Latvian Livonian Confederation (Done)

[Livonija (Latvija)]

RAIVIS GALANTE



"God, save us from the plague, the fire and the Curonians!"-Danish Prayer and enscribed upon a church in Denmark

Bittida en morgon innan solen upprann

Bergatrollet friade till fager ungersven

Country: Latvian Livonian Confederation (Lettische Alt-Livland/ Livonija)

Human name: Raivis Galante

Apparent age: 16 before going back, 10 now

Gender: Male

Appearance:
The Latvian portion of the Terra Mariana is little more than a child. Raivis' overall musculature is so slight that he looks like any given breeze is going to hurl him across the room. He has violet colored eyes that that at time seem about to burst into tears and other times, they take on a more intense look that almost make him appear to be more solid than he should be. Raivis’ dirty blonde hair is soft and curly and he always keeps it cut short. Raivis likes the color maroon and shows that with the clothing he wears, as the color, or at least some form of red, will appear somewhere on his person. Style wise, he tries to dress in a way that will call the least amount of attention possible.

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Hon hade en falskeliger tunga

Herr Mannelig herr Mannelig trolofven i mig för det jag bjuder så gerna

Strengths:

• Perseverance: Raivis comes from a strong legacy, the Ancient Courlanders strength and ability made even the vikings pray for protection from them and their people had little fear of their neighbors. While only the successor to that legacy, Raivis has kept the same spirit and while his body and heart might not be strong, he is able to hang on to the idea of tomorrow and push forward. His identity in the face of larger nations is rarely compromised.
  
  
• Farming: Raivis isn't one to stay cooped up in a castle all day. On the contrary, he finds activities like farming to be much preferred over many other things. To Raivis, farming is an art of optimism. A farmer must believe that his work today will pay off months later. Every bud is a reminder that good things come from this belief.
  
  
• Academic: Raivis has a love for knowledge, especially anything esoteric. While he loves farming and being outdoors, he does not shy away from libraries or folk stories that may contain information he didn't have before. This is especially true now that the Teutonic Knights have connected the Baltic region to the rest of Europe, yet can't stop him from learning. On rainy days, Raivis loves to read. His favorite genre of novel is romance, but he also enjoys keeping up with the current philosophical vies and whatever other modern ideas are being tossed around.
  
  
• Shipyard Work: While he doesn't enjoy ship crafting as much as his other past times, he is quite good at it. His home is situated right on the water and his people have used ships for much of their existence. With this experience comes a natural skill for the Latvian-Livonian.
  
  
• Multicultural: Once again, the connection to the rest of Europe has created an interesting mix of cultural identity to Raivis. The Germanic and Scandinavian people, as well as the Slavic and Roma people all have a presence within Livonia and Raivis often takes the time to meet and greet any new guests.
  
  

Weaknesses:

• Emotional Dependency: While the Raivis of this day hasn't been stifled by the Russians or Nazis, he hasn't forgotten that he once had to live through that. As such, he is very greatful that he was taken back to a time in which he was united with Estonia, who he trusts very deeply. In fact, when he is around the older Baltic, he spends a lot of time staring at him. This isn't due to an infatuation, more that he is happier when Eduard is happy.
  
  
• Bad Luck: Latvia frequently falls victim to events that could only be described as unlucky. His birthplace itself is a stroke of bad luck, right in between the powerful Kalmar Union, the growing and ambitious Russian Empire and the neighbor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This is also evident in his regular life, as he tends to not notice places of uneven footing until it's too late. If someone in the room is going get smacked by a random falling rock, it'd be Raivis.
  
  
• Small: Raivis has a very small body. Regardless of any courage or desire, there is simply only so much he can do. In comparison to his neighbors, he's just not as big or strong.
  
  
• Not Exactly a Poet: Raivis has a hard time communicating what he means to other people and nations. He frequently will mess up to such an extent that it's hardly the other person's fault if they take it in the opposite manner than what he intended.
  
  
• Uninspired: Raivis isn't ambitious. Even if he had the ability to go out and do amazing things, he likely wouldn't. He enjoys doing mundane tasks and the simple pleasures.
  
  

Fears:

• Foreign Invasion: Raivis knows all too well that his lands were frequently invaded by the nations around him and he doesn't know why they would choose not to again. It worked out well enough for them the first time. If anything, he's afraid they'll have learned from their mistakes and do a better job of it. He would much rather be united with Estonia forever than be part of any other empire.
  
  
• Loss of Relevance: Raivis is glad that the capitol of the shared Confederation is Riga and not any of Estonia's cities. He knows which of the two of them is more dominant and which was more prestigious and successful. He is afraid that if Eduard wanted to shift the seat of their legislature onto the ancestral Estonian lands, that Raivis wouldn't be needed at all.
  
  
• Never growing taller.
  
  

Personality:
Raivis is a very shy boy, preferring to stay within the same circle of friends that he has always had. The rest of the world ends up falling in to two distinct categories. The first is the people that scare or at least intimidate Raivis, which is the majority of people. To these people, he will often say things in a fashion that is much too blunt or even accidentally say something that is insulting. In these nerve racking situations, he has almost no ability to pick up on social cues or body language and won’t understand that he is making the other person upset until it is too late. These ‘too late’ moments often end with him running off.

The other type of person is more rare, but existent. When a new person doesn’t frighten him, he worries that he will ruin any chance at friendship by saying the wrong thing. This fear leads him to do a bad job of fully expressing himself, which can lead to him ruining the friendship anyway. As soon as the other person starts to show some sign of discontent, he will default to believing that he isn’t good enough for their friendship. When things start to sour he will sometimes tear up and will usually attempt to leave the area as quickly as possible.

Around the few friends he already has he is still shy, but is much more willing to communicate his feelings and concerns. It is mostly around these particular people that he will be calm and understandable. It usually takes a lot of work on the other person's side for a friendship to reach this level.

At times when Raivis is alone, he holds himself a lot more upright. He is actually quite confident in his ability to survive if no one else actively is trying to make it so that he won't. Any and all solo activities are quite well accomplished. It's when you add someone else to the equation that he will become shaky and mess up. Inside his head, he always thinks about saying all the right things and doing the coolest things. But when it comes time to do them in front of someone, he shies away from it. It could be said that he is a lion inside his own bubble and a kitten when someone else is involved.

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Eder vill jag gifva ett förgyllande svärd

Och strida huru I strida vill. Stridsplatsen skolen i väl vinna

Family:
Aestii (Grandfather), Ancient Courland (Father), Lithuania (cousin/”brother”) Estonia (cousin/”brother”) Baltic Prussia (cousin/”brother”) Teutonic Order/ German Prussia (Godfather)

Friends: Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus (...kind of strange but yeah), Ukraine, Poland, Finland

Enemies: Russia, Germany, Teutonic Order, Sweden, Denmark

History:

Riga was established as a trade city in 1201. This signified the beginning of the end of his father Ancient Courland. By the time the Latvian lands became a vessel of the Livonian Order, the new nation, still infantile, was the representative of the lands. His people were not as prepared to fight off the Christian army as the Lithuanians to the South were. Unlike them, his people were subjected by the Teutonic Order. However, this occupation didn't really accomplish what it had set out to, spread Cat holism. Raivis' people didn't speak German and had never heard Latin, so the prayers and lessons weren't intelligible to much of the local populace.

The Black Plague did eventually reach Latvia, devestating the population just as it had other places. However, the Plague only touched the northern parts of Latvia and moved into the Russian lands much more severely.

In 1401, the Battle of Grunwald shattered the Teutonic Order and the Livonian lands were ceded to the Livonian Order, now independent. This state was called Terra Mariana and was the entirety of the Latvian and Estonian lands. The nation would function well enough, but it wouldn't last too long, as it was divided during the Livonian Wars. After these wars, Raivis would be split between Poland and Sweden. The Swedish rule was considered the Golden Age, even though the Swedes didn't do that much for the Latvian people. Their only major contribution was stopping the German nobility from giving quite so many lashings.

In the middle of the 1500s, Lutheranism made it to Latvia through its connection to the German and Scandinavian lands. By this point, Raivis' people were much more fluent in those foreign tongues and they more heartily embraced this new religion than they had the Catholic one. However, they melded the new traditions with their old ones, creating a very unique version. Protestant religions would be the major religion until the later Soviet Occupation.

In the 1600s, the Duchy of Courland a Semigallia, a vassal of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, became a power in its own right. The Duchy had one of the largest merchant fleets in all of Europe and this fleet set its sights on colonization. With a colony on Tobago, Courland would be the smallest nation to colonize the New World. This colony was contested by the Dutch, however it wasn't until Sweden's occupation of Latvia that the Dutch would be given Tobago by default. Courland's other colony, Gambia, was purchased from the British and it to was ceded to the Dutch once Swedish occupation didn't allow for Courland to own colonies. Had the Swedish not taken over, Courland also had a claim, granted by the Pope, to colonize Australia.

Latvia would switch hands several times in the years that followed. It went from Sweden to the Russian Empire, the Russian Empire to the German Empire to be given a small decade of freedom after WWI. During WWII, this would be halted by Soviet occupation, which was followed by Nazi occupation and then topped off with a longer stint in the Soviet Union. Unlike many countries, Latvia was not a satellite, but rather an actual part of the Soviet Union. He would become free shortly before the fall of the Soviet Union decades later.

This new nation had a short stint of rapid economic growth. The Soviet Union had placed many factories in the region and it was one of the better maintained SSRs, so once free trade set in, things took off. However, starting in the 21st century, things began to move south and the small country fell into a steep economic downturn. This slump seemed to stabilize rather than turn back up. Even when the war came years later, Latvia was a bleak place, livened up only by a people who seemed to be genetically immune to cultural sorrow. Raivis was eccstatic to be thrown back in time (after he got over the confusion and utter fear that came along with it).

RP Sample:

Raivis did not really know the man that he was going to see in Limbaži. He always wondered if he should feel bad about that, not knowing each and every one of his people. Some days, he thought they were better off not knowing what their representation looked like. He knew he was small. He had always been small, but a long time ago, so had most of the nations. But this man's letter had been clear. He wanted to see Raivis, he said he had something amazing to show him. If emotion could truly be conveyed in a letter, that letter would have been it. The man clearly believed in whatever it was he had. 

The preteen nation knocked on the door, trying to be as firm as he could muster. It took almost no time for the answer to come. Like most men, he was taller than Raivis was. "Mr Baumanis... it's me..." he greeted, assuming the other man would know who he was coming. There was no way he would be what the other man wanted to see. Perhaps it was what would have been expected, but having that expectation confirmed couldn't have been a good thing. That's what it looked like anyway, as the man's seemed to size him up as he stood outside.

"Yes... yes I think this will do," Kārlis said, though clearly not really replying to the curly haired boy in front of him. He disappeared back in to his home. There was nothing else for Raivis to do but to follow after him. Whatever mystery awaited him was only a few steps away. He walked inside, closing the door behind him. The man was seated at a piano, the music sheet on the stand had clearly been modified a few times. "My boy, my Latvia, this is for you," he said as he began playing the new song. Raivis couldn't even question the use of his name like that. It wasn't even an official thing... some nationalists had just started calling him that. But he liked it.

By the time the song was over, he realized that he had to wipe away some tears from eyes. Yes, Latvia. That was his name. He had gone by a lot of things throughout the years, but now, with this song, he knew which one was the real one. The one he wanted to be called forever. He hugged the bearded man, who was clearly taken off guard by the gesture. But soon, Latvia felt a hand stroking his hair. "That was beautiful... but won't Russia be upset about you using that name... my name like that?"

"I should hope so, let the anger carve the name into their memory. Mr. Galante, we are past due for a little respect." Raivis just stared up at the pianist. Maybe he was right... Just maybe.

-"Dievs, svētī Latviju!" written in 1873 by Kārlis Baumanis, the first song to use word "Latvia" In 1920, it would become the National Anthem for the newly independent country.

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“Sådana gåfvor toge jag väl emot”

“Om du vore en kristelig qvinna. Men nu så är du det värsta bergatroll, af Neckens och djävulens stämma

[ OOC ]

Name: Roan

Age: 20

Experience:
I've been RPing for 7 years. In Hetalia I play Latvia, Switzerland, Norway, Sealand and Romano. Other than that, I've been a part of a lot of comic book, sci-fi and fantasy things.



Contact: hiroofkvatch (aim) [e-mail] (msn)



Anything else?: Jens Bjorneboe

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Bergatrollet ut på dörren sprang

“Hade jag fått den fager ungersven, så hade jag mistat min plåga.”

This template was created by Ophelia for Hetalia: Distorted Destiny. Lyricss are from the medieval Swedish ballad, "Herr Mannelig."

[Konungariket Sverige]

A HUGE ACCEPTED

because your portrayal of Latvia is my favourite so far. not just a trembling moe but with history and personality. good job.