Post by Konungariket Sverige on Jan 10, 2011 7:52:35 GMT -5
BERWALD "AXELSSON" OXENSTIERNA
"Hon sade jag skulle ej få bot förrän jag druckit min broders blod”
Under this curse I was to suffer ’till I drank my own brother’s blood.
Vengeance
"Hon sade jag skulle ej få bot förrän jag druckit min broders blod”
Under this curse I was to suffer ’till I drank my own brother’s blood.
Vengeance
Det er seersken med fuglene || It is the seeress with the birds
Der griner når vi ter os || Who laughs when we act up
Der skærer illusionerne || Who cuts the illusions
Der griner når vi ter os || Who laughs when we act up
Der skærer illusionerne || Who cuts the illusions
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Country: Kingdom of Sweden || Konungariket Sverige
Human name: Berwald Axelsson Oxenstierna
Apparent age: 25
Gender: Male
Appearance: As a country from the Northernmost of Europe, he has incredibly pale skin and hair paler still, a shade away from platinum blond. His eyes are a mild green-grey, hidden behind a pair of thinly rimmed glasses. A remnant of when he used to be a member of the royal guard, he holds himself stoically upright and without so much of a hint of a slouch, making him seem even taller than he already is, and not any less intimidating. He also has a thing forbadasslongcoats.
Det er seersken med fuglene || It is the seeress with the birds
Der hvisker slip lænkerne løs || Who whispers release the chains
Der hvisker slip lænkerne løs || Who whispers release the chains
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Strengths:
- Strategic; his poker face will beat you in both chess and poker. Also a superb military tactician.
- Dexterous; he has a way with his hands, and enjoys gardening or cooking or tinkering with the odd mechanical parts lying around (though sadly, his cooking remains monotonous). He also handles weapons with dexterity, swordplay being his strength, in addition to being a good shot.
- Erudite; may be a surprise to some. Berwald had been fascinated by German literature long before Goethe and is very familiar with the long verses of the long past philosophers.
- Physical strength; Berwald was aptly named the Lion of Northern Europe once, when the Empire at the peak held almost all of Northern Europe. He can’t be considered weak, not even when the backwards country just won their independence or when pestilence plagued his lands.
- Level headed and calm; he is the rock during times of great adversity
- Neutral pacifist; and this worked marvelously during the two world wars, thank you very much.
Weaknesses:
- His glasses; they have almost taken a metaphorical meaning for him. Without them, he is instantly thrown into blinded panic, reminiscent of the time when Magnus crushed them, rendering him useless.
- Has trouble showing expression; most of the time. Trying to wrench a smile out of him is like trying to get jam out of a rock. But he smiles internally… Despite defying the laws of science, he finds the physical exertion of smiling strenuous. His habit of grunting in reply doesn’t help.
- Intimidation; the swede rather loathes it when people are intimidated by him for no reason. He get’s lonely.
- Gets lost in small details
- Social situations; forever his downfall
Fears:
- The dissolution of his empire; now that it hasn’t started yet, Berwald would know better than to allow a 15 year old King onto the throne.
- Being controlled, subjugated, or forced under another’s rule || crown.
- Losing his glasses
Personality:
Berwald’s very person is synonymous to the frozen glaciers of the north. Cold, silent, and intimidating is what people assume him to be, and having never shown any reason for them to believe otherwise, most people (even his own) steer clear of him.
Despite his cold exterior, he is of a gentle nature. Past his Viking era, Berwald's thirst for violence all but diminished, and though you could not call him a neutral pacifist like he will try to claim to be, Berwald is not intrinsically malevolent. On another level, Berwald does enjoy cooking a good meal and relaxing for a good lazy afternoon in the sauna. However, he is not a hedonist like he once was. He can be a faithful friend even if he doesn't realize that they were friends in the first place. Relationships is not a strong point.Though not being a sociable person, Berwald doesn't enjoy being alone as much as people tend to believe.
In the mornings, Berwald is grouchy at best, seriously harboring murderous intent at worst. A cup of coffee helps, but he is never completely there in the unholy hours of the morning. Unfortunately, he has a quick temper (at all times), and loathes being teased. To him, humiliation is only the next step. Except a glare or a punch if you do so.
Se ham i øjnene || Look him in the eyes
Grøn, brun og blå || Green, brown and blue
Se stående, værende, gennem det der sker || See standing, being, through what is happening
Grøn, brun og blå || Green, brown and blue
Se stående, værende, gennem det der sker || See standing, being, through what is happening
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Family: Scandinavia is his closest family, though it doesn’t necessarily mean he likes them the most. In fact, sometimes Berwald downright hates them. The Nordics are also part of his extended family.
Friends:
Norway; they are friendly neighbors… most of the time. Berwald vowed never to agree to any more unhappy marriages.
Finland; used to be part of him, Berwald is very fond of the young (and often confused) nation.
Turkey; one of his only friends during the Great Northern War, Berwald found himself attracted to the mystery and the safe haven he provided away from the turmoil of war.
Germany; At least he (as the Reich) respected Sweden’s neutrality during WWII
Austria; One of the more tolerable Germanics, Berwald respects him
England; They get along.
Denmark; Berwald… doesn’t really understand what this is going on between them. Magnus confuses him, to say the least.
Enemies:
Russia; Berwald never forgave him for crushing his empire, and after the multitude of wars waged, these two have very strained relations.
Denmark; though hostilities have thawed between the two, ‘friend’s’ is far too optimistic a word.
Prussia; They were former adversaries once and admittedly, Berwald feels less than warm towards him.
History:
Sweden, read: svaeriye is an ancient nordic country whose prehistory goes back all the way to 12,000 BC with the Allerød warm period - where flint technology was used and hunters gathered in small tribes. From the eighth to eleventh centuries was Sweden's more eminent Viking Age. Whilst Danish vikings traveled West, the Swedish traveled mainly East and South to Finland and the Baltics.
Norse paganism, such of the Vikings, was predominant up till the late 11th century, when Celtic and Anglo-saxon influences waged conflict onto the lands. The people were forbidden to worship Æsir Gods and temples were torn down to be replaced with Christian churches. From 1050, Sweden had been converted to a Christian nation.
In the 14th century, the Black Plague hit Sweden and the population drastically dropped. During this period, Sweden was joined (albeit reluctantly) with Norway in the Kalmar Union under Denmark's rule. The Swedes opposed the centralization of the government in Copenhagen and tension between the two nations eventually escalated to a point where the Danish King Christian sought to drastic measures. He ordered a massacre of more than 80 prominent Swedish nobles, and this became known as the “Stockholmsk blodbad.” This gave rise to outrage within the scattered and leaderless civilians. A new resistance was formed with Gustav Vasa at its head, and subsequent war was coined the Swedish War of Liberation. Even after Sweden gained Independence, he has harbored bitter resentment towards his neighbour for many centuries.
During the 17th century Sweden emerged as a European great power. Before the emergence of the Swedish Empire, Sweden was an economically backward and scarcely populated country on the fringe of European civilization, with no significant power or reputation. Sweden rose to prominence on a continental scale during the tenure of king Gustavus Adolphus, seizing territories from Russia and Poland–Lithuania in multiple conflicts, including the Thirty Years' War. During this period, Sweden conquered approximately half of the Holy Roman states. It was Gustavus Adolphus’ domestic reforms that laid the foundation for the modern Swedish state.
Sweden reached his largest territorial extent under the rule of Charles X after the treaty of Roskilde in 1658. The Great Northern War caused his downfall; Europe contested against Swedish supremacy and succeeded. Forced to cede large areas of land in the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, Sweden also lost its place as an empire and as the dominant state on the Baltic Sea. With Sweden's lost influence, Russia emerged as an empire and became one of Europe's dominant nations. As the war finally ended in 1721, Sweden had lost an estimated 200,000 men, 150,000 of those from the area of present-day Sweden and 50,000 from the Finnish part of Sweden.
In interest of regaining dominance over the baltic sea's, Sweden allied himself against France (his original benefactor). Sweden's role in the Battle of Leipzig gave it the authority to force Denmark-Norway, an ally of France, to cede Norway to the King of Sweden on 14 January 1814 in exchange for northern German provinces, at the Treaty of Kiel. Norway was forced into a personal union with Sweden under the Swedish crown. This was not dissolved until 1905.
After the industrial revolution in 1917, Sweden became a democracy. During the two world wars, Sweden managed to stay neutral, despite overwhelming pressure from the third Reich.
After 2010, Sweden grew exponentially economically, though never reaching a superpower, as his military defense was strongly lacking and was not considered a matter of priority. During the year they were thrown back into time, the Northernmost parts of Sweden remains as one of the world's few pathogen free areas.
RP Sample:
Sweden suddenly feels the urge to take the other by his shoulders and shake some sense into him, for his uncharacteristic pessimism and maybe for his certainty that the same fate waited his nation. But he resists, and instead fiddled with the smooth material of his jacket, suddenly reminded of the days when a saber was perpetually swathed inside the folds of his robes, back when he was the Swedish Empire and back when Europe was his (with Denmark delightfully seething at his influence). But the power it symbolized was gone and Scandinavia… still remained. A mere shadow of what it used to be and to be pushed around by stronger, more prominent powers.
Berwald hold’s Fredrick’s gaze, brows furrowing with irritation. “The Reich will respect my wishes for neutrality,” he grouses, diction surprisingly eloquent. “Och…” his voice quietens, “perhaps there will be a swift allied victory...” He hates how uncertain his voice has become and how nervous he is at expressing his opinion on the matter.
It was, after all, exactly what he expressed for the media not to touch upon. Newspapers, especially the Aftonbladet, a paper with sizeable influence but notoriously opinionated, were pressed to keep all coverage pragmatic. His trade was open to all belligerents and the concessions he made to the Germans were considerable. Business as usual, they kept on calling it. But though they couldn't just, 'wait for the water to freeze and walk across,' he was well aware how vulnerable and ill equipped they were in comparison to the Reich. In military expenditure as well as his naval forces. A rise in Swedish militarism could be denoted as a sign that they were preparing to enter the war, and Berwald couldn't risk it. His gut feeling told him that invasion could only follow. Then, without meaning to, Berwald’s lips quirks into a sort of smile. "Norway won't take to invasion. They are too proud." And so am I, was left unsaid, but implied. At the end of the day, there's a lot that is left unsaid but understood between them.
After a moment's silence, Berwald tears his gaze away from the courtyard, satisfied that it's beauty and age is as of yet untouched by war. He walks to the set of double doors, clicking them shut with a soft thud before turning back. His expression was blank.
"I don't trust my people," he explains.
Det er seersken med fuglene || It’s the seeress with the birds
Der skærer illusionerne || Who cuts the illusions
Der går rundt i sneen og skriver gåder || Who walks in the snow writing riddles
Der skærer illusionerne || Who cuts the illusions
Der går rundt i sneen og skriver gåder || Who walks in the snow writing riddles
[ OOC ]
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Name: OPHELIA (if you’re one of em Hamlet fans), lia, Overlord, or old man. You can, of course, opt to call me “Svi” or “Sve” like everyone else.
Age: OLD ENOUGH BRO.
Experience: I also RP Denmark, Austria and Japan, and lot’s more in the past, but these muses are the ones I’m interested in at the moment.
Contact: Ask, and you shall receive.
Anything else?: MODISEXEMPTHURRR. Jens Bjorneboe
Se ham i øjnene || Look him in the eyes
Se iris, se dig, se mig, se selv || See iris, see you, see me, see for yourself
Se iris, se dig, se mig, se selv || See iris, see you, see me, see for yourself
This template was originally created by oli and tampered by Ophelia for Hetalia: Distorted Destiny. Lyrics are from “Seersken,” by Valravn.
