Nation Avatars. They’re immortal beings who represent a country. They look human, feel human, but are they really? That’s the question i strive to have answer Are they their own person or their country? Most would say their country. Others would disagree… so what you think yourself?
(( Now this is the question.
I’ve messed around with the concept a lot, and changed it around a lot as I dabbled in it and saw other headcanons.
This is my take:
Both. Yeah, really. After all, they are the land and they are the people. So why not live as both?
They’re a being tied to the “soul of a nation” but to a more eternal degree than a country’s representatives and politicians. I want to say, when they were first spawned into the world, their “soul” attached themselves to the concept within the second. Their attachment is still flexible, though: Depending on what happens to the territory, they will continue to live, or- if the territory is no longer fit- they will cease to exist. Their actions can be motivated by the sway of the world around them; they’ll come back a thousand times until their role in the world is seemingly fulfilled; they’re the ground you walk on but also the fighter by your side.
But despite being this country, and unfortunately also having to engage in many parts of their history, they are still a person. They can make their own choices, befriend or fall in love with who they want to; they also live like any of their citizens would, under the radar but present enough to leave a mark. Maybe they’ll live in the city, in a comfortable townhouse, or maybe they’ll choose to live more rural, in more solitude as they might prefer. You could tell them what you want from them, but they still have the choice to decline it.
I like to work with the duality. Here’s my example:
As Mexico, Maite is heavily involved with the world stage as a trading partner and ally. Most of the times, she’s to work on a more modern basis of relations, which sometimes means working with people she personally does not like. In other words, she’s forced to interact and remain professional with people she detests. To humans, she might look like a person involved with politics. To history, she’s an invisible figure, or maybe a myth. To whatever thing that put her in this role, she is Mexico, and will be until it no longer exists.
As Maite, she’ll be more true to herself. It’s not to say she isn’t also like that as Mexico, but she allows herself to act as she wants to when not on the clock. She’s a passionate person and full of a ray of emotions, and she’s unapologetically crude sometimes. She might not like someone, and she’ll let them know. She’ll get involved in antics with her friends and family. She’ll hold onto grudges for a lot longer. She can be right and she can be wrong: She’s human, after all. To the street vendor around the corner, or the woman she talked to on the bus, she’s just another person you’ll come across in life. And that’s true.
TLDR: The personifications are both the country and a person of their own, depending on their situation.
