#aph Siberia

[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?

[irithnova]

About my Siberia ocs...

So I think it's important to balance their characterisation in a way in which they are distinctive characters with interesting personalities and backstories but also acknowledges the challenges they face without making their entire character essentially "They're sad all the time because of Russia" or "Stop talking about their struggles under Russia I don't like politics."

I think both are problematic however I find the latter to be far more distasteful because well. This is a nation personification OC we're talking about and not only that, they're essentially nations within a nation (Russia) by virtue of colonisation and so are minority groups within the larger nation. Hell - because of displacement and immigration from European Russia , a lot of these groups are minorities within their own lands. It's a special case when dealing with minority groups/occupied people personifications and it's particularly egregious when someone wants to forgo any kind of acknowledgement of these power imbalances yet still insists that their interpretation is sensitive.

I've seen some pretty bad OCs of Siberian groups which are the product of the creator going "I hate politics stop talking about politics!" or, an almost direct quote, "I hate when people shove politics into historical hetalia." Which... Is an interesting take to say the least considering how history feeds into politics and vice versa. Historical hetalia is a beast in an of itself and is one of the only hetalia communities/bubbles in which "no politics" will get you laughed out the door from what I've seen considering *gestures to my previous statement*. If you've ever taken a history course - you'll know how much history and politics are intertwined.

This is how you get interps which consists of the likes of "Russia was wandering around the empty lands of Siberia" which not only blatantly disregards the brutality of the Russian colonisation of Siberia but also promotes the concept of "Terra Nullius" or "Virgin Land". I'm quoting myself from an even bigger post I have in store which focuses on anti Mongolian sentiment however stereotypes about Mongolians and Siberian groups often overlap because of their placement in Northern Asia, hence why it applies to both,

"In addition, to hone in on Mongolia being an "untouched, pristine" land - this is also a common trope that is launched towards traditionally nomadic "unsettled groups” (such as Siberian and Native American groups). The concept of "Terra Nullius", a Latin word meaning "nobody's land". It completely disregards the presence and rights of the people who inhabit the land and has been historically used to justify the colonisation and displacement of such groups - their land belonged to "nobody" so it was essentially up for grabs...It divorces the people from their landscape and paves the way for dangerous misconceptions and justifications to blossom.

Here is an example of "Terra Nullius" in action in a Russian propaganda poster, encouraging Russians to move to Kazakhstan."

Or interps such as "[Siberian group] has forgiven Russia for everything he did/most things he did and is in love with him" which implies that the mistreatment of the Siberian groups is merely something in the past when it is in fact ongoing. The mistreatment of Siberian groups such as the Sakha, Buryats, Chukchi and Tuvans has been all the more highlighted in their disproportionate mobilisation in the invasion of Ukraine - and the heaps of scapegoating that was subsequently shovelled onto them.

That's not to say ethnic minority soldiers in the Russian army shouldn't be held accountable for their crimes - however that and the fact that they themselves are victims of Russian imperialism can both exist as true statements. The scapegoating is so bad that even Pope Francis joined in, blaming the brunt of the war crimes committed onto "Non Russians" such as Buryats and Chechens, as they do not come from "Russian culture."

Back to my main point... I think the resistance to do research on and publicly acknowledge how these groups live under Russia and what kind of struggles they face in some kind of bid to "not paint them as victims!!11" is sorely misinformed and ignorant. Because well. They are victims.

Not in the sense that you should portray them as sad, pitiful, weak little meow meows but in the sense that yes they are living under Russian occupation and are an occupied people who's been subjected to centuries of Russification, and so compared to making an OC of Mongolia who is an independent nation state at least I think there is far less room to be hauling around "leave politics out of historical hetalia!" "don't talk to me about politics!" "stop victimising them!!" because then it leads to tone deaf interpretations such as "They've forgiven Russia for everything and is in love with him ♥️💖", "Russia is actually [Siberia groups] father", "Here is my singular Siberia OC who represents ALL Siberian groups and by the way Russia is their father" (yes these are all real interpretations I've seen and I've made a separate really strongly worded post ranting about it) and worse. I mean I've literally seen an "aph Siberia oc" who was Russia and France's love child. Terra Nullius executed Hetalia-style.

I don't really think I need to elaborate on why a singular Siberia OC is problematic - Siberia is filled with a myriad of different groups who speak different languages, have different origins and ways of lives and practices, different religions, who've experienced eras of peace and conflict with each other, etc and yeah to shove them all into one personification is an erasure of the sheer diversity that is in Siberia. I definitely don't need to elaborate on why making Russia a father to any of these groups is problematic, to say very the least.

On the point of "don't only portray them in a victimising lense", I think making Siberian groups all depressed all the time is also a Russia-centric perspective. Of course it's ignorant at best to not acknowledge their shared suffering because of Russia however when this point and this point alone is central to their character I believe in a way that it strips them of their autonomy and ability to feel things and do things outside of Russia's gaze. There is absolutely a lot of joy to be had despite their current situation, perhaps even in spite of their current situation. It's ok to give them odd quirks and put them in funny situations as well as acknowledge that they are an occupied people and approach that territory carefully when need be.

For example, I made my Buryatia bubbly and loud but made my Tuva a bit more deadpan because I see them as a pair who often associate with each other and I think the dynamic is funny. I also made Buryatia an overbearing "husband" to Soyot who is perpetually tired™ from all the se- .

I made a crack dynamic between Sakha, Evenkia and Dolgan where Evenkia was Sakha's teacher at first but then became a deadbeat dad leaving Sakha to primarily raise Dolgan, thus Dolgan takes after Sakha and is uh lawyermaxxing👍. Yukaghir is the little old lady of the group who is often forgetful but very nifty and Chukotka acts like a big sister to people which Koryak (who I see as her brother) always finds annoying and they often bicker. Ket is on the slightly edgy side and is extremely particular about his routines and Nganasan terrifies Nenet because he eats reindeer whereas Nenet doesn't.

All of these quirks/ more lighthearted interpretations and "they are an occupied people under Russia" can coexist. One should not be thrown out for the sake of the other.

I think there's also problem - though I've seen this far less, in making Siberia ocs purely as a middle finger at Russia. As in, you made the OC because you wanted to say loud and proud FUCK RUSSIA which well yeah, fuck Russia, but I highly doubt your interest in this group lies outside of wanting to #own the Russians which is dehumanising in and of itself. At least pretend to care about the history and culture instead of using an entire group of people to make a virtue-signally oc purely to try and upset some Russians.

Anyways yeah Siberia 👍

[coralcatsea]

HetaGame List:

Unfinished vs Complete

There aren't many lists or wikis that clearly list the games' statuses. Most say "ongoing" even if they're discontinued, and I can't easily find the last update.

So I did some digging to try and figure out which games were complete, discontinued/abandoned, or ongoing (meaning the creator is active). I also tried to figure out which were unplayable.

However, I couldn't figure out all of them, so if I made a mistake or you have information on one that I don't, please let me know!

Unfinished:

HetaOni (Tomoyoshi/Pianodream) (discontinued)

RomaHeta (Tomoyoshi) (unplayable, discontinued)

Escape from Siberia (Miryuha) (discontinued)

HetaHospital (Atomic-Crayon)

Hetalia Islands (Jezzica95)

Hetapocalypse (Schwer-von-Begriff) (unplayable, discontinued)

England's Disappearance (Maggy-Neworld)

Reconditis Mysterium de Olympus (MsEirtaku) (ongoing)

Mnemophobia (Asahi)

HetaGeist by (Atomic-Crayon) (discontinued)

HetaFear (Atomic-Crayon)

Project Espanya (Quasi-Harkness)

HetaOrigin: Redraw the World (Jpopkitty)

Ibtalia (Mayburger) (discontinued)

Complete:

Dreamtalia (Kyokoon64)

Lincantropo (Itou Itsuki)

HetaFire (LeanneVlogzFilmz)

Blood of the Rose (animeArtluvr469)

Imaginary Nightmare (KingDespair)

Hetalia Floral Orchestra (Dream-thunder)

Hetà: The Last Age (Acquazzone)

Cancel a Format (Tomoyoshi)

Late For A Very Important Date (FandomDrowning)

Hetaipseity (Lilica)

Freedom (MapleSweater)

HetaOni (Cookie) (remake of the og w/ fanmade ending)

[snowflakechan6]

Nations aren't born like humans. They're born from a molded lump of Earth's clay, then are found and raised by either an older nation or one of their people. I headcanon Russia's mother was Kievan Rus, Saami's sister, and his father was ancient Siberia. Ukraine and Belarus are Russia's half-sisters because they're only related to Kievan Rus, not to ancient Siberia.

[meliissa-art]

Its settled, then!

Buryatia has a pet seal called Baikal <3

Your art is so cute, btw 🥺

Chibi Buryatia with his little friend - chibi Baikal🦭

(edited ver.)

I decided to draw @meliissa-art design of Buryatia!! I really liked all our headcanons so I drew it like this. 😌

[lithugraph]

1869. After a failed part in a failed rebellion, Lithuanian noble Tauras Laurinaitis flees his homeland rather than risk being sent to Siberia. Guilt-ridden, he is determined to keep the memory of his country alive the only way he can: printing and smuggling books in a language now outlawed by the Russian Empire. But what happens when he catches the eye of a certain Prussian gendarme? Will Tauras be able to keep his smuggling, and his past, a secret?

Fandom: Hetalia

Characters: APH Lithuania, APH Prussia, APH Estonia, APH Latvia, APH Russia, APH Poland, APH Netherlands, APH Denmark, APH Germany

Pairings: PruLiet with some past LietPol

[jovianwishes]

My hetalia oc Siberia

[starsilversword-art]

Some old, some unfinished. My art.

[darksgt]

Aph WWI

Slight language warning? There’s not much but yeah?

Austria visits Serbia. Serbia punches Austria.

Austria squares up with Serbia.

 Russia yells “Don’t you dare touch him!” to Austria.

Austria tells Russia to “Piss off and mind your own business” and tells Germany that Russia wants to kick his ass.

Germany tells Russia “Back off of Austria or else”

France calls Germany on his bluff

Germany tells France “Piss off or you’re going to catch these hands”

France points to his wall and say “You can’t do shit”

Germany looks at France’s wall; Then Belgium; Then Britain; Then Austria.

Britain tells Germany “Don’t even think about it mate”

Germany and Austria lock eyes and both nod in agreement.

Germany yells “SCHLIEFFEN” at the top of his lungs and punches Belgium in the face.

Belgium stumbles and gets Germany back.

Germany then tackles Belgium and sits on top of him and wails on his face.

Britain watches in horror and yells “BLOODY HELL MATE” and warns France.

Before France can react Germany rushes him and starts punching France.

France stumbles back and puts some distance between the two of them.

Instead of going for the cheap shot and ending he lets France square up.

Mean while Austria is playing the piano thinking he has lot of time before Russia gets to him.

Russia runs over and kicks Austria’s piano away from him.

Austria jumps up and yells “OH HELL NO” and punches Russia.

Russia stumbles and squares up.

Austria and Russia exchange hits.

Germany realizing that nothing is happening get creative and throws dirt in France’s eyes.

France covers his eyes and stumbles back.

Britain Catches up to France and get instantly punched by Germany.

Britain backs up and calls America.

America is siting back and watching the show; He is eating a cheeseburger, drinking a beer and is counting his money.

Britain ask America to get involved but he says “Hell no fam, I’m booming and I ain’t getting involved.”

Britain pulls the dad card.

America Sighs and sends supplies.

Germany notices this and tells America to piss off.

America say “No Fuck you, I do what I want. What are you going to do about it?”

Germany sighs and flips off America.

Germany punches France and France yells “I’m never giving up”

Germany growing tired realizes that this is going no where.

Germany shoves France and takes up a defense stance.

France goes to hit Germany and Germany deflects it and kicks France in the chest cracking a couple of ribs.

France stumbles and backs up.

Mean while Russia gets a good hit on Austria and falls to his knees calling for Germany.

Germany sighs and runs over and punches Russia causing him to fall down then Germany runs back to France.

Russia laying on the ground feels like its time for a change, He gets up and angrily returns home.

Germany resuming fighting France and Britain angry that nothing is happening.

Germany kicks America’s boats and says “I warned you”

America jumps up and yells “OH HELL NO YOU KRAUT MOTHER FUCKER”

Austria joins beside Germany and Fights France and Britain who are also side by side.

America sprints out of now where, jumps and drop kicks Germany out of no where.

Germany falls to the ground as Austria looks on in shock.

France quickly punches Austria sending him to the ground.

America grabs and pushes Italy.

America shouts at Germany to surrender or Italy gets it.

Italy starts to panic and pasta starts to fall out of his apron.

Germany sighs and surrenders.

Austria says that Germany talked him into in and runs away.

The allies turn to Italy trying to give them pasta.

America yells “I’M THE HERO” and starts eating cheeseburgers and drinking beer.

France starts blaming Germany.

Britain blames Germany while giving first aid to Belgium.

American says “it’s not all his fault its everyone’s”

Everyone in unison tells america to piss off.

America flips them off walking backwards saying “Fine then, Don’t come crying back to me if something happens again.”

[askaphserbiabre-blog]

Sibe: Hey Juvochka! Ah- wait you're a boy? O.o... You are so tall *^* *tries to touch his hair, but she's too small*

J: You want to pet my hair, slatko? Alright!

J: Like it?

M!A: Nyo! ask 2/14

[ask-i-do-not-sparkle]

Vlad: Da, miss! You can give me a hug. @asksiberiabraginskayaurssfamily

[meliissa-art]

Femslash February Hetalia

Day 6 - Snowstorm

This is an old drawing of mine, but it fits perfectly the theme!

It’s Sakha, the coldest nation on Earth, and General Winter ❄️

By the way, her eyes are no longer that purple, they would be more brown. But still I'm happy how this drawing turned up. I will probably revamp it in the future.

Thank you @femslashetalia for hosting!

[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 👍

[emeraldsage98]

Hi y'all! This fic was way larger than I thought it would be, and I had waaaay more fun writing it than I should have haha. Happy Holidays, @aphchinass, I'm your Secret Santa for @spring-has-come‘s Rusame Secret Santa 2019! I hope you enjoy this fic!

Prompt: Alfred and Ivan are climate scientists on a research trip. Alfred expected to see penguins. Ivan failed to mention they were going to Siberia.

Enjoooooooy!

[snowbloodvodka]

No one:

Not a single soul:

Siberia: .... I once snorted Vodka and killed a bear. ^J^✿

[mychemicalnations]

Got bored, so I decided to make some Hetalia Aesthetics. In order: Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Ukraine, Japan, FACE family, Kugel Mugel, SpAus, Siberia. My three favourites to follow! All images were found on Google.