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Prussia (Gilbert Beilschmidt)
YOU
NAME: Jade
AGE: 21
JOURNAL: none, but I check
RESERVE: here
YOUR CHARACTER
NAME: Gilbert Beilschmidt [a.k.a. Prussia (Preußen, 1525-1947; 1990-present day), a.k.a. Teutonic Knights (Deutscher Orden, 1190-~1230), a.ka. Order-State (Ordensstaat, (~1230-1525), a.k.a. East Germany (Ostdeutschland, 1949-1990)].
JOURNAL:
FANDOM: Axis Powers: Hetalia
AGE: 822
APPEARANCE: Have a picture, source here.
Though Gilbert embodies the nation of Prussia, and as such is nearly a thousand years old, he only looks to be in his early- to mid-twenties. Since 1945, he's been rather small, hovering right around 5'9” and slight of frame, though he's deceptively strong for his size, thanks to the strength of the German military. He keeps short white hair cropped in a perpetually-messy mop, just above the level of his dark red eyes. His hair, eyes, and extremely pale skin tone suggest albinism, though as a country, of course he doesn't display any kind of light sensitivity or other defect. He chalks it up to just “being cooler than everyone else, kesese.” 'Kesesese' is the sound of his distinctive laugh, and it peppers most of his conversations.
He'll often wear plain black pants and a white button-down shirt if he intends on going anywhere, though it's just as common to see him wearing jeans and an old T-shirt. For special occasions, he'll wear his modern Bundeswehr uniform, or if he feels like showing off, he'll dig one of his older uniforms out of the attic... though notably, uniforms from the 1930's-40's stay buried. No matter what outfit he's wearing, he always has his Iron Cross from 1813 either tucked under his shirt, or in the case where he wears his plain blue uniform, attached to the knot of his tie on prominent display.
Gilbert wears an almost-perpetual mocking grin on his face, regardless of his true emotions. It's rare to see him frown, and even rarer to see him genuinely smile. The few times he actually looks serious is when he's doing something that he considers important enough to take seriously, such as military operations or matters of national security.
Finally, there's almost always a little yellow chick perched on top of his head or his shoulder. He only recently discovered this little bird up there thanks to pictures on his blog, and has since taken to calling the little guy “Gilbird.”
CANON POINT: 2012
MEMORY LOSS:Yes, I'd like to have Prussia lose almost all of his memories, so he has no reason to suspect that he's anything other than human. This would erase practically a thousand years of history, though he'll remember certain names and specific events, and know they're important (such as Frederick the Great or the fall of the Berlin Wall), he won't know why. I'd like to enter him knowing his name and those of his canonmates, but not knowing how he knows these names, or how he's related to them. Later on, as the game progresses, I'd like to see him start to regain some of those memories, or question why he sometimes feels far older than he should, or why he can remember events from centuries in the past as though he'd relived them, but to start, I'd like to have him as almost a blank slate.
WIKI: Hetalia wiki page on Prussia; however, I'd like to add a few more character and historical details to this. I've also typed up a more comprehensive history of Prussia for additional reading (from 1190-1618, available upon request), but as I didn't want to clog up the app itself, I'll attempt to summarize with important character events.
In the beginning, Gilbert was a member of the Teutonic Knights, a religious order founded to protect Christians on their pilgrimages through the Holy Land. With the defeat of the Christians, he was driven into first Transylvania, then conquered the Baltic State of the Old Prussians. It is from then on that his core territory remains mostly the same, and he starts to refer to himself as Prussia. He went from being a tiny state, to a duchy under Poland, to finally a German kingdom from the mid-13th century to the early 17th century.
In terms of religion, Gilbert converted to Lutheranism not long after the Protestant Reformation of 1525; however, the worst devastation he suffered was during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), which left his lands in shambles and his population decimated. He still remembers the way that dissenting faiths (Roman Catholic and Lutheranism) tore the land apart, and for many years afterward, resented those of Catholic faith.
His real claim to European power didn't come until 1740, with the War of Austrian Succession, which was closely followed by the Seven Years War. These wars saw Prussia invade the Austrian Habsburg territory of Silesia, and marked the first military victory by a smaller state over the established Habsburg Monarchy. Prussia upset the balance of European powers in this one move, under the command of Frederick the Great (Friedrich II), and finally seized a place in the spotlight of European politics. Gilbert is still indebted to “Old Man Fritz” for this, and will still routinely ask “the old man” to “watch over him from Heaven.”
Prussia has been referred to as “not a state with an army, but an army with a state.” From the 18th century onward, Prussian leaders focused heavily on their military, building arguably the most modern and most advanced military of their time. The early 19th century saw the rise of the French emperor Napoleon; in the course of the Napoleonic Wars, perhaps the most important development for Gilbert himself was the instilling of the idea of a national German state. No longer were people strictly loyal to their monarch; even with the defeat of Napoleon, there began to rise clamors for a state united by ethnicity.
These lead to various small-scale revolutions through the course of the 19th century, until finally the Prussian Empire was determined that, if Germany were to unify, it would be under its power, not the (German) Austrian Habsburgs. To put the Wars of German Unification into Hetalia-terms, Gilbert and Roderich (Austria) fought what amounted to a custody battle over the German States (Ludwig). First the Prussians and Austrians took joint-control over the ethnically-German territories of Schleswig and Holstein from the Kingdom of Denmark in 1864, then Prussia went to war with Austria in 1866 for full control of the German territories. This “Seven Week's War” was ended with an overwhelming victory for the Prussians, and forced the Austrians to back off from further control of German territory.
Finally, with victory over France in 1871, German unification was completed under Prussia. Gilbert saw Ludwig (Germany) as his little brother, and treated him as such, giving the land and much of the control to him. Prussia was still a kingdom, but under the dominion of the German Empire. Gilbert sees himself as being responsible for raising Ludwig from childhood to the strong empire he became, and loves him as his “super-cute little brother.”
This all changed with the German defeat in the Great War (1918). The times from the end of that war to the rise of the Third Reich (1930s) were extremely difficult for both Gilbert and Ludwig. It was the first major defeat Gilbert had suffered in centuries, and led to major reparations payments imposed by the Allies in general and the French specifically. This only fed resentment against the French, some still lingering since the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, and left both Gilbert and Ludwig almost crippled. At their weakest point, they were promised a return to former glory with the rise of a new leader – Adolf Hitler. Under Hitler, Germany was able to regain a measure of its former strength, until they were ready to strike out against the Allied forces again in the Second World War (1939-1945). Though they were once again militarily strong, Hitler's growing madness began to affect Ludwig, while the massive atrocities against their own people, many of whom were part of regions that had been Prussian, started to take their toll on Gilbert. By the end of the war, Gilbert was a shell of his former self, militarily and economically devastated.
Post-World War II, Gilbert was left in stasis for several years, as he was no longer Prussia, or even really part of Germany. At this point, he was closest to becoming a part of Russia, then the Soviet Union. It took until the official establishment of East Germany in 1949 that Gilbert was able to move around and act like a country again, though he was separated from his little brother, and had to follow orders from the Soviet Union. During this time, he did his best to aid the underground resistance movements the best he could, though as time went on, he started to feel as though he were becoming more Russian than German, thanks to many ethnically-German people fleeing East Germany for the West whenever possible.
October 3, 1990, the Berlin Wall came down and East and West Germany were united into a single German country again. Gilbert had half-expected that he would die from this, since he wouldn't have any territory that he would call his own. It had been years since he'd been able to see Ludwig, and though he was severely weakened as he embraced the other, he remained alive, and is the only known country to be without a country yet still alive.
In present day, Gilbert lives with his brother in his house in Berlin. He has some control over the small area of Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia, though there are almost no Germans left in the area. Mostly, he thinks he's still alive thanks to people within Germany itself who still see themselves as “Prussian,” and as such, still refers to himself as Prussia.
PERSONALITY: On the surface, Gilbert seems to be a fairly simple person – he loves to tease and taunt, especially his friends, though it's almost always kept good-natured. He'll give most people he meets a nickname based on their physical appearance or manner; good luck getting rid of that nickname once he's assigned it. His absolute favorite activity is going to the bar with his little brother Ludwig (Germany), and as he says any good German should do, attempt to drink him under the table. He'll answer to Gilbert, though he prefers being called Prussia. The name might no longer be technically correct, but it's all he's got.
As with most countries, he keeps his true identity secret from the general population; only a few important military and diplomatic leaders are privy to his identity, though as always, it is up to the individual nation just how open he or she is to his or her citizenry. Prussia has always kept himself fairly separate from people in general, though he has gotten close to many throughout his history. Perhaps the most important of these people is Frederick the Great, who led him to becoming a major European power in 1740. Every year, he'll still place flowers and a few small potatoes on his grave in remembrance. Unlike his brother, Gilbert enjoys the company of regular people, and would rather reveal himself to them – but the main thing that keeps him from revealing the truth is thanks to his more recent history, associated with the Third Reich (Nazi Germany). He's well-aware that many foreigners still look at Germans in this light, and he wants to make sure that he'll never do anything to add to that again.
That said, part of the reason why he always refers to himself as “the Awesome Me,” even in modern day, is in an attempt to buoy the spirits of his younger brother. Gilbert acts a lot more confident than he really is, charging headlong into reckless situations and always seeing the brighter side of every event. He truly believes that being a German is the best thing ever, and even though the German people are afraid to be nationalistic, even today, Gilbert tries to make up the difference, in the hope that some day, Ludwig will be able to show his own pride in his accomplishments.
Gilbert was one of the most powerful and militarily-advanced empires in modern European history for a very long time – as such, he is disciplined and tries to stay strong even into modern day, running and exercising according to his own routine. Though he tends to act like a goof most of the time, when the situation calls for it, he can snap to attention and lead like a general or commander if necessary.
He does love being the center of attention; it reminds him of being an empire, when he was able to command attention merely by entering a room. These days, he's more creative about it, doing such things as hiding under desks to surprise people or bursting uninvited into important meetings. He's more on the wild side, taking pride in being unpredictable and delighting in causing trouble. Mostly, he just wants to remind people that, though Prussia is gone, he's still there, and he's not going to remain just a leftover bit of the past... though in truth, he's terrified that one day, he'll simply cease to exist.
There are no modern countries that know what it's like to watch another nation die, or if they do, they're not telling. The last nation that Gilbert knew who “died” was the Holy Roman Empire, and if anyone knows what happened to him afterward, it would only be France and Austria. Part of Gilbert's constant urgency in many of his actions stems from the fear that tomorrow, he might not wake up, and finally cease to exist.
POWERS: As the physical manifestation of a former empire, Gilbert is very tough to kill, and is nigh-immortal. He hasn't managed to get himself killed yet, and can take a lot more injuries than a normal person could before passing out. He heals a lot faster than a person would, though in times when the economy is bad, he could be stricken with a cold or flu-like symptoms. He has grown since he was a child as the Teutonic Knights, but since 1945, hasn't seemed to have aged since.
For purposes of the game, however, I'd like to disregard the economy of Germany affecting the character himself, due to the fact that this game takes place in an alternate universe.
RP SAMPLE: Thread from game Bete Noire
ANYTHING ELSE?: I think the tl;dr personality and history cover pretty much anything that I'd want to add, but please, if there's anything I'm missing, let me know. Also, I feel like I should warn that I'll be leaving the U.S. to study abroad in Germany for four weeks, so my activity level will be fairly low to start with.
accepted
Welcome to Striatum!
Re: accepted
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