Post by unitedstates on Jul 23, 2010 0:16:47 GMT -5
(((My Reflection)))
Nation: The United States of America
Name: Alfred F. Jones
Gender: Male
Appearance Age: 19
Hair Color: Honey Blonde
Eye Color: Sky Blue
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 190 lbs
Appearance: With just-above-average height, bright blonde hair, and a dense figure, America resembles the stereotypical boy-next-door –non threatening and somewhat goofy. However, he is incredibly strong- he is well-muscled, but he is also covered by a thin layer of fat. If one was to lift up his shirt, for example, they would see an expanse of smooth skin, despite the incredibly strong abdomen muscles lurking underneath. He is often made fun of for this, and it's due to his penchant for fast food. America goes on diets about every other month (more often than not crash diets), so his figure fluctuates between jiggly and relatively toned.
His hair, blonde and soft, is messy, and one string sticks out, representing the island of Nantucket. The strand is incredibly sensitive, and he tends to punch anyone who tries to touch it. His features are usually made up in a bright smile, and the smile only ever falls once he's in private. Unless he's especially angry, he doesn't showcase any negative emotions to the others. However, he has the beginnings of frown lines in his forehead, from the stress of recent events.
It is a rare occasion that America is seen without his trademark WWII bomber jacket. He especially likes to wear it when he knows he'll be meeting with Germany- he likes to remind him of the Berlin airlift. When meeting Japan, however, he usually leaves it behind. The jacket, otherwise omnipresent, even makes its way over his suits and the leather is starting to fade and show signs of wear. There are several unidentified red stains- he refuses to say whether they're blood or ketchup.
(((Know Thyself )))
Personality: Everything America does is with high energy, whether that is positive energy, negative energy, or just plain 'I am going to put my all into scrubbing this dish because it should be done even though I don't want it to be done but it shall be done anyways!' energy. He tends to put his all into everything he does, even though half of those things are just talking about what he plans to do. Almost paradoxically, America is extremely lazy, and he can sometimes be more of a 'talk' than 'action' person. Even when he does revert to action, he tries to find the best 'shortcut', even though these shortcuts often end up being longer and more inefficient than the traditional method. Following in other people's steps is not his style, and he'll go out of his way to make something more American. He doesn't have the most beautiful rhetoric, but when he's serious about a topic, he can convince just about anyone that he's in the right, and that they have to support him. (It helps that he's constantly practicing his speech style, due to the fact he rarely shuts up.) He doesn't rely on any of the three parts of the rhetorical triangle any more than the other- though as of late, his speeches mostly drip with pathos (emotion), combined with somewhat faulty logos and the ethos he has from being the remaining superpower.
Oftentimes, these speeches result in nothing, especially in regards to controversial issues, and this is due to the fact that America can swing drastically in opinion, depending on which political party he was listening to. Though stalwart in the face of his enemies, he is easily influenced by his citizens and by the nations close to him. He can come out of a meeting with his boss, pledging thousands of more troops to Iraq, and the next day, he might be found in the middle of a picket line, demanding that his boys be sent home. It's not that he's wishy-washy - he is not, if nothing else, middle of the road. What he believes in at that moment, he believes in with all of his heart- until someone else comes to whisper in his ear and he does a complete turn around in his beliefs.
Some Nations might find that hard to believe, however, considering the show he puts on at World Meetings. However, the tangents he goes on about utilizing robots in his plans to end global warming aren't (always) his actual opinion- not only does he not trust the other Nations enough to tell them what he actually plans (one hundred years ago he would have been, but the Cold War left him suspicious of others' intentions), he thinks the facial expressions they make are hilarious.
...though, he is still convinced that if one can be built right, a giant freezer would keep the polar ice caps from melting.
America, being young, hasn't become old and embittered quite yet- suspicious, sure, and he sometimes feels as if he felt every second compounding on itself during the last century to make him almost as run down and angry as some of the other older countries- though he's not the naive bundle of sunshine he was at the opening of the twentieth century. He's still quite happy-go-lucky and optimistic- his cynical moments never last-, sure that everything will work out for him in the end. He's a cultural empire that has yet to fail, and it shows in the carelessness he can have in international relations and policy making. He's becoming a little more careful, a little more aware of the effects his actions have, but not enough for it to really hit home.
He can be careless. He grew up never knowing the turmoil that the other countries did, especially the Europeans, so in some ways he can act like a spoiled child. When things don't go his way, he fights until they do or gives into compromise at the insistence of his boss. If he loses, he sulks for ages, until something new comes along, or he figures out a way to crush the person he lost to. He's not as much of a sore loser when it comes to small things, like games, but he's definitely very, very competitive.
When traumatic events at a national level happen to him, America tends to either become obsessed with them, or react in a way similar to the way he acts when he loses. He picks up the pieces slowly, but surely- it is often the trauma that binds his citizens together. However, when they happen on a personal level, he deals with them not quite as well. Depending on what exactly happened to him, America either becomes extremely angry and somewhat vengeful, or he represses it and pretends like it never happened. When he was a colony, for example, he suffered some abuse at the hands of England, but now, he acts as if it never happened. He's learned one thing as a Country- one should not hold grudges.
Unfortunately, America can also be a hypocrite, so he doesn't always follow that advice.
Likes:
★ Hamburgers
★ Chit-chat
★ Being in charge
★ Laughing, even at the expense of others
★ Americanized food (he honestly prefers, for example, frozen pizza to anything one can get at an Italian bistro)
★ Technological museums (America is a bit of a techie, and can hold an informed conversation about electronics with any engineer)
★ Space- star-gazing, astronomy, astrology, anything related to space, America is all over.
★ Flying
★ Road trips
★ Patriotism- in this way, he's narcissistic
Dislikes:
✖ Closed spaces, being land-locked: he exhilarates in the freedom of having an ocean on both sides.
✖ Quiet people who don't contribute to conversations
✖ Hypocrites
✖ Sitting still. He hates listening at meetings- he'd rather pace around while declaiming his own ideas
✖ Losing
✖ Being told he can't do something
✖ Being under someone else's command
✖ Oppression, tyranny, and communism.
✖ Overly-healthy food, such as raw-food diets
✖ Stress
Fears:
☣ Being taken over, losing his influence over the world. This fear was compounded by 9-11, and now he's incredibly paranoid.
☣ Terrorists. He'll admit, he shies away from Muslims when he sees them on the street.
☣ His own prejudices. America's constantly terrified that he'll snap one day and start persecuting his Muslim citizens, because he knows he's totally capable of it.
☣ The dark.
☣ Horror movies.
Secrets:
♦ He's very religious, and even though he vehemently denies it, he often lets religion influence policy making and whenever he hears someone say "God Bless America" or "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, he feels a chill.
♦ He is not inexperienced in the sex department, he just doesn't like to talk about it. He's slept with just about all of his allies (and some of his enemies- he's ashamed to talk about what he's done to other countries if he beats them in battle), but he refuses to acknowledge it afterward. Sometimes this makes America feel like a dirty hypocrite, as he refers to his sexual experience as his 'European side', and he often bashes what he sees as the European promiscuity.
♦ Putting these two things together, America is incredibly ashamed of himself, and he prefers not to get into long-term relationships. His thoughts on that are that one-night stands can be blamed on too-much alcohol or the need to 'cement an alliance', but relationships have no justifications other than feelings. He is somewhat terrified of actually getting into a long-term, emotionally involved relationship with someone, so even if he is "with" someone for a while, America keeps them at a distance. America feels that sex and emotions should be kept separate, so he is much closer with someone when they're friends than when they're lovers.
♦ He sometimes wishes he were an island.
♦ He's killed his own people before. He has been a member of the Ku Klux Klan, of the Know Nothings, and was a follower of McCarthy. At the time, he regretted none of it.
Strengths:
He's physically very strong, and he's also strong when it comes to his opinions. Because of this stubbornness, it's hard to get him to question his core beliefs. However, he is always able to bounce back from things in one way or another, so it's even more difficult to crush him mentally. He keeps himself afloat by believing, somewhat irrationally, that the world really is naturally a good place.
Weaknesses:
Because he's so opinionated, he's uncompromising. Relations with the United States often end with the other country bowing out, and this is the reason he's never learned the real art of diplomacy. He's also fairly immature, because he's never had to really develop his 'diplomatic' people skills. America can also be very intolerant, despite the inscription on his Statue of Liberty, so he sometimes has problems working with certain types of people.
(((The Pages of History )))
History:
~ 1498: Italian born Briton John Cabot makes his second voyage to the New World, this time sailing as far south as Chesapeake Bay. The English later used this to establish their claim to North America.
~1513: Spanish Juan Ponce de León explores and names La Florida, at first believing it is an island.
~1521: Ponce de León and his crew attempt to colonize Florida, and meet an untimely end at the hands of the native people.
The next few decades are characterized by Spanish expeditions across the American continent, with many of the explorers dying at the hands of the natives. The Spanish make a claim on the continent that reaches from Florida to Labrador (Canada), and "as far west as the King can imagine."
~1561: The Spanish King Phillip II declares that there will be no more effort to colonize Florida.
~1562: French Huguenots try to colonize Florida. However, their ship of food never arrives, and despite acceptance and offers of meals by the local Timucans, the French face starvation and mutiny. They run back to France.
~1564: A better prepared expedition of French Huguenots, including women and children, arrive and establish Fort Caroline. When Phillip II 'reminds' Queen Catherine of France that that continent belongs to Spain and is ignored, he sends in Admiral General Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles.
~March 20, 1565: The city of St. Augustine is established and control of Florida is given to Menendez and his descendants. St. Augustine is the first permanent settlement in the future U.S., and it is at this moment that the future Alfred F. Jones is born.
~July-October, 1565: Catholic Menendez and his men hunt down the Protestant French and run them out.
~1585: Sir Walter Raliegh founds the Roanoke colony, the members of which mysteriously disappear during Raleigh's two year absence. The only figure of any resemblance to the Anglo-Saxons is a small toddler crawling around the bushes. When one of Raleigh's men tried to catch up to him, he, too, had vanished.
~1607: The Jamestown Colony is founded with the Virginia Charter, which guarantees the colonists the same rights as the Englishmen on the Isle. This is the first successful English colon and considered by many to be the birth of the United States as it will one day be. Arthur Kirkland spots a blonde head in the forest but makes nothing of it.
~1608: The French gain a foothold on the North American continent when they claim Quebec. Alfred feels suddenly estranged from the child he always considered to be his brother, and starts exploring the new people occupying his land.
~1612: John Rolfe perfects the method of curing tobacco, creating a European demand for tobacco and a precedent of agriculture in the Virginia and future other southern colonies that proves to be defining.
~1610-1614: The First Anglo-Powhatan War, which is ended by the marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe. The English colonists viciously attack the Native Americans in the Jamestown region, and it establishes the turmoil that will characterize Anglo- Native American relations for the next two decades. Alfred is torn between the people he is starting to become, and the people who served as his family for the past fifty years. He observes.
~1616: Most New England native Americans are wiped out by smallpox.
~1619: The first Africans arrive on the continent via a Dutch warship, planting the seeds of slavery. The House of Burgesses in Virginia is also established, creating a precedent of self government amongst the colonists.
~1620: The arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Santa Fe, New Mexico is also founded by the Spanish.
~1624: New Netherlands is established by the Dutch Henry Hudson. It is politically unstable.
~1630: The Massachusetts Bay Colony is founded by the Puritans. England gains control of the now seemingly four-year old America and names him Alfred.
~1632/1636: Maryland is founded as a haven for Roman Catholics/Providence, Rhode Island is established.
~1649: The Maryland Act of Tolerance sets up a precedent of religious toleration in the colonies.
~1664: New Netherlands is lost to the English and renamed New York.
~1675-1676: King Philip's War, the last major war between the colonists and the Natives.
~1682: Pennsylvania is established by William Penn as a haven for the Quakers.
~1692: The Salem Witch Trials. Without England (in a period of 'benign neglect'), America starts to grow, and it is during the moment that he experiences his first frenzy-driven murder. He hides in the woods away from his colonists for months afterward.
~1730: The Great Awakening, a series of religious revivals, sweeps the colonies.
~1732: Georgia is founded as a barrier against the Spanish presence in Florida.
~1750: The Iron Act impedes the manufacturing of iron goods in the colonies. Benjamin Franklin protests this, claiming it's just a way to keep the colonies economically dependent on Britain (which it is).
~1756-1763: The French and Indian War. The war is simply another front of the European Seven Year's War, a conflict between Britain and France, as the French incite the Native American people to violence against the English colonists. It ends with the cession of the Ohio River Valley and Canada to British rule, and the British issue the proclamation of 1763, which prohibits the colonists from settling the new territory. This angers Alfred, who believes he should possess the land he bled for, and the gears of the revolution are set in motion.
~1765-1774: Various acts (including the Tea Act, Stamp Act, etc.) and taxes are imposed on the American colonies. Colonists start to get fed up and cry out, "No taxation without representation!" Tensions rise along with America, who now resembles a twelve year old.
~1775-1783: The American Revolution. America breaks away from the British Empire and with the aid of countries such as France, gains its independence. By 1781, the last colony ratifies the Articles of Confederation, officially making the United States of America a separate country, with its own government.
~1776: The Declaration of Independence is issued.
~1787: The Constitution is ratified, along with the Bill of Rights four years later.
~1793: The Neutrality Proclamation- the United States shall not involve himself in any European conflict, severs the 'permanent alliance' with France.
~1801-1815: The Barbary Wars, a series of naval conflicts in the Mediterranean.
~1803: The Louisiana Purchase. Alfred shoots up several inches.
~1812-1815: The War of 1812, America finds himself pitted against his former caretaker and his twin brother, and he finds himself not minding when his White House is burnt down.
~1823: The Monroe Doctrine is issued, warning Europe to stay out of the entire hemisphere. America is backed up by Britain, who wants to protect his possessions in North America.
~1840's: Western Expansion and Manifest Destiny- America shoots up to the height he is today and starts wearing glasses, but he still looks about fifteen or sixteen.
~1861-1865: The Civil War. It begins with America acting psychotic, lain up in his house, pacing around and shouting to himself and mirrors and constantly switching sides. This continues until President Lincoln issues a naval blockade on a southern port, effectively recognizing it as an enemy nation. Manifestations of the Union and the Confederacy are created, and Alfred is sick for the remainder of the war- he is still schizophrenic, constantly screaming to himself, and tearing out his hair, and he is afraid that if the Confederacy wins, he will be permanently replaced. At the close of the war, both the Union and the Confederacy die, and America's health is restored.
1898: The Spanish American War, the United States starts gaining an empire, acquiring Cuba and the Philippines. This marks Alfred's rise to the world stage.
1917-1918: American presence in World War I. Alfred believes that because he joined the war, it was won. He comes of full age now, appearing as he will for the remainder of the century, and it also marks the beginning of his hero complex.
1920s: American isolation and the roarin' 20's. He retreats back to the other side of the Atlantic and focuses on domestic issues and prosperity, ignoring taunts that all he is is a war profiteer.
1929: Wall Street crashes and kicks of the Great Depression. Alfred spreads his cold to the rest of the world and is hated for it, even blamed by some for being the cause of World War II, by infecting Germany.
1941-1945: American presence in World War II. America comes into his own, and he becomes a world power. He can, at this point, no longer retreat to isolationism, and instead goes to the opposite end of the spectrum- interference.
1950-1953: Due to fear of communism and anti redism in the US, America goes on a quest to vanquish communism from the world. He throws himself into Korea, and 'stands up for South Korea's right to be a democracy'.
1960-1975: Vietnam War. His citizens begin to lose faith in their government. Students begin to revolt in their schools, and the draft is removed.
1961: OPEC forms and oil prices sky-rocket. The age of American prosperity comes to an end.
1962: Cuban Missile Crisis. America sends the world to the brink of nuclear war.
1991: The Cold War comes to an end with the dissolve of the Soviet Union.
September 11, 2001: The World Trade Center is destroyed by terrorists, and the Pentagon is targeted. The United States declares a [moral] war against terror, and invades Afghanistan, going on a witch hunt for Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. This marks the beginning of an even worse bout of paranoia than Alfred suffered during the Cold War, and he begins to view everyone with suspicion.
2008: The stock market crashes, sending the country (and the world) into a devastating recession.
Allies:
French and Indian War, 1756-1763
The British Empire
The War for American Independence, 1775-1783
France, Spain
War of Texas Independence, 1836
The Republic of Texas
Civil War, 1861-1865
The Union (Russia is also perceived to have aided the Union)
Spanish-American War, 1898
Cuban/Puerto Rican separatists, the Katipunan (anti-Spanish revolutionaries)
World War I, 1917-1918
The British Empire, France, Russia, Italy
World War II, 1941-1945
The United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, the British Colonies
Korean War, 1950-1953 (time of ceasefire, no official treaty)
The UN- esp. South Korea
Vietnam War, 1960-1975
South Vietnam
Persian Gulf War, 1990-1991
The Coalition Forces (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UK, etc.)
Invasion of Afghanistan, 2001-2014?
NATO-ISAF (International Security Assistance Force), Afghanistan
Invasion of Iraq, 2003-2011?
Turkey, Iraq (many other countries were also involved, but almost all of them withdrew by 2009)
Enemies:
King Philip's War, 1675-1676
The Native Americans (the Wampanoag, Narragansett, and Nipmuck Indians)
French and Indian War, 1756-1763
France, Canada, the Native Americans
The War for American Independence, 1775-1783
The British Empire, certain Hessian troops
Franco-American Naval War, 1798-1800
France
Barbary Wars, 1801-1805, 1815
Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli
War of 1812, 1812-1815
The British Empire, Canada
War of Texas Independence, 1836
Mexico
Mexican-American War, 1846-1848
Mexico
Civil War, 1861-1865
The Confederacy (aided by Britain/France at the very beginning of the war)
Spanish-American War, 1898
Spain
World War I, 1917-1918
Germany, Austria-Hungary, The Ottoman Empire
World War II, 1941-1945
Germany, Japan, Italy, Vichy France
Korean War, 1950-1953 (time of ceasefire, no official treaty)
North Korea, China, the Soviet Union
Vietnam War, 1960-1975
North Vietnam, Viet Cong
Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1961
Cuba
US Invasion of Panama, 1989
Panama
Persian Gulf War, 1990-1991
Iraq
Invasion of Afghanistan, 2001-2014?
Insurgent groups (Taliban, al-Qaeda), Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
Invasion of Iraq, 2003-2011?
Insurgent groups (Baath Party Loyalists, al-Qaeda), Iraq under Sudam Hussein
Sample Post: July, 2010- The BP oil spill
America coughed, black coating his hands. He grimaced at it and looked up to make sure his boss wasn't looking when he wiped it on his pant leg. They were meeting with England and his new Prime Minister, Cameron. He lounged back in his chair, attempting to see casual while avoiding eye contact with England, who sat directly across the table from him. Luckily, he was fairly certain that England was avoiding eye contact with him, too. The oil was starting to coat his lungs, and if they didn't cap the well soon, he wasn't sure what they would do.
It's like pneumonia, he mused, smiling a bit, except a little greasier. He was surprised he was taking it in such good humor- three months ago, when the leak started, he had been furious- furious at his boss, at British Petroleum, at England himself. How dare his boss insist on offshore drilling, how dare BP muck up his precious Gulf like that, how dare England have let it happen?
He bit his lip, trying to forget how he had been the one to dare to push offshore drilling in the first place. Sometimes, he felt a thirst, one that could only be quenched by oil. With prices sky-rocketing and the wars failing and Alaska saying that he was all tapped out, it seemed the only logical thing to quench that thirst. He just didn't want to drown in it.
God, he was like a child who needed their juice box to stop crying, and then a black widow crawled out of the box and bite the brat on the nose. Except the parents should have known, because across the front of the package a warning, in small print but a warning nonetheless, was printed: Beware of black widow eggs.
Tuning back in to the conversation, America listened as Cameron and Obama discussed specifics- how long will it take for the cap to be put in place, how much will it cost, who will be footing the bill, and so on. America coughed again, and instead of wiping the gunk off, he curled his fist around it. If only he had gotten together more volunteers to clean up the spill, if only he hadn't insisted on it in the first place, if only it weren't all his fault.
His eyes flicked upwards, and America waited until he caught England's eyes- the green and blue meeting each other like the water of the Gulf, before America slipped his eyes shut, the blackness the oil devouring it. He looked at Cameron.
"Will it work?"
Did you read the rules and Dark Reflections Canon? -shrug- All I know is that, this side of the Atlantic, you're going to have a tough time finding a plate of real Italian pasta.
Random fun fact about yourself: I speak German and tend to randomly break out with German phrases. I participated in an exchange program in Germany for three weeks this June and attended school there. We visited Berlin, where I was pick-pocketed.