[application.]
Player nickname: Ichi
Player LJ: unspeakingly
Way to contact you:
Email: ezzigreenie@hotmail.com
AIM: kowareta ichi
Other: KANGAROO MAIL
Are you at least 15?: YPLZ
Current Characters: Haruhi Fujioka, Nill, Miharu Rokujo, Xion and NO MORE AFTER THIS EVER OKAY
Character: South Italy (Italia Romano, human name "Lovino Vargas")
Fandom: Axis Powers Hetalia
Character Notes:
History: Naturally, the history of a country is kind of long - though thankfully this is mostly only half of a country :'D - so I will try to make this as brief but as comprehensible as possible. ♥ It'll be solely the country's history, and I won't bother adding in Hetalia's take on that because it would... just get confusing, tbh.
EARLY ITALY:
- Much of early Italy (5,000BC - 7th Century BC) was just progress through the ages, and the development of agriculture use in Italy, as well as the appearance of regional variations and the introductions of metalworking, bronze and iron.
- In the late 8th Century BC, the coasts of South Italy were colonised by the Greeks, while the Etruscans controlled further north, namely Central Italy, and by the 7th Century BC, Latium and Campania, too.
- Italy was largely ruled by the Etruscans up until the rise of Rome, which dominates most of early Italian history.
- Rome began in approximately 750 BC, founded by the brothers Romulus and Remus on the seven hills of Latium.
- The legend of the city states that the twins, sons of the god Mars and Rhea Silvia, were abandoned to save them from their jealous uncle. They were found and raised by a she-wolf, and later a farmer, before they returned to their home. The two planned to build a city on the seven hills of Latium, but argued about its placement, and when Remus mocked his brother's city by jumping over its low walls, Romulus struck him dead and declared the city Rome.
- In approximately 600BC, Rome was overthrown by the Etruscans. The Romans rebelled against the Etruscans, and abollished the system of Kings; instead, they started up a Republic that lasted 500 years. This system was altered multiple times, and caused various political problems.
- Wars between Rome and Carthage that began in 264BC, over control of Messana in Sicily. The first war lasted from 264 - 241BC. In 242BC, the Romans defeated the Carthaginians; they took control of their land and were paid the full cost of the war.
- Between the first and second Punic Wars, Rome began to take over North Italy; the Carthaginians moved into Spain.
- In 219BC, Carthage felt strong enough to attack Rome again, and attacked a Spanish city allied to Rome. Rome declared war once again on Carthage in 218BC. This war was not resolved, and dwindled out due to Hannibal's loss of numbers on his journey through the Alps.
- In 149BC, war was declared again over Rome attacking Carthaginian territory; in 146BC, the Romans took control of Carthage and its surrounding land, destroyed it, and made it uninhabitable.
- Rome later became an Empire in 31BC with the defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra.
- During the middle ages, Italy was faced with a range of invasions, mainly directed towards the North from Germanic tribes. Meanwhile, South and Central Italy were under control of the Byzantine Empire (also known as the Roman Empire).
- The Lombards had a brief success in controlling Italy, beginning in roughly 560AD, but they were quickly ejected by the Franks, who also brought in Saracen Arabs as allies against the Byzantines. The Saracens conquered Sicily in 827, and even launched an attack on Rome.
- After the invasion of the Ottonians, the North began to accumulate various city-states, and started to divide rather violently, and this rush out of the feudal era meant that the North was quick to become economically, socially and culturally ahead of the South.
- While the North progressed, the South was conquered by the Normans, who began their invasion in the 11th Century, and expelled the Byzantines and the Saracens.
- Sicily and Naples were ruled by the same Frenchman, but his rule was highly unpopular, and in 1282, Sicily was seperated by the mainland, leading to the two being seperate kingdoms.
- In the 15th Century, both kingdoms became Spanish property, and they were united under the name of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. The kingdom remained under Spain's possession until Sicily was given to Sardinia, and later Austria, after the War of the Spanish Succession.
- Briefly, it was an independent kingdom, but was captured by the French revolutionaries in 1798, and then the land was conquered by the military Redshirts in 1861, who began the Unification of Italy. Most of the South supported the Unification, hoping that it would progress the still-feudal areas of their land.
- The unification of the North with the South was far from smooth, because the North was - and still is - much more economically developed than its other half. Due to problems with poverty and organised crime, after the unification, many people began to migrate up north.
- After a long period spent as a highly dissatisfied, crisis-ridden nation, World War I broke out; Italy remained neutral while its government negotiated with both sides, until, with the promise of land, it joined the Allies.
- In 1915, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, and later on Germany. From 1915 - 1918, battles between the Italians and the Austro-Hungarians were held in the North, called the Italian Campaign.
- After being pushed back by Austro-Hungarian and German soldiers, the Italians regrouped, and Austria-Hungary was unable to push through the Italian front. In late 1918, Austria-Hungary surrendered.
- Italy was only awarded a small portion of the lands that it had been expecting, and the disappointments brought upon by this produced a wave of nationalist sentiment against the Allies and the Italian government.
- In 1922, a fascist Benito Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister, and he quickly became a dictator, taking Italy closer to war with a policy of aggression and expansion, conquering Ethiopia and sending troops to assist in the Spanish Civil War.
- He allied himself with Germany's Adolf Hitler, and nine months after the beginning of World War II, Italy entered the war on Germany's side.
- The Italians did not support their involvement in the war for very long; after multiple defeats in 1941, and only narrowly avoiding collapse on various occasions thanks to Germany's intervention. They overthrew Mussolini, arrested him, and began negotiations with the Allies, later joining the Western Allies as a co-belligerent.
- The Germans rescued Mussolini, and he set up a puppet state in the North under German protection. In the South, Italy surrendered to the Allies and joined the war against Germany. With great difficulty, the Allies pushed German armies out of Italy, and Mussolini was caught and executed early in 1945.
- Monarchy was abolished in Italy in 1946, and was instead replaced by a republic.
- Italy remained in a state of peace and progression in the 1950s and the 1960s, which was even more enjoyed by the North, who had an "economic miracle"; however, this was ended by the beginning of a fall in the 1970s and 1980s, when serious political, social and economic issues began to rise.
- To date, South Italy still remains less developed than North Italy and drastically poorer in many areas, and there are still political groups that want at least partial independence from the North.
Personality: Romano is a bit of a two-sided person when it comes to his personality. If it's a girl he's faced with, then he is kind, gentle, friendly, flirtatious and absolutely charming; he can be very much a ladies man in any language and in any country, just the same as his brother. This could be a façade, but more likely, he just... likes girls. He finds them much nicer to spend time with as people.
Then, when he is faced with other males, the personality that is more common to see emerges; he dislikes social contact with other men, and he is strict, harsh and generally sour with another man - even North Italy. Mainly with those he knows, he is quick to anger, and horribly dishonest, blurting out profanities and threatening physical violence like his own language. He's a good enough person on the inside, but too embarrassed to show it around other men, so he becomes harsh and irritable to hide it.
Unlike North Italy, who either is oblivious to the severity of his uselessness or doesn't mind, Romano has massive self-esteem issues and a dreadful inferiority complex, which is only increased by the knowledge that his brother excels in arts, while he has no particular talents; when he's left to himself, it's not uncommon for him to sink into a slump about how useless and unhelpful he is, which is perhaps why he tends to stay with another despite how much he complains and spouts hatred for them - to distract him from those kinds of thoughts.
With someone like Spain, who Romano has known for a while and is, although not immediately or obviously, close to, he can actually be honest or sentimental on occasion, but it's usually followed up with a lot of embarrassed yelling and denial. He also tends to get extremely jealous when Spain shows affection to someone else, despite usually acting cold towards him, and he can actually manage to abandon his cowardice and briefly overthrow the Mafia's control over him in a burst of strength spurred on by Spain's illness.
In general, he's also clumsy, and despite his tough personality, a huge coward; he will pick a fight, and then proceed to run the other way, and although he once scolds North Italy for being captured by the British, he then turns around and grovels before England, even calling him "England-sama".
He's also bizarrely racist, even against his own brother Veneziano; he seems to genuinely hate North Italy (perhaps out of jealousy and spite), and he refuses to try aspects of other cultures outside of Italian and Spanish, which influenced him a lot in the three centuries that he was ruled over.
Other: He likes pasta. And tomatoes. A lot. Also, despite being very clumsy, he's somehow an excellent pickpocket.
Additional Links: Southern Italy | Hetalia wiki page.
First Person (entry type):
[The camera focuses in on Romano sitting up with a frustrated scowl, and indicating various body parts. He's speaking in slow, clumsy Spanish.]
Cabeza, hombros-- r-rodillas, y dos pies-- Agh, this is stupid, why am I doing this?! It's not like I want to learn a shitty language like Spagnolo, anyway! Who'd ever think about learning that kind of thing, I don't need to know anything but Italiano! [Despite his mumbled protests, he takes a deep breath and repeats.] C-cabeza, hombros, rodillas y-- y dos pies.
[Muttering a few Italian curses under his breath, he starts the next verse.] Ojos, oidos -- e-er, merda merda merda-- boca y una nariz-- d-damn it, stupid bastard, testa di minchia-- cabeza, hombros, rodillas, y-y dos pies.
[Finished, he sits back and sighs heavily, and there is a long silence.]
... Hey, Romano, what are you doing?
Wha-- [He bolts upright and turns to yell at the offscreen speaker.] S-stai zitto, stupido Spagna!
No, really, it sounded like--
Se ne vada, i-it's none of your business! I'll do whatever the hell I like, so get lost!
Okay, okay, but - are you sure it wasn't--?
Yes! Why the hell would I be learning your stupid language, moron?! Especially not for your sake, nobody would do something like that!
I... didn't think you were...
... Merda.
Third Person: (taken from the 5 + 1 prompts ♥)
"Oi, Romano!"
Romano is stretched out on the lounge watching cartoons in Spanish that he barely understands (if he's asked, he'll say that he doesn't understand a single damn word, of course he doesn't, who the hell would want to try learning a stupid language like that anyway?), shovelling tomato-flavoured crisps into his mouth.
He's quite content not to respond.
"Romanoooo! Italia Romano, answer me!"
He considers (very very briefly not at all never) complying, and opens his mouth to shout back, but ends up dropping another crisp in instead.
A few minutes later, Spain is draped over the back of the lounge and prodding him. He doesn't regret not answering him earlier, but he does (not) regret agreeing to stay the previous night.
"Hey, Romano," the country whines, nudging him. "You made a mess of my house last night, you're supposed to help me clean up today, okay?"
He finishes his crisps silently, ignoring the persistent jabbing at his side, and finally, he takes one of Spain's hands, places the foil packet in it, and closes it up into a fist.
"No," he says, and goes back to watching cartoons.