Post by Livi on Aug 12, 2010 6:39:58 GMT 1
Country: Republic of Estonia (Eesti Vabariik)
Real name: Eduard von Bock
Personality: Eight times out of ten, he'll stay quiet from any disputes or quarrels going on around him. It's not because he has nothing to say, but because he has a fierce sense of self-preservation that prevents him from joining in anything that could cause him harm.
When he does speak on something, it becomes quickly evident that he has a bit of a snarky and passive aggressive side. This is owing to the fact that he doesn't consider hardly anyone close to him, not even his two 'brothers'. As long as he and his country is doing fine, as far as he's concerned everything is fine then. The passive aggressive side comes from him never being outright rude to anyone, since he understands and values political bonds and tries to maintain good relations. He'd much rather be the right hand man to someone he hates than to be their servant.
Eduard's never really been independent that much throughout history, but he has a deep sense of national pride that he refuses to completely bend to a overlord's will. This means even if he has to do it behind someone's back, he very well will as he's crafty enough to usually not get caught. He has a rather quick wit and can usually sidestep unfavorable situations.
His true weaknesses come in at the fact where if he does have someone he finds to be a close friend, he'll go above and beyond to make sure that they're happy and satisfied in life. He's also very limited by the extremely small population of his country (even though he has more land than more populated countries like the Netherlands), and gets annoyed when having to seemingly explain over and over to people who have never heard of him.
Overall in a nutshell: he's quiet, of a slightly higher intelligence, while he's not difficult to get along with he's hard to prove to that you're worth thinking more of, and most of all he loves being independent.
Likes:
- Technology. Any kind of it, and he's pretty apt with it due to being a pretty quick learner.
- Black rye bread. It has a very profound and traditional meaning to him even though it's just bread. It's not just bread to him.
- Alcohol. Especially Vana Tallinn, vodka, and in social occasions kvass since it has such a low alcohol content.
- Giving flowers as gifts.
- Singing. He has a pretty hidden love for singing although he's not keen on doing it by himself.
Dislikes:
- Russians and Germans. It may not be hatred but he definitely cringes whenever he comes across one.
- Religion. Centuries of being forced into them and hardships have made him rather athiest.
- Drunk Finns. He's seen far too many of them.
- Winter. He'd much rather it be spring or autumn considering it can get -26°(c).
- When technology doesn't work.
History:
(I apologize beforehand if any of the years/numbers etcetera are off by a bit. I have dyscalculia, which is pretty much dyslexia with numbers but I try ;; )
Pre 1193
Estonia enjoyed a life surrounded by his familiar language-neighbors, such as Finland and part of what's now Latvia's land. The native Estonians were all heavily pagans, taking some borrowed elements from Finnish and Scandinavian mythologies to have a large array of faerie tales and mythos of his own. Before then, although they were mostly calm around their other Baltic neighbors they did enjoy trying to roam the Baltic Sea and prevent Saxon and Danish trade routes, which was the bulk of their conflicts untilll...
1193-1219
The Northern Crusades were an attempt to Christianize the Baltic regions, including Estonia. They were hit with Teutonic Knights from the south, and Danish, who had joined in for the aspect of gaining more land from the north. The Estonians were highly against these changes, not wanting to give up their pagan ways. However, despite their initial success, the tides turned during a battle in 1219 in the city of Lundanisse (Now known as Tallinn) where near the end of the battle when it looked like there'd be another Estonian victory, legend goes a flag fell from the sky and the Danish leader used it to rally his troops and were able to successfully make Estonia submit. This battle happened June 15th (still known as flag day in Denmark) and was the first marking of Estonia being under the rule of others throughout history.
1219-1346
Although the Danish king had promised to never sell the Danish possession of Estonia, after he died the land was in enough turmoil that Estonians began to revolt against their rule. Some favored the Prussians to the south, others favoring the Danish, and a large percentage not liking either one. After successfully driving out the Danish in the meantime, during St George's Night Uprising (1343-1345) most of the Germans, Prussians and Livonians who had been presiding in Estonia were slaughtered, whether they were men or women or even children. Four kings were declared for Estonia and then they were called to be diplomatic envoys in Weissenstein (modern day Switzerland) to the Teutonic Knights and Livonian Order (an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Knights) who naturally wanted an answer to why their people had been killed.
The kings were killed there, and there were more comebacks by the Prussians/Germans/Livonians who were intent on getting to Reval (Now known as Tallinn) and making the Estonians sub-servant again. After the battle of Kanavere and the battle of Warhill which both ended in German victories, even though Estonia tried to make allies of Russia and Sweden (Sweden promised troops but never delivered on that promise), eventually the new Danish king sold Estonia to the Teutonic Knights and Livonian Order after so much war had made parts of Estonia what would be described as a 'barren and desolate land'.
1346-1561
Estonia belonged to Prussia by proxy of the Livonian Order, an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Knights situated in modern day Latvia. Eventually countries began to try and take control of Livonia and Livonians sold Ösel back to Denmark, while the Livonian Confederation continued to crumble. By 1561, Estonia belonged to the Swedish Empire.
1561-1721
Even when Sweden gained control of Estonia, the Livonian war was still ongoing. Russia gained control of one of Estonia's counties, and the Swedes tried more than once to get it back. The seige of Wesenberg (1574) was one of the failed attempts, and Sweden eventually was able to take Estonian entirely from any Russian rule by 1581 due in thanks to the frozen sea paths from Finland to Estonia. The time in Estonia is known as the 'good old Swedish times', due to the fact that Sweden was a rather kind ruler. Even Livonia and Latvia fell under Sweden's rule, and he lived with them in Sweden's house along with Finland. During that time the university of Tartu was founded in 1632 by the king of Sweden, and remains one of the oldest universities in the region. Ösel was eventually ceded in a treaty between Denmark and Sweden back to Swedish rule during 1645. However, during Russia then again conquering lands from Sweden during the Great Northern War, Swedish Estonia was formerly ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad in 1721.
1721-1918
During this time Estonia was known as the Governorate of Estonia as opposed to the former name of Swedish Estonia. The Swedish rule was greatly missed, as the Russians carried Estonia under a tight regime under the Russian tsars. After belonging to the Russians for 197 years, when the Russian revolution of 1917 occurred the Estonians took their chance and declared independence on February 24th, 1918, marking the first time in centuries that Estonia as a whole was independent.
1918-1920
The Estonian War of Independence began November 28th, 1918 against Russians that tried to suppress the land again. With the help of Britain, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, they were able to stave off the soviets and after creating an impressive sized army for their small country (19,000 men), Estonia was the first country to repel the Soviet westward offensive. Russia wasn't able to regain control of any cities but there were many casualties and people left homeless. Estonia also helped to organize white Russian forces, Latvians, and Ingrians to fight against Russia. Estonia and Latvia even had an agreement that allowed formation of Latvian troops (mostly Latvian citizens who fled from Latvia to Estonia) to be under Estonian command. Because of the success of the Estonian military, Russia tried to conclude a peace treaty since spring of 1919. They continued for just over a year, as every attack that Russia attempted to make the Estonians launched successful counterattacks and were able to push them back. Eventually under a new government, they began negotiations on the 5th of December and concluded on December 31st. The peace treaty of Tartu was signed and the newly formed Republic of Estonia was independent~
1920-1944
..Until 1940 and war had since then broken out again, which Estonia had been declared neutral during. Since they fell under the Soviet sphere in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, they were occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. The Forest Brothers, a pro-independence party who waged guerrilla warfare against soviet rule managed to free southern Estonia from the Soviets before the arrival of the Germans. In 1941 they were invaded by Germany, and declared a part of Reichkommissariat Ostland which put Estonia under German rule once more. The capital was decided as Riga, and Germany even established 22 concentration and forced labor camps in Estonia, the largest of the two being Klooga and Vaivera. Initially Germany had been seen as liberators from the threat of the USSR and they hoped it'd help them regain independence once more, they soon realized it was none other than another occupying power. The losses of Estonia in World War 2 was estimated around 25% of it's entire population, among the highest in Europe. The Soviet deportations in 1941 managed to cull a significant portion of the adult population.
1944-1991
Mainland Estonia was once again occupied by Soviet forces in September of 1944. After the war they remained incorporated in the Soviet Union as the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic until 1991. The biggest problem of Estonia during this time was alcoholism. The soviets rebuilt Tallinn, although the rest of Estonia's fate during the time was like many other Soviet countries while he was in Russia's house. The name was changed from the ESSR to Republic of Estonia in 1990. After declaring independence officially once more on August 20th, 1991, the last Soviet troops withdrew from Estonia in August 1994.
Role Play Example: The Estonian gave a small smile as he scrolled through page after page of the computer's stored internet history. He often found there was so much that you could learn about a person by the things they thought no one would ever see. Still, when someone had a hard drive that was wracked with a virus or there was some mundane little problem people would often flock to him. He could get the job done quick.
This was just a perk.
The things they ordered online, the aliases they used, the forums they browsed, the porn they watched... All of their secrets were easily exposed. A few decades ago he probably never would have thought of delving into someone's private life like this, but being so old made him weary and bored.
As the anti-virus program ran in the background, he continued to scroll through page after page. After a while though, learning secrets became boring as well. Clicking the browser closed, Eduard gave a soft sigh.
His hand went right to his glass. He'd put a nice liberal shot of Vana Tallinn in the glass before mixing it with milk, and the creamy concoction that resulted was one of his favorite drinks. Lifting it to his lips, he took a drink of the sweet liquor before setting it back down. Most others would consider an evening spent in front of a glowing screen a waste, especially since he was only cleaning other people's messes.
Eduard just didn't think there was any other option.