Application for GB

[ominousjoy]

OOC:

Name: AnNika
Are you over 16?: YESSS
Personal LJ: breadmantic
Email: anime_leet (at) hotmail (dot) com
Timezone: CET--German Time. This is only semi-permanent.
Other contact: (AIM) Maypie Lord (PLURK) Breadmantic
Characters already in the game: None!
How did you find us?: I've seen it around, but finally decided to join when there was clearly a need for more ABBA--I mean, Sweden.

IC:

Character name: Sweden ; Berwald Oxentierna
Fandom: Axis Powers Hetalia
Timeline: 1792, March
Age: He's probably looking 20, although he's existed over 1000 years, ANND been a country for a few hundred. He’s an adult!
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths: Laser vision Being a nation, he can technically regenerate himself INCREDIBLY fast. and a pain in the ass to kill. And okay he has laser vision in the form of the most threatening glare man has ever seen
How would they use their abilities?: ...to heal and be hard to kill. and loom.
Appearance:
Sweden is over six and a half feet tall, and can be credited as the SECOND tallest Hetalia character. (Russia holds first place, the fatty.) He gass plain, blonde hair, and green-blue eyes, which SQUINT purely out of habit. He kind of looks like a monster when he actually tries to squint though, so he can look pretty damn scary. He has glasses, which help him with his farsightedness. His facial expressions consist of a wide variety of emotionless to even more emotionless, and hates opening his mouth more than he has to.

Being a very militaristic nation for most of his history, he's got the broad, soldier build. He generally dresses in a military fashion, plus a cape to keep warm. He sticks to colors like black and dark blue--though he'd totally deck out with dodgerblue and yellow any day. Consider him CONSTANTLY dressed for Snowstorm weather if the weather is anything less than sunny.

So far as general posture goes, Sweden keeps a stiff lip and a strong stance. He does NOT cross his arms, and he does NOT stick his hands in his pockets. He doesn't look uncomfortably stiff, mind, simply like a soldier waiting for orders, but in no hurry to receive them. He remains quiet, and is at a loss for almost all expression, and lacks next to all body language.

Background: with a little personaliy
It began. In Darkness. The entire universe was a ball of strange looking goo until suddenly... boom!

More seriously, in many ways it really did begin in darkness for Sweden--as a Nation, that is. The Svea folk that lived on the Scandinavian Peninsula had lived there for many hundreds of years, but it wasn't until near the fall of the Roman Empire that Sweden began it's journey AS a nation. Prior to that, Sweden was nothing more than a blob of Anger, with an excellent grumpy face, and a brother whom he admired above all things.

Yes, my friends, Denmark and Sweden were once two VERY close brothers. In their early early youth, the two of them traveled around together as a single tribe, making an attempt to find themselves a place to live. They lived like this for many years, working together and protecting each other, until Denmark settled in his little sandy peninsula, and Sweden moved north to his. The region remained tribal up until 600 A.D., in which the Svea people of the Malarnen Valley gained supremacy of the region. It became much like a capital to the Sweden, and would probably mark the beginning of Sweden's life as a nation.

Once the Roman Empire collapsed, as we all know, Europe fell into a dark age. THE Dark Ages! An age of political collapse, moving the entire continent to Kings, maybe a few dragons, and Feudalism. The whole age was quite a mess, and there's proof enough in the lack of records we have on these ages! Many documents were actually destroyed during this age, so much of the history has been lost. But who exactly was doing all this destroying?

Meet the Vikings--the better sequel to Meet the Spartans. While the entire of Europe was on their tuffs, wondering what in God’s name had suddenly happened, Norge, Sweden, and Denmark took to pillaging the other nations, and dominating the seas. While Norway went west to find his little bro Iceland, and Denmark was messing around the coasts of Europe, Sweden set his sights to the East, and most importantly, towards Russia!

We'll set this straight: Sweden did not RAISE Russia, but there is proof that Swedish vikings-slash-merchants ended up being important trade partners to the Russians, as well as the Russians providing many interesting wares for their plundering interests. During this time, Sweden and the Russian family (Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus) maintained good relationships, and close trading partners. Russia was still a pup, also, so Sweden couldn’t help but be a nice guy. During this, too, Sweden found Finland, although the addition of Finland to Sweden’s kingdom did not take place until later. During this time, Sweden was maintained a quite stature, although he had grown significantly more passive in his aggression since his childhood. Towards Finland he would been distant, towards Denmark and Norway he was friendly and admired them both, and towards the Russians he was business, with a little mixture of Fatherly attachment, so things were pretty cool. Near the end of the age, the relationship with Finland was improving greatly.

The coming of Christianity into Sweden marked the end of the Vikings, as well, but don't mean that it didn't make him any less violent. Now, instead of taking by force, he was giving by force-giving faith. During the course of the next few centuries, many crusades moved into Finland, slowly taking in the country piece by piece. By the end of the 13th century, the poor boy belonged to Sweden in every meaning of the word. Perhaps this is where the 'wife' bit, started, but who knows. As for the relationship with the Russians, it had faded greatly. His aggression grew gradually, too, though he maintained friendly with Denmark and Norway, as well as the new additions to their family, Finland and Iceland. Likewise, the present Capital, Stockholm, was founded during this time--1252 to be exact. Sweden also began to melt into the dark ages, and met with the same Feudalism and Crown hopping as any other nation.

A new 'threat'--at least to the Baltic Coast-arose during this century, known as the Hanseatic League. They were a group of merchants who eventually gained large control of the Baltic Coast, basically monopolizing much of trade, and even had some branches into Sweden! NOT COOL! Thus, the Scandinavians re-banded!

Meet the Kalmar Union (or Union of Kalmar). It was formed under a multiple of pretences, including the previously mentioned. There was also the matter of how Kings and Queens ruled--in Scandinavian nations it wasn't permitted to have a Queen with total rule. So who was Margrethe the Terrible? Pure Badassery. The woman basically put her 3-year-old nephew in charge of Denmark, and after assisting Sweden in a civil war (which ended in the death of the king), Sweden accepted Erik, Margretha's nephew, as his new king. Norway had already been united with Sweden. Thus Queen Margretha came to power.

There wasn't too much objection at first, and it reunited old brothers and friends. Sweden remained on good terms with both his new partners, and naturally maintained his relationship with Finland. Russians not so much, but we'll get there. Things were going very well to start, and the new Union provided an excellent defense against the Hanseatic League.

And then Erik grew up.

Due to over taxation in Sweden by the Danish crown (Erik), revolt rose up against the union! Erik was soon over thrown by Sweden (Norway and Denmark remained in the union), and replaced with a new king. But! In vain, his reign was also short lived. Soon Sweden was amidst a brand new civil war between Kalmar, as well as inside Sweden itself. The killing blow of the Union was in 1520, which we call the Stockholm Bloodbath. Denmark 'says' he wants to make amends, Sweden agrees to meet up with him, with some nobles. Then, Denmark has the Swedish nobles assassinated. This is the worst logic to get a person to STAY in a Union, but this is Denmark we're talking about. Sweden was out then and there. Revolution struck up in Sweden, and in 1523 Sweden was a free, individual nation (plus the wife.) It's at this point that all brotherly attachment to Denmark has been completely severed, and friendship with Norway is cut off. The bond between the two brothers was never restored, though with time they grew tolerant of the other.

Things were pretty alright from there. Sweden became a military power after that, thanks to the new king, Gustav Vasa, who's crowning on 6.6.1923 is now Sweden's national day. He unified the war broken Sweden, built up his empire, and left it to completely dominate the Baltic Sea in years to come. Even after his passing, and the battle for the crown by his son, Sweden managed to completely pummel Denmark during a second attempt to reunify. --While Denmark is much more active about his dislike of Sweden, Sweden is definitely more active about not being brothers. The Warlike policies continued, and Sweden battled Denmark, and regained the most southern tip of his country, as well as parts of Norway. With the addition of a small colony in Delaware, and the addition of much of the Baltic coast, Sweden had reached the height of his power. You could say Sweden was the Russia before Russia was Russia, and terrified the living daylights out of Latvia, too. In canon, Sweden is depicted as quiet as always, though the reason for annexing Estonia seems to be because Finland and him were friends. Basically, Sweden loves Finland enough to do weird stuff like this.

Things were well under King Gustav’s rule, but not so much when King Karl XII a few generations later. During this particular point in time, Sweden can be noted as an extremely aggressive nation, although his general personality would keep it to a passive-aggressive level. He basically hates the entire world, except that which he owns, and is looking at increasing his empire just a tad more. Always a tad more.

What came next wasn't entirely Sweden's fault. Denmark, being a sore looser, declared war on his little bro, with Poland to back him up--Poland was probably bummed Sweden ran off with Estonia. Sweden was, indeed, pushing his limits to a point, which also moved the Tsar of Russia to allying with Denmark and Poland. This is the beginning of the Great Northern war (1700). Each, in turn, attacked Sweden in the start of the year, but before the first year was over, Sweden had effectively knocked Denmark out of the war. Then to Narva, pushing out the Russians, and sending them into a temporary withdrawal. He had only Poland to worry about now, and did he ever make Augustus (Polish King at the time) regret it. Not ONLY did Sweden beat poor Poland time after time for seven years, it was taken just a step further to convinced Poland to dethrone his king. My friends, Sweden knew how to make a man pay. By 1707, both Denmark AND Poland were pushed out of the war. This gave Sweden time to put his attention on the real threat-the Russians.

Pretty awesome, hey? Sweden was one man against three, and managed to knock out two. But how does he fair against the Russians?! Not NEARLY as good, given the poor man lost. While Sweden was busy with Poland-weeble, Russia had set up all his troops for battle. Narva was recaptured, and the winters to follow ended up being much more sever than usual. Perhaps Sweden caught a stroke of bad luck, but perhaps Karl XII's over-enthusiasm to fight and win got the best of him. In an attempt to renew strength, Sweden and Turkey formed an alliance based on their anti-Russian policies. Which is amusing, because Turkey ended up being useless, and as soon as Russia agreed to return Azkov through negotiation, Turkey backed out.

Sweden had the worst of it, and during his absence, the Baltic region was completely surrounded. Peace negotiations were in order, and the war with Russia had come to an end. Did peace stop Karl XII though? Pfft, no. Even WHILE negations were being made, he was having a new army assembled to invade Norway. In 1721, Karl XII is shot and killed, effectively ending Sweden's status as an empire and handing it over to Russia. Other regions were given to Hannover and Prussia, and Sweden was left a rather cripple nation, without his King.

Parliament took over, then. Perhaps you remember the Whigs and Tori's from American History? Same effect, with cooler names. The Caps and the Hats. The Caps were in favor of a peaceful Sweden, while the Hats were in favor of returning Sweden to it's glorious state, as well as enacting an alliance with France. Several nations outside were pumping cash into the two parties, leaving the whole nation a little bit torn.

In the end? Neither got the upper hand, but instead, Gustav III took the thrown. He re-established parliament, abolished torture, and lead Sweden through another two-year war with Russia, among many other things. It was a time of enlightenment in Sweden, as the nation seemed to finally get back on his feet, and become ready to take his old position as an Empire.

Or not. On 16 March, 1792, Gustav III was assassinated during a Masked Ball, leaving the country back at square one, confused, and any thing can happen. Sweden will be taken from here.

Personality:

Let's start of simple: He's a man of few words. The less words he has to use, the better. Sweden has a habit of finding the things that he wants to say embarrassing, awkward, or other various things. Sweden likes to have the time to think out what he has to say, and short quick answers help to give them time to think, or build on what it is they have in mind. In cases of the most utter confusion, Sweden will stare... or give a very generic response ("Huh?" or "Eh?" or "Mm?") to give him time to think; or else find the little "hidden meaning" that could be there. The skipping of vowels probably has a relation to the Swedish language, which is surprisingly similar to the bouncing Muppet: the Swedish Chef. The silence and the mumbling does result in a very scary character, who has a habit of looming.

By Hetalia standards, when something like [Nation] - [Nation] pops up in history, it usually implies a sort of romantic/marriage relationship, which is also the case for Finland and Sweden. He has a grade devotion to Finland, and as depicted in the comics, will do nearly anything for the cute little Finn. Take for example in the bb-america comic when Finland declares he wants kids. Sweden considered it a moment, and responded "'ll do m' best." What came later? Sealand. There's also the annexation of Estonia prior to the Great Nothern Wars. Finland likes this person, and this person doesn’t look like much trouble. I’m going to beat up somebody and take him under my rule.

He's a good listener, too. He hears a person out, no matter what they have to say. Finland goes on and on and on when he talks, and politely Sweden responds with his little gruffs and huffs. He considers every word being said, and thinks over what he's being told. Being ill informed, Finland explained to Sweden about the war Poland and Lithuania had against the Teutonic Knights. He listens carefully, and considered everything he was being told.

Sweden is very introspective, as well. The Swedish habit of being very down cast, falls on him as well, and at times can be very somber. If and when he pipes up to say more than just a few words, they're often more full with thought. Mind, it takes a very long time for Sweden to come up with these words, and accurately reflect exactly what it is going on in his head.

As highlighted many a time, Sweden was once an extremely aggressive nation, although about this point in time, it's obvious that he's beginning to calm down a little. He still sees himself reproaching the glorious age from long ago, and longs a little for the old life he had. He'll be a little confused about who he is and where he belongs upon arrival, given that he's just lost a great king. His life, quite seriously, can take any turn in the world. He'll be calmer, and just a straw short of his friendly self depicted in canon. Russia, Denmark, and Norway remain enemies, but France and Britain have gained footing as a friend to the Swedish state. Finland continues to be his wife. Never the less, all of these relationships are very tentative.

Why should that character be in this game: N/A

Why do you want to continue their history here: N/A

For applicants considering an alternate version of a character already in game, please use this as your chance to explain the key differences between your character and the one already in play: N/A

Have you read up on how the game works?: The guide plug in is called the flaming ferret, and to get money i can pick pocket (THOUGH ITS ILLEGAL!), take on missions, or just mooch off another character with mooching premission

1st person sample:
((A puff, and the silent Swede rises from his wooden stool to look outside; Gustav's death just a week before still had him uneasy. The Funeral was soon to.))

Aye, Finn, 'll b' back l'ter. ((He pulls on his winter coat, a little distracted. Something catches his ear, and he turns.))

Eh?

Nej, 'm fine. Stoke th' fire in an ho'r 'r so. Keep warm.

Hej. ((With that, he exits the house. He said he'd be back later... but there was never any guarantees.))

3rd person sample:

'Have you heard? The king has been assassinated' 'Assassinated! Are you sure. have you asked...'

Sweden stood quietly in the back of the shop, shuffling through the shelves as if he had something to look for. He couldn't help but eavesdrop as the shopkeeper and a woman conversed. Sweden realized that the best person to ask for such information was himself, and soon felt the heavy stare of eyes on the back of his head.

He turned curiously, trying not to look victim of a tragedy, though he was, and his usual dead expression did nothing to mend it. Both sides had nothing to say to the other, and the shop keeper finally broke it by finishing the total of goods. 'Five crowns, Frau Nelson.'

Sweden turned away again, looking over the different brands of honey as the usual business went on again.

'...Herr Sverige?' Sweden turned again to hear better. 'Is King Gustav really...?' Her answer slipped away as Sweden nodded in response. she made a concerned expression, and finally excuse herself. The shop keep seemed occupied after that, and Sweden went right back to searching the honey jars.

He'd been there, too. The party had been greatly anticipated by the entire city. Even Sweden himself had been a little excited. It's not as though any one of them had forseen such an event. Sweden knew only that one moment... he was watching his honorable king enjoy the party, and the next...

The recollection got the best of him, causing him to drop one of the many jarsto the ground. Both he and the shop keeper flinched as they watched hopelessly as it hapened.

'That bad?' the shop keeper asked. Sweden nodded slowly as he watched the honey surround his shoes. Soon he was accompanied in the quiet stare.

'S'rry.'

'No harm done, It's just hard to clean up. I won't charge you. Why don't you get those shoes off, and we can get your shoes cleaned up.'

Sweden did so, taking a seat and watching the shopkeeper attend the mess, until finally looking off, lost in thought.

There was a lot on his mind. More than he wanted to have, and more than he cared to think about. His king was dead, and the next has just started his teens. So where did that leave himself? Besides being shoeless at the moment, there was trouble all around him. Russia posed a constant threat, though more so recently than ever before. Something was about to happen, and he knew that it meant absolutely no good. He could only imagine what.... but all that he could imagine seemed to impossible.

Plus, France! They had been allies once, but now he was watching as France grew more and more powerful, and extended offer of alliance once more--as well as another from England. Sweden would have to take a position on this matter. To side with England... France... or take on Neutrality.

'Here,' the shop keeper has been standing there for some time, holding the shoes out, until finally growing too impatient to wait on his nation for something so miniscule. Sweden took them, and held them a moment. He'll put them on outside, he thought, incase there was still honey left.

'How's your wife?' the shop keeper asked as he calculated the change for Sweden's groceries. Sweden answered that Finland was well, and thanked the shopkeeper for his kindness. 'It's fine; send him my best wishes, if you can.'

'Ja, can do.' They parted with that, but not before setting enough money on a window cill to repay the loss of merchandise.

Questions?: nope
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