with the Pink Map incident, proving once again that England's status as a country would always be valued above her personal relationships.
Along with her territorial gains, scientific advances and ability to participate in war would come heartbreak, bloodbaths and strained friendships. England would come to remember the Victorian Era as the height of her empire, while locking away the nastier bits into the recesses of her mind.
The 20th century would bring a variety of highs and lows to England, kicking off with the Titanic tragedy and Captain Scott dying along with his men in a failed race to the South Pole. The brashness demonstrated clearly reflected England's attitudes: Heroic, brave, but unplanned and destined for failure. England's brother Ireland was already kicking up trouble, which would serve to be the foreshadowing of an eventual break from the Union.
The Great War sort of took England by surprise, as by all accounts, she had wanted to ally with Germany. But then the Germans started a naval arms race, so to speak, and England herself jumped to the defensive, not willing to be bested by any other world power in terms of Navy defense. This didn't necessarily mean war, until, well, Germany got arrogant and invaded Belgium. That meant war.
There was nothing glamourous about the Great War. Day after day, England ran back and forth to tend to wounded soldiers, frustrated by her inability to save every last one of her people as they were mowed down. Whether it be at sea, in the trenches or on the fields, the Great War was nothing but a disgusting bloodbath that carried on for far too long. England had only experienced death on that scale once before with the Black Death, and that didn't entail man killing his fellow man. It certainly dosed her up with a deal of PTSD that she would have to deal with for some time to come, but in other respects, the war hardened and prepared her for the horrors that had yet to come.
And just when it seemed like her troubles were over, England was hit with The Troubles, or basically her brother Ireland stirring up a fuss back home. In 1922, Ireland became a free state, leaving the Union. Then she had to deal with the Bolsheviks, and had to keep Turkey and Greece from killing each other. Then India started to riot, protesting English rule, and back home, strikes were running rampant across the country. At least her monetary situation seemed all right, well, for a bit, anyway, until the Great Depression hit and wrecked the world economy.
Poor England was so busy attending to all her own problems, she hardly had time to deal with a quickly-radicalising Germany. She didn't have enough money to fight the war, or enough people, nor did she want to fight the war. And even though it was a stupid concept that reeked of French influence, she sort of liked the League of Nations, if only because she was too tired to dislike it. This led to her sort of looking the other way at the worsening situation until Germany attacked Poland. And then it was back to war.
People in her country didn't want to fight; they wanted to lay down their arms and give up against the Nazi threat. Wars weren't exactly welcomed with open arms, especially not anymore, but a brave soul named Winston Churchill stepped up to the plate and prevented his country from backing down. With the much needed courage supplied by this portly fellow, England was ready to take on the threat with full determination. And that's just what she did.
At first, the war looked bleak. Germany cut off England's forces at Dunkirk, and only a little bit later, France fell in 1940 to German rule, establishing Vichy France and the French state. This was probably the boldest example England would put up to date of "France is mine to fight and mine alone!” Germany was outright challenging England, and while the rest of Europe fell, England held her ground. Germany had obviously planned to weaken her defenses and spirit, thus launching into the Battle of Britain, but England held out and helped out in every way possible. She worked in the radio towers, she worked as a nurse, she worked as a diplomat to try and encourage American involvement, she worked to help put out the fires in London and she worked overtime on the assembly lines. If she could have, she would have been in a Spitfire herself shooting down German bombers every waking second of her life.
Every attempt to dampen the British spirits, to cut off supply lines and starve the English people was foiled by the stiff upper lip and the overwhelming amount of patriotism England's citizens demonstrated. Never in her life had she felt so many people so proud to support the cause. On top of being proud to be English, people were proud to be British as for once in her life, she put aside her past difficulties with her sister Scotland and joined forces to show those pesky Germans what the British sisters were made of. She held out long enough, until on 6 June 1944, The United Kingdom, Canada and America launched the biggest military invasion in the history of mankind. Her men as well as her friend's men stormed the beaches of Normandy and took back France by force. The end wasn't far off, and on 6 May 1945, the war with Germany was over. The war with Japan continued on a little longer, but ended soon after.
Now while Churchill was a fantastic leader during the war, he wasn't so great post-war, so he was sacked for a new Labour government. The welfare state was imposed and the railways were nationalised. But the rationing from the war got worse, and a particularly cold winter happened to coincide with a national coal shortage. And the happy attitudes were soon diminished when the sun finally set on the famous British Empire: England lost India, lost most of Africa, and started referring to her reign of influence as the Commonwealth, rather then the infamous British Empire. It helped kill off her megalomaniacal tendencies, but it brought a fresh bitterness to her attitude that she would hold onto until modern day.
The sixties brought a revived sense of patriotism, but nothing in comparison to the delicious pride that the Second World War had boasted. There was an explosion in the music movement though, which England was all too glad throw herself into: Rock n' Roll. Though she won't admit it today, she was the first one to rush to any place the Beatles were said to be sighted. She had a thing for the Stones which made her look a bit silly really, could sing every Queen song that had ever been created, did a number of questionable things at various Pink Floyd concerts and painted her face like Bowie more than a few times. She loved the Pistols, rocked out to the Clash and learned to play guitar because of Zeppelin.
The rest of the 20th century would bring on a conservative revolution of sorts with Maggie Thatcher, some trouble with her sister Northern Ireland, a 'special relationship' with America and Scotland and Wales being allowed a quasi-independence. The European Union would become formally established and switch over to a unified currency, which England would deny and tell them quite politely to naff off with it.
All in all, England's history was filled with a number of stunning victories, heartbreaking failures and a lot of stubborn stalemates that would come to shape the hardheaded European nation as she is seen today.
Personality:
It must be noted that through all megalomaniacal façades, Rose is just a little girl trying to parade about as an adult.
A terribly lonely sort, Rose spent most of her time as a small child either in isolation or being conquered by other more powerful nations. Her father, Britannia, instilled a fighter's spirit in her, but because she was a woman, for much of her history, she was not allowed to participate in most wars. This by no means killed off her roguish spirit, as when she was presented with the opportunity to show off her violent streak, she was all too pleased to oblige the public. It always struck her as unfair that she had to stick back home while her men fought for her, and she even bent the rules for nearly three hundred years and engaged in her fair share of rebellious piracy.
The 19th century brought her a new perspective on her role as a woman, and she reluctantly let go of her conscious proclivity to rebel and exchanged it for petticoats and received pronunciation. It was to be a role she would grow quite proud of, enjoying the way men would treat her when she presented herself as a lady. It also permitted her a haughty attitude towards the other countries, and snobbish inclinations which were no doubt stolen from France. Of course, it's hard to completely crush the rebel spirit when it becomes a part of one's personality, so this wasn't to say she was or is the perfect lady.
A bigger pervert than France, Rose has been known to keep things hidden between the pages of her Shakespeare and Wilde collection, and her people seem to have a penchant for being caught in flagrante delicto in very public places. She, quite naturally, will deny any of this being even slightly true, until the day she dies. However, she almost was rewarded the pervert title by France herself, which England was quite distressed over. Not that she had any room to talk; even the Victorian era boasted some unique perversions. (see: Female Hysteria.)
Rose sports a wicked sense of humour, a dry sarcastic wit and she's excellent at verbal spars. However, this ability to stay calm in a battle of the wits is usually forfeited for uncontrollable rage when it comes to battling it out with France. Rose is also rather verbose, concentrated on the correct way to say this or that, and usually offers in five minutes what she could say in one. So naturally, when America drowns her out, Rose loses her ability to stay calm and ends up reprimanding or shouting at America.
There's some sort of weird fixation with the morbid when it comes to England, as everything from her sense of humour to her architecture occasionally features a dark edge. There's haunted sites all over her country, legends of ghosts, vampires, ghouls and other paranormal creatures and yet, England isn't bothered by any of them. She's not easily scared, and would have no trouble staying entirely calm talking to a ghost face-to-face. (Probably because she already has in the past!)
Although she fights France like there's no tomorrow, she actually has a lot of respect for the older nation. She admires France's clothing, food and sense of style, and both consciously and subconsciously tries to emulate her. And although she would love nothing more than defeating France herself, as soon as someone else threatens the older nation, she'll fight tooth and nail to protect her. Because, well, no one gets to beat up France except her.
If Rose was to be described behind her back in the words of her choosing, she would probably want people to say she was a lady with a punk rock attitude. Although she does do her best to hide her true nature, she’s also somewhat proud of the times she fought back in history, though she’d rather foremost be known as a proper lady.
Nothing pleases her more than the most mundane of tasks. Above all, she loves baking, so much that when she bakes for someone else, it's the most valuable token of her affection that she can offer. She doesn't quite burn what she makes, but she tends to forget ingredients. Or tries to measure by eye and ends up putting in way too much of something and not enough of another. Needless to say, she's not visually impaired so her confections usually look nice, but they taste like the Devil incarnate and would be nothing short of poisonous to anyone but the countries. Because she raised America, though, she's managed to pervert America's tastebuds to a point of no return, and took much joy in watching America actually eat her food. Today, when America insults her baking, that actually really hurts her feelings, because she thought the younger nation was one of the few people who actually enjoyed her creations.
Despite the fact she's frustrated to no ends with America most of the time, she really doesn't hate her. In fact, when she lost America as a colony, it was one of her saddest defeats, and a punch in the fact in terms of a wake-up call. She was very pleased to be America's big sister, as she finally got to show her nurturing side to someone just like she'd always wanted to. Unfortunately, Rose is a horrible control-freak, and pretty incompetent when it comes to being motherly. She's far too strict, somewhat neglectful and oftentimes sees people as a 'conquest' rather then a friend, or a family member.
She doesn’t actually need her glasses to see. She wears them when she needs to read, as her eyesight certainly isn’t what it used to be, and they do help fix her vision, but she isn’t completely incapable when she goes without them. She wears them about 50% of the time.
She is actually insane. Actually entirely insane, and tends to see a plethora of magical creatures. Now, it's not the seeing of the magical creatures that makes her insane, as there is a possibility that the magical creatures actually exist and she is the only one that can see it. However, her interactions with the creatures seems to have skewed her perspective on reality, making light of things like murder or sexual impossibilities. There's a heightened possibility that the creatures she speaks of are in fact genuine, as when she visits other countries, she can see the mythological figures that the other countries have long since forgotten about. She would claim that this is due to her being 'pure of heart', but honestly, if anything, it would relate to her having a child-like conscience that still wants to believe in the mystical.
And saying that, she's quite versed in the realm of magic. She specialises in black magic, which usually is the most powerful but boasts terrible side effects. It's also not easy to control, so sometimes when she tries to summon the utmost evil that can be fathomed, she just ends up bringing Russia to her door. Luckily, there's a pentagram to trap the Slavic country.
And she really doesn't like Russia. She's not exactly scared by her, but something about the younger nation makes her paranoid, and she seems to think Russia really is as evil as she seems. But she's moreover annoyed by Russia's presence, rather then outright frightened by her.
A total insomniac, Rose usually ends up staying up most of the night and ends up falling asleep in world meetings. This ends up looking sloppy, but it's just the way she's naturally inclined. She likes to indulge in a drop or two of liquor before she sleeps, and when she wakes up, and for her meals, and in the in-betweens and before meetings and after meetings and… basically, Rose is a raging inebriate with a terrible problem. She'd never admit to this though, even though she carried around a flask.
Contrary to popular belief though, she's not an easy drunk. It's just, when she goes to pubs, she ends up drinking much more than usual because the drink is available, and ends up making a fool out of herself. She has a tendency to pour her feelings out in stupid ways, crying about some engagement or the other she lost and pitying herself in a puddle of regret.
Minus the fact she's a prude-closet-pervert, Rose probably could make a pretty good Bond girl. She's great with disguises, and can get out of most situations as she's a fantastic escape artist. Unfortunately for her, her very British mannerisms tend to seep into anything she does, so even though her appearance might be believable, some other aspect of her personality will expose her as an impostor. As long as she doesn't open her mouth though, she's usually fine.
There was a time that England thought the world was going to end, and she let France rule her for a day following that. However, seeing as she woke up in the morning just fine, Rose came to realise on that fateful day that the apocalypse was going to come a lot slower than that. End of the world predictions amuse her, and just like most things, she’s not really all that scared of the end of all things to come anymore.
Abilities:
Being that Rose has been a student of the occult, of magic and the mystical for nearly four hundred years, it can be assumed that she’s quite versed in the realm of magic. She has many books on magic for many different types of spells, and given the amount of time she spends alone, it can also be assumed that there has been many hours spend studying these books. Her summoning powers are elite; she knows how to hardness the forces of evil and then how to use them for her own good. However, with all black magic, her spells tend to backfire on her. For instance, when she tries to summon an evil figure to get back at someone with, she ends up pulling Russia up through a pentagram.
As is with all countries, England has been living since the beginning of her country’s existence as a formal nation. This implies that she has an extended life span compared to most people, and obviously isn’t just human with her nation status. There are dead nations in the series, except for the fact they come back in a tangible form, which sort of upsets any canonical explanation for mortality regarding countries.
In addition to her supernatural abilities, she can see the mythical creatures of other countries or areas that no one else can see. She often talks to her own magical creatures, faeries, mythical pirates, flying flavoured animals, and is convinced that they’re as real as anyone else in her life. They might be delusional symptoms of her loneliness, or they might actually really be there. She also is rather proficient in the world of medicine, as she served as a nurse for many years in the 19th century and beyond. She also has various fighting abilities, most having to do with wielding swords and pistols because of her pirate days, but she’s quite out of date when it comes to fighting at all. She didn’t fight in the 20th century, even when she was finally permitted to join her men at the front lines, she had been so firmly indoctrinated into her role as a woman in society over the course of her history that she opted out of participating in the actual fighting of most wars.
So all in all, she’ll probably keep her magical abilities to a lesser extent, will definitely still be able to interact with mythical creatures and probably will no longer be immortal by any means. She’ll still be able to fight but she won’t be super strong, or super resilient by any means. She might keep her nation status, she might just think she’s keeping her nation status, but it doesn’t really matter as when she arrives at the tower, she’ll be just as mortal as the rest of them.
Sample Entry:
I’ll bet you think this is a right laugh!
[ There’s stomping down the steps of the tower’s staircase, fists clutched at her sides as the brooding English woman huffs with every few steps. ]
I’ll have you know, when you’re found out for this terrible albeit elaborate prank, expect Hell from the United Kingdom!
[ Seething rage bubbles up at the back of her throat, each step bringing her away from where she started but no closer to where she wants to finish. After a few flights, she pauses, leaning down to grip her knees in a slightly undignified position whilst she pants. ]
You’ll…. You’ll be sorry when I find out who you are, as you’ll be facing the wrath of the British Empire! [ Because for the moment, it’s the most threatening thing she can think of. Her eyes fall closed as she stands back up, reaching up to adjust her pigtails. She’s still fuming, but a little self-conscious now. Too much running around and shouting for a lady to participate in! So when she speaks, she ceases her shouting, speaking in an even tone. ]
America, if this is your idea of a prank, it’s a shite one if I’ve ever seen one. Honestly, do you think I would ever think that something this fake would be able to fool me? You child. I’ve lived long enough to know your sort of joke.
[ And with that, she huffs again and takes a few more steps down, slower now, nose slightly upturned at the thought of being fooled by ‘America’s prank’. ]
This might be the worst set I’ve ever seen you crea… [ Words die on her tongue as her venture slows to a halt, pausing before what seems to be… a forest. She’s standing before a forest. But she’s walking down stairs, so this forest is…. Inside of the building? Unless this is the way to the outdoors, but the way the floor cuts away to grass, roots twisted in the dirt, she assumes this really is inside the building. ]
I… Well, this is certainly becoming an elaborate prank, you know. I’m not sure what I’ve done to deserve to honour of suck trickery, but nevertheless, this is childish and it demonstrates nothing but your overwhelming immaturity. [ Regardless of her words, though, she’s captivated by the grass, the trees, the way the roots gnarl on the ground and imply their real depth inside of the soil. As she approaches one of the trees, movement catches her gaze, one just a little deeper into the thicket. Fingers drift over the bark as she wanders, head falling to the side with a swathe of burgundy-brown hair brushing over her shoulder and against her bicep. When she finally comes to face the little creature that she had mistaken for a bunny, her steps stop, her eyes widen and her lips fall into a part. ]
Hullo there, little thing. Did America trap you here too? I bet she enlisted France’s help; she’s the only other cow that would assist with a task like this. Don’t worry, when I find them, I’m going to give them a good piece of my mind. [ She should probably be scared of the little thing, she probably not be kneeling down to have a closer look at it. But England tends to leap without looking, this being no exception to her thoughtless attitudes. ]
xxx ( I included a separate sample in case the first one was a little too "first time waking up shockish." )
[ There’s a girl in the corner of the room, or should it be said floor, sitting with her knees pulled back against her chest. Her head is leaned against her hands clasped together atop her knee, eyes sort of unfocused on the wall across from her. The stars float across the black nothingness of the scenery like flecks of dust floating across a film screen. ]
How odd. I could have sworn I knew that constellation there.
[ Her vision drops to the floor as fingers trace over moving blips of light with her fingertip, following one star with her pointer until it disappears out of sight, then moves on to another one. ]
Maybe there was something to this whole space bit all along. I should like to think that if space was this quiet; I should have had a trip to it a long time ago. Oh Christ, not again. [ And she sighs. Sighs because there’s a little ship in the background flying forward from her peripheral vision and into her main gaze. It’s the same situation it always is; the ship crashes, a planet blows up, some stars follow suit and the whole universe dulls down to a rather disgusting shade of grey. She watches it all happen, partially helplessly, partially fascinated by the morbid concept. ]
Makes me wonder if it’s true, you know? [ The hand draws back to grip her knee, a passive look washed across her features. Her expression mimics the scenery currently; dulled and depressed. For a moment, she draws her brows and sits back up, crossing her arms. Her voice regains its usual confidence, her vigour and moreover the strength she usually possesses. ]
But clearly it’s not the truth. Because if it was a truth, I couldn’t possibly be here. I’m England and nothing more; strip me of my lands and I’m reduced to nothing. [ And then, quietly, as if she’s resigned to her fate once more. ] …I think…
