#Siberia oc

[irithnova]

My bone to pick with shitty hetalia "Siberia" OCs

Spoiler alert, they're all terrible!

Many people who make Siberia ocs often refer to Siberia as a nation. Siberia is not a nation, it is a large geographical area which is the home to many different ethnic groups.

This excuse is often made for singular "native American" ocs too; Using the excuse that because of the Russian conquest of Siberia which resulted in the massacre and displacement of the different peoples of Siberia, this is a justification to put all of these different groups into one, singular, Siberia OC, as apparently, there's no point in doing actual research into the different ethnic groups who are native to Siberia!

This I find to be blatantly disrespectful, conflating such diverse groups into one (often whitewashed as I'll get onto later) singular OC and flippantly saying "oh well a lot of them are dead now so..." is again, disrespectful and insensitive. A Tuvan is not an Evenk is not a Yakut is not a Buryat is not a Chukchi is not a Koryak.

That list I just gave you is just a small example of the sheer diversity of the ethnic groups who are native to Siberia.

It leaves a very bad taste in my mouth when people use the Russian conquest of Siberia - an already sensitive topic because of the displacements and killings of the native people of Siberia which in turn, resulted in an ethnic cleansing, as a vehicle to then create (as I said before, often whitewashed) OCs which dismiss the unique cultures and histories of these different groups. Do people...Not see the irony in this?

Honestly, just 5 minutes of research into the native groups of Siberia would show you that trying to conflate all of these different cultures into one just does not make sense regardless. Though these cultures share similarities because of course they are North East Asian - this is not a justification to waive off the diversity of these ethnic groups!

Let's take Buryats and Yakuts for example, two ethnic groups who live in Siberia and who are considered to be Siberians. Buryats are a Mongolic people, their culture is quite similar to that of Khalkha Mongols, the majority ethnic group in Mongolia. Yakuts on the other hand, are not a Mongolic group.

The Buryats live primarily in the Republic of Buryatia, located in southern Siberia, Russia, while the Yakuts, also known as the Sakha, inhabit the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in the Russian Far East. Both groups have historically practised nomadic herding, but the Buryats traditionally focused on cattle herding and moved with their herds across the vast steppe, while the Yakuts were known for their reindeer herding and horse breeding in the Arctic and subarctic regions. The Buryats' culture has been heavily influenced by Tibetan Buddhism due to historical connections with Tibet, and shamanism also plays a significant role in their spiritual practices. The Yakuts' culture, in contrast, reflects influences from both Turkic and Siberian indigenous elements, with some Russian cultural assimilation over time.

Geographically speaking, they also differ. Buryatia is characterised by diverse landscapes, including mountains and lakes, while Yakutia is known for its extreme cold temperatures and vast tundra. Despite their differences, both groups have rich cultural heritages and face challenges in preserving their traditions and languages amidst Russian colonisation.

Just between Buryats and Yakuts, you can already see how they differ culturally and linguistically. Of course there will be some similarities as they are both Northern Asian cultures, but we don't give Spain and Portugal a singular personification because of similar characteristics/cultures now, do we?

Another issue I have with Siberia OCs is when, not only (by default) is a Siberia OC blatantly dismissive of the diversity of the ethnic groups who are native to Siberia, but when they make their already insensitive OC... White Russian, or half Russian? Do I even need to explain why this is offensive?

Yes, a majority of people who live in Siberia now are ethnic Russias. Do you ever... wonder why that is though?

What's worse is when people know, but then use the displacement of the people of Siberia as a justification to make their Siberia OC half Russian or white. This is blatant white washing, and though many groups are Russified, this does not mean that they've completely let go of their native culture and or are extinct, nor is it an excuse to ignore their native cultures to make an insensitive oc.

There is a difference in recognising that yes, some of these groups have gone through a process of Russification/have adopted many aspects Russian culture (to varying degrees depending on the group) , and straight up white washing their cultures by making a half white-Russian or a white Siberia OC - as if each of their unique identities do not deserve the agency to be represented by an equally unique and accurate personification.

Groups in Siberia never had strong relations with ethnic Russians until the Russian conquest of Siberia. It's okay to have an oc of a Siberian ethnic group which reflects the degree of Russification that that group underwent because (unfortunately) it's true for many of them - Kazakhstan for example is a central Asian country that underwent a process of Russification and it's accurate to reflect the degree to which Kazakhstan was Russified and how this affected him in his personification. Despite it being an unfortunate fact, you can't escape it, and I am not against reflecting this.

But it's a whole different ball game when you take already marginalised groups of people, squeeze their diverse cultures into a clusterfuck of an oc, which is already bad in and of itself… but then WHITEWASH THIS OC. EVEN WORSE WHEN THEIR CULTURES WERE ACTIVELY PERSECUTED BY THE RUSSIAN STATE, AND ARE STILL BEING PERSECUTED.

Further, the idea of making the Siberia OC "young" (even an oc of a singular Siberian ethnic group) as in, born during the Russian conquest era… and make Russia some sort of father to Siberia… This just absolutely reeks of paternalistic colonialist propaganda; the idea that these groups had no culture, no right to govern themselves or the idea that they didn't have the ability to govern themselves before the Russians came and subsequently "gave them culture" and "enlightened them" in their ways.

What other actual justification is there to do something like this? Seriously? When these cultures are actually quite old and predate the Russian conquest?

As a Filipino who has to deal with this sort of trash from Spaniards, it is not appreciated.

Further, if it wouldn't make sense to make a native American group OC half white because of white settlers in America, and if it wouldn't make sense to make the Philippines half Spanish because of our colonisation under the Spanish, why then is it ok to do it to the native people of Siberia?

This is the WORST part about Siberia ocs. But people who make their Siberia ocs the representation of 2p (or BOO! EVIL!) Russia.

This is so egregiously racist and I don't even know how people can headcanon this without even batting an eye.

First of all, making Siberia the "evil Asian" side of Russia… okay I've bloody banged on about this before but I really don't care at this point. This is stepping into peddling eugenicist racial science about Russian.

The rhetoric that Russians (but this also applies to other eastern Europeans, however I'm specifically talking about Russia here seeing as it's about Siberia ocs) are not "true Europeans" because of Asiatic influence, both from the past (Mongol invasions) and present (Russian Asians who are the result of the Russian conquest of Siberia and central Asia). And because of this, this means that Russians are also a load of evil, Eastern Hordes too because of their so called "Asiatic" heritage.

There's a saying in some Eastern European countries about Russians. It goes something along the lines of "Scratch a Russian, you'll find a Tatar." This is used in an offensive manner to basically call Russians subhuman or evil because of their so-called "tatar" (Asian) heritage.

Keeping this in mind… Making Siberia… the "evil Asian side" of Russia… yeah I'm not beating around the bush with this one. You're a filthy racist if you do this.

It's even more egregious when you're using Siberians as a justification to make your cheap 2p Russia OC evil, as if SIBERIANS are the aggressors towards Russians. WHEN THEY WERE THE ONES WHO ARE COLONISED BY RUSSIA AND TO THIS DAY FACE MARGINALISATION UNDER THE RUSSIAN STATE. BUT NO. THEY'RE THE BIG EVIL AGGRESSORS TOWARDS YOUR INNOCENT WHITE BLORBO, RIGHT?

tl;dr If you have a singular "Siberia" oc it's trash no matter what, hope this helps 👍

[elecballoon]

This all happened because of Ging

also idk what happened to uvo’s arms nor palm’s eyes

[ouroboros-hideout]

BLACK WINGS

Alyona "Snow White" Petrova 05/???

Though you don't know of my duty to lead your path because I'll take you home To rest in my black wings, enfolding you

[tyrianludaship]

finally did the meme so here's some quick sketches

original pic here

[meliissa-art]

The first drawing I do for my OC Buryatia 💙

I still have to add more details and think about his name. I have thought on a bunch of names, such as Mergen (“wise”), Sodnom (“virtue”, this one has a Tibetan origin)

Perhaps his surname could be Barnzarov? Dorzhi Barnzarov was the first non-ethnic Russian to receive a PhD in a Russian university, so he was the first non ethnic Russian academic. I really love when OCs have names of notable people, that’s why I love the idea

Also, Buryatia had beef with Yakutia/Sakha, but they are more neutral nowadays. Or are they? 👀 We will see…

What do you guys think? What headcanons do you think that could fit him?

[quiet-art-kid]

Some more Rosemary fanart

For ya'll who don't know rosemary is my wanderer oc the time of Hiccup the second this is her around 13 when she was kidnapped from her home and sold into slavery

[thepinkseat-askthemoonbunny]

Hey guys, I’m making my MC’s love interest and he’s the prince of a kingdom based on like 15th century Russia…but he’s half Slavic Russian coded and half Native Siberian coded (I was gonna go with Buryat but I’m open to changing the group). Should I just change his race altogether, cuz I saw this one post saying that making this particular admixture was disrespectful and I didn’t want to disrespect anyone.

[auxiliarydetective]

For the Mind Palace event:

Jelena with 6: cold weather, that might also mesh well with 9: stealing clothes (from Justus or Lys maybe?)

~ sehr-wohl-die-herrschaften

Jelena: I'm from Siberia, I don’t get cold.

Also Jelena, not even five minutes later: *freezing, condemned to wearing the sweater she mocked her Erster for the day before*

I am a firm supporter of the theory that Justus, who canonically wears colorful patterned shirts every day, should also wear colorful sweaters. And since the Auxiliary AU takes place in the late 90s, I took that as an invitation.

This might honestly be my favourite expression I've ever drawn. That is peak Jelena annoyance right there!

Reference image under the cut!

Found here

Also, before you ask where Jelena's feet are: I ate them. - No, really, I'm glad that she even has legs at all, I was struggling...

Taglist: @starcrossedjedis @oneirataxia-girl @daughter-of-melpomene @bravelittleflower @box-of-bats @sehr-wohl-die-herrschaften (also tagging @maxwellshimbo who had to listen to me commentate my drawing process over on Discord) - let me know if you’d like to be added or removed!

[spindelkaffe]

ksenya and rodion ice fishing in 1897. this was when they still lived in yakutia

i made this in june. sakha/yakut culture is really cool, i'd like to draw more of them in traditional dress

[cindydacatpink]

My CountryHumans OC aka Country Humanize character (Cindy Nilo Evelyn country doppelganger) Part 8

I drawing Mongolia and Siberia (which is part of Russia) as Countryhumans North Asia

- Amgalan Sarantuya 🇲🇳

- Khuskhaçakh Amır 🇷🇺

[irithnova]

I cackle when I see people parade around their singular Siberia ocs. What the fuck do they represent exactly? The Sakha? Evenk? Buryats? Evens? Soyots? Yukaghir? Oroch? Nenets? Nanais? Tuvans? Nivkh? Chukchi? Koryaks? ALL OF THESE DIFFERENT GROUPS??

It's like making a fucking Africa OC and treating Africa like it's a singular country.

[theterrornaut]

Artyom the Terrible sketch

[ouroboros-hideout]

Alyona „Aon“ Petrova

Well, what can I say about Alyona - sometimes she's a pain in the ass. Or rather, almost always. Nevertheless, I count her among my closest friends and, more importantly, among my most valuable business partners. You send her some blueprints of unreleased tech and she builds, what ever it is, in no time. If you add a few extra eds on top, she even comes up with unique "special features" for the client.

We've known each other for over ten years now, and I've often offered her to work for me here in Dogtown. Offers that would have made others fall to their knees in joy. She just always said that I could go fuck myself.

Well, she values her independence more than anything, and unfortunately I had to learn to accept that.

- Kurt Hansen about Alyona „Aon“ Petrova

[meliissa-art]

Mini comic: Ivan and Lena during the early 17th century

[ID: Blonde man, teenager, with a ponytail with purple eyes and purple scarf. He has an expression of confussion as he thinks, "why does she laugh each time she sees me?". End ID]

[ID: Drawing of an asian child laughing while covering her mouth with her hands. She wears a light blue dress, a silver headpiece, and has dark purple eyes and black hair. The text says "laughs" as a description of what she is doing. End ID]

[ID: The same blonde man from the first drawing seen from a low angle, which is the asian kid's point of view. In this point of view his nose seems so big it covers almost all his face. End ID]

Lena (Yakutia/Sakha) still sees him like this hahahaha

Note: During this time, Russia was still the Tsardom of Russia. I am still learning about russian history. I based Ivan's outfit by a statue of a cossack and the colors the character usually wears in the anime. If it's not historically accurate, I apologize.

[he-xie]

I asked my friend what animals should he be herding and she decided on reindeers and then I’ve been reading about herding reindeers in Siberia for like two weeks

[ask-vida-in-the-hetalia-world]

Does Vida like the Balkans?

Well there is one and that is Siberia she was scared of him at first but she got use to being around him later on