[OOC] Application

[baidos]

THE PLAYER
Name; Yami
Journal; yami0204
Messenger; AIM: thegreatseakun
Email; yami0204@gmail.com

THE CHARACTER
Name; Latvia (Raivis Galante)
Personality; A small country with a past filled of occupation, Latvia lives in a near-constant state of fear, trembling and often on the verge of tears. He has a long history of being ruled by others, which has made him a shy and somewhat quiet around others. Most of his fear seems to stem from his time with Russia, who lurks in the shadows behind him. This feeling of Russia's eyes locked constantly on his back makes him jumpy, especially towards people or objects that suddenly appear from nowhere. No matter what the situation, he will always be somewhat jittery, sometimes stammering his words in a feeble attempt to mask his fearful emotions.

An introvert by nature, he hides away for fear of something bad happening to him again, but secretly longs for a good friend to be close to him. Unfortunately, his shyness usually keeps him from making first contact with other nations and his awkward attempts at friendship can sometimes be seen as strange or cruel, when he really just has no experience in developing relationships with others. However, this secret longing for friendship has actually come to fruition in the shape of Sealand, a peppy young would-be nation and brother of England. Whether or not this was the kind of friend he was looking for, he's really not sure, but he is glad to have someone he can hang out with and have a little fun, without fear of impending abuse.

Otherwise, he gets along very well with his Baltic brothers, though more so with Estonia, whom he has often banded together with in the past. He is also a very tolerant person and enjoys singing, reading poetry and romance novels, and sometimes he likes to try his hand at writing. In the past, he has done things that seemed like perfectly good ideas at the time for revolting against Russia, but as those things usually got him into even worse straights, he has lately tended to avoid confronting the larger nation.
History; Latvia's early history was that of a life relative peace and time spent with his elder brothers, Estonia and Lithuania. Latvia's life continued on peacefully, and, in 1282, the capital of Riga was formed as a trading city for west-east commerce, which gave the young nation a prosperous life for a time.

Unfortunately his peaceful life would end in the 16th century and start a long history of occupation by other nations. During the Livonian War, which lasted from 1558-1583, Latvia was thrust under Poland's rule. Later, while the war was still raging, the Kingdom of Poland sent Latvia to be a vassal dependency of Lithuania, thus keeping him under Polish rule even after the Kingdom of Poland reorganized into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This brought on a time of peace for the tiny nation and was a golden age for Latvia, as Lithuania had always been kind to his younger brother. Sadly, struggle between Poland, Sweden, and Russia ignited more war, and Latvia was flung under Swedish rule. Sweden was kind to Latvia, as well towards Estonia who had also joined under Sweden's roof, and while under Su-san's rule, many reforms were made to help the Latvian people. Again, he and his brothers lived a life of relative tranquility, but by this point he was starting to become fearful of what would happen to him and his brothers next. His fear was certainly not unfounded, as there was only so much that Sweden could do to keep Russia away from the brothers.

Beginning in 1710, after the fall of Riga, Latvia's slow descent into Russian rule began, lasting until 1795, when he would fall completely under Russia's power. Russia did away with many of the reforms Sweden had imparted to Latvia, thus stripping him of his previous freedoms and luxuries and giving him a less-than-human status for a time. Some of his rights would later be given back to him, but by that point he was already trying to figure out how to revolt against Russia's terrible rule. This gave rise to the "Young Latvians" movement, which, between the 1850s and 1880s, lead a revival of Latvian language and art, working primarily as a cultural and literary revolution against the loss of Latvian heritage. This movement would later fall out of favor and a Marxist movement called New Current helped in instigating the 1905 Revolution against Russia. Latvia thought that strength would be a good way to push Russia away, and it did in fact work.

The wave of political upheaval against Russia's rule lasted until November 18, 1918, when Latvia finally declared independence. The next year, in 1919, he and Estonia successfully fended off Germany and Russia, and his brother was free to declare independence as well. Independence was fleeting, however, and World War II brought about the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Russia and Germany, which was a road-map for dividing the Baltic brothers among the two countries. Germany later broke this pact, but the damage to Latvia's morale had already been done. Fear driving them, the Baltic brothers signed a "mutual assistance" pact with Russia, allowing the larger nation to assist the brothers if Germany should invade; none of the Baltics realized at the time, mostly under the fear of being overtaken by Germany, that this would be the first step toward becoming one with Russia again. By August of 1940, Latvia was completely under Russia's rule once more and Russia began to quickly take advantage of his position in ruling the Baltic brothers.

The bad news for Latvia did not stop there. A year later, Germany was successful in overtaking him, even with him being under Russia's "protection," and soon the three brothers fell under German rule. It took little time to realize that Germany could be just as terrible as Russia, if not more so, ruling over the brothers cruelly and coldly. By the end of the war, Germany had lost, and Russia had regained control of the brothers. At this point, Latvia had been devastated, and all hope of him ever returning to his peaceful life during the Middle Ages had faded. Broken by all that had happened to him, he grew into what he is now, a fearful and somewhat submissive person. He still yearns for hope, but deep down he knows that there is no way to escape Russia's ever-present gaze.

SAMPLES

Third person; This is not good; this is not good, he repeated over and over in his mind. Yes, he had gone through a lot in his lifetime, but this was certainly the most bizarre. He paced in his room hastily, first going clockwise for a few cycles, then pacing counterclockwise. He wrung his hands together nervously as he paced in his circles. What do I do; what do I do?

He paced for what seemed like hours to him, but was truly only a few minutes, then suddenly stopped, bunching up his hands together at his chest, holding back his tears, at least for the moment. "Th-This is a really bad dream, isn't it?" he wondered aloud, letting the words trail a moment. He hiccuped, choking back a sob, then shook his head rapidly. "This has to be a bad dream; it has to be...!"

Shivering a little, he took a couple steps to his bed, sitting down, his body tense with worry. He took in a deep breath, held it in a moment, then let it out slowly. "Really... bad dream..."

His gaze turned towards the door, that strange poster with its strange and terrible rules beaming down at him as if from a horrible nightmare. Its words smiled at him, as if to reinforce the fact that he could never be an independent nation. "Do not attempt to leave" was an affirmation that his freedom was once again taken. The second rule was to give him a momentary sense of freedom, at least within this place, but the word "punishment" burned within his mind, conjuring the punishments that he had already endured just by existing. He whimpered a little. The last rule was a curiosity. "Please use your PROPER names," it read. What proper names? He was Latvia and had always been Latvia. Unless it meant to use his human name of "Raivis Galante," a name that he seldom used. It seemed that this place was not only stripping him of his freedoms, but stripping him of his identity as a nation.

His face fell into his hands, eyes shut tight. How could he ever open that door? He wasn't even certain that he could open that door; for all he knew, it could very well be locked and this room could be his prison for the rest of his life. The thought of this being some cruel game of Russia's crossed his mind. Would Russia be so wretched? He let out another whimper, this time muffled by his hands. It couldn't be Russia. Russia would have dealt with him swifter than this. Then who or what...?

A long moment passed and his gaze lifted to stare at that door, which now laughed at his cowardice through that awful white poster's gleam, his stomach churning in that all-too-familiar sensation of fear. He wiped what little wetness had escaped his tear ducts with the sleeve of his shirt and bit his lip. The only way he could figure out what was going on was if he tried to open that door. It was the only place to start. He would find answers beyond it to his current questions and discover new questions to be answered, but he knew he needed to take that first step. What if his brothers and fellow nations were out there? He had to know what was going on.

He lifted himself rigidly from the bed, hands clamping themselves together in front of him, his body trembling slightly. He stared down at his hands as his feet shuffled forward. One footstep towards the door. Another footstep towards the door. His footsteps, slow as they were, shuffled intently towards that cruel door, stopping just close enough for him reach out a shivering hand towards the handle. He watched through blurred vision as his hand turned the handle downward, then pulled the door in; a faint breeze from beyond washed in. He let out a shuddered breath and lifted his eyes upward.

"I-I can do this..." The words sounded much more confident in his head, but he knew he couldn't just hide in this room forever. He had to find another living being; he needed to find one. He needed to step into the world beyond and learn his circumstances. He needed to go out into the light and try his hardest to be the strong person he had once been so many ages ago.
First person; I don't know where I am... This is not my room... not my house... Where could I possibly be?

I just woke up in this room a little bit ago. I... feel bad for saying this, but I've only just stopped crying. I know I shouldn't be so weak in such a serious situation, but...

This place... There's a curious note on the door of this room, telling me not to leave this place, whatever this place is. It says I have full reign of this place's facilities, but punishments will be given to those who would destroy the facilities. And... the last rule is puzzling... It says to use "proper names." I don't really know what that means, but it sounds troubling.

And this strange machine I'm typing on... It makes my writing appear on a screen and it's a lot easier to use than a typewriter. It seems a lot less friendly than one, though. Something is definitely lost without the sound and feel of paper or the smell of ink as it's punched onto the page. Maybe... I can use this to write some new poetry...?

Wait, what am I talking about?! I hope my brothers are okay! Estonia, if you're here, please find me! I'm so scared!

Please... someone find me... please...?