Post by Puerto Rico on Jun 27, 2011 14:19:07 GMT
LA TIERRA DE BORINQUEN
Name --- Emilio Rivera Colón
Nation --- Puerto Rico
Aliases ---
- Borinquen—Established by the indigenous natives, with present alterations
- Isla del Encanto—Spanish The island of enchantment
- San Juan Bautista—Spanish During Spanish reign (obsolete)
- Porto Rico—By Americans during the first several years of occupancy (obsolete)
Personal Nicks
- Papo—Native slangFriendly term of endearment between guys .
- Boricua—Derives from Borinquen (internationally used)
- Jr.—Between relatives
Apparent age --- 22
Actual age --- 518 When it was discovered by the Spanish and 59 as a Commonwealth
Gender --- Male
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Eye color --- amber
Hair color --- dark brown
Height --- 5’8 ft
Weight --- 144 pnds
Skin tone --- Slightly tanned (does not burn but can easily get tanner)
Defining features ---
If you’d notice Puerto Rico’s watch, you’d notice it’s always running an hour later than everyone else’s (as are all the clocks at his house
Then there’s the curly stray lock behind his head, which had oddly grown out of stress over the long years of Spain’s rehabs and schooling. Some scars are faintly visible lashed across his back from when the aborigines where nearly wiped out, but they have faded along with the fact Emilio has nearly forgotten about them. There are also some numerous cuts running elsewhere along his body from all the hurricanes that hit (the worst, San Ciriaco, having thrashed him bad for years), and olderr ones from getting dragged into Spain’s small-scale territorial battles over him, including the Spanish-American war, and America’s other numerous wars. Most of these have also faded with Emilio’s memory of them after entering the 19th century, except for America’s, which continue to renew.
Additional features ---
It would be a stretch to label Emilio as the model image of a Boricua, since the island people share a wide diversity of racial similarities, but he has most of the common features found if you were to stack them all together. The most discerning highlight would be his close resemblance to his old Spanish caretaker, which does constitute a vast majority of his people.
As a country that fusses and takes great pride over image and reputation, Emilio is very finicky about his appearance. He bathes sometimes twice a day and takes particular care to keep his hair primed and healthy, his face neatly shaved save for a bit of beard over his chin. There are however, some stingy hairs that continuously remind him of his Spanish succession; they always inevitably stray and curl away from his meticulous care. He otherwise has a clean, refreshed aura about him. Nevertheless, Emilio had not adopted these scrupulous habits until after the 19th century. He came off as more of a wild and uncivilized youngster during the first century of his youth, growing up incredibly slowly during that time and finally showing some signs of straightening up after much of Spain’s guidance, yet still remaining very loose in his appearance until the mid 1800s.
Light brown eyes, near amber, glint proudly into the hard sun, dark ocher lochs framing his face above the ears. And most of his features except for his eyes, which are big and rounded, and his slightly full brows, are fine and youthful.
Because America continues to drag him along his wars, a routine having been formed since WWI, whenever America would appear battered or worn out because of a battle, Puerto Rico would more often than not appear bearing a similar state (he was seen more frequently battered or rugged during Spain’s various struggles with England and France at his house). Being so small and weak lead to easy bruising; not to mention a direct punch from any nation would cripple him. But on the bright side, being unable to be of any great help in any large-scaled battle, these injuries tend to remain small and heal quickly due to his little participation (he’ll still participate though!).Having persevered through extensive years of slavery and oppression have also made Puerto Rico incredibly durable and his frame wiry, but he forever remains as thin as his militia, which is near nonexistent.
However, Puerto Rico is unexpectedly tall for so feeble a nation. After finally having gained some recognition (or so he keeps telling himself) he believes not so much his military prowess, but his other attributes as a nation have served to spur his growth and awareness. So in order to continue promoting this, Puerto Rico is never seen underdressed for any occasion ( though he’ll still look fresh), and aside from the fact that his dress code is highly reflective of America’s influence, his clothing is typically tropical and light throughout the year, with a preference over loose button shirts and knee-high khaki pants.
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Personality ---
Similar to his many Latin cousins, Emilio is loud, energetic, an eager follower of festive traditions and can become a boisterous crowd all by himself. Some say that living in the tropics just does that to you over time, but Emilio strongly believes in the long standing history of reforms and revolutionary hardships that he and his cousins have all shared, overcome, and built their uniquely lively dispositions over. In other words, Emilio isn’t just any regular cheerful person. He’s a rum-drinking, salsa-loving festivity enthusiast. He not only likes to make a celebration out the tiniest of things and occurrences, regardless of their historical relevance, because anything upon which pride can be built should be celebrated. He also likes to be in every little fiesta around town or if there isn’t any currently happening, he’ll start one himself with no regards to his surroundings or other’s wishes. This behavior was encouraged further by America’s own festive spirit after Emilio moved in under his care after 1952, when he adopted all of his holidays, though unlike the huge nation, Emilio is sharp and perfectly capable of reading moods and slinking away if things get out of control. His self-preservative instincts have always run high due to his diminutive status, which has enabled him to survive throughout the years.
An easy-going nation, when the time comes to take things seriously, he’ll definitely be late for two reasons: 1) He’s always late, everywhere and for every occasion, regardless of importance. Because his clock runs an hour later than everyone else’s, even though he’s always late, he always believes he’s on time. 2) He greatly dislikes overly serious situations and though he doesn’t try to run away from them, he appears very unwilling until the last minute. Ironically enough, Emilio works best under pressure and if given too much time, will do a half-assed job. There is, however, one thing that often conflicts with the second reason. He’s unable to say “no” to anything. Exceedingly proud, Emilio accepts any request, task, or challenge under the belief that he can do things better than everyone else (America takes full advantage of this). But, due to his equally enlarged ignorance, he often fails to realize his own inadequacy to fulfill any given request and ends up self-destructing. Still, he loves to help, even if he’s unable to do so and it always brings him problems. Sports are one of the only exceptions to his seeming lack of any sobriety. There might be no greater passion than his when it’s sports-related. As for the other exception, the only other times when he’s serious is when he’s plotting something or carrying out said plot.
Emilio’s diminutive status conceals the most apparent truth yet: his larger than life arrogance. Excessively egotistical, his pride leads him to do a limitless range of things, sometimes shocking the other nations, to the point where he has redefined the meaning of shame for himself. It doesn’t matter what it is, “Puerto Rico can do it better!”, he says. Even in failure, he unwaveringly believes the former. When he actually succeeds over someone at something, you’ll be sure to be hearing about it all the time, in a variety of ways; it might just appear in the paper’s headline news. He especially likes to boast when he defeats, almost-defeats, or relatively gives a hard time to America in any sport or competition.
Despite his arrogance, the fact that Emilio is incredibly naïve also makes him unaware of when he’s the one whose leg is being pulled. When at other nation’s houses, he makes sure to always leave his mark (graffiti is an option), make himself loudly noticeable, or at least be in or pull one major party. It’s not at all hard to befriend Emilio, seeing as he is openly friendly and expressive toward strangers, but an honest relationship is almost impossible because of a certain nosy America. As a result, he regularly complains to America, yet immediately clings to him and begs forgiveness over the slightest sign that he may be scolded. When annoying America doesn’t work, he goes over to other nations and continues his complaining at their house.
When it comes to politics, Puerto Rico is much a fan of it as he is of sports. His vision of it is a bit…different though due to the highly competitive way it is dealt with in his house. Often trying to sabotage each other, his house turns into a real mess during the elections, but it’s entertaining to watch this like the arrival of the Central American Games. Because of this, he tends to engage in political activities like one does sports, not that he doesn’t take them seriously though.
Likes ---
- Rice and beans | The perfect side dish! He loves it so much he eats it with every meal, every day.
- Family | This is very important to Puerto Rico. He’s even made several little traditions over the matter, such as always giving blessings to his parents as a form of greeting and departure.
- Sports | His favorites are baseball, basketball, and volleyball. He dislikes winter-based ones.
- Holidays | Work all 365 five days of the year? Not gonna happen. In fact, Emilio likes to celebrate a ridiculous amount of festivals and holidays throughout the year.
- Hanging out | Socializing is a very important part of the day.
- The beach | Number one place to hang out.
- Rum | Drinking: Number one thing to do while hanging out.
- Pestering America with complaints | Hey, he’s his “territory”. The guy has to take responsibility for him, one way or another!
- Salsa | His favorite type of music, especially playing plena on the streets.
- Junk Food | Got the habit from America.
- Salty food | everything he eats is excessively seasoned or salted.
- Getting the spotlight | He makes it his top priority when visiting other countries.
- Stuff from Japan | Their stuff is super neat.
- Playing pirate |Emilio liked to play pirate behind Spain’s back at the time they lived together. He was never as good as Roberto Cofresi though. Spain would agree, he was one of the best pirates ever.
- Elections | It’s a full blown party at his house.
Dislikes ---
- Being reminded of the time | Time moves at a different pace for Emilio.
- Cold weather | He cannot ever stress this enough. He has zero tolerance for it.
- Getting wet under the rain
- Losing | A sore loser, he’d never even admit to the fact.
- Being looked down upon by anyone | His pride would kill him first.
- America | He does whatever he wants and never lets him buy stuff for himself –how can he not dislike him?
- Spain during the 19th century.
- England and France during the 17th and 18th centuries.
- A party without liquor | Where’s the fun in that?
- Boredom | It’s lethal for him.
- Being dirty | Hate…sweating…
- His government | It’s never been a place for innocent lambs.
- Violence | He’s all for being of help and resorting to this is if needed be, but you’ll never see the Boricua actually taking the initiative to instigate violence.
Fears ---
- Becoming fully independent | Puerto Rico simply refuses to work any harder than he already is to achieve a better way of life. Why bother when an “easier” way to do it is simply joining with America?
- Becoming fully dependent | Mainly Puerto Rico’s pride and other lesser things prevent him from attempting to make a marriage contract with America. I mean, he’d have to play sports under America’s aliases and would be unable to show off his flag as a separate nation. To hell with that.
- Hurricanes and tsunamis |They’re nothing but baad bad news.
Lesser known facts ---
- He’s close friends with Dominican Republic, but thinks he’s an idiot and constantly jokes about him behind his back.
- Secretly hates England for teaching America about the Commonwealth. He obviously hides this though.
- Had thought America had come to free him after the Spanish-American war and even set the streets and everything up with party favors and banners full of gratitude the day he strode into San Juan city. Imagine the embarrassment when he realized America had fully enjoyed his party, but had nothing of the sort in mind. Puerto Rico has been resentful over this event ever since and absolutely loathes to be reminded of that day.
- He is actually older than America, as he was found first when Spain came over to the new world. This fact, which is clearly disregarded by the larger nation, would sometimes make Puerto Rico suffer bad cases of delusions of grandeur and pester America with demands for more equal rights.
- Puerto Rico has participated in all of America’s wars since WWI.
- He’s an extremely aggressive driver.
- Has a bloodthirsty pet iguana at his house. Only Puerto Rico thinks it’s harmless.
Goals ---
- During the 1800s, to gain personal freedom, such as the ability to govern himself, but without breaking his bonds with Spain.
- To defeat America in any major sport.
- Gaining world recognition
- He’s not sure what, but he’s going to do something about his political status…Some day.
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History (compressed) ---
- 700AD— Ingeri and pre-Taino plazas date to this time.
- 1493—Nov 19, Christopher Columbus discovered Puerto Rico on his 2nd voyage.
- 1508—Aug 12, Ponce de Leon arrived and conquered the island of Boriquen (Puerto Rico). Tainos are enslaved.
- 1509-1512—Ponce de Leon serves as governor of Puerto Rico.
- 1528—The French, recognizing the strategic value of Puerto Rico, sacked and burned the southwestern town of San Germán and destroyed many of the island’s first settlements, leaving only San Juan.
- 1537—The Spanish built La Fortaleza overlooking the bay on the southwestern edge of San Juan.
- 1538—The watchtower El Morro was built. The Castillo de San Felipe del Morro (El Morro Fortress) was begun a year later.
- 1575—Sep 21, A major hurricane hit Puerto Rico on the feast day of St. Matthew and became known as the San Mateo hurricane.
- 1598—Sir George Clifford, the third Earl of Cumberland, led an attack on Puerto Rico. He landed east of San Juan at Boqueron Inlet and attacked. The English prevailed and plundered San Juan but their food spoiled and 400 died of dysentery. The survivors burned San Juan and sailed away.
- 1599—Spain sent 400 soldiers, 46 cannon and a new governor, Alonso de Mercado, to rebuild San Juan.
- 1607—Puerto Rico served as a port for provisions for the English ships, the Godspeed, Susan Constant and the Discovery who were on their way to establish the Jamestown Settlement, the first English settlement in the New World.
- 1625—Sep 24, Dutch Gen’l. Bowdoin Hendrik and his fleet of 17 ships sailed into San Juan, Puerto Rico, and attacked El Morro. He held the garrison under siege for 3 weeks and then set the town to flames. This infuriated the Spanish who attacked and sent the Dutch fleeing.
- 1702—The English assaulted the town of Arecibo, located on the north coast, west of San Juan, with no success.
- 1779—Puerto Ricans fought in the American Revolutionary War under the command of Bernardo de Gálvez, who was named Field Marshal of the Spanish colonial army in North America.
- 1797— The British attempted again to conquer the island, attacking San Juan with an invasion force of 7,000 troops and an armada consisting of 64 warships[15] under the command of General Ralph Abercromby, but the Spanish forces held.
- 1804—Sep 21, Another major hurricane hit Puerto Rico on the feast day of St. Matthew and became known as the San Mateo II hurricane
- 1868—Sep 23, Grito de Lares proclaimed Puerto Rico's independence. It was crushed by Spain.
- 1873—Mar 22, Slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico.
- 1897—Nov 25, Spain granted Puerto Rico autonomy.
- 1898—Jul 25, US Gen’l. Nelson A. Miles landed troops at Guanica on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The Spanish-American War came to an end after Spain and the US came to terms at the Treaty of Paris and the US acquired Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico became a US territory.
- 1899—San Ciriaco hurricane hits the Caribbean, killing nearly 3,500 people in Puerto Rico, with millions of dollars in crop damage.
- 1900—President McKinley asserted the need for free trade with Puerto Rico and the U.S. Congress instated a civil government.
- 1904—Jan 4, The US Supreme Court, in Gonzalez v. Williams, ruled that Puerto Ricans were not aliens and could enter the US freely; however, the court stopped short of declaring them US citizens.
- 1917—Mar 2, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act giving Puerto Ricans US citizenship.
- 1927—In Puerto Rico’s last execution: farm worker Pascual Ramos was hanged for beheading his boss with a machete. Puerto Rico’s death penalty was outlawed in 1929.
- 1932—May 17, Congress changed the name "Porto Rico" to "Puerto Rico".
- 1937—Mar 21, Ponce massacre: police killed 19 at a Puerto Rican Nationalist parade and injured over 200 unarmed and innocent bystanders, while they ran away.
- 1945—Sep 8, Jose Feliciano, blind singer, was born in Lares, Puerto Rico.
- 1948—Puerto Rico gained the right to choose its own governor and elected Munoz Marin.
- 1950—Jul 3, US Pres. Truman signed public law 600. It provided federal statutory authorization for the people of Puerto Rico to write their own constitution.
- 1950— Nov 1, Two members of a Puerto Rican nationalist movement, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola, tried to force their way into Blair House in Washington to assassinate President Truman. The attempt failed, and one of the pair Griselio Torresola, was shot dead. On July 24, 1952, Truman commuted Collazo’s death sentence to life imprisonment, on the same day he signed an act enlarging the self-government of Puerto Rico
- 1952— Jul 25, Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.
- 1969—Luis A. Ferrre became governor of Puerto Rico and served to 1972.
- 1978—Puerto Rico sued the US Navy for economic damages due to military testing on the island of Vieques.
- 1985—Oct 7, In Ponce, Puerto Rico, a mudslide followed Tropical Storm Isabel and killed at least 129 people in the island's worst disaster this century.
- 1989—Hurricane Hugo reached Puerto Rico, causing extensive damage as it continued to barrel toward the U.S. mainland.
- 1996— Hurricane Hortense pounded Puerto Rico, causing at least 21 deaths and destroying thousands of homes.
- 1998—Mar 4, The US House approved a special referendum in Puerto Rico that would allow voters to choose 1 of 3 options: continued commonwealth status, statehood or independence. Population reaches over 3’700 million and Hurrican George hits later around September.
- 2001—May 11, Denise Quinones of Puerto Rico won the Miss Universe contest held in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.
- 2004—PUERTO RICO DEFEATS THE USA OLYMPIC BASCKETBAL TEAM, THE “ DREAM TEAM” (97-73)
- 2009—Puerto Rico fired nearly 8,000 government workers, the start of a wave of layoffs aimed at closing a budget deficit as the island struggles through its third year of recession.
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Roleplay example ---
September 23, 1868
”Who!? Who is it!? Bring me the piel de gallina bastard that ratted us out –I’ll strangled him!” Accusations and disillusioned echoes of fear resounded from the small cluster of nonconformists gathered within the small living room. He wasn’t exactly all that into the recent radical movements that have been spreading like the Spanish influenza, but young Emilio was there, albeit much more unwilling than the mulato next to him. However, even he had to admit, the Spaniards were pushing them way over their limits. At this point, after his terrific failure to convince them to abolish slavery, or at least steal a glance at some fiscal papers at the Junta Informativa de Ultramar turned out to be, surely even Spain could somewhat see this coming. That sly bastard Marchesi sure had, before the gathering at Madrid.
A table had been overturned, sending beer cans spilling over, and Emilio himself had coughed back a mouthful of rum in the midst of all the excitement. It was sometime past midday when the disastrous news reached Manuel Roja’s residency, a middle-class man who’s quaint dwelling rested near the border of Pezuela. He wasn’t just any ordinary man however, not in this gathering.
Emilio listened intently as the news was retold for all those who had yet to harden their unresolved faces. It seemed some idiota to the north of Camuy had let slip some knowledge of the rebel plans into the devious ears of the civil and military authorities. They said it was an “indiscretion”. Funny. And besides, not much was leaked out, Emilio laughed wryly to himself; just the date and place of their plunder. He shouldn’t have laughed though. The looks of disconcertment, the sight of splintering spirits–it was heart-wrenching. It twisted their many dark faces into ugly shapes and left a vile taste in his mouth. He suppressed a curse.
And while he was busily sobering up, Rojas was stepping up. ”Bueno ya! Cobardes! It’s not the time to turn into cowards! Brothers, the time to mope and shy behind our homes, gasping for relief, waiting for a change that will never come, is long behind us. Esto seacabo! Remember what has brought us all together here, on this day. We will strike now, before they can get their chance to prepare.” He went on, unwinding into an impressive speech that served to revive their morale. Even Emilio was somewhat moved, and yet, he felt prone to let himself be swept up in the surge of raw emotion that threatened to overwhelm him. He had a bad feeling about this.
”Oye, Manuel! Hold on a second.” He called out toward the rebel leader, holding him by the shoulder so he would turn around to face him. ”Are you sure about this? Shouldn’t we wait instead?” He argued, an unfamiliar look of seriousness and worry etched across his features. Yes, even Manuel Rojas was quite taken aback by that look, but the man was made of iron and his face gave away no dents. ”Emilio, did you turn into a gallina too? After all that we’ve done, we can’t back out now. It would take too long to reach this point again. Their spirits would dissolve!”
“ Do not call me a coward, Don Manuel Rojas. You know damn well Marchesi isn’t a fool or a sloth. It’s become way too dicey. If we’d just wait, I could convince Spain for sure this time in the next Junta.“ But truth be told, Emilio could hardly believe what he was saying, much less convince the entire Revolutionary Committee to halt their movements, not with such an empty promise. Well aware of this fact and the lack of confidence in Emilio’s last retort, Rojas not only seemed unfazed; he frowned.
” Jefecito, it’s best we harden ourselves. We meet at sunset.” He said simply and courtly nodded before retreating into the rush of the preparations. It was brief, but Rojas had most likely told him everything he wanted to say in that last sentence and he was right. It was too late. Emilio Rivera never thought he’d find himself in this kind of situation. It had never even struck him as an attractive prospect, the thought of insurgence against older brother, Spain.
It was suddenly hot; an odd thing for Emilio to be feeling, considering he was used to stuffy, hot weather. But today, there was a particularly sticky, wet warmness to the air that clung through his shirt and made him want to jump but-naked into El Yunque’s rivers. That and so many other more fun things than this…
He wiped the sweat that gathered atop his brows with the sleeve of his shirt, dirtying it further with fresh perspiration. The feeling of sweat all over his body did nothing to invigorate his mood. But it wasn’t just the stifling weather that was making droplets run down his face. It was now thirty minutes past six and the sun had begun its beautiful descend right on cue, there, over the gentle hilltops that nestled Mayaguez far into the west. Its spectacular shower of summery lights would spread out and paint the sky first orange, then a passionate purple, and lastly midnight blue. As of late, it was one of the few things left that he could still always look forward to at the end of each day and know he’ll not be disappointed. The thought made him look strangely somber as with a sigh, he leaned against the hand-carved mahogany back of his chair and stared at the sunset from behind a large set of humbly draped windowpanes. The glass was thinly layered by a concentration of dust from the nearby working fields, but Emilio did not mind. That too was to be expected.
Beneath the sunset there were close to six hundred men all huddled together outside. Looking at them closely, most of them where middle-class workers, some of them laborers who’s crops were destroyed by the recent hurricane San Narciso. They too must be feeling their pockets being burned by the odious taxes and loan bills. They clumsily waved about their fusils and revolvers, dull-edged sabers and the poorest the machetes they used to work in the sugar fields. They shuffled arbitrarily amongst themselves, like lost children bumping into other lost children. These children all shared the same reason for running away though.
Emilio must have sighed for the eleventh time that day. The sound of footsteps drew away his strained expression, into the feverish eyes of Juan de Mata Torreforte, one of the military brains of the operation, as he stood in the now empty living room. ”Jefecito?” He called out. “Ya,vamos.” Emilio grouchily responded back. The atmosphere exchanged any other words they felt like saying for them.
Just as Emilio exited the house and stiffly marched to the gathered guerrilleros, his chest held high despite, he could hear Rojas, shouting into the crowd ”Death to Spain! Viva la Libertad!,” as they prepared to march into the heart of Lares.
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Username --- ArrozDulce
Age --- 20
Time zone --- UTC-04:00
