| Oct 13, 2012 17:59:06 GMT -5 |
Post by mk on Oct 13, 2012 17:59:06 GMT -5
ELENA MACEDONIA RISTOVSKA
{I'm at your back door with the earth of a hundred nations in my skin
you wouldn't recognise me, for the light in my eyes is strange}
{I'm at your back door with the earth of a hundred nations in my skin
you wouldn't recognise me, for the light in my eyes is strange}
I Feel Like We're Summoning The Devil
Nickname/Alias: Macedonia, Makedonija; Skopje; also "Western Bulgaria", "Eastern Albania", "Southern Serbia", and to a lesser extent, "Northern Greece", but let's not go there.
Gender: Female
Character Type: Country
Country or Country of Origin: (FYR) Macedonia
Canon or Original: Original.
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When I look into all of your stupid faces
I think how fun it will be to pound them into dust
Hair: Brown
Height and Weight: 5'5'' (165cm); 141lbs (64kg)
Other Distinguishing Features: Nearly always (from early 19th century Ottoman era occupation, onwards), she wears two opium poppies on a hairclip on the left side of her hair (representitive of the opium poppy being the national flower of the country; the flower was not, however, introduced to the region until brought there by the Ottoman empire).
Overall Appearance: Elena has a pleasant face, though her nose is long and slightly crooked, and perhaps larger than she'd like it to be, and her lips are quite thin. Her eyes are a pale, blue-ish green colour (Macedonia has several large glacial lakes, and these are referred to locally as 'mountain eyes') and her skin, a fair olive colour leans more to the tanned side during summer months. Generally she wears her dark brown, slightly wavy hair loose, though it isn't uncommon to see her tie it back and out of her way for practical tasks and such. Standing at an average height, she's more on the tall side for a female nation, but still far shorter than most of her surrounding neighbours. Most of her extra weight comes from her being quite dumpy around her hips and upper thighs; she's not particularly muscular, though she has enough upper body strength to lug about blocks of wood or small animals, if need be.
Her dress sense isn't quite as flashy as she'd like it to be. Though she's fond of nice, expensive clothes, but doesn't find them practical to her everyday life; for her, it would be like pouring money down the drain. Up until the breakup of Yugoslavia, she wore nothing but her traditional dresses and, when suitable, armour or uniform. Nowadays, she keeps her traditional clothes for traditional purposes; others will mostly see her in modern, frugal clothing, though she has one nice tailored dress suit she keeps for world conferences and official meetings, etc.
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Man up or I'll beat you with my peace prize!
✓Flowers: She adores them, particularly poppies. She's an avid gardener in her free time.
✓Alcohol: She might not look capable of it, but Elena can drink grown men under the table.
✓Cigarettes: Likewise, she's a heavy smoker. One of the heaviest in the world, in fact.
✓Making friends with other nations: Being as warm and as friendly as she is, she likes the company of others, especially any big nations like Australia and Turkey that are willing to back her up against her dispute with Greece.
✓Football... er, 'soccer': The Macedonian team isn't the best in the world, but that doesn't mean Elena doesn't love the sport.
✓Alexander the Great: Oh, now here's a man she'd break all the promises she made to herself and marry in an instant! Too bad he's human, and, erm... Has been dead for nearly 2000 years.
✓Cooking: She can cook for a dozen people at a time, and demand that there's no such thing as being 'full', even when she's stuffed enough food down their throats to feed them for a month.
✓Folk music and dance: It's in her blood, it can't be helped.
✓Cute things: Little children, baby animals, Kosovo; if she's pinching its cheeks, its probably at least a little bit cute.
✓Romance novels: Even the really bad ones.
✓Coffee: Per capita, she drinks as much as America.
✓Money: Well, who doesn't? She doesn't have much of it; she appreciates what she's got and thinks it's nice to get it.
✓The colour red: Most of her clothing, traditional or no, is red. Her poppies are red, her flag is mostly red, she sometimes paints her nails red too.
Dislikes:
✗Greece: All grudges aside, she doesn't outrightly despise Bulgaria, and she's trying her absolute best to make friends with Albania, but the absolute bane of her existence is her Southern neighbour. Since he's so adamant on not accepting her under the name of "Macedonia", she's tried several methods of getting her point across - tattling on him to big countries like America, building giant statues of Alexander the Great in her capital, etc. On the other hand, Greece is her biggest trading partner, so perhaps the hatred is primarily external.
✗Loud, sudden noises: A balloon being popped? A gunshot? That one kid that follows you around the store and screeches at the top of its lungs whenever you least expect it? Guaranteed to make Elena immediately duck for cover. She's paranoid about bombs, having had enough of them shoved through her mailbox in the past.
✗Being referred to as 'Serbian/Bulgarian/Greek/Albanian/not Macedonian/Russian/'oh that chick over there? She has a funny accent, I think she might be Polish': She takes great pride in her nationality and independence, and of course, referring to her as any of the above is a surefire way to get on her bad side.
✗Being asked when she's getting married: She's started to avoid elderly human women around her country, as they all ask the same question and freak out when she tells them straight that she's never going to marry. Of course, they'd probably be supportive of her in that respect, were they aware of what she actually is.
✗Draughty rooms: She thinks they'd kill her. She calls them 'promaja', and if anyone dares open a window on a cold day, when it's hot and stuffy in the building she's in, she isn't going to be very happy with them, to say the least.
✗Sitting on cold surfaces: ...She thinks this'd kill her, too. Or freeze her ovaries, at the very least.
✗Technology: She's getting better with it - she actually has a phone and a decent internet service nowadays, but anything more complicated than that is a no.
✗Bullies: And yet, she feels as if she's surrounded by them.
Strengths:
+Kind-hearted, motherly: Speaks for itself, mostly. Elena's the type to come across little injured animals when out on a walk, take them home and nurse them back to health. Same goes for people, or other nations.
+Gentle: Helps the above point a great deal; it'd be bad if she wasn't.
+Hardworking: She puts her best into everything she does, genuinely.
+Stubborn, adamant: In certain situations, particularly regarding herself, she's difficult to sway.
+National pride: And boy, does she have bucketloads of it.
+Outgoing: A good trait for a little nation like her to have, when trying to make friends.
+Good cook: Again, a good thing for her to have under her belt. Well, until she starts forcefeeding those who're stuffed already, that is.
Weaknesses:
-Naivity, obliviousness: Oh, is she ever a naive one. She's remarkably easy to take advantage of, and oftentimes even the most obvious things fly straight over her head.
-Not intelligent: Not that she's outrightly stupid, but there's certainly very many more intellectual nations in the world than herself. Not to mention her naivity and obliviousness don't help this, either.
-Physically weak: She's strong enough to lug a few heavy objects around, that's about it. There's been a few times in history when she's been tough enough to give her neighbours a run for the money (with Bulgaria's help, however), but never enough to actually take them down.
-Dishonest: As poor of a liar Elena may be, she's sometimes a liar all the same.
-Disliked: For what and who she is, she's gained a few enemies, most of whom just flat out want rid of her, through annexion or otherwise.
Fears:
☣Annexation: Really, what nation doesn't inwardly fear losing their independence, perhaps again? For Elena, this possibility - though she thoroughly denies it will ever happen again - has always seemed very likely.
☣Bombs: Bad experiences that have gradually lead to a full-blown fear.
☣Having to give up the name of 'Macedonia': The sheer thought of losing her identity as it is scares her more than anything.
Secrets:
~Elena actually likes drinking coffee more than she likes drinking alcohol, but she keeps this a secret, since she feels the other Balkans would judge her for it.
~She really doesn't hate Greece as much as she wishes she could, for everything he did to her in the past, and still is doing.
~Every time she sees beautiful female countries, such as Hungary and Ukraine, she dies a bit on the inside; she feels so plain and, erm, flat chested in comparison.
Any Quirks/Habits: n/a
Overall Personality: A happy and simple girl, Elena seems like nothing special to anyone who'd be meeting her for the first time. Just another one of those Balkans? And a former Yugoslav nation? There's several, other nations may think; what is so unique about this one? Really, unless they were to get to know her better, they may never have that question answered.
To those she's familiar with (and really, it doesn't take much for her to warm to someone and consider them 'familiar'), she's talkative, to the point where she just ends up prattling on carelessly; this is where her excessive ditziness also becomes apparent. She's not the smartest of nations, and though it might not be the most obvious thing about her, others generally are quick to pick up on this.
In general, she's very cheerful. She always strives to see the bright side of bad situations, though she's better at reassuring others than at reassuring herself. Though her air of obliviousness makes it seem like she's difficult to upset, this isn't true; in reality, she's pretty sensitive, and a bit of a crybaby - although resilient and able to fend for herself all the same.
Though she likes to think of herself as independent nowadays, Elena has had to rely on others through most of her past, and she doesn't mind getting help from others if need be. Yet she has her fair share of being pushed around by others, as well; it's really not all that difficult to take advantage of her - it's when she actually comes to realise that it's being done that she'll be angry about it.
Open and caring, she's trustworthy, if not dishonest and a poor liar at times. Really, though, it's difficult to tell off-hand if her carefree demeanour is really what she's genuinely like, or if it's all just some kind of act.
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I'm the hero!
The name of 'Macedonia' is the oldest surviving name of a country in Europe. However, Ancient Macedonia differs from the modern day Republic, and so the history shall therefore begin after the fall of the empire that was Ancient Macedonia, when the Roman Province of Macedon was founded. Macedonia became a Roman Province in 146BC, approximately.
-51AD: Christianity is preached on European soil for the first time in the Macedonian towns of Philippi, Thessalonica and Beroea, by Apostle Paul.
-3rd & 4th centuries: Because of Gothic attacks, the Macedonian towns build fortresses around them, and Macedonia is divided into two provinces: Macedonia Prima and Macedonia Salutarus.
-358AD: The Roman empire splits in half; Macedonia is ruled now by the eastern half, the Byzantine Empire.
-5th century: Macedonia is divided again, into Macedonia Prima and Macedonia Secunda.
-6th century: An earthquake demolishes Scupi (Skopje), and Slavs overrun Macedonia and Greece and mix with the peoples there, laying the foundations for the modern day Macedonian and Greek populations.
-7th century: The Bulgars enter the Balkan peninsula and mix with the Slavs, forming the foundations for the modern Bulgarian nation.
-9th century: Byzantium is ruled by Macedonian emperors; the brothers Cyril and Methodius create the first Slavonic alphabet and Slavonic literacy, and they promote Christianity among the Slavic peoples. Their disciples, Kliment and Naum, establish the first Slavonic University. This leads to Old Slavonic language usage in religious services, and the founding of the Macedonian Orthodox Chuch.
-10th century: Bogomil teaching appears in Macedonia. The first Macedonian Slavic State also appears (the Kingdom of Tsar Samuel, 976-1014), independent from the Bulgarian empire. Tsar Samuel created a strong Macedonian medieval kingdom at this time, with Byzantium weakening and Bulgaria apart; parts of Greece, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro and a large part of Bulgaria are conquered. (I'll be entirely honest here, Samuel was the Tsar of Bulgaria at the time, so this just flat out confuses me as to why he'd also be the Tsar of Macedonia if Macedonia was an independent state that conquered a large part of Bulgaria).
1040AD: A major uprising against Byzantium rule takes place, lead by Petar Deljan, Samuel's grandson.
1072AD: Another major uprising takes place, lead by Gjorgji Vojteh.
-For the following four centuries, rebellions and frequent changes of rule disrupt Macedonia's development.
13th & 14th centuries: Short lived alternating Bulgarian and Serbian occupations of Macedonia.
1389AD: Byzantium rule of Macedonia ends when the Ottoman Turks conquer it, establishing themselves in the whole of the Balkan region and much of the rest of Eastern Europe.
1564-1565AD: First significant movements against the Ottomans commence, with the Mariovo-Prilep Rebellion.
1689: Karposh uprising; further movements against Ottoman rule.
18th century: The Turks abolish the Ohrid Archbishopric, which had been keeping alive the Macedonian spiritual soul for centuries since the time of Tsar Samuel, under pressure from the Greek Patriarch in Istanbul.
19th century: Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia, having freed themselves from Turkish rule, conspire against the Macedonians. The Greeks and Bulgarians send guerrilla bands into Macedonia to use terror to 'convince the population of its true identity'; as the Macedonians attempt to also free themselves from Turkish rule, the neighbouring states do everything they can to interrupt this.
1876 and 1878AD: The Razlovtsi Uprising and the Kresna Uprising respectively. Both have a large impact on the awareness of Macedonian nationality. Bishop Theodosius of Skopje begins a campaign around this time to restore the Ohrid Archbishopric abolished in the 18th century. This idea is effectively destroyed by the Bulgarians.
1893AD: The VMRO (the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation) is founded in Salonica, with Gotse Delchev as its leader. Its objectives are national freedom, and the establishment of an autonomous Macedonian state with the slogan "Macedonia for the Macedonians".
1903AD: A group of Macedonian revolutionaries carry out an attack on a number of buildings in Salonica to draw the attention of the European public towards the situation in Macedonia. VMRO later launch the Ilinden Uprising against the Turks and declare Macedonian independence. The revolutionaries liberate the town of Krushevo, and establish the Republic of Krushevo with its own government. The uprising is brutally crushed by the Turks, but the Macedonian Question thereafter arouses intense international concern.
1908AD: The Young Turk revolution takes place, with the intention of reforming the Turkish country.
1912AD: Greece, Serbia (and Montenegro), and Bulgaria join forces and defeat the Turkish army in Macedonia. 100,000 Macedonians also participate and help in the Turkish evacuation but the victors do not reward them. The Treaty of London (May 1913), which concludes the First Balkan War, leaves Bulgaria dissatisfied with the partition of Macedonia among the allies. Bulgaria's attempt to enforce a new partition in a Second Balkan War fails, and the Treaty of Bucharest (August 1913) confirms a pattern of boundaries that (with small variations) remains in force ever since.
1914AD: World War I erupts. Bulgaria sides with the Central powers and by 1915 occupies the Serbian held part of Macedonia. The defeat of the Central powers and the end of World War I in 1918 sees the partition of 1913 reconfirmed and Macedonia left divided. At the Paris Peace conference, the demands of the Macedonians for independent and united Macedonia are ignored. Vardar Macedonia is re-incorporated with the rest of Serbia and into the new Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later renamed Yugoslavia.
1925AD: VMRO (United) is founded in Vienna.
1941AD: Yugoslavia is invaded by Germany during WWII. Bulgaria, now fascist, again occupies almost all of Macedonia (both Vardar and Aegean). The Macedonians launch a war for the liberation of Macedonia from the Bulgarian occupation.
1943AD: The anti-fascist sentiment lends support for the growing communist movement; soon thereafter, the Communist Party of Macedonia is established.
1945AD: The first Macedonian government is founded.
1945AD: After the Varkisa agreement, the use of the Macedonian name and the Macedonian language in Greece are prohibited in Aegean Macedonia; Greek authorities start applying terror against the Macedonians.
1946-1949AD: During the Greek Civil War, the Macedonians of Aegean Macedonia fight on the side of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) simply because it promises them their rights after the war. But after two years of KKE's success in the civil war, the United States decides to side up against them, afraid that Greece will become another communist country. With the military support that comes from the United States and Great Britain, the Communists lose the war, and the Macedonians are again stripped of their human rights. The defeat of DAG results in terrible consequences for the Macedonians. 28,000 Aegean Macedonian children, known as 'child refugees', are separated from their families and settle in eastern Europe and Soviet Union in an attempt to save them from the terror. Thousands of Macedonians lose their lives for the liberty of their people and a great number of the Macedonian villages are burnt to the ground.
1946AD: The Communist Party of Bulgaria officially recognise the Macedonian nation and the right of the Pirin part of Macedonia to be attached to the People’s Republic of Macedonia.
1958AD: The Archbishopric of Ohrid is restored.
1967AD: Autocephaly of the Archbishopric is declared.
1991AD: Independence of the Republic of Macedonia from Yugoslavia.
1994AD: Following the dispute over the naming of the independent country, Greece places a trade embargo onto Macedonia. The embargo is lifted in 1995.
2001AD: Ethnic Albanian insurgents calling themselves the National Liberation Army (some of whom are former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army) take up arms in the west of Macedonia. They demand that the constitution be rewritten to enshrine certain ethnic Albanian interests such as language rights.
2004AD: Macedonia submits an application for membership into the EU.[/size][/ul]
You've got it backwards! Backwards!
Hurry up and throw it! If you don't hurry up and throw it, you'll go "boom"!
((honestly I'm not sure that this is long enough. Forgive me if it isn't, I was RPing this as three characters in this and I've sheared off as much solo Macedonia as I could))
CRASH.
At the very moment the blade had struck, the cup Macedonia was holding slipped from her hands and dropped to the hard floor of her kitchen. She was dumbfounded for a second... Something was wrong... Something was very wrong... She felt an odd kind of pain in her chest - not the physical kind, but a worrying pain... Quickly, she bent down and collected the pieces of the shattered cup together, and then once she'd disposed of them, stared out of the kitchen window, as if she was expecting the issue to be happening right outside of her front door. But, no... Everything was still and quiet and sleepy in her countryside, as usual. It wasn't very often that she knew for sure something was wrong... Her hand slipped towards the counter where she'd left her phone - no one would be mad at her if she was just calling to check everything was alright, would they?
Oh, but they would be. It wasn't like her big, bumbling, 'clearly-far-better-than-thou' neighbours appreciated anything she did, even if it was showing a fraction of concern for them. A light frown crossed her face - she'd deal with what she knew would be the worst responses first. Greece was off-hand and hung up on her practically straight away. She expected as much. Albania did much the same, grumbling and not seeming to care about what she was actually concerned for.
She called Bulgaria next. Clutching her phone to her ear with both hands, she waited until the answer machine began, her heart dropping when she heard it. 'He's busy...' She told herself, but called a second time, just to make sure... And a third. 'He's... Just ignoring me!' The sheer thought made her puff out a cheek in frustration. She decided that she didn't want to speak to Bulgaria again after that, so instead, began to call Serbia... Again, all she got from the other end was the answer machine, and her heart sunk further and further, aching with concern. Like with Bulgaria, she called a second time, and a third time, just to be sure... But there was no answer. She shut the phone and pushed it into one of her skirt pockets, running to the hall to get her coat... She didn't want to act on impulse; on her first instincts of something terrible having happened so rashly but she just didn't feel like she had a choice... She didn't know why. After locking the front door behind her, she set her sights north, and broke into the fastest jog she could.
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I Summon thee from far away lands, come forth!
You called?
Timezone: GMT (EST+5, if you prefer)
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