#Terra Nullius vs The Carers

[haunted-armour-shell]

So.

in my story, each nation has an animal denoted to them. In theory this is all fine and dandy - you know just pick the national animal...

Except 90% of Europe has a fricking lion. And I want them to have A) individual animals -- i.e no one has the same -- and B) animals native to their land. So, I have decided that No One gets a lion. Which brings me to the next issue.

I have given Sweden an Auroch as his animal because his canon(ish) last name is Oxenstierna, so he obviously needed to have an Ox. For pun purposes. Also, you know, big man + father figure + Big Dick Energy = Bull.

But I can't think of an animal for Spain, at least based on my understanding of his personality and my (very bad) understanding of Spanish culture, that isn't a bull. (Is this because of the amount of beautiful fanart relating to Bull-Fighter!Spain I have seen and loved? Maybe.)

So. Help.

[haunted-armour-shell]

A text post of how Nations work in my universe.

1. All nations have an Essence. Kind of like a scent in Omegaverse, it is their very being and all nations can sense it. If they're only in the same room, such as in a World Meeting, they can tell basic things: if they're at war, how their agriculture's going, who they are, their gender, etc. If they're close relationship-wise (I.e Canada and America) they can tell: if they're stressed, if they're scared, etc.

Nations in close relationships often leave traces of their Essence on each other ( e.g. at World Meetings everyone knows that America and Canada are brothers, that France and Seychelles consider each other father and daughter, etc)

Empires (*See Empire Footnote) such as the British Empire, French Empire, and Soviet Union, often leave a distinctive Empire-Essence (*See Empire Footnote) on their underlings to mark them as theirs.

Feeling another nations essence is a very intimate thing. To do so a nation must place their face on a specific place on another nation's neck. Feeling the essence sends the nation Feeling it into a dream-like state, where they see important moments in the other's life, things from their Land (e.g. eucalyptus trees for Australia), and sometimes remnants of their Sire and Dam (see second headcanon) or important nations in their life.

Empire Footnote

Empires are slightly different to normal nations. In addition to their usual Essence, they also produce an Empire-Essence that they use to mark their territory (the nation's under their jurisdiction).

They also have Empire Rage, which is different to normal rage because it makes all other nations in the vicinity - especially those under their jurisdiction - feel immense amounts of fear. If the empire is extraordinarily angry, their Empire Rage can also affect humans, though this is rare.

[haunted-armour-shell]

Saw your animal Hetalia post and was wondering if you have considered the flamingo for Spain? idk why, but he really feels like he'd fit as a flamingo. Additionally/otherwise I think the bear would be really good for Sweden.

Thank you for taking the time to reply!

I had not considered Spain as a flamingo, but it does fit his vibe. And it also fits the theme of native animals.

However, with the assistance of the lovely @asitrita and @jamtlandsarkiv I have already decided that Spain is an Iberian Lynx and Sweden is the Eurasian Moose.

If you have any other ideas I am open to hearing them! (Particularly Romano and England. For some reason I just go blank on animals for them lol)

Thank you again,

Praying-mantis-knight

[haunted-armour-shell]

I don't know if anyone else agrees with me, but I firmly believe that APH Belarus has reproductive trauma. Maybe she miscarried, maybe she had a stillbirth, maybe she was forced into an unwanted pregnancy. Whatever it was, it was related to her being pregnant and she is Never getting pregnant again.

One another vein, my Australia also has reproductive trauma. She was sterilised by Carer's so she could never have illegitimate children with her "convict genes" that could be a possible heir to the British Empire.

And for other F!Australia's, I reckon it was her government. Australia is almost universally portrayed as blak in fanon, and the government in the 19th & 20th would have definitely not wanted her producing nation babies with blak genes.

Basically, this is a really long post to say: If Romausbel (romano/australia/Belarus who are dating in my universe) ever decide to have children, Romano's the one carrying it.

[haunted-armour-shell]

If any of you are here for my Hetalia Headcanons related to my story, they are all tagged terra nullius vs the carers for ease of finding. Or as easy as it can be with tumblrs terrible search function lol

[haunted-armour-shell]

So, um, some of you might have noticed my edits to my big nation headcanon posts. I went back and erased all mentions of Diemen as I have changed the direction of the story and he is no longer a major part of it.

Also, to aid in finding my headcanon posts, they shall all be now tagged Terra Nullius vs the Carer's (a kind of a give away to the plot lol.)

[haunted-armour-shell]

Since I got such an awesome turnout on the last post. Guys. I need animals for like. every. nation.

Help me please!

So.

in my story, each nation has an animal denoted to them. In theory this is all fine and dandy - you know just pick the national animal...

Except 90% of Europe has a fricking lion. And I want them to have A) individual animals -- i.e no one has the same -- and B) animals native to their land. So, I have decided that No One gets a lion. Which brings me to the next issue.

I have given Sweden an Auroch as his animal because his canon(ish) last name is Oxenstierna, so he obviously needed to have an Ox. For pun purposes. Also, you know, big man + father figure + Big Dick Energy = Bull.

But I can't think of an animal for Spain, at least based on my understanding of his personality and my (very bad) understanding of Spanish culture, that isn't a bull. (Is this because of the amount of beautiful fanart relating to Bull-Fighter!Spain I have seen and loved? Maybe.)

So. Help.

[haunted-armour-shell]

2. Nation's Gender and Reproduction.

A. Gender

A nation's Gender (As in, whether they present as Male, Female, or Neither) is usually identified by nation's around them by their Essence. (See above)

In regards to their Sex, (I.e. whether they have a Vagina or Penis), it is fluid. All nations have the ability to have a Vagina or a Penis, and can change their genitals in a second.

Secondary sex characteristics are also under the full control of nations. (For Example: Nations never have to shave their faces. They can choose whether they have facial hair growing or not.)

However, unlike genitals, secondary sex characteristics usually take a month or so to come in: Germany couldn't decide he wanted breasts one day and wake up in the morning with bazongas. They would grow in like humans' do, though in a matter of weeks rather than years.

B. Reproduction.

Nations reproduce in three ways: Sexual, Spontaneous, and Mental.

Mental usually involves a singular nation. They think very hard about having a child for a period of time (between weeks to years) and one day a baby appears in their house. The child shares similarities to their parent, but have other traits that are original to them.

Spontaneous reproduction is when a child - usually between 3 - 6 years of age - appears in the land that will become theirs, with no relation whatsoever to any other nations.

Sexual is the way humans reproduce. All nations have the ability to become pregnant (unless there are extenuating circumstances). The nation who carries the child is known as the "Dam" and the nation who implants the child is known as the "Sire".

Using the example of Seychelles, who was born of this type of reproduction. France is her Dam, and England is her Sire, but she refers to them as Papa and Dad, respectively. This is because, to nations, the roles of Sire and Dam, and Mum/Dad/Papa etc, are completely seperate.

A text post of how Nations work in my universe.

1. All nations have an Essence. Kind of like a scent in Omegaverse, it is their very being and all nations can sense it. If they're only in the same room, such as in a World Meeting, they can tell basic things: if they're at war, how their agriculture's going, who they are, etc. If they're close relationship-wise (I.e Canada and America) they can tell: if they're stressed, if they're scared, etc.

Nations in close relationships often leave traces of their Essence on each other ( e.g. at World Meetings everyone knows that America and Canada are brothers, that France and Seychelles consider each other father and daughter, etc)

Empires (*See Empire Footnote) such as the British Empire, French Empire, and Soviet Union, often leave a distinctive Empire-Essence (*See Empire Footnote) on their underlings to mark them as theirs.

Feeling another nations essence is a very intimate thing. To do so a nation must place their face on a specific place on another nation's neck. Feeling the essence sends the nation Feeling it into a dream-like state, where they see important moments in the other's life, things from their Land (e.g. eucalyptus trees for Australia), and sometimes remnants of their Sire and Dam (see second headcanon) or important nations in their life.

Empire Footnote

Empires are slightly different to normal nations. In addition to their usual Essence, they also produce an Empire-Essence that they use to mark their territory (the nation's under their jurisdiction).

They also have Empire Rage, which is different to normal rage because it makes all other nations in the vicinity - especially those under their jurisdiction - feel immense amounts of fear. If the empire is extraordinarily angry, their Empire Rage can also affect humans, though this is rare.

[haunted-armour-shell]

Expansion on the Parenting Roles: A Footnote

A. The Terms.

Child nations usually refer to their parents using whatever terms the parent's culture uses for parents: "Papa", "Vader", "Mama", "Mum", etc. Thess term doesn't usually relate to whether the parent nation is the child's Sire or Dam, and instead is the preffered parental title for the parent's Gender.

For example: if Austria and Hungary had a child together, and Austria was the Dam and Hungary the Sire, that doesn't automatically mean that the child would call Austria "Mum" and Hungary "Dad" (or the Hungarian/Austrian equivalents). They might, if that was what Hungary and Austria wanted, but more likely they would refer to them using a term that matched their Gender, I.e Hungary as "Mum" and Austria as "Dad".

B.1 The Passing Down of Personality Traits Between Parent(s) and Child

[Note: This first part is not my original headcanon. I have seen many people say this before.]

Nations' genetics are not a simple thing. There is no 50% from one parent, 50% from the other parent. Instead, nations take on traits from all nations that spent a lot of time with them when they were young.

For example [Note: For this example I am only using one trait per person as it would take too long to list all the traits she got from each person.]:

In my universe, Seychelles is England and France's biological child, and she inherited France's fashion sense and England's tendency towards passive agressive/snarky comments about nations she dislikes.

France had sole custody of her for quite a while after she was born. However, during the French Revolution he was incapable of caring for her and unwilling to give her to England, so he sent her to live with one of his other colonies, Haiti.

Haiti at this time was preparing for the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) [This was an *extremely* important event in the history of slavery and racism, and I haven't got the expertise necessary to explain it properly, so please find a more educated person to teach you.] and passed on her revolutionary spirit to Seychelles. It's also because of Haiti that Seychelles - unlike her siblings (namely America, Canada, Greenland, Diemen and Australia because New Zealand and Hong Kong came under England's control in 1840ish [Note: Greenland and Diemen shall be explained in a future post about my story.]) - has the ability to imagine a world free of colonialism and racism.

(Those siblings were all at least half non-white [Note: In this context I am using "white" to refer to European nations and humans/humans with largely European heritage, and non-white simply means any nations/humans that are not "white".] but were white-passing and were therefore indoctrinated into thinking that the colonial system was the only way. They were discriminated against, but more in a xenophobic, classist way, whereas Seychelles experienced the full horrors of 19th century racism.)

Anyway, Seychelles was removed from Haiti's care in 1804 (once Haiti was independent and no longer a part of the French Empire, France didn't trust her to take care of Seychelles) and shortly after given to England as part of a peace treaty.

England was a largely absent parent during the Napoleonic Wars and so Seychelles spent most of her time in Australia, Diemen, and the Carer's care. (The Carer's are a whole other ballgame, that shall not be explained in this post.)

From Australia Seychelles inherited a dogged sense of loyalty and a healthy dose of practical, brutal, ruthlessness. (Turns out shipping a bunch of criminals to a child's land does Weird Things to their psyche, who could've guessed?) And from Diemen she inherited an eye for valuables and a tendency towards self-sacrifice. (As I said earlier, shipping a bunch of criminals to a child's land does Weird Things to their psyche.)

And this example is already far too long so I'll just end it there.

B.2 The Passing Down of Physical Attributes Between Parent(s) and Child

[Note: Same disclaimer as above applies here too. Other people have done this first.]

Physical Appearance in nations usually changes little over their lifetimes. The changes that do happen are usually the result of trauma, a sudden shift in their country's culture, or an outside (usually magical) force.

The most common thing that will change is hair and eyes.

For Example: Hong Kong is China and England's biological child (China is his Dam, England is his Sire.), but was born looking identical to China with black hair, dark eyes and olive skin. When England took him as part of the Treaty of Nanking, his appearance shifted to look more like a mix of both of his parents. His eyes lightened to a light-brown, almost gold, and green hazel, and his hair went from pitch-black to a black-brown.

These changes were because of a shift in his country's culture.

For another example, Austria was born with brown eyes and hair. He so desperately wanted a more "interesting" appearance that his eyes became purple.

This change wasn't because of any of the usual reasons: a change in culture, trauma, or an outside force; it was because of his own will. This is much rarer than other reasons, but is still known from a few examples with modern nations. (e.g. Australia's hair changed from a dirty blonde to dark brown after Diemen died because she wanted to remember him.)

A text post of how Nations work in my universe.

1. All nations have an Essence. Kind of like a scent in Omegaverse, it is their very being and all nations can sense it. If they're only in the same room, such as in a World Meeting, they can tell basic things: if they're at war, how their agriculture's going, who they are, etc. If they're close relationship-wise (I.e Canada and America) they can tell: if they're stressed, if they're scared, etc.

Nations in close relationships often leave traces of their Essence on each other ( e.g. at World Meetings everyone knows that America and Canada are brothers, that France and Seychelles consider each other father and daughter, etc)

Empires (*See Empire Footnote) such as the British Empire, French Empire, and Soviet Union, often leave a distinctive Empire-Essence (*See Empire Footnote) on their underlings to mark them as theirs.

Feeling another nations essence is a very intimate thing. To do so a nation must place their face on a specific place on another nation's neck. Feeling the essence sends the nation Feeling it into a dream-like state, where they see important moments in the other's life, things from their Land (e.g. eucalyptus trees for Australia), and sometimes remnants of their Sire and Dam (see second headcanon) or important nations in their life.

Empire Footnote

Empires are slightly different to normal nations. In addition to their usual Essence, they also produce an Empire-Essence that they use to mark their territory (the nation's under their jurisdiction).

They also have Empire Rage, which is different to normal rage because it makes all other nations in the vicinity - especially those under their jurisdiction - feel immense amounts of fear. If the empire is extraordinarily angry, their Empire Rage can also affect humans, though this is rare.