ethernalnoire

These are some of my favorite nation lore headcanons I've come up with over the years. If you follow me elsewhere you may have heard of some of these before, but there are a few new ones in here. Disclaimer that most of them don't follow canon at all. I also apologize for the sheer length of this thing (I can't add a "keep reading, I'm on mobile) but I hope you enjoy!

Resurrection hurts. It hurts like complete, utter, earth-shattering hell and they never get used to it. How could it not be painful? It's their wounds stitching themselves back together, their lungs relearning how to take in oxygen, their brain being shocked back to life, their heart figuring out how to pump blood again. Depending on how severe the wounds are, the pain can last anywhere from a few minutes to an hour. Older nations have learned to clench their teeth and power through it, but it isn't uncommon for the younger ones to completely freak out. Screaming, thrashing, cursing, crying out for God, wanting to ask "why does this hurt so much when it's supposed to be a good thing?" but being unable to form a sentence. It's an absolutely horrendous thing to witness, let alone go through.

Due to the ever-changing web of alliances, it became commonplace in the 17th and 18th centuries for the European nations to wear mementos to represent their alliances. They could be things like rings, bracelets, and necklaces, but also more symbolic accessories. Lithuania and Poland wove bracelets made of rye stalks during their time as a Commonwealth; Romania changed the colors of his hat ribbons to Bulgaria's flag colors when they were in the Eastern Bloc together; Italy wore cornflower and chrysthanthemum pins on his lapel during the Second World War. It can sometimes be a little tricky to try and figure out who the accessories are referencing, but at the end of the day it's mostly a sentimental thing. Generally it's not a practice anymore, but some nations still do it to be cheesy.

Instead of mementos, neutral or isolated nations without any alliances wear white neckerchiefs. This practice spread beyond Europe, and now the terms "whiteneck" or "whitethroat" are used as an insult against those who aren't keen on making friends. When a nation comes out of isolation and they don't need their neckerchief anymore, it's dyed the colors of the most prominent country who encouraged them to do so.

Kind of along the same lines: island nations tend to be more withdrawn and less eager to make acquaintances. They would rather work on their own terms and easily become uncomfortable in large groups of their kind. Examples of this include Japan, Cuba, Iceland, and New Zealand. Of course, not all island nations share these qualities, but enough do for it to be pointed out every so often.

The way I see nation sexuality working is as if it was on a bell curve. On one side you've got homosexual, on the other you've got heterosexual, and then everything in between is bi/pan/not really caring at all. The closer you get to the ends of the curve, the less likely a nation is to fall there. The vast majority of them are attracted to others based on their politics and less based on their gender. You do have a handful of them who identify as gay or straight and use those labels (for example, Sweden and Germany identify strictly as gay and only feel strongly towards female nations platonically), but most of them don't acknowledge gender.

On the topic of sexuality, many nations are polyamorous! Maybe not all of them, but a good chunk. It isn't uncommon to find a group of them who have settled into one big open relationship. A lot of it stems from globalization and nations becoming increasingly dependent on each other. They've been alive so long; they've seen humans come and go, and their relationships are so fleeting. They usually don't tie themselves down to one person because they've got all the time in the world to love each other. It's just natural to them, and it doesn't mean they love any of their partners more than the others.

They also get horny as hell during a population boom but I don't think any of us are ready to have that conversation.

If there's a pair of nations who have been in a dedicated relationship for years and don't plan on parting in the near future, they do have a special marriage ceremony! It's something only their kind is aware of, no human knows about it so it can't be used against them. It's for those who aren't necessarily bound by their governments or their alliances, for those who can't be politically wed.

Rather than being physically hurt or developing aches from being apart from their land for too long, I imagine nations just get sad. The longer it takes for them to return home, they become lethargic, less optimistic, less alert, more irritable. They want to do what they've left their country to do and then go home and recharge. That's all that's on their mind when they're in this state. Now, because of airplanes and cars, it's much less of a problem than it used to be.

It's probably more likely that a nation's height shifts based on the average height of their country, but I love the idea that most nations are short. This could be due to malnutrition, but it's usually because the average height was so much shorter back when they were growing. They reached adulthood and just never got taller because that was the average at the time. Younger nations are generally taller, along with superpowers like America and Russia, who look like they were built on a frame a size larger than everyone else.

Due to gold and golden blood generally being symbols of longevity and immortality, the nations' blood isn't solidly red. It's a mixture of regular red "human" blood and this strange golden ichor. This is what keeps them immortal and aids in their resurrection. It glimmers in the light and looks really spooky!

Since nations are hinted to have enhanced senses, I like to think their eyes also look strange in certain lighting. When they're in environments with low lighting their eyes glint like a cat's because their night vision is so much better than a normal human's.

Their healing process has a lot of little rules to it. If a nation is injured by a human it's usually all good! They just need a quick second and they can heal themselves just fine, unless it's something irreparable. In that case they die and go into resurrection mode. So if they get into a bar fight with someone or accidentally chop a finger off, it's all cool, but if they were subjected to a guillotine or idk, thrown into a meat grinder, they'll need a few hours lmao. When a nation injures another nation, the wound will behave like a human's would. It's noticably more painful and takes longer to close up. Injuries from humans don't usually scar, but those from nations very well might.

In the case of a nation attacking another, there is one way they can heal at a quicker pace. Nations possess the ability to heal each other by pressing their hands to the wound and transferring their own healing energy into the other's body. This power takes years of practice to do efficiently, however, and it's difficult. It can be painful, but most of the time it's just physically exhausting. It isn't uncommon for one nation to completely black out after they've finished the healing process. It also strengthens the bond between the two nations in question, so that's something they have to consider before they agree to start.

The way they talk to each other is so strange. Most nations talk in their native language, but they can all understand each other automatically, even if they don't speak the language. For example, Japan is talking to England. England doesn't speak Japanese, but Japan is speaking in Japanese. His words pass through some kind of a filter and England can understand. England cannot read Japanese, write Japanese, or understand spoken Japanese from anyone who isn't Japan. They have built in translators in their brains for when they talk to each other. It's super odd but this is the case I like the most.

Because of this, another alliance tradition they have that's more widespread is the teaching of languages. They're encouraged to sit down in a room with no distractions and just teach each other bits and pieces of their language. This is another practice that's faded with time, it's completely obsolete in the modern day.

I have no idea why or how this would happen, but I absolutely adore the concept of nations being gifted a custom sword once they reach a certain age. They differ based on their fighting style; someone who tends to battle with brute force might receive a broader and shorter sword, while those who are nimbler will have one that's lighter but longer. The hilts are decorated with certain symbols; they could be embedded with jewels and stones that have colors corresponding to their flag, their mottos could be carved into them, or they might have national animals engraved.

It was a common practice throughout most of history for nations who were battling each other to claim "trophies" from the loser's body. These could include pieces of jewelry, hats, knives, etc. It's less of them stealing it because they want to pawn it off and more of it being "haha I have this thing that is important to you and you couldn't protect it". To take a nation's sword is the greatest insult to their honor. As time went on this became less of a thing because 1) it's hard to loot a body when you're fighting with guns and bombs instead of swords and 2) many nations began to consider it cruel and unnecessary. Those nations who still try to do it are viewed as brutes.