Post by chicksdigscars on Feb 24, 2011 2:29:06 GMT -5
(((My Reflection)))
Nation: Prussia; Königreich Preußen
Name: Gilbert Beilschmidt
Gender: Male
Appearance Age: 22 years (young enough to still be cocky)
Hair Color: Platinum blonde/white
Eye Color: Red-violet; albino coloring
Height: 177 cm; 5’9”
Weight: 175 lbs
Appearance: Prussia is a young man with the striking qualities of an albino creature. His hair is carelessly styled, a blend of platinum colors ranging from white to silver depending on the lighting. The pale quality of his skin is contrasted with crimson eyes and he uses their abnormal coloring to his advantage since it seems to set other people off-guard. While Prussia does lack the healthy glow of other faces, his being an albino by no means equates him to being unhealthy. In actuality, despite the leanness of his limbs and figure, Prussia is quite robust in all other ways; especially in personality.
Prussia, to be more specific, is said to have a ‘hungry’ look about him at times. This is glimpsed in the glitter of his eyes, that knife-edge smirk of arrogance that he often sports, and the occasional grin that seems just on the verge of feral. Sometimes Prussia gives off the impression of some wild creature that joined the rest of civilization on a whim and could revert at any time to more primal behavior – there is prowess in the way that he moves, an efficiency of muscles and a vaguely predatory grace.
In fashion, Prussia prefers the sturdy, dependable garments of a soldier. He feels most at home in uniforms, preferring dark ‘Prussian Blues’, blood red crimsons and pristine whites. Either this is because Prussia is conscious of how intimidating these make him look, or it is just easier to find things to match when the color schemes are basically the same.
(((Know Thyself )))
Personality: Prussia is something of a menace. He has spent the majority of his existence either in battles or engaging in activities that are generally frowned upon by others, yet seems immune to the obvious odds this puts him at with his fellow nations. He is seen from all outside viewpoints as arrogant, mean-spirited, opportunistic, power hungry, meglo-maniacal, crude, rude and generally unfit for more refined society.
Though in truth, Prussia is actually quite arrogant, mean-spirited, opportunistic, power hungry, meglo-maniacal, crude, rude and does know how to behave himself at parties when he puts his mind to it.
There are times when some other side of Prussia shows through the chinks in his personality. Despite acting as if he does everything with reckless abandon, part of Prussia still clings to the old deep roots of his religious foundations; sometimes showing an uncertainty in his actions, a discomfort in dealing with females, and the very rare occasion where his arrogance slips to reveal someone more focused, serious, and capable of impressive military feats. Though he is quick to cover all of these moments up with a smirk and increased bragging as if to make up for showing such weakness.
Prussia has always been fickle with his loyalties. The only nation that he has shown consistent alliance to is Germany, who he treats with his own brand of fondness. Of course, this only means that he torments the German a little less cruelly than he would his other fellow nations. While he will reference Germany as his younger brother, sometimes Prussia treats the other more like a paternal figure – at the very least a predecessor passing on knowledge, whether their descendant wants it or not. And since Germany has adopted much of his own behaviors, Prussia considers himself a successful teacher. He displayed similar behavior towards Old Fritz, his most favorite boss, and finds the subject of that particular mortal man to be a sore point that will cause Prussia’s mood to quickly turn sour.
Lately, Prussia has been living like a man that knows his days are numbered. He lacks the concerns of one looking to build alliances with any longevity – choosing instead to make up for time that has already been lost to him. This has made him more unpredictable than ever. With the lack of desire to restrain his whims, Gilbert seems determined to live out as best he can until the very end. Even if it does cost everyone else their sanity.
Likes:
★ Assigning names to people, however inappropriate they might be considered.
★ Exploring vices; though he still occasionally feels the pang of those old nagging religious roots, Prussia would never turn down a few steins of beer.
★ Victory; this is fairly self-explanatory, as it allows him the opportunity to follow up with his next favorite thing:
★ Bragging; because Prussia is of the belief that not only did he ‘do it well’, but that he also ‘did it better’ than anyone else in history.
★ Warfare; battle strategies; researching historical conflicts – anything to do with the art of battle.
★ Germany; he is fond of his ‘Brüderlein'.
★ Beer, beer, beer.
★ Harassing Austria, Hungary or whoever else is convenient.
★ German food – none of that sissy pasta, flaky French food and tomato junk.
★ Frederick II, his Old Fritz, because his boss was the greatest man to ever live.
Dislikes:
✖ Defeat; Prussia has a way of spinning his losses to better suit his perspective (and therefore occasionally lets people win)
✖ Disorganization; while he might outwardly seem to be lazy and careless, there are subtle hints that Prussia is actually incredibly organized in how he operates.
✖ Isolation; this is quite a detrimental dislike since it usually prompts Gilbert to seek others out.
✖ Boredom; another detrimental dislike – Prussia seeks others out and its usually to their dislike.
✖ Being Controlled; Though he has great admiration and respect for his superiors, Prussia is quite begrudging to having his impulses put in check from time to time.
✖ Russia; thanks to the occasion where he was picked on by the Russian Empire.
✖ Poland; because that cross-dressing nancy nation keeps taking his stuff and making him have to work to get it back.
✖ Being disrespected; in Gilbert’s mind, he has worked hard to earn the privilege to be a jerk to everyone. But he does not enjoy having ‘lesser nations’ treat him poorly.
Fears:
☣ The ultimate fear is failure. He measures himself by his victories; to admit defeat is painful.
☣ Becoming obsolete, or forgotten. Prussia obsessively chronicles even the most mundane events out of some need to keep records of his achievements. This might also explain why he consistently torments his neighboring nations.
☣ That he might one day lose to a girl
Secrets:
♦ Has a love for ‘cute’ things -- not just animals, either.
♦ Has insecurity issues that plague him (that is the world’s worst kept secret, really).
♦ Will never admit that he admires the fact that Hungary looks decent in a dress; nor that her frying pan haunts his dreams.
♦ Took up the flute because it was a musical instrument much beloved by Old Fritz – but he never really treated any of his tutors seriously and is rather horrid as a player.
Strengths: Arrogance is actually something of a strength for Prussia, because he uses it as a crutch to support himself when all else fails. He is a genius at military strategies and tactics, and prides himself at how efficient his own military is. Prussia has quick reflexes, exceptional prowess in battle, and knowledge of how to use multiple weapons. He likes to think of himself as charismatic.
Weaknesses: His arrogance is also a weakness, because it leaves Prussia feeling too confident sometimes. This has caused him to stumble from time to time, both on the battlefield and off. Prussia is also somewhat childish in that he feels he is entitled to things without having to work too hard for them. At times he chooses to deliberately slack on things, not for an inability to get them done but because they don’t suit his interests.
(((The Pages of History )))
History:
Pre-1224: Crusades of the Teutonic Knights staged against the tribes of Old Prussians in the Baltic Region.
1224: The Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights (Ordensstaat) is formed (personal headcanon is that this the year that Prussia was born as a nation, since this is the foundation of everything in his history beyond this point)
1410: The Teutonic Order is defeated in the Battle of Grunwald against the Polish-Lithuanian forces. It declines beyond this point.
1525: Ordensstaat becomes the Duchy of Prussia.
1618: The Duchy expands when it becomes Brandenburg-Prussia, thanks to the efforts of Frederick William.
1701: With the signing of treaties while under the leadership of Frederick William, the Duchy of Prussia becomes the Kingdom in Prussia (And this marks the turning point where Prussia becomes a battle-loving jerk in earnest).
1708: The Plague sweeps through Prussia. This is considerably un-awesome. The affliction ends somewhere in 1710 but takes a toll on the overall population.
1740: Frederick II, “Old Fritz”, becomes King in Prussia. A lifelong
1740-1748: The Silesian Wars begin, one of the more famous ones being the War of the Austrian Succession.
1756-1762: The Anglo-Prussian Alliance is formed between Prussia and Great Britain.
1756-1762: The Seven Years’ War is fought. Prussia more or less took on the entire world and it ended in a draw. (Prussia likes to think of it as the first World War, and congratulates himself on causing trouble across three whole continents)
1760-1762: A weakened Prussia is invaded by the Russian Empire. The Empress of Russia passed away, and Peter III called out the Russian Army, though it took a grave toll on the Prussian Army and its leadership.
1772-1795: Expansion is made further of Prussia, and it regains much of its lost territories in Poland. Prussia, like, totally owned Warsaw there for a bit. <3
1785: Old Fritz signs a treaty with the United States of America, acknowledging its independence.
August 17th, 1786: Frederick II, King of Prussia, passes away in isolation at his home at Sanssouci.
1801-1815: Napoleonic Wars. Prussia plays both sides of the fence; at first working with Napoleon and his forces in order to stage hostilities against Great Britain’s lands. 1806, with the final dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, it became the Kingdom of Prussia. Boredom or sudden confidence led Prussia to switch sides against France. This worked against the nation, because Napoleon ended up soundly defeating Prussia. Much of its territory was taken away that it had amassed and the French lingered until Prussia finally allied with Napoleon again. As soon as Napoleon was defeated, Prussia took the opportunity to get revenge and played a crucial role in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 to put an end to Napoleon’s meddling for good. Prussia got all of its territories restored, plus even more for the part that it had played in the victory against Napoleon’s Army.
1848-1871: The German Wars, or the Wars of German Unification. With its new power, Prussia still had to deal with the squabbling of Austria and the other German states that wanted to see some single entity formed. Prussia, naturally, resisted due to a fear of losing independence. In 1848, Denmark invaded some of Prussia’s territory, and despite being defeated, Prussia was still forced to allow the other nation to keep them. Unhappy with this result and wanting to assert its place as a ruling nation, Prussia coaxed Austria into assisting in a second war against Denmark in 1864 just so that it could be rubbed in the Dane’s face.
Austria, being pissy, decided to continue sniping about territorial disputes. So Prussia declared war on the Austrian Empire and defeated it in order to shut the other nation up. After victory in the Austro-Prussian War, Prussia swallowed up a majority of the German states. This trend continued up until 1871, when the German states became unified under a single Germany under Prussian rule.
1871: Prussia has a new toy to play with in the form of one blue-eyed German nation. And like any good older brother figure, starts to leave the majority of the internal and political conflicts to the more serious Germany so that he can focus on doing things that are less boring to him.
1914-1918: Prussia learns his lesson about leaving everything in the hands of your younger brother while you slack off. Thanks to the loss of the German Empire in WW1, the Treaty of Versailles causes the Kingdom of Prussia to be dissolved and it becomes the Free State of Prussia.
1918-1932: Prussian government becomes a heavy democratic nation, setting up many reforms in the systems that are later used as models by Germany. It enjoys a time of success. During this time, the Nazi Party begins to win over the lower class and working class nationals of Prussia, earning support for Adolf Hitler and the Reich.
1932: Preußenschlag – the coup to overthrow the democratic Prussian government is staged on July 20th. The Reich succeeds in taking control of Prussia, as it forces its own government leader into power.
February 5th, 1947: The Allied Control Council formally proclaims the dissolvement of the nation of Prussia.
The rest is history.
Allies: Germany(solidly), Frederich II
Battle of Grunwald: The Teutonic Order/Teutonic Knights
War of the Austrian Succession: Spain; France; Bavaria; Sweden
Seven Years’ War: Great Britain
Napoleonic Wars: Great Britain; Austria; Russia; Spain
Schleswig Wars: Netherlands; Germany; Austria
Austro-Prussian War: Italy; Germanic States (the cool ones)
(Other allies mentioned in History.)
Enemies:
Battle of Grunwald: Poland; Lithuania
War of the Austrian Succession: Austria; Great Britain; Russia
Seven Years’ War: France; Austria; Spain, Russia; Sweden
Napoleonic Wars: France; Italy; Poland
Schleswig Wars: Denmark
Austro-Prussian War: Austria; Germanic States (the lame ones)
(Other enemies mentioned in History.)
Sample Post:
The days were getting shorter now; daytime skies fading to twilight earlier as the weeks stretched on. Prussia took advantage of them when he could, retreating to this certain armchair that he spent all his spare time in lately when his responsibilities did not press him out of his house. His efforts today to bask in the sunlight spilling in through the nearby window were ruined by a bought of sleep that snuck up and claimed him without warning. An attendant had remarked to Gilbert just the other day that the nation had taken to sleeping more often these last few months, and the Prussian had been amused to be chided by some inferior officer lecturing him on shirking his duties when there was a war being fought.
Prussia had simply laughed off the lecture, red eyes amused and full of secrets. No one knew the state of things better than he did. Not even little Ludwig completely comprehended what was coming; he always seemed bothered by that smirk on Prussia’s face, that knowing smile. Gilbert had seen the outcome the second that the first move was made on this worldwide chessboard – as soon as he had gone swaggering into the office of his boss and saw the triumphant glow on the face of the Reich Puppet who had swept his government out from underneath his feet, Prussia comprehended what this war would cost.
He had read it on the faces of the Allied Nations when they had gathered to assess the level of damage that they had done to one another; pitted as they were by mortal men, tearing back and forth with a desperation for victory right up until the moment when that little hotshot America let his people drop that rather frightening weapon to pummel the reedy Japan into submission. Prussia could tell, as he leant against his brother’s ever-sturdy frame, precisely what was going to happen to him now that the Third Reich had been defeated just by the signs he read from their faces: Great Britain’s avoiding eyes and the constant scowling of those ridiculously big eyebrows; America, the least battered of them all, staring at him like some blank-faced puppy (as if Prussia had never been there at the beginning, had never helped that fledgling brat stand up to the British Empire or set foot on the New World to train intolerable country bumpkins how to fight like soldiers); France, who for all of their bad moments in time and had looked to Gilbert as just another unfortunate pawn in this struggle, could not even bring himself to look upon Prussia; China with his unreadable face, bearing no judgment but also no mercy; and Russia – who for all of his wear and tear still seemed like all of this was some game that had been worth passing the time to play.
There was no chance for a dead man walking.
Gilbert heard a sound from nearby, a familiar chirping near his ear. It began to rouse him from sleep and the Prussian began to sluggishly peel his eyes open to see what had excited the fuzzy little bird that had taken to liking him some unknown time ago. He paused, forehead marred with a confused crease, as a hand thumped down heavily on the crown of his head. Prussia relaxed his limbs when he felt it ruffling through his hair, familiar and paternal, and the nation’s lean figure sank deeper into the softness of his armchair as he tried to sound properly irritated. “Eh? Couldn’t you tell that I was sleeping here?”
“So sorry. I just came to check in.” A weathered hand plucked at the blanket that Gilbert had wound around himself like some protective shield, tucking the folds back up around the Prussian’s shoulders. Then it resumed patting at white hairs, sorting them back into some carefree style. “Almost time now, isn’t it?”
Prussia snorted derisively, already halfway a snore as sleep threatened to overwhelm him again. “A few more days. Bastards won’t know what to do without me around. I keep things interesting.”
He was patted again, and Gilbert imagined that he could feel the warmth of that palm seeping into his hair as the man spoke again. “You fought well. It’s time for a rest.”
“Nn.” Gilbert’s grunt was vague. He threatened to stir when that hand retreated, voice thick with sleep. “Hey, Fritz?”
“Ja, Preußen?”
“…Feh. I forget.” With an additional, incomprehensible mumble, Prussia fell back into slumber as that chirp carried on beside him and the impression of some phantom contact still tingled across his scalp.
Did you read the rules and Dark Reflections Canon? Italian Pasta
Random fun fact about yourself: I think I have a growing obsession for knee socks. There might need to be an intervention.
