Post by prideinscotland on Apr 3, 2011 11:50:20 GMT
• S COTLAND
Name --- Iain Kirkland
Nation --- Scotland
Aliases ---
Past Unused Names: Kingdom of Scotland, Caledonia,
Nation Nicknames: Scots, Alba, Scotia, Bonnie Scotland
Name Nicknames: There is none. Attempt to make any and he will burn you with his cigar/cigarette/pipe/whatever he's smoking at the time.
Apparent age --- 26
Actual age ---
From Proto-nation: 10 500+
From Nation: 2 011+
Gender-- Male
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Eye color --- Green
Hair color --- Red
Height --- 178cm
Weight --- 75kg
Skin tone --- Pale
Defining features ---
Scars
Being an old country, Scotland’s body is littered with scars of varying in size and ages. As a country prone to civil wars and being invaded, it would take nearly forever to name all of them. All you really need to know is that his body is a maze of scars all representing unique and different events that occurred to him.
Tattoos
Similar to his siblings, Scotland went through a punk phase but unlike the rest of them, he never quite got out of it. Which might explain his three, very bold tattoos that he isn’t shy about showing at all. The first and oldest one is a Celtic cross that is on his upper back. It’s all black with vines weaving around small Xs inside the cross. On the outside is a circle with vines twisting around each other inside. He got this one to represent his country’s main religion and celtic background.
The next one is a red rose being choked by thistles that starts on his left hip and finishes mid thigh. The Rose is to symbolise England, while the thistle is him, choking and overpowering dear England.
And his final tattoo is one on his right fore arm. It’s the words ‘In Defens’, in black, which is the Scottish Motto. Iain thought that getting his own flag on him was a bit tacky so chose to get his motto on him instead.
Piercings
Iain's ear isn't pierced however he does wear an emerald hoop on his right ear that represents the Island of Skye.
Additional features ---
When you first meet him, the first thing you’ll probably notice about him is the stench of smoke and alcohol. Being a very heavy drinker and smoker, the smell follows him everywhere and the strength of the smell, at times, is a good indicator to his mood. The fouler the mood, the more alcohol and cigar, cigarettes and/or pipes, he has taken.
His bright red hair is probably the next most prominent feature about him. The stereotypical, orange hair is proudly there showing of the glory of Scotland. And from there his thicker than average eyebrows, also flame red. Perhaps it’s a family thing since his dear younger brother, England possesses them as well.
As your eyes wander, you notice his piercing green eyes, mouth that’s almost always in some form of smug smile or smirk and then his strong, angular jaw line. These all add to make him look like a jerk or maybe just a creep. Either way, his overall look just unsettles you and doesn’t make you feel welcome at all.
Overall he has a medium build, maybe a bit scrawny, to be honest, due to his economy suffering for a bit. But his average height and build doesn’t make him seem weaker at all. Rather, like an unkempt mangy dog, it gives him a savage like look that gives off the impression that he’s hardy and dangerous.
When it comes to clothes, most of his are bland and not at all flashy. He keeps to simple crisp button up shirts, vests, suit pants and ties. Popular from popular belief, he doesn’t spend most of his time parading around in a kilt. The weather is far too miserable and cold at home to be prancing around in it. He mainly wears it on special occasions and yes, he doesn’t wear underwear with it. His manhood flies free when in his lands traditional clothing.
At times of war he, unlike most countries, doesn’t wear his nation’s military uniform as it is basically the British one. Instead he rebels and wears a uniform especially made for him. It’s a uniform based off the Scottish flag with two white belts being the St. Andrews cross while the rest of the uniform being blue aka the rest of the flag. It is bright but compared to his old military uniform, he finds that it’s a lot less ‘fancy’.
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Personality ---
Growing up having to deal with an annoyingly powerful younger brother, Iain could be described as often behaving like a petulant child. Prone to outburst of rage, he’s not well known for his kindness, rather he’s more or less infamous for his rude, arrogant and bordering sociopathic behaviour. He shows little empathy towards others and enjoys looking down smugly on them. But he has a good side somewhere, it’s just buried very, very deeply inside him.
A lot of his petty, rude and arrogant behaviour that he exhibits is mainly just an act. His rude and petty blows at his siblings are his way of lashing out and rebelling considering his situation isn’t all that great. Though it doesn’t achieve much and he usually ends up getting his ass kicked, he feels as though if he doesn’t try and create a storm everyone will either forget him and include him as an extension of the UK or think he’s weak. Both of which are unacceptable. So similar to a child wanting attention, he throws fits and usually achieves his goal in getting noticed.
Iain has quite a lot of pride in his people, his culture and himself in general. So naturally poking fun at him or anything about Scotland is a bad, bad idea. He can very quickly go from good, laugh buddy to an angry, raging Scotsman in a split second. He isn’t very stable and tends to be drunk most of the time so him angry will, most of the time, result in a war or something similarly horrid. You’d be best off not kicking the hornets’ nest, or this case a proud Scottish men’s pride (hint; don’t mention soccer to him unless you want a tirade).
His lacking in empathy towards others is actually not all that surprising. Being isolated up north with no one but his brothers (most of them wanting him dead) around, Iain never got must of a chance to actually make social interactions with many people. His lack of social knowledge/grace makes him seem very uncouth when he sometimes doesn’t mean it. And being around men (his brothers or clan lords) only, he isn’t all that great with the ladies. He’s often offending them with either his bad taste in jokes, insensitive comments or general lack of boundary/personal space.
Usually the fact he grew up all alone might garner some sympathetic. But in Iain’s case it rarely does, due to the simple fact he doesn’t care. He wants everyone to know he exists but doesn’t want to be friends really. The only time he’d consider making friends is when he needs something from you and even then it’s usually short-lived. Iain often acts like he’s a cut above you which either pisses people off or just drives people away. His foul temper doesn’t help either.
But, over the years he has mellowed down a lot more and tends to be far friendlier than before as he dutifully keeps his nation safe and running. He’s more or less resigned himself to the fate that there is no way he could become independent or conquer his annoying little brother and if there was a way it wouldn’t be worth it. But it’s a nice thought he likes to have.
Even his superiority complex is barely there anymore. Ever since he became a part of the United Kingdom, willingly, he has become a whole lot more humble. In the inside. He still likes to strut about as if he’s capable of taking on the world. He knows that realistically, if Britain, Ireland or/maybe Wales attacked him, he wouldn’t do so well but that still doesn’t stop him from acting powerful. He likes the belief that he still garners fear in people’s hearts.
Now about his good side. There isn’t much to be said about his better half. Deep, deep inside, Iain does hold some affection towards his siblings. If any of them were threatened by anyone, he’d go from the grumpy bastard to over-protective sibling. For example, the Revolutionary Wars between England and America. The nation part of him is smug about how England got his ass kicked but the brother part of him is pissed at America for hurting England. The unfortunate part is that Scotland tends to stick to his nations view on things more than his human-like feelings.
Iain can be surprisingly loyal and holds the view that an enemy of my enemy is my friend. Just look at the Auld Alliance. And lately, since he had signed himself off to the UK, he’s been surprisingly loyal to England. But he still ribs and pokes fun at England like a good brother should. It’s just that he’s no longer waging war against his brother and in doing so, things have paid off. England gave him more space and freedom so Scotland doesn’t bother his younger brother as much anymore.
Likes ---
•Haggis
•Good old scottish food
•Celtic Art
•Bagpipes
•Highland Dancing
•Sports (Soccer, Golf, Hammer Throwing, Wrestling to name a few)
•Tartan
•Kilts
•Cigars, Cigarettes, Pipes
•Lakes, rivers, seas
•Beating England in anything
•Hard Liquor (SCOTCH)
•Teaming up with France or Ireland to beat England
•Making life hell for England
•Pushing Wales around
•His 'imaginary' friend Nessie.
Dislikes ---
•Being told what to do
•Not having something to smoke in his mouth (he has a mild oral fixation)
•Losing to England
•Losing in any sports
•Being told his food sucks
•His accents being poked fun at
Fears ---
•England overruling him and forcing him to obeying his laws
•Losing what little independance he has
•His economy falling apart
•People not being to tell him apart from his brother
Lesser known facts ---
•He doesn't just drink any old drink, he'll only drink the good stuff and his definition of the good stuff is Scotch Whiskey.
•He might have been responsible for England's horrible cooking 'cause he raised the kid and well... Iain's cooking is worse than Arthur's.
•Scotland has a shotgun that he keeps on himself at all times somehow. He very much likes it and the loud sound it makes when it goes off. But he also keeps and smaller handgun tucked away on his leg and it's silencer in his pockets. And he has a knife hidden under his shirt and strapped to his chest. This is mainly because he just enjoys having weapons on him and intimidating people for shit and giggles.
Goals ---
•To kick England's ass in the UEFA Champions League
•To beat Nth Ireland in a drinking contest
•To bother all the sheepshaggers of the world.
•Make more alliances so he isn't as dependant on England
•Smoke less, Sth Irealnd's whining about his smoking habbits gets annoying
•He also would like to make it clear that just because he's a part of the United Kingdom, doesn't mean he's England whipping boy.
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History ---
Pre-historic Scotland
8500 BC – First modern humans came to Scotland, they were of the Hunter/Gatherer Tribe.
3600 BC – First signs of more permanent settlement in Scotland.
700 BC – Celtic Culture spreads through Scotland
Scotland During the time of the Roman Empire
800 BC to 41 AD – Larger Structures begin to be built, society in Scotland picks up and grows
71 AD – Scotland gets invaded by the Roman Governor Quintus Petillius Cerialis and his army
78 AD – Parts of Scotland begin to fall to the Roman Empire
84 AD - Battle of Mons Graupius occurs
Medieval Period
5th Century
-Celtic immigrants from Ireland, called Scots, settled north of the Clyde.
7th Century
-The Beginning of Reign of Bridei m. Beli over the Kingdom of Pictland (671-693 AD)
–In 685 AD a Battle of Dun Nechtain between Bridei and the Northumbrians occurs.
–The Beginning of Reign of Óengus mac Fergusa over the Kingdom of Pictland (732-761 AD)
10th Century
-Scotland was dominated by the Gaelic culture once more.
-Scotland become a feudalistic nation under the rule of King David I
-South-east portions of now the Kingdom of Alba, are recorded to speak English whilst the rest of the Kingdom spoke Gaelic
13th Century
-Kings of Alba conquer English Speaking Lands and attain overlordship over several other lands such as the Gaelic-speaking Galloway and Norse-speaking Caithness.
-With the death of Alexander III and Margaret, Maid of Norway, Scotland has no heirs to it’s throne and the golden age that began with David I ends.
-Edward I organises the Great Cause to find Scotlands most legitamate heir
-John Balliol is pronounced King in the Great Hall of Berwick Castle on 17 November 1292
-John is inaugurated at Scone, 30 November 1292, St. Andrew's Day.
-Edward I becomes the Lord Paramount of Scotland and undermines King John’s authority over Scotland
-In 1294 Balliol and other Scottish lords refused Edward's demands to serve in his army against the French.
-Scottish Parliament sends envoys to France to negotiate an alliance.
-23 October 1295 Scotland and France signed a Treaty called the Auld Alliance(1295-1560)
-War breaks out in Scotland and Edward I takes personal control over Scotland
- Andrew Moray and William Wallace, leaders in the Scottish resistance of the English Rule, fight in the Wars of Scottish Independence (1296–1328).
14th Century
-In 1306 Robert I is crowned King of Scotland
-For twenty years, Robert I fights and takes back pieces of Scotland from the Norman English invaders.
- Victory at The Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 proved that the Scots had regained control of their kingdom.
-Scotland, under the brief rule of Edward Bruce, attempts to invade Ireland in hopes of increasing it’s position against the English.
-In 1320 Declaration of Arbroath wins the approval of Pope John XXII.
-The English Crown formally recognises Scotland as a it’s own sovereign state due to the Declaration.
-Scotland gains all the lands he is to ever have and begins to resemble modern Scotland
15th Century
-Scotland suffers a civil war between the Bruce Dynasty and their long-term rivals the Comyn-Balliols until the war ends in the mid 1300s. This all happens while they’re at war with England.
-Height of the Franco-Scottish Alliance
-Scots Guard is founded in 1418 by Charles VII of France.
-Scottish Soldiers fight alongside Joan of Arc against England in the Hundred Year War
-The Franco-Scots army under the rule of John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Buchan, and Gilbert de Lafayette defeats the larger English Army in the Battle of Baugé.
-In 1424 Scottish intervention prevents France from falling to defeat in the Battle of Verneuil.
-Education Act of 1496 is passed and Scotland becomes the first nation Sparta to have an education system.
16th Century
-Scotland experiences the height of it’s nation’s power under the rule of James IV.
-In 1502 King James signed the Treaty of Perpetual Peace with Henry VII of England.
-James also married Henry VII daughter Margaret Tudor.
-1560, the Auld Alliance was ended due to the Treaty of Edinburgh.
-1560, France withdrew all it’s naval and land forces from the war.
-In 1567 Mary Queen of Scots (Former Queen of France) was abdicated from her throne which was passed onto James VI.
Early Modern Era
17th Century
-In 1603 James VI of Scots inherited the throne of England.
-Scotland experience conflict over the James rule of both England and Scotland due to the fear of losing his Independence.
-With the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89, James was overthrown and replaced by King and Queen, William and Mary.
-During the late 1960s, Scotland experienced a famine that qiped out up to 20 percent of the populace.
-1698, Scotland spent every cent on securing a trading colony on the Isthmus of Panama also called the Darien Scheme. The scheme failed which bankrupted the nation.
18th Century
-On 22 July 1706, the Treaty of Union agreed upon by the Scottish Parliament and Parliament of England.
-The following year twin Act of Union were passed in both parliaments to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain from 1 May 1707.
-Shortly after the union with Britain, Scotland flourished and the trading industry did well, especially with America.
-And until the American War of Independence in 1776, Glasgow was the world's finest tobacco port, dominating world trade.
-It was also during this time that the divide between the lowlands and the highlands increased.
-The Jacobite movement became popular amongst the Highlands in Scotland and soon they attempted uprisings.
-In 1715 and 1745 two major Jacobite uprisings were attempted but failed to remove the house of Hanover from the throne.
-And all the uprising were effectively ended at the Battle of Culloden by the British.
-Then in the Scottish Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, Scotland became an intellectual, commercial and industrial powerhouse.
-With the removal and end of Jacobitism, many lowland Scots took up position of power in civil service, the army and navy, trade, economics, colonial enterprises and other areas of the British Empire.
19th Century
-In the 19th Century, Scotland became famous for it’s excellent enigneering, epsecially for it’s Clyde boats.
-Also during this time several prominate and brilliant Scottish Scientist were born during this time.
20th Century
-Scotland played a major part in the First World War, assisting Britain by offering him, men, food, supplies and ships. Scotland sent 690,000 men to war and 74,000 of those men died in combat or from disease, and 150,000 were seriously wounded.
-In 1922 Scotland’s economy was hit by a serious depression that had lingering effects till 1939.
-The years between the war were marked with high unemployment rates and economic stills.
-During this time, many of Scotland’s young and able men died in the war or never returned after the war had ended, leaving him to fall into a downwards spiral.
-The Second World War brought a period of prosperity to Scotland.
-After 1945 Scotland’s economic situation grew worse due to overseas competition and ineffective industry.
-However in recent decades, Scotland’s economic situation had improved due to new industries and Scotland’s re-growing sense of national identity.
-Soon Scotland was lobbying for it’s own government to control domestic affairs.
-And following a referendum on devolution proposals in 1997, the Scotland Act 1998 was passed by the United Kingdom Parliament to establish a Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government with responsibility for most laws specific to Scotland.
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Roleplay example ---
8 February 1587
Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots
To be absolutely honest, Iain couldn’t of cared less about Mary or the fact that the method of execution for her was great disrespect to her considering the fact she was a queen. Fine, maybe he did find it a little insulting that England was sentencing one of his queen’s to a common death in the midst of a crowd. Like it was some sort of morbid entertainment. But it wasn’t enough for him to complain. He had kicked her off the throne and out of Scotland for a reason. The woman was either clueless or just plain old stupid.
When she had been first presented to Iain, she was still young and had just lost her husband. His first impression of her was that she was just a pretty face who wanted a comfortable life filled with romantic nonsense. He was right. But it probably wasn’t all her fault. The French Slag probably had something to do with the romantic nonsense. But either way, her softness was her downfall as all around her were tough, alcoholic Clan Lords who showed no mercy to her.
Maybe her uprising and aassassination attempts against Queen Elizabeth of England was her strange way of showing her power or something like that… Probably not, that woman is far to idiotic to think up such a plot. She probably got manipulated by someone better at playing politics than her. Even now on the stage, she attempted to make herself seem like a martyr, when she had been caught red-handed in an assisination plot against Elizabeth. What a choob.
Hm, maybe I’m bein’ a li’l bias, he contemplated, waiting for the executioner to behead his former queen. Until he heard her little speech. Martyrdom, really Mary? Lying against the wall nearby, Iain looked up at the sky as the axe fell down, missing her neck and digging into the back of Mary’s head by accident with a sickening crunch. The noise of her skull cracking and the collective gasp of the crowd more or less snapped him out of his daze to tore his gaze away from the gloomily never ending clouds to look at the beheading site. He had missed the axe going down but from how the executioner was hurrying to place another blow to his former queen, he or the axe musn’t have done it’s job.
“W’at is the world comin’ ter. Peeple can’t even kill peeple right these days. English Choobs.” Iain muttered under his breath but since the place was rather crowded, some of the men nearby must of heard him and his accent, since they shot him a wary glance. But one feral, slightly crazed look from him got the bastards cowering and inching away, slowly. And the craze look was soon replaced with annoyance and a glare when Iain heard the axe come down again.
He had come all the way from Scotland to see his former queen get beheaded, only to get a view of the sky and a group of foolish old men. Facing away from the now, terrified men, Iain saw a rather unusual sight. He had half expected to see the executioner holding Mary’s head but instead he was… Using his axe as a saw to cut it off. How strange…
Once the awkward few minutes that the executioner spent trying to lop off her head was over. He held up her head to the crowd, only for it to part from it’s hair and roll around on the floor. The silence after the gasp was deafening. Do the surprises ever end? Well at least he was going to have something interesting to talk about at the local tavern. Quickly tiring of the execution and the crowd’s predictable reactions, Iain turned his back and walked away. Leaving behind his former queen corpse at the mercy of England and his lot as he lit his pipe and whistled a bonnie tune.
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Username --- Kayla
Age --- 16
Time zone --- 10 G.M.T
