For the character blurb thingy: An ice princess with a heart gold, who is more tyrannical than she cares to admit. Just have a biscuit, or perhaps a diamond, maybe a gun or a tank, and don't think about how she and her country are definitely watching everything you do.
(idk, tell me if you don't like and want me to change it)
Top Row (left to right):Petrova Road (located in north eastern Rustavya), Rings made by Fabergé, Voskresenskie Palace located in the capital city of Vokshod Middle Row (left to right):Another shot of Voskresenskie Palace, The Crown of lengendary Queen Consort Anya the Great, A ballerina (one of Rustavya’s most treasured forms of art and dance) Third Row (left to right):Aesthetic of the average Rustavyan, City of the Tsars (where the Royals ruled from during the age of Imperial Rustavya), Lion’s pride (a decorative castle, seized during the annexation of Askold, formerly part of the kingdom of Rökstenne)
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓝𝓪𝓶𝓮 ―――――――――― Rustavya (pronounced Rhoos-stahv-ya, not rush, basically pronounce it with a slavic accent, preferably Russian, but Romanian and Ukrainian works too. Also Belarusian.)
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓠𝓾𝓮𝓮𝓷 ――――――――――
"Revolution sneaks up on you, one small step at a time. [We] don't take chances, even with the smallest of steps." - Viktor Petrov (House of Cards)
Rustavya is ruled by the Royal House of Vasaätten, the current Sovereign being King Nikolas III. His Queen Consort was Rhiannon of Rökstenne.
They were… not a happy couple, to say the least. Reportedly, they didn’t even sleep in the same bed after the birth of their one and only child. Rhiannon was the daughter of a neighbouring kingdom, and the marriage procured purely for alliance purposes, yet that did not make her a pliant nor silent Queen. Opinionated, intelligent, and headstrong, she did not come to Rustavya to simply wear a crown and look pretty. The royal couple differed on many a view, and despite being a foreigner, she’s managed to get much of the Cabinet on her side, and disagreements between the monarchs didn’t end with the King always winning, however, given Rustavya’s “complex” political nature, it didn’t also end with some kind of legislation (more on that later).
Nikolas came into the throne young, just barely past the age of majority (18), and filled with ambition, vigour, and endless arrogance. He is the pure embodiment of the downsides of the Ancien Régime. Unlike Louis XIV, he is not golden. While he has ambition, he lacks the intelligence and patience of better dictator-kings. What Nikolas wants, Nikolas gets. Aka, every basic white man, essentially. Everything went his way, until he was married to Rhiannon, similar to him in nature, but she had the intelligence and patience he lacks. While the King of Rustayva is absolute, critically, he (or she) must not appear to be, as public riots and revolutions in the past have shown, which is why the cabinet exists, to provide the illusion of a cooperative government. Rhiannon, however, was also to sway about half of them to her will, resulting in increased corruption and political assassinations, including attempts on both the King and Queen (known to have been orchestrated by each other). Publically, they maintained a civil face, but did not keep their dislike of each other entirely private, which has also split the public in terms of which sovereign to love and obey.
Suspiciously, the Queen has been missing for about 5 years now, and no one can say with any certainty what has happened to her. Officially, it’s stated as foul play, assumed to have been a kidnapping, and the length of time since her disappearance makes it all the more likely that she is dead. However, this has also worked in her favour, as King Nikolas’s approval is at an all-time low of 46%, whereas the Queen, despite not being there, is at 97% approval. (Side note, the government reports his approval as 90%)
In theory, Rustavya practises absolute-primogeniture, meaning that the title (in this case the throne) passes to the eldest living trueborn child, regardless of gender. But historically, they’ve used a provision in the law to get around female Sovereigns (though, they couldn’t avoid them all). I explain it all more in depth in the page linked below.
Although the royal couple have only one child, Crown Princess Venera, the King has another child, an older son, Grand Duke Vasily, he is a prince du sang, prince of the blood, and born out of wedlock (illegitimate) and therefore unable to lay claim to the throne, except in extenuating circumstances (that’s not to say he doesn’t want it though).
Overall, Rustavya, isn’t exactly conservative or liberal so much as it is simply subject to the will of the reigning Sovereign. Social progress goes back and forth depending on who's wearing the crown. What is constant, however, is the ironclad grip with which the crown bearer rules. The free press is non-existent in Rustavya, though there is a feeble attempt to pretend the state doesn't control the news and ALL media. And the internet is heavily watched and controlled, and at times banned. Accounts that belong to users from certain foreign nations are blocked in Rustavya. Dissent is not appreciated nor welcome in Rustayva. Though depending on the severity of the dissenters actions, and the mood of the monarch, they can get off scot free or be executed.
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓻𝓼 ―――――――――― Blue and silver, with shades of red* *though, particularly when worn by government officials, red is considered offensive since it was the colour of the last civil war which was led by the Yusupov Family and members of the Cabinet
💎𝓦𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓲𝓼 𝓚𝓷𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓕𝓸𝓻 ―――――――――― (I know, I know, concise and short, but I love Russia okay? I can’t do short. I need some kind of outlet to spew off all these useless facts I’ve accumulated. I’ve embellished some of it, but most of those numbers and shit are fucking true, for Russia, Rustavya’s not real. Only changed some rankings to reflect the political shifts in Rustavya.)
Alongside being the largest country by landmass (though a lot of it is uninhabitable due it being a frozen tundra, so their population ranks them as about the 9th largest country), Rustavya is oil and natural gas rich, and known for its extensive mineral and gemstone mining, particularly of diamonds, as well as its extensive military and arms industry.
The petroleum industry in Rustavya is one of the largest in the world, a contender for the largest, but authorities are in disagreement as some believe a few middle Eastern countries may win that crown. However, Rustavya, by far, has the largest reserves and is the largest exporter of natural gas. It has the fourth largest coal reserves, second highest oil reserves, and is a contender for the largest producer of oil. However, Rustavya itself is only the fourth highest fossil fuel energy user in the world (prior to the reign of Nikolas III, they were second). They produce 12% of the world’s oil, and about 14% of global oil exports. Most of their oil goes west, particularly to Europe. In regards to natural gas, not only are they the world's largest exporter, but are the proven holder of the largest reserve. It’s theorized, but not proven, that they are also likely home to the largest volume of still-undiscovered natural gas, with a mean probable volume of 6.7 trillion cubic meters of said fossil fuel that is absolutely horrendous for the environment. Undiscovered oil is estimated to be about 22 billion barrels (second to the estimated undiscovered oil in Iraq- I mean a middle eastern country). The petroleum industry's revenue accounts for about 12% of Rustavya’s GDP. They are considered an “energy superpower”, and the world bank estimates their oil and gas reserves to be worth approximately $75 Trillion Acrian dollars (yeah, that’s the real estimate of the worth of Russia’s oil and gas, in USD, they hella rich son).
The second most profitable industry in Rustavya is their mining of non-oil and gas minerals. One of the world’s leading mineral industries, and accounting for a large percentage of Eastern Europe/Slavic State production of a range of minerals, Rustavya is ranked among the top 5 worldwide producers of a number of minerals, including; aluminion, arsenic, cement, copper, magnesium compounds and metals, nitrogen, palladium, silicon, nickel, and vanadium. Additionally, they lead the world in diamond mining by volume, and account for 27% of global diamond extraction.
To guard oil and diamonds, one might want a few tanks, and Rustavya has, frankly, all of them. They have a large and sophisticated military and arms industry, some would argue an unnecessarily large stockpile. They have the capabilities to design and manufacture high-tech military equipment, including fifth-generation fighter jets, and are currently working on next-gen jets with greater tracking and “invisibility abilities”, for a lack of a better term, just being quiet and using the clouds and shit to shield them from view, and signals to avoid detection, not like wonder woman’s invisible jet. They also have like, all the guns and tanks, etc. Rustavya has so much excessive military equipment, in fact, that they opened up a theme park a few years ago. Just two hours outside of the capital, it’s Patriot Park, you can climb on tanks, shoot bazooka’s, it’s actually pretty fun, if a little threatening. Rustavyan arms exports are valued at approximately $15.7 billion ACD, their worth second only to (whichever country took over the irl US's arms trade, because holy fuck do they sell a lot). Their top exports are combat aircrafts, air defense systems, ships, and submarines.
Additionally, Rustavya is a nuclear superpower, and has numerous ballistic missiles, as well as nuclear powered submarines. They have a large stockpile of chemical and biological weapons, and invented the Novichok agents, a series of nerve agents claimed to be 5-8 times more deadly than the (british made, but idk who is england in-verse) VX series of nerve agents, and Soman (another hella nerve agent, I'll just say not Rustavyan made). Over 100 strains of Novichok agents exist, and they are heavily guarded and kept in secret locations by the government. As Rustavya has not provided any information on the chemical makeup of Novichok, it has had be reverse engineered from victims in other nations, and it’s difficult to crack due to it’s highly volatile nature. No known treatment exists, and Rustavya has not admitted to whether or not they engineered an antidote themselves. Novichok agents are the favoured Rustavyan method of disposing of people out of their own borders. The exact stockpile of Rustavyan weapons of mass destruction is unknown, as it’s a closely guarded secret. It’s not even entirely clear if the King knows exactly how many they have. In the late 80’s-90’s, they admitted to a total peak stockpile of 68,000 warheads (the united states admitted to 32 040), but, as of a UN estimate last year, they’ve gone down to 7,850 (which includes all missiles, bio-weapons, etc. btw, USA, you guys currently at 7100, no data available yet to show how trump affected that though).
Economically speaking, Rustayva has been very careful to ensure that while the world is dependent on them, their economy will survive if suddenly cut off. They have vast farming, health, and etc industries, though they may not rank as the highest in the world, they are profitable and self-sustaining enough, and if all trade was suddenly cut off, the country would survive. This is what allows it to keep enduring as it does as it pleases, since sanctions have little to no effect on their economy. The Rustayvan economy implements an odd mix of marxist-leninist communism, and oligarchy. Rustayva has an uneven distribution of wealth, yet has low poverty rates and general satisfaction amongst the people, as it’s largely abolished the bourgeoisie. The distinction in status is essentially that you are either of (proven) royal blood, or you are a commoner, and therefore equal to everyone else. The state, ie the Crown, owns most state assets, such as the aforementioned 3 major industries of oil/gas, diamonds, and arms, however, outside out of the immediate branch of the royal family, the wealthier you are, the higher your taxes. Offshore banking is considered treason within Rustavya, and the penalty for treason is, of course, death. Additionally, even if a company is NOT state owned, the Sovereign has the power to shut down or indefinitely and forcibly keep open any company they so choose. The country implements a living wage, as well as various social benefits, such as maternity and parental leave, as well as complete and free universal healthcare (includes dental). This system, however, breaks down during high periods of corruption, often resulting in civil and a near complete change of government. An easier way of understanding the Rustavyan economy is actually just to look at Amazon’s business model, the company is happy to bleed money in order to gain market share, and keep prices low to make sure the consumers are happy. With Rustavya, the Crown would be Jeff Bezos, they have all the money, and can save the world if they wanted to, Amazon is the government/whatever-remains-of-the-bourgeoisie (essentially, they’re oligarchs, but it doesn’t matter how much money they have, if they piss off the King/Queen, they gonna die), they’ll lose money, in order to make sure the customers, the people, can keep affording to buy shit, and live in homes, so that they don’t riot.
However, despite all this definitely cool and necessary information about their wealth and economy, Rustavya is best known for its political turmoil and militarial endeavours. Civil war is just another tuesday in Rustavya. It goes through governments faster than Trump goes through wives. They also don’t keep that shit to themselves, and have been encroaching on neighbouring lands and necessarily getting involved in middle east conflicts. Internationally, they’ve also been accused of meddling in the elections of other nations, as well as committing assassinations on foreign soil. Most of which they’ve denied, or openly laughed off. Because of this, they have been subject to UN and other sanctions, but it hasn’t affected their economy.
Rustavya has its own rich and historic culture, and is heavily resistant to outsiders influence, particularly from the western half of the world. It heavily resents nations that constantly screams that they are “the greatest nation on the Earth”, like “fuck off”, said the average Russian-I mean Rustavyan. Because of this, they loathe foreign culture, particularly western culture, and have their own celebrities. Most people recognized as international stars, ironically, would be either little or completely unknown in Rustavya.
Impervious to the cold Technically speaking, not true. Frostbite is real, and you will die. But they do have more tolerance for it than other nations, not uncommon to see a Rustavyan, usually a younger one, out and about in winter in like a fucking sweater.
Always drinking and cannot get drunk ... More true than they care to admit. Fun fact, there is no law regarding legal drinking age in Rustavya (also in it’s real life counterpart, Russia). However, it is illegal to SELL to minors. Alcohol tolerance depends on the person really, but you are, mostly jokingly, called a fake-Rustavyan if you’ve got a low level of tolerance. They general prefer hard stuff, and consider beer to be a joke, and the term is synonymous with piss.
They’re all shady spies who will steal all your secrets obviously, not true.
Obsessed with Hockey, will riot Meh. Only if you love sports. It’s not considered as nationally emblematic as Ballet is.
Are idiots being blindly led by corrupt fools Arguable, they have access to what the world thinks of many of their leaders, and their politics, but they think a lot of that is bullshit and/or jealousy.
Most Rustavyan’s have some criminal history and close ties to the Bratva (Rustavyan mafia) As true as every Italian being in the mafia. Of course it’s false, Bratva activity has been on the rise recently, but the average Rustavyan is generally living a crime free, and happy life.
All Rustavyan’s are under government surveillance No, not every single individual person, that would be impossible to maintain. Though it is a, secretly, policed state and heavily watched.
First man in Space During the 60’s, they were engaged in a space race, and while they did not manage to claim the first man on the moon, in 1961, they manned the first flight in space and put the first man in space, as well as bringing him back. Rustavyan astronauts are called cosmonauts, and Ruscosmos (the nickname of Rustavyan Cosmonautic Organziation) remains a heavily protected and invested in industry in Rustavya.
Cosmodrome More commonly known as a Spaceport, or Rocket Launch Site. Basically that big thing that rockets launch from.
Father of All Bombs Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power. Contested, but in large part accepted as the world’s deadliest non-nuclear bomb. For comparison, the US/Acira MOAB (Mother of All Bombs, and their deadliest non-nuclear bomb), gives off the equivalent of 11 tons (22 000 lb) of a TNT explosion, where FOAB gives off the equivalent of 44 tons (88 000 lbs). FOAB’s blast radius is also bigger (300m, double that of MOAB), and the temperature produced is also twice as high.
Fast-neutron reactor
Military Robots Can be remote controlled, or completely autonomous. Uses include; transport, search & rescue, and attack.
Radiator
Periodic Table of Elements
First Nation to Practise State Atheism but no longer does.
Onion Dome Architectural term for those cool hershey’s kisses shaped things on a bunch of their castles and palaces
Novichok series of Nerve Agents
Powdered Milk
RAR (file format) Mentioning this only because I HATE rar files, make it a zip or fuck off
Tetris
Tsar Bomba the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created. The mushroom cloud from it’s detonation could be seen from a distance of 161 km (100 mi). The only remaining picture of the cloud, measures it’s height at 56 km (35 mi), though it’s said to have gone higher. The test explosion had a yield of 50 megatons of TNT (210 PJ), however, it did not include a uranium-238 tamper, and with it, could, theoretically, achieve a max yield of 100 megatons of TNT. Officially, only one bomb was built and show cased as “fuck you” to their enemies during the cold war. Unofficially, they still have all the plans and materials, and it’s possible they may have built more than one at the time.
💎𝓡𝓮𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓽/𝓡𝓮𝓵𝓮𝓿𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓗𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂 ――――――――――
Rustavya has a long and complex history. It’s well over a thousand years old. Originally, it was known as Kievan Rus’, and was founded by Varagians (the name given by the Rus’, greeks, and others to Vikings). It’s been through several major periods of extreme political upheaval, from basic feudalism to a somewhat functioning traditional democracy in around the 1300’s, to the outright Divine Rule of Kings to a traditional constitutional monarchy to a communist rebellion, to sudden royalist revolt, back to constitutional monarchy, and a few more civil wars before the current government was established, and remains unbroken (though challenged) since 1937.
The House of Yusupov is a cadet branch of the royal house, and they enjoyed a lot of power, but it wasn't enough and they came for the crown. The Yuspov's gained support of the majority of the government, but lacked the military and the people. However, the war lasted a decade, from the 80's to the late 90's, and resulted in numerous casualties. They lost in the end, and most Yusupov's were executed, including children and completely innocent family members. At the time, their executions resulted in international outcry, but ironically had the opposite effect on everyday Rustavyan's, who resented the concept of mercy for people who fucked up their lives for 10 years.
"Dead men don't claim vengeance, and neither do their dead sons." - Paraphrase of a paraphrase of a Tywin Lannister saying. (I think it was clash of kings? no dance of the dragons. either way, it was GRRM who wrote it)
The Yusupov’s, however, are not extinct. There exists one survivour, Nikita Yusupov, kept alive as a hostage, and a warning to others. He was raised alongside the royal children.
Previously part of Rökstenne, Askold was once part of Rustavyan (during the communist days), and when they last made moves indicating they wanted to take it back, Rökstenne swiftly arranged the marriage of Princess Rhiannon to then the boy king, 20 year old Nikolas. It was annexed by Rustavya a few months after her disappearance, sparking international outcry, yet little to no repercussions. They were hit with some sanctions, but they had no visible effect on the Rustavyan economy.
Following the success of getting away with annexing Askold, Rustavya has been more blatant, getting into scuffles in the Black Sea, and seizing numerous boats, as well as openly killing dissidents that had managed to escape to other countries. Despite their increasingly hostile and brazen behaviour, because of the world’s (current) reliance on oil, they’ve basically been getting away scot free with everything. What do you want? Oil, diamonds, booze, tanks, drones, other weapons, secrets to blackmail your political opponents with? We’ve got it all.
The capital city is named Voskhod and is home to Voskresenskie Palace, seat of the Sovereign. Voskhod is a mix of old and new, with shiny, tall glass buildings, stunning skyscrappers (the top right image is of its business centre), yet at the city’s heart lies Voskresenskie Palace, a masterpiece of Imperial Era architecture. It is a surrounded by a red wall with multiple towers, earning the palace the nickname “The Fortress within a City”. Voskhod is nicknamed “The City of a Thousand Lights”, due to the amount of lights shining at night, and making the city glitter.
Venera Nikolayevna of Rustavya
"She burned as bright as any man, and so shall I." - Arianne Martell from "A Feast for Crows" by George R. R. Martin
💎𝓝𝓪𝓶𝓮 ――――――――――
Venera Nikolayevna of the House of Vasaätten
Nicknames: » “Vera” - used only by her mother, chief bodyguard, her forbidden love interest (Nika, moya lyubov') and very occasionally, her father. Also only the closest of friends. » “Solnyshko” - means “little sun”, used only by her mother » “Zvezda moya” - means “my star”, and another nickname given to her by Mama » "mladshaya sestra" - means "little sister", used largely mockingly by her half-brother, and resentfully » "Winter’s Sun/Sun of Winter" - the moniker given to her by the media following her birth
💎𝓣𝓲𝓽𝓵𝓮 ――――――――――
{Full Title} Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Venera of Rustavya, Duchess of Knyaz {Introduced/Announced as} Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Venera of Rustavya {Styles of Address} Her/Your Royal Highness, followed by Ma’amthereafter
{Additional Titles}
Tsesarevna discontinued historic title, but used in some towns and local villages, and informally by the media
Chairwoman of the Government power slightly above that of the Prime Minister
Co-chairwoman of the Security Council position held jointly with her half-brother
Chancellor of the Order of Vasaätten One of the three major Orders of Chivalry in Rustavya, and the highest of them all, royalty cannot receive it. Vera's in charge of deciding who does.
{Honours}
Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Alrosa the second highest order of chivalry in Rustavya, awarded to both civilians and military personnel
Knight 1st Class of the Order of Rigel the third highest order of chivalry in Rustavya, awarded for excellence in civil duty or scientific endeavours. Venera got hers for getting her Masters degree in Law. (Most people don't, but that's that royal privilege for you)
Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Rökstenne the highest civil order, and second highest State decoration, in Rökstenne
💎𝓐𝓰𝓮 ――――――――――
24
💎𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻 ――――――――――
Female
💎𝓢𝓮𝔁𝓾𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂 ――――――――――
Heterosexual
💎𝓐𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮 ――――――――――
Hot af. Okay, properly this time. She is... yeah I’m stuck at super hot. Okay, stunningly beautiful too. She’s very much embodies of the beauty tropes of her kingdom; she has average height, though her heels make her appear much taller, long magical golden hair, though she does sometimes dye it lighter blondes aka platinum/silver, she doesn’t publicly admit why, she’ll only say she “liked the suggestion [her] stylist made”, but do know that it 1000000000% is because she loves Valyria and dragonlords. Certified nerd, anyway, her eyes are mostly grey, with some flecks of blue and green. She’s slim, and lacks muscular definition, but is not as fragile as she looks, having done some ballet when she was younger, and received basic defense training from her guards.
💎𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂 ――――――――――
She gives off a rather cold and stoic vibe, particularly if you’re with her in a private setting, and she’s not maintaining the “pretty princess who loves you all” image for the public. She’s introverted and generally prefers to keep to herself and her circle of friends, giving off rather unapproachable airs, but she’s really just a massive nerd with a crown. She even still plays Pokemon Go (and don't tell me it's not a thing in-world, there are infinite universes, and in every single one of those Pokemon exists. Back me up here ghost Stephen Hawking. Also, Team Mystic).
Intelligent, observant, and cautious; she’s a rather restrained individual and never explodes in rage in public. On the flip side, she’s also warm, encouraging, and incredibly passionate, particularly in charitable and social justice and change endeavours. The public face, and often direct opposing force of the government’s stance, of things like Women’s and LGBTA+ Rights in Rustavya.
She’s pragmatic, rational, persistent, occasionally a tiny bit arrogant (she’s a princess, okay, sometimes very arrogant), holds grudges (to the fucking end of time, she doesn’t forget, and very rarely forgives), patriotic, and protective. Despite being the youngest of the children her father raised, she’s more a big sister type. She likes looking after people; wrapping them in warm blankets, serving them some great sweets, a spot of tea, and fixing all their problems and slapping a pretty bow on top of it.
Other than all that cool stuff, Vera does display shades of tyranny, much like her father, she’s just better at it. All that stuff her country is accused of; being a police state, political assassinations, etc, etc, she’s not really against any of that. She has liberal views, but is not the liberal reformist of western-nation dreams. Nothing wrong with a dictatorship, so long as you’re the dictator, she’s 100% on board for killing people, as long as it’s not one of her people. She’s kind of like an oreo, in a way. Cold on top, warm in the middle, even colder beneath that.
💎𝓛𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼 + 𝓓𝓲𝓼𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼 ――――――――――
Likes Space, A Song of Ice and Fire, Dragons, Tolkien, Greco-Roman mythology (leans towards roman), history, politics, slavic mythology, winter, snow, Euro-Pop, classical music, lilies, orchids, ballet, ice skating, cats (collects them, the palace is filled with strays), tolstoy, eurovision, fast cars (not allowed to drive them freely though ‘cause of her security), vermouth.
Dislikes Beer, corduroy, overreaching upstarts, “feelings matter as much as facts” type idiots, dismissal of hard and evidence-supported science, the fucking patriarchy, her father, her half-brother, about 25% of the cabinet, politics (it’s a complicated interest to have, ‘cause it’s interesting, but also full of assholes), sand, summer, heat.
💎𝓑𝓲𝓸𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓹𝓱𝔂 ――――――――――
The one and only heir to the kingdom of Rustavya, she was born not long after the end of the Yusupov Rebellion, leading to it being overly publicized and dramatized as the beginning of a new age by the media and the government, mostly to reaffirm their hold over the Kingdom.
The only daughter of Queen Rhiannon, she’s actually the second child of the King, being four years younger than her illegitimate half-brother, Grand Duke Vasily “Vasya” Nikolayevich. Apart from him, she was also directly raised alongside Nikita Yuspov, about 3 at the time of her birth, and the only survivour of the Yusupov rebellion. Vera has a complicated relationship with her family. The person she’s closet to was her mother, who protected her position as heir to the throne (because patriarchy), and managed to prevent any betrothal that, if followed through with, would result in Vera’s being disqualified from inheriting the throne. Vera idolized her mother, who was a strong, take no shit, boss ass bitch of a Queen. Meanwhile, her relationship with her father is much more strained. It’s not that he hates her, it’s just that Vasily is his favourite, also he’s sexist and sucks, but that’s just basic bad dad stuff. Vera doesn’t exactly hate him back either. She certainly hates his politics, she doesn’t think he’s very good at being tyrant, or a leader in general, but blatant tyranny is essentially his preferred method of governance, and finds his methods gaudy and, frankly, stupid. However, they don’t particularly have a parental relationship at all really, it’s more business, than family with them, the only thing uniting them is the crown. She very rarely calls him “father” to his face, usually addressing him as “Your Majesty”, and he reciprocates with “Your Royal Highness”. The lack of anything familial is probably why she doesn’t really hate him, he may be her blood, but he’s not her family, they’re strangers living in the same palace, co-workers in essence. Their relationship does take a sharp right turn at anything related to her mother though, huge minefield, topic should be avoided at all costs, both suddenly become super angry and shouty, a complete 180 of their personalities of laidback king and ice princess.
As for her half-brother, Vera very much actively hates him. At a very young age, he quite literally spelled out his interest in taking what is hers (aka the throne), and they’ve been at odds ever since (she was 10, he was 14, it was over breakfast, Nikolas found it funny, Rhiannon was not there). When they were younger they would constantly compete (grades, sports, everything), initially for their father’s attention, but soon switched to gaining attention and adoration from the cabinet. Vera was better at winning them over, she also always won the games, but Nikolas was always more impressed with Vasya. Their childish competitions didn’t really ‘cause any political factions when they were children, afterall, one is the trueborn, as the constitution dictates that it must be her, also Queen Rhiannon kept killing people who even jokingly suggested that perhaps Vasya should be heir, so just follow the law. However, once Queen Rhiannon disappeared, the factions began forming. It’s not really a faction, it’s an idea, just a thought being thrown around and floated, equivalent to how some people say the Earth isn’t flat, it’s a stupid thought, but the problem is that there’s quite a few people who believe it, both in and out of government, and as Rustavyan’s very well know, revolts have a way of sneaking up on you.
Vera was privately tutored at the palace by renowned professors and teachers, but following the completion of her basic education, she chose to attend Ulyanov University (originally named the Imperial Voskhod University), where she studied law, and obtained a masters in the subject. After completing her education, she was made Chairwoman of the Cabinet, and holds an active role in the government, being more interest in politics than her father.
Palo inje po nama Ledi krv u žilama A ti, srce, steglo baš
Frost has formed between us Blood in our veins freezes thus Your heart is a dying ember
💎𝓑𝓮𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓭 𝓣𝓸 ――――――――――
TBD
💎𝓞𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 ――――――――――
» Vera rarely posts on social media herself, she has an official twitter and instagram account, managed for her by a team of professionals or whatever. When she directly posts she signs it as "- Tsesarevna Venera", “- HRH” on twitter ‘cause of the character limit. She doesn't bother with a facebook profile, but there is an official page for the royal family. However, she does post somewhat regularly on a private instagram account accessible only to her friends.
Venera would be House Targaryen, because yes, shut up, dragons forever, dracarys bitch. Her story is also a little Daeron II v Daemon Blackfyre, so yo.
» Grand Prince Andrei (cousin, son of deceased Prince Ivan, younger brother of Nikolas III) » Grand Princess Natalia (cousin, daughter of deceased Prince Ivan, younger brother of Nikolas III) » Grand Prince Dmitri (cousin, son of deceased Prince Ivan, younger brother of Nikolas III)
haha, updated kingdom sheet and basically completed character sheet, kinda rushed it, but work is time consuming and adulting it the worst. the kingdom sheet is still hella long, but I'm gonna clean up both. just wanted yay or wtf are you doing feedback
I am not led, I lead
Top Row (left to right):Petrova Road (located in north eastern Rustavya), Rings made by Fabergé, Voskresenskie Palace located in the capital city of Vokshod Middle Row (left to right):Another shot of Voskresenskie Palace, The Crown of lengendary Queen Consort Anya the Great, A ballerina (one of Rustavya’s most treasured forms of art and dance) Third Row (left to right):Aesthetic of the average Rustavyan, City of the Tsars (where the Royals ruled from during the age of Imperial Rustavya), Lion’s pride (a decorative castle, seized during the annexation of Askold, formerly part of the kingdom of Rökstenne)
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓝𝓪𝓶𝓮 ―――――――――― Rustavya (pronounced Rhoos-stahv-ya, not rush, basically pronounce it with a slavic accent, preferably Russian, but Romanian and Ukrainian works too. Also Belarusian.)
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓠𝓾𝓮𝓮𝓷 ――――――――――
"Revolution sneaks up on you, one small step at a time. [We] don't take chances, even with the smallest of steps." - Viktor Petrov (House of Cards)
Rustavya is ruled by the Royal House of Vasaätten, the current Sovereign being King Nikolas III. His Queen Consort was Rhiannon of Rökstenne.
They were… not a happy couple, to say the least. Reportedly, they didn’t even sleep in the same bed after the birth of their one and only child. Rhiannon was the daughter of a neighbouring kingdom, and the marriage procured purely for alliance purposes, yet that did not make her a pliant nor silent Queen. Opinionated, intelligent, and headstrong, she did not come to Rustavya to simply wear a crown and look pretty. The royal couple differed on many a view, and despite being a foreigner, she’s managed to get much of the Cabinet on her side, and disagreements between the monarchs didn’t end with the King always winning, however, given Rustavya’s “complex” political nature, it didn’t also end with some kind of legislation (more on that later).
Nikolas came into the throne young, just barely past the age of majority (18), and filled with ambition, vigour, and endless arrogance. He is the pure embodiment of the downsides of the Ancien Régime. Unlike Louis XIV, he is not golden. While he has ambition, he lacks the intelligence and patience of better dictator-kings. What Nikolas wants, Nikolas gets. Aka, every basic white man, essentially. Everything went his way, until he was married to Rhiannon, similar to him in nature, but she had the intelligence and patience he lacks. While the King of Rustayva is absolute, critically, he (or she) must not appear to be, as public riots and revolutions in the past have shown, which is why the cabinet exists, to provide the illusion of a cooperative government. Rhiannon, however, was also to sway about half of them to her will, resulting in increased corruption and political assassinations, including attempts on both the King and Queen (known to have been orchestrated by each other). Publically, they maintained a civil face, but did not keep their dislike of each other entirely private, which has also split the public in terms of which sovereign to love and obey.
Suspiciously, the Queen has been missing for about 5 years now, and no one can say with any certainty what has happened to her. Officially, it’s stated as foul play, assumed to have been a kidnapping, and the length of time since her disappearance makes it all the more likely that she is dead. However, this has also worked in her favour, as King Nikolas’s approval is at an all-time low of 46%, whereas the Queen, despite not being there, is at 97% approval. (Side note, the government reports his approval as 90%)
In theory, Rustavya practises absolute-primogeniture, meaning that the title (in this case the throne) passes to the eldest living trueborn child, regardless of gender. But historically, they’ve used a provision in the law to get around female Sovereigns (though, they couldn’t avoid them all). I explain it all more in depth in the page linked below.
Although the royal couple have only one child, Crown Princess Venera, the King has another child, an older son, Grand Duke Vasily, he is a prince du sang, prince of the blood, and born out of wedlock (illegitimate) and therefore unable to lay claim to the throne, except in extenuating circumstances (that’s not to say he doesn’t want it though).
Overall, Rustavya, isn’t exactly conservative or liberal so much as it is simply subject to the will of the reigning Sovereign. Social progress goes back and forth depending on who's wearing the crown. What is constant, however, is the ironclad grip with which the crown bearer rules. The free press is non-existent in Rustavya, though there is a feeble attempt to pretend the state doesn't control the news and ALL media. And the internet is heavily watched and controlled, and at times banned. Accounts that belong to users from certain foreign nations are blocked in Rustavya. Dissent is not appreciated nor welcome in Rustayva. Though depending on the severity of the dissenters actions, and the mood of the monarch, they can get off scot free or be executed.
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓻𝓼 ―――――――――― Blue and silver, with shades of red* *though, particularly when worn by government officials, red is considered offensive since it was the colour of the last civil war which was led by the Yusupov Family and members of the Cabinet
💎𝓦𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓲𝓼 𝓚𝓷𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓕𝓸𝓻 ―――――――――― (I know, I know, concise and short, but I love Russia okay? I can’t do short. I need some kind of outlet to spew off all these useless facts I’ve accumulated. I’ve embellished some of it, but most of those numbers and shit are fucking true, for Russia, Rustavya’s not real. Only changed some rankings to reflect the political shifts in Rustavya.)
Alongside being the largest country by landmass (though a lot of it is uninhabitable due it being a frozen tundra, so their population ranks them as about the 9th largest country), Rustavya is oil and natural gas rich, and known for its extensive mineral and gemstone mining, particularly of diamonds, as well as its extensive military and arms industry.
The petroleum industry in Rustavya is one of the largest in the world, a contender for the largest, but authorities are in disagreement as some believe a few middle Eastern countries may win that crown. However, Rustavya, by far, has the largest reserves and is the largest exporter of natural gas. It has the fourth largest coal reserves, second highest oil reserves, and is a contender for the largest producer of oil. However, Rustavya itself is only the fourth highest fossil fuel energy user in the world (prior to the reign of Nikolas III, they were second). They produce 12% of the world’s oil, and about 14% of global oil exports. Most of their oil goes west, particularly to Europe. In regards to natural gas, not only are they the world's largest exporter, but are the proven holder of the largest reserve. It’s theorized, but not proven, that they are also likely home to the largest volume of still-undiscovered natural gas, with a mean probable volume of 6.7 trillion cubic meters of said fossil fuel that is absolutely horrendous for the environment (listen, my country ain’t all that liberal, but I sure as hell am). Undiscovered oil is estimated to be about 22 billion barrels (second to the estimated undiscovered oil in Iraq- I mean a middle eastern country). The petroleum industries revenues account for about 12% of Rustavya’s GDP (14% for Russia, in 2005, and only as being responsible for the post-soviet GDP growth, slightly out of date statistic, so). They are considered an “energy superpower”, and the world estimates their oil and gas reserves to be worth and estimated $75 Trillion US dollars (or I guess Acrian dollars? Also, yeah, that’s the real estimate of the worth of Russia’s oil and gas, they hella rich son).
The second most profitable industry in Rustavya is their mining of non-oil and gas minerals. One of the world’s leading mineral industries, and accounting for a large percentage of Eastern Europe/Slavic State production of a range of minerals, Rustavya is ranked among the top 5 worldwide producers of a number of minerals, including; aluminion, arsenic, cement, copper, magnesium compounds and metals, nitrogen, palladium, silicon, nickel, and vanadium. Additionally, they lead the world in diamond mining by volume, and account for 27% of global diamond extraction.
Economically speaking, Rustayva has been very careful to ensure that while the world is dependent on them, their economy will survive if suddenly cut off. They have vast farming, health, and etc industries, though they may not rank as the highest in the world, they are profitable and self-sustaining enough, and if all trade was suddenly cut off, the country would survive. This is what allows it to keep enduring as it does as it pleases, since sanctions have little to no effect on their economy. The Rustayvan economy implements an odd mix of marxist-leninist communism, and oligarchy. Rustayva has an uneven distribution of wealth, yet has low poverty rates and general satisfaction amongst the people, as it’s largely abolished the bourgeoisie. The distinction in status is essentially that you are either of (proven) royal blood, or you are a commoner, and therefore equal to everyone else. The state, ie the Crown, owns most state assets, such as the aforementioned 3 major industries of oil/gas, diamonds, and arms, however, outside out of the immediate branch of the royal family, the wealthier you are, the higher your taxes. Offshore banking is considered treason within Rustavya, and the penalty for treason is, of course, death. Additionally, even if a company is NOT state owned, the Sovereign has the power to shut down or indefinitely and forcibly keep open any company they so choose. The country implements a living wage, as well as various social benefits, such as maternity and parental leave, as well as complete and free universal healthcare (includes dental). This system, however, breaks down during high periods of corruption, often resulting in civil and a near complete change of government. An easier way of understanding the Rustavyan economy is actually just to look at Amazon’s business model, the company is happy to bleed money in order to gain market share, and keep prices low to make sure the consumers are happy. With Rustavya, the Crown would be Jeff Bezos, they have all the money, and can save the world if they wanted to, Amazon is the government/whatever-remains-of-the-bourgeoisie (essentially, they’re oligarchs, but it doesn’t matter how much money they have, if they piss off the King/Queen, they gonna die), they’ll lose money, in order to make sure the customers, the people, can keep affording to buy shit, and live in homes, so that they don’t riot.
However, despite all this definitely cool and necessary information about their wealth and economy, Rustavya is best known for its political turmoil and militarial endeavours. Civil war is just another tuesday in Rustavya. It goes through governments faster than Trump goes through wives. They also don’t keep that shit to themselves, and have been encroaching on neighbouring lands and necessarily getting involved in middle east conflicts. Internationally, they’ve also been accused of meddling in the elections of other nations, as well as committing assassinations on foreign soil. Most of which they’ve denied, or openly laughed off. Because of this, they have been subject to UN and other sanctions, but it hasn’t affected their economy.
Rustavya has its own rich and historic culture, and is heavily resistant to outsiders influence, particularly from the western half of the world. It heavily resents nations *cough* The US-I mean Aciras *cough* that constantly screams that they are “the greatest nation on the Earth”, like “fuck off”, said the average Russian-I mean Rustavyan. Because of this, they loathe foreign culture, particularly western culture, and have their own celebrities. Most people recognized as international stars, ironically, would be either little or completely unknown in Rustavya.
Impervious to the cold Technically speaking, not true. Frostbite is real, and you will die. But they do have more tolerance for it than other nations, not uncommon to see a Rustavyan, usually a younger one, out and about in winter in like a fucking sweater.
Always drinking and cannot get drunk ... More true than they care to admit. Fun fact, there is no law regarding legal drinking age in Rustavya (also in it’s real life counterpart, Russia). However, it is illegal to SELL to minors. Alcohol tolerance depends on the person really, but you are, mostly jokingly, called a fake-Rustavyan if you’ve got a low level of tolerance. They general prefer hard stuff, and consider beer to be a joke, and the term is synonymous with piss.
They’re all shady spies who will steal all your secrets obviously, not true.
Obsessed with Hockey, will riot Meh. Only if you love sports. It’s not considered as nationally emblematic as Ballet is.
Are idiots being blindly led by corrupt fools Arguable, they have access to what the world thinks of many of their leaders, and their politics, but they think a lot of that is bullshit and/or jealousy.
Most Rustavyan’s have some criminal history and close ties to the Bratva (Rustavyan mafia) As true as every Italian being in the mafia. Of course it’s false, Bratva activity has been on the rise recently, but the average Rustavyan is generally living a crime free, and happy life.
All Rustavyan’s are under government surveillance No, not every single individual person, that would be impossible to maintain. Though it is a, secretly, policed state and heavily watched.
First man in Space During the 60’s, they were engaged in a space race, and while they did not manage to claim the first man on the moon, in 1961, they manned the first flight in space and put the first man in space, as well as bringing him back. Rustavyan astronauts are called cosmonauts, and Ruscosmos (the nickname of Rustavyan Cosmonautic Organziation) remains a heavily protected and invested in industry in Rustavya.
Cosmodrome More commonly known as a Spaceport, or Rocket Launch Site. Basically that big thing that rockets launch from.
Father of All Bombs Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power. Contested, but in large part accepted as the world’s deadliest non-nuclear bomb. For comparison, the US/Acira MOAB (Mother of All Bombs, and their deadliest non-nuclear bomb), gives off the equivalent of 11 tons (22 000 lb) of a TNT explosion, where FOAB gives off the equivalent of 44 tons (88 000 lbs). FOAB’s blast radius is also bigger (300m, double that of MOAB), and the temperature produced is also twice as high.
Fast-neutron reactor
Military Robots Can be remote controlled, or completely autonomous. Uses include; transport, search & rescue, and attack.
Military Robots Can be remote controlled, or completely autonomous. Uses include; transport, search & rescue, and attack.
Radiator
Periodic Table of Elements
First Nation to Practise State Atheism but no longer does.
Onion Dome Architectural term for those cool hershey’s kisses shaped things on a bunch of their castles and palaces
Novichok series of Nerve Agents
Powdered Milk
RAR (file format) Mentioning this only because I HATE rar files, make it a zip or fuck off
Tetris
Tsar Bomba the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created. The mushroom cloud from it’s detonation could be seen from a distance of 161 km (100 mi). The only remaining picture of the cloud, measures it’s height at 56 km (35 mi), though it’s said to have gone higher. The test explosion had a yield of 50 megatons of TNT (210 PJ), however, it did not include a uranium-238 tamper, and with it, could, theoretically, achieve a max yield of 100 megatons of TNT. Officially, only one bomb was built and show cased as “fuck you” to their enemies during the cold war. Unofficially, they still have all the plans and materials, and it’s possible they may have built more than one at the time.
💎𝓡𝓮𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓽/𝓡𝓮𝓵𝓮𝓿𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓗𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂 ――――――――――
Rustavya has a long and complex history. It’s well over a thousand years old. Originally, it was known as Kievan Rus’, and was founded by Varagians (the name given by the Rus’, greeks, and others to Vikings). It’s been through several major periods of extreme political upheaval, from basic feudalism to a somewhat functioning traditional democracy in around the 1300’s, to the outright Divine Rule of Kings to a traditional constitutional monarchy to a communist rebellion, to sudden royalist revolt, back to constitutional monarchy, and a few more civil wars before the current government was established, and remains unbroken (though challenged) since 1937.
The House of Yusupov is a cadet branch of the royal house, and they enjoyed a lot of power, but it wasn't enough and they came for the crown. The Yuspov's gained support of the majority of the government, but lacked the military and the people. However, the war lasted a decade, from the 80's to the late 90's, and resulted in numerous casualties. They lost in the end, and most Yusupov's were executed, including children and completely innocent family members. At the time, their executions resulted in international outcry, but ironically had the opposite effect on everyday Rustavyan's, who resented the concept of mercy for people who fucked up their lives for 10 years.
"Dead men don't claim vengeance, and neither do their dead sons." - Paraphrase of a paraphrase of a Tywin Lannister saying. (I think it was clash of kings? no dance of the dragons. either way, it was GRRM who wrote it)
The Yusupov’s, however, are not extinct. There exists one survivour, Nikita Yusupov, kept alive as a hostage, and a warning to others. He was raised alongside the royal children.
Previously part of Rökstenne, Askold was once part of Rustavyan (during the communist days), and when they last made moves indicating they wanted to take it back, Rökstenne swiftly arranged the marriage of Princess Rhiannon to then the boy king, 20 year old Nikolas. It was annexed by Rustavya a few months after her disappearance, sparking international outcry, yet little to no repercussions. They were hit with some sanctions, but they had no visible effect on the Rustavyan economy.
Following the success of getting away with annexing Askold, Rustavya has been more blatant, getting into scuffles in the Black Sea, and seizing numerous boats, as well as openly killing dissidents that had managed to escape to other countries. Despite their increasingly hostile and brazen behaviour, because of the world’s (current) reliance on oil, they’ve basically been getting away scot free with everything. What do you want? Oil, diamonds, booze, tanks, drones, other weapons, secrets to blackmail your political opponents with? We’ve got it all.
The capital city is named Voskhod and is home to Voskresenskie Palace, seat of the Sovereign. Voskhod is a mix of old and new, with shiny, tall glass buildings, stunning skyscrappers (the top right image is of its business centre), yet at the city’s heart lies Voskresenskie Palace, a masterpiece of Imperial Era architecture. It is a surrounded by a red wall with multiple towers, earning the palace the nickname “The Fortress within a City”. Voskhod is nicknamed “The City of a Thousand Lights”, due to the amount of lights shining at night, and making the city glitter.
Venera Nikolayevna of Rustavya
"She burned as bright as any man, and so shall I." - Arianne Martell from "A Feast for Crows" by George R. R. Martin
💎𝓝𝓪𝓶𝓮 ――――――――――
Venera Nikolayevna of the House of Vasaätten
Nicknames: » “Vera” - used only by her mother, chief bodyguard, her forbidden love interest (Nika, moya lyubov') and very occasionally, her father. Also only the closest of friends. » “Solnyshko” - means “little sun”, used only by her mother » “Zvezda moya” - means “my star”, and another nickname given to her by Mama » "mladshaya sestra" - means "little sister", used largely mockingly by her half-brother, and resentfully » "Winter’s Sun/Sun of Winter" - the moniker given to her by the media following her birth
💎𝓣𝓲𝓽𝓵𝓮 ――――――――――
{Full Title} Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Venera of Rustavya, Duchess of Knyaz {Introduced/Announced as} Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Venera of Rustavya {Styles of Address} Her/Your Royal Highness, followed by Ma’amthereafter
{Additional Titles}
Tsesarevna discontinued historic title, but used in some towns and local villages, and informally by the media
Chairwoman of the Government power slightly above that of the Prime Minister
Co-chairwoman of the Security Council position held jointly with her half-brother
Chancellor of the Order of Vasaätten One of the three major Orders of Chivalry in Rustavya, and the highest of them all, royalty cannot receive it. Vera's in charge of deciding who does.
{Honours}
Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Alrosa the second highest order of chivalry in Rustavya, awarded to both civilians and military personnel
Knight 1st Class of the Order of Rigel the third highest order of chivalry in Rustavya, awarded for excellence in civil duty or scientific endeavours. Venera got hers for getting her Masters degree in Law. (Most people don't, but that's that royal privilege for you)
Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Rökstenne the highest civil order, and second highest State decoration, in Rökstenne
💎𝓐𝓰𝓮 ――――――――――
24
💎𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻 ――――――――――
Female
💎𝓢𝓮𝔁𝓾𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂 ――――――――――
Heterosexual
💎𝓐𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮 ――――――――――
Hot af. Okay, properly this time. She is... yeah I’m stuck at super hot. Okay, stunningly beautiful too. She’s very much embodies of the beauty tropes of her kingdom; she has average height, though her heels make her appear much taller, long magical golden hair, though she does sometimes dye it lighter blondes aka platinum/silver, she doesn’t publicly admit why, she’ll only say she “liked the suggestion [her] stylist made”, but do know that it 1000000000% is because she loves Valyria and dragonlords. Certified nerd, anyway, her eyes are mostly grey, with some flecks of blue and green. She’s slim, and lacks muscular definition, but is not as fragile as she looks, having done some ballet when she was younger, and received basic defense training from her guards.
💎𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂 ――――――――――
She gives off a rather cold and stoic vibe, particularly if you’re with her in a private setting, and she’s not maintaining the “pretty princess who loves you all” image for the public. She’s introverted and generally prefers to keep to herself and her circle of friends, giving off rather unapproachable airs, but she’s really just a massive nerd with a crown. She even still plays Pokemon Go (and don't tell me it's not a thing in-world, there are infinite universes, and in every single one of those Pokemon exists. Back me up here ghost Stephen Hawking. Also, Team Mystic).
Intelligent, observant, and cautious; she’s a rather restrained individual and never explodes in rage in public. On the flip side, she’s also warm, encouraging, and incredibly passionate, particularly in charitable and social justice and change endeavours. The public face, and often direct opposing force of the government’s stance, of things like Women’s and LGBTA+ Rights in Rustavya.
She’s pragmatic, rational, persistent, occasionally a tiny bit arrogant (she’s a princess, okay, sometimes very arrogant), holds grudges (to the fucking end of time, she doesn’t forget, and very rarely forgives), patriotic, and protective. Despite being the youngest of the children her father raised, she’s more a big sister type. She likes looking after people; wrapping them in warm blankets, serving them some great sweets, a spot of tea, and fixing all their problems and slapping a pretty bow on top of it.
Other than all that cool stuff, Vera does display shades of tyranny, much like her father, she’s just better at it. All that stuff her country is accused of; being a police state, political assassinations, etc, etc, she’s not really against any of that. She has liberal views, but is not the liberal reformist of western-nation dreams. Nothing wrong with a dictatorship, so long as you’re the dictator, she’s 100% on board for killing people, as long as it’s not one of her people. She’s kind of like an oreo, in a way. Cold on top, warm in the middle, even colder beneath that.
💎𝓛𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼 + 𝓓𝓲𝓼𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼 ――――――――――
Likes Space, A Song of Ice and Fire, Dragons, Tolkien, Greco-Roman mythology (leans towards roman), history, politics, slavic mythology, winter, snow, Euro-Pop, classical music, lilies, orchids, ballet, ice skating, cats (collects them, the palace is filled with strays), tolstoy, eurovision, fast cars (not allowed to drive them freely though ‘cause of her security), vermouth.
Dislikes Beer, corduroy, overreaching upstarts, “feelings matter as much as facts” type idiots, dismissal of hard and evidence-supported science, the fucking patriarchy, her father, her half-brother, about 25% of the cabinet, politics (it’s a complicated interest to have, ‘cause it’s interesting, but also full of assholes), sand, summer, heat.
💎𝓑𝓲𝓸𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓹𝓱𝔂 ――――――――――
The one and only heir to the kingdom of Rustavya, she was born not long after the end of the Yusupov Rebellion, leading to it being overly publicized and dramatized as the beginning of a new age by the media and the government, mostly to reaffirm their hold over the Kingdom.
The only daughter of Queen Rhiannon, she’s actually the second child of the King, being four years younger than her illegitimate half-brother, Grand Duke Vasily “Vasya” Nikolayevich. Apart from him, she was also directly raised alongside Nikita Yuspov, about 3 at the time of her birth, and the only survivour of the Yusupov rebellion. Vera has a complicated relationship with her family. The person she’s closet to was her mother, who protected her position as heir to the throne (because patriarchy), and managed to prevent any betrothal that, if followed through with, would result in Vera’s being disqualified from inheriting the throne. Vera idolized her mother, who was a strong, take no shit, boss ass bitch of a Queen. Meanwhile, her relationship with her father is much more strained. It’s not that he hates her, it’s just that Vasily is his favourite, also he’s sexist and sucks, but that’s just basic bad dad stuff. Vera doesn’t exactly hate him back either. She certainly hates his politics, she doesn’t think he’s very good at being tyrant, or a leader in general, but blatant tyranny is essentially his preferred method of governance, and finds his methods gaudy and, frankly, stupid. However, they don’t particularly have a parental relationship at all really, it’s more business, than family with them, the only thing uniting them is the crown. She very rarely calls him “father” to his face, usually addressing him as “Your Majesty”, and he reciprocates with “Your Royal Highness”. The lack of anything familial is probably why she doesn’t really hate him, he may be her blood, but he’s not her family, they’re strangers living in the same palace, co-workers in essence. Their relationship does take a sharp right turn at anything related to her mother though, huge minefield, topic should be avoided at all costs, both suddenly become super angry and shouty, a complete 180 of their personalities of laidback king and ice princess.
As for her half-brother, Vera very much actively hates him. At a very young age, he quite literally spelled out his interest in taking what is hers (aka the throne), and they’ve been at odds ever since (she was 10, he was 14, it was over breakfast, Nikolas found it funny, Rhiannon was not there). When they were younger they would constantly compete (grades, sports, everything), initially for their father’s attention, but soon switched to gaining attention and adoration from the cabinet. Vera was better at winning them over, she also always won the games, but Nikolas was always more impressed with Vasya. Their childish competitions didn’t really ‘cause any political factions when they were children, afterall, one is the trueborn, as the constitution dictates that it must be her, also Queen Rhiannon kept killing people who even jokingly suggested that perhaps Vasya should be heir, so just follow the law. However, once Queen Rhiannon disappeared, the factions began forming. It’s not really a faction, it’s an idea, just a thought being thrown around and floated, equivalent to how some people say the Earth isn’t flat, it’s a stupid thought, but the problem is that there’s quite a few people who believe it, both in and out of government, and as Rustavyan’s very well know, revolts have a way of sneaking up on you.
Vera was privately tutored at the palace by renowned professors and teachers, but following the completion of her basic education, she chose to attend Ulyanov University (originally named the Imperial Voskhod University), where she studied law, and obtained a masters in the subject. After completing her education, she was made Chairwoman of the Cabinet, and holds an active role in the government, being more interest in politics than her father.
Palo inje po nama Ledi krv u žilama A ti, srce, steglo baš
Frost has formed between us Blood in our veins freezes thus Your heart is a dying ember
💎𝓑𝓮𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓭 𝓣𝓸 ――――――――――
TBD
💎𝓞𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 ――――――――――
» Vera rarely posts on social media herself, she has an official twitter and instagram account, managed for her by a team of professionals or whatever. When she directly posts she signs it as "- Tsesarevna Venera", “- HRH” on twitter ‘cause of the character limit. She doesn't bother with a facebook profile, but there is an official page for the royal family. However, she does post somewhat regularly on a private instagram account accessible only to her friends.
Venera would be House Targaryen, because yes, shut up, dragons forever, dracarys bitch. Her story is also a little Daeron II v Daemon Blackfyre, so yo.
Still making this one, stuck between luthien and ewoywn, I’ll update that later, need to get the main shit done.
Self note: nikita = public face of the space agency (wanted to be an cosmonaut, but was not permitted)
I am not led, I lead
Top Row (left to right):Petrova Road (located in north eastern Rustavya), Rings made by Fabergé, Voskresenskie Palace located in the capital city of Vokshod Middle Row (left to right):Another shot of Voskresenskie Palace, The Crown of lengendary Queen Consort Anya the Great, A ballerina (one of Rustavya’s most treasured forms of art and dance) Third Row (left to right):Aesthetic of the average Rustavyan, City of the Tsars (where the Royals ruled from during the age of Imperial Rustavya), Lion’s pride (a decorative castle, seized during the annexation of Askold, formerly part of the kingdom of Rökstenne)
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓝𝓪𝓶𝓮 ―――――――――― Rustavya (pronounced Rhoos-stahv-ya, not rush, basically pronounce it with a slavic accent, preferably Russian, but Romanian and Ukrainian works too. Also Belarusian.)
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓠𝓾𝓮𝓮𝓷 ――――――――――
"Revolution sneaks up on you, one small step at a time. [We] don't take chances, even with the smallest of steps." - Viktor Petrov (House of Cards)
Rustavya is ruled by the Royal House of Vasaätten, the current Sovereign being King Nikolas III. His Queen Consort was Rhiannon of Rökstenne.
They were… not a happy couple, to say the least. Reportedly, they didn’t even sleep in the same bed after the birth of their one and only child. Rhiannon was the daughter of a neighbouring kingdom, and the marriage procured purely for alliance purposes, yet that did not make her a pliant nor silent Queen. Opinionated, intelligent, and headstrong, she did not come to Rustavya to simply wear a crown and look pretty. The royal couple differed on many a view, and despite being a foreigner, she’s managed to get much of the Cabinet on her side, and disagreements between the monarchs didn’t end with the King always winning, however, given Rustavya’s “complex” political nature, it didn’t also end with some kind of legislation (more on that later).
Nikolas came into the throne young, just barely past the age of majority (18), and filled with ambition, vigour, and endless arrogance. He is the pure embodiment of the downsides of the Ancien Régime. Unlike Louis XIV, he is not golden. While he has ambition, he lacks the intelligence and patience of better dictator-kings. What Nikolas wants, Nikolas gets. Aka, every basic white man, essentially. Everything went his way, until he was married to Rhiannon, similar to him in nature, but she had the intelligence and patience he lacks. While the King of Rustayva is absolute, critically, he (or she) must not appear to be, as public riots and revolutions in the past have shown, which is why the cabinet exists, to provide the illusion of a cooperative government. Rhiannon, however, was also to sway about half of them to her will, resulting in increased corruption and political assassinations, including attempts on both the King and Queen (known to have been orchestrated by each other). Publically, they maintained a civil face, but did not keep their dislike of each other entirely private, which has also split the public in terms of which sovereign to love and obey.
Suspiciously, the Queen has been missing for about 5 years now, and no one can say with any certainty what has happened to her. Officially, it’s stated as foul play, assumed to have been a kidnapping, and the length of time since her disappearance makes it all the more likely that she is dead. However, this has also worked in her favour, as King Nikolas’s approval is at an all-time low of 46%, whereas the Queen, despite not being there, is at 97% approval. (Side note, the government reports his approval as 90%)
In theory, Rustavya practises absolute-primogeniture, meaning that the title (in this case the throne) passes to the eldest living trueborn child, regardless of gender. But historically, they’ve used a provision in the law to get around female Sovereigns (though, they couldn’t avoid them all). I explain it all more in depth in the page linked below.
Although the royal couple have only one child, Crown Princess Venera, the King has another child, an older son, Grand Duke Vasily, he is a prince du sang, prince of the blood, and born out of wedlock (illegitimate) and therefore unable to lay claim to the throne, except in extenuating circumstances (that’s not to say he doesn’t want it though).
Overall, Rustavya, isn’t exactly conservative or liberal so much as it is simply subject to the will of the reigning Sovereign. Social progress goes back and forth depending on who's wearing the crown. What is constant, however, is the ironclad grip with which the crown bearer rules. The free press is non-existent in Rustavya, though there is a feeble attempt to pretend the state doesn't control the news and ALL media. And the internet is heavily watched and controlled, and at times banned. Accounts that belong to users from certain foreign nations are blocked in Rustavya. Dissent is not appreciated nor welcome in Rustayva. Though depending on the severity of the dissenters actions, and the mood of the monarch, they can get off scot free or be executed.
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓻𝓼 ―――――――――― Blue and silver, with shades of red (though, particularly when worn by government officials, red is considered offensive since it was the colour of the last civil war led by the Yusupov Family and members of the Cabinet)
💎𝓦𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓲𝓼 𝓚𝓷𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓕𝓸𝓻 ―――――――――― (I know, I know, concise and short, but I love Russia okay? I can’t do short. I need some kind of outlet to spew off all these useless facts I’ve accumulated. I’ve embellished some of it, but most of those numbers and shit are fucking true, for Russia, Rustavya’s not real. Only changed some rankings to reflect the political shifts in Rustavya.)
Alongside being the largest country by landmass (though a lot of it is uninhabitable due it being a frozen tundra, so their population ranks them as about the 9th largest country), Rustavya is oil and natural gas rich, and known for its extensive mineral and gemstone mining, particularly of diamonds, as well as its extensive military and arms industry.
The petroleum industry in Rustavya is one of the largest in the world, a contender for the largest, but authorities are in disagreement as some believe a few middle Eastern countries may win that crown. However, Rustavya, by far, has the largest reserves and is the largest exporter of natural gas. It has the fourth largest coal reserves, second highest oil reserves, and is a contender for the largest producer of oil. However, Rustavya itself is only the fourth highest fossil fuel energy user in the world (prior to the reign of Nikolas III, they were second). They produce 12% of the world’s oil, and about 14% of global oil exports. Most of their oil goes west, particularly to Europe. In regards to natural gas, not only are they the world's largest exporter, but are the proven holder of the largest reserve. It’s theorized, but not proven, that they are also likely home to the largest volume of still-undiscovered natural gas, with a mean probable volume of 6.7 trillion cubic meters of said fossil fuel that is absolutely horrendous for the environment (listen, my country ain’t all that liberal, but I sure as hell am). Undiscovered oil is estimated to be about 22 billion barrels (second to the estimated undiscovered oil in Iraq- I mean a middle eastern country). The petroleum industries revenues account for about 12% of Rustavya’s GDP (14% for Russia, in 2005, and only as being responsible for the post-soviet GDP growth, slightly out of date statistic, so). They are considered an “energy superpower”, and the world estimates their oil and gas reserves to be worth and estimated $75 Trillion US dollars (or I guess Acrian dollars? Also, yeah, that’s the real estimate of the worth of Russia’s oil and gas, they hella rich son).
The second most profitable industry in Rustavya is their mining of non-oil and gas minerals. One of the world’s leading mineral industries, and accounting for a large percentage of Eastern Europe/Slavic State production of a range of minerals, Rustavya is ranked among the top 5 worldwide producers of a number of minerals, including; aluminion, arsenic, cement, copper, magnesium compounds and metals, nitrogen, palladium, silicon, nickel, and vanadium. Additionally, they lead the world in diamond mining by volume, and account for 27% of global diamond extraction.
Economically speaking, Rustayva has been very careful to ensure that while the world is dependent on them, their economy will survive if suddenly cut off. They have vast farming, health, and etc industries, though they may not rank as the highest in the world, they are profitable and self-sustaining enough, and if all trade was suddenly cut off, the country would survive. This is what allows it to keep enduring as it does as it pleases, since sanctions have little to no effect on their economy. The Rustayvan economy implements an odd mix of marxist-leninist communism, and oligarchy. Rustayva has an uneven distribution of wealth, yet has low poverty rates and general satisfaction amongst the people, as it’s largely abolished the bourgeoisie. The distinction in status is essentially that you are either of (proven) royal blood, or you are a commoner, and therefore equal to everyone else. The state, ie the Crown, owns most state assets, such as the aforementioned 3 major industries of oil/gas, diamonds, and arms, however, outside out of the immediate branch of the royal family, the wealthier you are, the higher your taxes. Offshore banking is considered treason within Rustavya, and the penalty for treason is, of course, death. Additionally, even if a company is NOT state owned, the Sovereign has the power to shut down or indefinitely and forcibly keep open any company they so choose. The country implements a living wage, as well as various social benefits, such as maternity and parental leave, as well as complete and free universal healthcare (includes dental). This system, however, breaks down during high periods of corruption, often resulting in civil and a near complete change of government. An easier way of understanding the Rustavyan economy is actually just to look at Amazon’s business model, the company is happy to bleed money in order to gain market share, and keep prices low to make sure the consumers are happy. With Rustavya, the Crown would be Jeff Bezos, they have all the money, and can save the world if they wanted to, Amazon is the government/whatever-remains-of-the-bourgeoisie (essentially, they’re oligarchs, but it doesn’t matter how much money they have, if they piss off the King/Queen, they gonna die), they’ll lose money, in order to make sure the customers, the people, can keep affording to buy shit, and live in homes, so that they don’t riot.
However, despite all this definitely cool and necessary information about their wealth and economy, Rustavya is best known for its political turmoil and militarial endeavours. Civil war is just another tuesday in Rustavya. It goes through governments faster than Trump goes through wives. They also don’t keep that shit to themselves, and have been encroaching on neighbouring lands and necessarily getting involved in middle east conflicts. Internationally, they’ve also been accused of meddling in the elections of other nations, as well as committing assassinations on foreign soil. Most of which they’ve denied, or openly laughed off. Because of this, they have been subject to UN and other sanctions, but it hasn’t affected their economy.
Rustavya has its own rich and historic culture, and is heavily resistant to outsiders influence, particularly from the western half of the world. It heavily resents nations *cough* The US-I mean Aciras *cough* that constantly screams that they are “the greatest nation on the Earth”, like “fuck off”, said the average Russian-I mean Rustavyan. Because of this, they loathe foreign culture, particularly western culture, and have their own celebrities. Most people recognized as international stars, ironically, would be either little or completely unknown in Rustavya.
Impervious to the cold Technically speaking, not true. Frostbite is real, and you will die. But they do have more tolerance for it than other nations, not uncommon to see a Rustavyan, usually a younger one, out and about in winter in like a fucking sweater.
Always drinking and cannot get drunk ... More true than they care to admit. Fun fact, there is no law regarding legal drinking age in Rustavya (also in it’s real life counterpart, Russia). However, it is illegal to SELL to minors. Alcohol tolerance depends on the person really, but you are, mostly jokingly, called a fake-Rustavyan if you’ve got a low level of tolerance. They general prefer hard stuff, and consider beer to be a joke, and the term is synonymous with piss.
They’re all shady spies who will steal all your secrets obviously, not true.
Obsessed with Hockey, will riot Meh. Only if you love sports. It’s not considered as nationally emblematic as Ballet is.
Are idiots being blindly led by corrupt fools Arguable, they have access to what the world thinks of many of their leaders, and their politics, but they think a lot of that is bullshit and/or jealousy.
Most Rustavyan’s have some criminal history and close ties to the Bratva (Rustavyan mafia) As true as every Italian being in the mafia. Of course it’s false, Bratva activity has been on the rise recently, but the average Rustavyan is generally living a crime free, and happy life.
All Rustavyan’s are under government surveillance No, not every single individual person, that would be impossible to maintain. Though it is a, secretly, policed state and heavily watched.
First man in Space During the 60’s, they were engaged in a space race, and while they did not manage to claim the first man on the moon, in 1961, they manned the first flight in space and put the first man in space, as well as bringing him back. Rustavyan astronauts are called cosmonauts, and Ruscosmos (the nickname of Rustavyan Cosmonautic Organziation) remains a heavily protected and invested in industry in Rustavya.
Cosmodrome More commonly known as a Spaceport, or Rocket Launch Site. Basically that big thing that rockets launch from.
Father of All Bombs Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power. Contested, but in large part accepted as the world’s deadliest non-nuclear bomb. For comparison, the US/Acira MOAB (Mother of All Bombs, and their deadliest non-nuclear bomb), gives off the equivalent of 11 tons (22 000 lb) of a TNT explosion, where FOAB gives off the equivalent of 44 tons (88 000 lbs). FOAB’s blast radius is also bigger (300m, double that of MOAB), and the temperature produced is also twice as high.
Fast-neutron reactor
Military Robots Can be remote controlled, or completely autonomous. Uses include; transport, search & rescue, and attack.
Military Robots Can be remote controlled, or completely autonomous. Uses include; transport, search & rescue, and attack.
Radiator
Periodic Table of Elements
First Nation to Practise State Atheism but no longer does.
Onion Dome Architectural term for those cool hershey’s kisses shaped things on a bunch of their castles and palaces
Novichok series of Nerve Agents
Powdered Milk
RAR (file format) Mentioning this only because I HATE rar files, make it a zip or fuck off
Tetris
Tsar Bomba the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created. The mushroom cloud from it’s detonation could be seen from a distance of 161 km (100 mi). The only remaining picture of the cloud, measures it’s height at 56 km (35 mi), though it’s said to have gone higher. The test explosion had a yield of 50 megatons of TNT (210 PJ), however, it did not include a uranium-238 tamper, and with it, could, theoretically, achieve a max yield of 100 megatons of TNT. Officially, only one bomb was built and show cased as “fuck you” to their enemies during the cold war. Unofficially, they still have all the plans and materials, and it’s possible they may have built more than on at the time.
💎𝓡𝓮𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓽/𝓡𝓮𝓵𝓮𝓿𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓗𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂 ――――――――――
Rustavya has a long and complex history. It’s well over a thousand years old. Originally, it was known as Kievan Rus’, and was founded by Varagians (the name given by the Rus’, greeks, and others to Vikings). It’s been through several major periods of extreme political upheaval, from basic feudalism to a somewhat functioning traditional democracy in around the 1300’s, to the outright Divine Rule of Kings to a traditional constitutional monarchy to a communist rebellion, to sudden royalist revolt, back to constitutional monarchy, and a few more civil wars before the current government was established, and remains unbroken (though challenged) since 1937.
The House of Yusupov is a cadet branch of the royal house, and they enjoyed a lot of power, but it wasn't enough and they came for the crown. The Yuspov's gained support of the majority of the government, but lacked the military and the people. However, the war lasted a decade, from the 80's to the late 90's, and resulted in numerous casualties. They lost in the end, and most Yusupov's were executed, including children and completely innocent family members. At the time, their executions resulted in international outcry, but ironically had the opposite effect on everyday Rustavyan's, who resented the concept of mercy for people who fucked up their lives for 10 years.
"Dead men don't claim vengeance, and neither do their dead sons." - Paraphrase of a paraphrase of a Tywin Lannister saying. (I think it was clash of kings? no dance of the dragons. either way, it was GRRM who wrote it)
The Yusupov’s, however, are not extinct. There exists one survivour, Nikita Yusupov, kept alive as a hostage, and a warning to others. He was raised alongside the royal children.
Previously part of Rökstenne, Askold was once part of Rustavyan (during the communist days), and when they last made moves indicating they wanted to take it back, Rökstenne swiftly arranged the marriage of Princess Rhiannon to then the boy king, 20 year old Nikolas. It was annexed by Rustavya a few months after her disappearance, sparking international outcry, yet little to no repercussions. They were hit with some sanctions, but they had no visible effect on the Rustavyan economy.
Following the success of getting away with annexing Askold, Rustavya has been more blatant, getting into scuffles in the Black Sea, and seizing numerous boats, as well as openly killing dissidents that had managed to escape to other countries. Despite their increasingly hostile and brazen behaviour, because of the world’s (current) reliance on oil, they’ve basically been getting away scot free with everything. What do you want? Oil, diamonds, booze, tanks, drones, other weapons, secrets to blackmail your political opponents with? We’ve got it all.
The capital city is named Voskhod and is home to Voskresenskie Palace, seat of the Sovereign. Voskhod is a mix of old and new, with shiny, tall glass buildings, stunning skyscrappers (the top right image is of its business centre), yet at the city’s heart lies Voskresenskie Palace, a masterpiece of Imperial Era architecture. It is a surrounded by a red wall with multiple towers, earning the palace the nickname “The Fortress within a City”. Voskhod is nicknamed “The City of a Thousand Lights”, due to the amount of lights shining at night, and making the city glitter.
Venera Nikolayevna of Rustavya
"She burned as bright as any man, and so shall I." - Arianne Martell from "A Feast for Crows" by George R. R. Martin
💎𝓝𝓪𝓶𝓮 ――――――――――
Venera Nikolayevna of the House of Vasaätten
Nicknames: » “Vera” - used only by her mother, chief bodyguard, her forbidden love interest (Nika, moya lyubov') and very occasionally, her father. Also only the closest of friends. » “Solnyshko” - means “little sun”, used only by her mother » “Zvezda moya” - means “my star”, and another nickname given to her by Mama » "mladshaya sestra" - means "little sister", used largely mockingly by her half-brother, and resentfully » "Winter’s Sun/Sun of Winter" - the moniker given to her by the media following her birth
💎𝓣𝓲𝓽𝓵𝓮 ――――――――――
{Full Title} Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Venera of Rustavya, Duchess of Knyaz {Introduced/Announced as} Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Venera of Rustavya {Styles of Address} Her/Your Royal Highness, followed by Ma’amthereafter
{Additional Titles}
Tsesarevna discontinued historic title, but used in some towns and local villages, and informally by the media
Chairwoman of the Government power slightly above that of the Prime Minister
Co-chairwoman of the Security Council position held jointly with her half-brother
Chancellor of the Order of Vasaätten One of the three major Orders of Chivalry in Rustavya, and the highest of them all, royalty cannot receive it. Vera's in charge of deciding who does.
{Honours}
Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Alrosa the second highest order of chivalry in Rustavya, awarded to both civilians and military personnel
Knight 1st Class of the Order of Rigel the third highest order of chivalry in Rustavya, awarded for excellence in civil duty or scientific endeavours. Venera got hers for getting her Masters degree in Law. (Most people don't, but that's that royal privilege for you)
Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Rökstenne the highest civil order, and second highest State decoration, in Rökstenne
💎𝓐𝓰𝓮 ――――――――――
24
💎𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻 ――――――――――
Female
💎𝓢𝓮𝔁𝓾𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂 ――――――――――
Heterosexual
💎𝓐𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮 ――――――――――
(textual description)
💎𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂 ――――――――――
She gives off a rather cold and stoic vibe, particularly if you’re with her in a private setting, and she’s not maintaining the “pretty princess who loves you all” image for the public. She’s introverted and generally prefers to keep to herself and her circle of friends, giving off rather unapproachable airs, but she’s really just a massive nerd with a crown. She even still plays Pokemon Go (and don't tell me it's not a thing in-world, there are infinite universes, and in every single one of those Pokemon exists. Back me up here ghost Stephen Hawking. Also, Team Mystic).
Intelligent, observant, and cautious; she’s a rather restrained individual and never explodes in rage in public. On the flip side, she’s also warm, encouraging, and incredibly passionate, particularly in charitable and social justice and change endeavours. The public face, and often direct opposing force of the government’s stance, of things like Women’s and LGBTA+ Rights in Rustavya.
She’s pragmatic, rational, persistent, occasionally a tiny bit arrogant (she’s a princess, okay, sometimes very arrogant), holds grudges (to the fucking end of time, she doesn’t forget, and very rarely forgives), patriotic, and protective. Despite being the youngest of the children her father raised, she’s more a big sister type. She likes looking after people; wrapping them in warm blankets, serving them some great sweets, a spot of tea, and fixing all their problems and slapping a pretty bow on top of it.
💎𝓛𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼 + 𝓓𝓲𝓼𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼 ――――――――――
Likes Space, A Song of Ice and Fire, Dragons, Tolkien, Greco-Roman mythology (learns towards roman), history, slavic mythology, winter, snow, Euro-Pop, classical music, lilies, orchids, ballet, ice skating, cats, tolstoy, eurovision, vermouth.
Dislikes Beer, corduroy, overreaching upstarts, “feelings matter as much as facts” type idiots, dismissal of hard and evidence-supported science, the fucking patriarchy, her father, her half-brother, about 25% of the cabinet, sand, summer, heat.
💎𝓑𝓲𝓸𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓹𝓱𝔂 ――――――――――
The one and only heir to the kingdom of Rustavya, she was born not long after the end of the Yusupov Rebellion, leading to it being overly publicized and dramatized as the beginning of a new age by the media and the government, mostly to reaffirm their hold over the Kingdom.
The only daughter of Queen Rhiannon, she’s actually the second child of the King, being four younger than her illegitimate half-brother, Grand Duke Vasily Nikolayevich. Apart from him, she was also directly raised alongside Nikita Yuspov, about 3 at the time of her birth, and the only survivour of the Yusupov rebellion.
Vera has a complicated relationship with her family. The person she’s closet to was her mother, who protected her position as heir to the throne (because patriarchy), and managed to prevent any betrothal that, if followed through with, would result in Vera’s being disqualified from inheriting the throne. Vera idolized her mother, who was a strong, take no shit, boss ass bitch of a Queen. Meanwhile, her relationship with her father is much more strained. It’s not that he hates her, it’s just that Vasily is his favourite, also he’s sexist and sucks, but that’s just basic.
Vera, however, very much hates him. She doesn’t think he’s very good at being tyrant,
She was privately tutored at the palace by renowned professors and teachers, but following the completion of her basic education, she chose to attend Ulyanov University (originally named the Imperial Voskhod University), where she studied law, and obtained a masters in the subject.
Palo inje po nama Ledi krv u žilama A ti, srce, steglo baš
Frost has formed between us Blood in our veins freezes thus Your heart is a dying ember
💎𝓑𝓮𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓭 𝓣𝓸 ――――――――――
TBD
💎𝓞𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 ――――――――――
» Vera rarely posts on social media herself, she has an official twitter and instagram account, managed for her by a team of professionals or whatever. When she directly posts she signs it as "- Tsesarevna Venera", “- HRH” on twitter ‘cause of the character limit. She doesn't bother with a facebook profile, but there is an official page for the royal family. However, she does post somewhat regularly on a private instagram account accessible only to her friends.
Venera would be House Targaryen, because yes, shut up, dragons forever, dracarys bitch. Her story is also a little Daeron II v Daemon Blackfyre, so yo.
"She burned as bright as any man, and so shall I." - Arianne Martell from "A Feast for Crows" by George R. R. Martin
💎𝓝𝓪𝓶𝓮 ――――――――――
Venera Nikolayevna of the House of Vasaätten
Nicknames: » “Vera” - used only by her mother, chief bodyguard, her forbidden love interest (Nika, moya lyubov') and very occasionally, her father. Also only the closest of friends. » “Solnyshko” - means “little sun”, used only by her mother » “Zvezda moya” - means “my star”, and another nickname given to her by Mama » "mladshaya sestra" - means "little sister", used largely mockingly by her half-brother, and resentfully » "Winter’s Sun/Sun of Winter" - the moniker given to her by the media following her birth
💎𝓣𝓲𝓽𝓵𝓮 ――――――――――
{Full Title} Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess of Rustavya, Duchess of Knyaz {Introduced/Announced as} Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Venera of Rustavya {Styles of Address} Her/Your Royal Highness, followed by Ma’amthereafter
{Additional Titles}
Tsarevna discontinued historic title, but used in some towns and local villages, and informally by the media
Chairwoman of the Government power slightly above that of the Prime Minister
Co-chairwoman of the Security Council position held jointly with her half-brother
Chancellor of the Order of Vasaätten One of the three major orders of Chivalry, and the highest of them all, in Rustayva, royalty cannot receive it. Vera's in charge of deciding who does.
{Honours}
Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Alrosa the second highest order of chivalry in Rustavya, awarded to both civilians and military personnel
Knight 1st Class of the Order of Rigel the third highest order of chivalry in Rustavya, awarded for excellence in civil duty or scientific endeavours. Venera got hers for getting her Masters degree in Law. (Most people don't, but that's that royal privilege for you)
Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Rökstenne the highest civil order, and second highest State decoration, in Rökstenne
💎𝓐𝓰𝓮 ――――――――――
24
💎𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻 ――――――――――
Female
💎𝓢𝓮𝔁𝓾𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂 ――――――――――
Heterosexual
💎𝓐𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮 ――――――――――
(textual description)
💎𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓽𝔂 ――――――――――
(bullet form or paragraph) Cold and stoic, up close, she gives off a rather unapproable, even arrogant vibe.
She's really a nerd though. Still plays Pokemon Go (and don't tell me it's not a thing in-world, there are infinite universes, and in every single one of those Pokemon exists. Back me up here ghost Stephen Hawking. Also, Team Mystic).
Vera rarely posts on social media herself, she has an official twitter and instagram account, managed for her by a team of professionals or whatever. When she directly posts she signs it as "- Tsarevna". She doesn't bother with a facebook profile, but there is an official page for the royal family. However, she does post somewhat regularly on a private instagram account accessible only to her friends.
nikita = public face of the space agency (wanted to be an cosmonaut, but was not permitted)
@DracarysBitch omg. You know, I never thought I'd have to say someone wrote to much for me, but you came close. Then again, I'm not very politically minded and I have a love/hate relationship with CSes. I'll get back to you. Gotta say, the King/Queen being at each other's throats is a fun thing. I'm definitely getting a very Russia/Iron Curtain feel from the half (third?!) of your kingdom sheet that I read, and I will come back to it and read the rest.
@shylarah why thank you, I think. I was going for all the different Russia's, it's got a long and weird history, the recent stuff is essentially lifted right from the current actions of the Russian Federation. Earlier stuff is actually a mix of when it the area in general was called Kievan Rus' and the Novgorod Republic.
Tada! done with Russia, I mean Rustavya. I'm gonna spruce it up and make it shiner later, but photoshop takes time, and adulting is time consuming :(. working on my oc now, but mostly wanted feedback first. ✌
[image placeholder for later]
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓝𝓪𝓶𝓮 ―――――――――― Rustavya (pronounced Rhoos-stahv-ya, not rush, basically pronounce it with a slavic accent, preferably Russian, but Romanian and Ukrainian works too. Also Belarusian.)
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓠𝓾𝓮𝓮𝓷 ―――――――――― Rustavya is ruled by the Royal House of Vasaätten, the current Sovereign being King Nikolas III. His Queen Consort was Rhiannon of Rökstenne.
They were… not a happy couple, to say the least. Reportedly, they didn’t even sleep in the same bed after the birth of their one and only child. Rhiannon was the daughter of a neighbouring kingdom, and the marriage procured purely for alliance purposes, yet that did not make her a pliant nor silent Queen. Opinionated, intelligent, and headstrong, she did not come to Rustavya to simply wear a crown and look pretty. The royal couple differed on many a view, and despite being a foreigner, she’s managed to get much of the Cabinet on her side, and disagreements between the monarchs didn’t end with the King always winning, however, given Rustavya’s “complex” political nature, it didn’t also end with some kind of legislation (more on that later).
Nikolas came into the throne young, just barely past the age of majority (18), and filled with ambition, vigour, and endless arrogance. He is the pure embodiment of the downsides of the Ancien Régime. However, unlike Louis XIV, he is not golden. While he has ambition, he lacks the intelligence and patience of better dictator-kings. What Nikolas wants, Nikolas gets. Aka, every basic white man, essentially. Everything went his way, until he was married to Rhiannon, similar to him in nature, but she had the intelligence and patience he lacks. While the King of Rustayva is absolute, critically, he (or she) must not appear to be, as public riots and revolutions in the past have shown, which is why the cabinet exists, to provide the illusion of a cooperative government. Rhiannon, however, was also to sway about half of them to her will, resulting in increased corruption and political assassinations, including attempts on both the King and Queen (known to have been orchestrated by each other). Publically, they maintained a civil face, but did not keep their dislike of each other entirely private, which has also split the public in terms of which sovereign to love and obey. Suspiciously, the Queen has been missing for about 5 years now, and no one can say with any certainty what has happened to her. Officially, it’s stated as foul play, assumed to have been a kidnapping, and the length of time since her disappearance makes it all the more likely that she is dead. However, this has also worked in her favour, as King Nikolas’s approval is at an all-time low of 46%, whereas the Queen, despite not being there, is at 97% approval.
Overall, Rustavya, isn’t exactly conservative or liberal so much as it is simply subject to the will of the reigning Sovereign. Social progress goes back and forth depending on who's wearing the crown. What is constant, however, is the ironclad grip with which the crown bearer rules. The free press is non-existent in Rustavya, though there is a feeble attempt to pretend the state doesn't control the news and ALL media. And the internet is heavily watched and controlled, and at times banned. Accounts that belong to users from certain foreign nations are blocked in Rustavya. Dissent is not appreciated nor welcome in Rustayva. Though depending on the severity of the dissenters actions, and the mood of the monarch, they can get off scot free or be executed.
In theory, Rustavya practises absolute-primogeniture, meaning that the title (in this case the throne) passes to the eldest living trueborn child, regardless of gender. However, there exists a provision that any marriages to other royal families, wherein the spouse is the heir apparent or presumptive of a line of succession, automatically forfeits the Rustavyan's claim to Rustavya's throne. Historically, this has been used to bypass female heirs. Only in the event of no viable living heirs (including cousins and secondary lines of succession) can the throne pass to an illegitimate child or an illegitimate line, there have been instances, however, of overruling this provision in cases of popular male princes du sangs (princes of the blood), though this has always instigated a war. Most royal matches are to be consented to by the sovereign (as such, it usually falls to them to arrange betrothal as well), however, a royal over 18 may simply get consent from the cabinet. The heir, however, must obtain consent from both the sovereign and cabinet, if they are over 18, they are free to REJECT any betrothal they so choose, but cannot accept as they please.
Although the royal couple have only one child, Crown Princess Venera, the King has another child, an older son, Grand Duke Vasily, he is a prince du sang, prince of the blood, and born out of wedlock (illegitimate) and therefore unable to lay claim to the throne, except in extenuating circumstances (that’s not to say he doesn’t want it though).
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓻𝓼 ―――――――――― Blue and silver, with shades of red (though, particularly when worn by government officials, red is considered offensive since it was the colour of the last civil war leaders)
💎𝓦𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓲𝓼 𝓚𝓷𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓕𝓸𝓻 ―――――――――― (I know, I know, concise and short, but I love Russia okay? I can’t do short. I need some kind of outlet to spew off all these useless facts I’ve accumulated. I’ve embellished some of it, but most of those numbers and shit are fucking true, for Russia, Rustavya’s not real. Only changed some rankings to reflect the political shifts in Rustavya.)
Alongside being the largest country by landmass (though a lot of it is uninhabitable due it being a frozen tundra, so their population ranks them as about the 9th largest country), Rustavya is oil and natural gas rich, and known for its extensive mineral and gemstone mining, particularly of diamonds, as well as its extensive military and arms industry.
The petroleum industry in Rustavya is one of the largest in the world, a contender for the largest, but authorities are in disagreement as some believe a few middle Eastern countries may win that crown. However, Rustavya, by far, has the largest reserves and is the largest exporter of natural gas. It has the fourth largest coal reserves, second highest oil reserves, and is a contender for the largest producer of oil. However, Rustavya itself is only the fourth highest fossil fuel energy user in the world (prior to the reign of Nikolas III, they were second). They produce 12% of the world’s oil, and about 14% of global oil exports. Most of their oil goes west, particularly to Europe. In regards to natural gas, not only are they the world's largest exporter, but are the proven holder of the largest reserve. It’s theorized, but not proven, that they are also likely home to the largest volume of still-undiscovered natural gas, with a mean probable volume of 6.7 trillion cubic meters of said fossil fuel that is absolutely horrendous for the environment (listen, my country ain’t all that liberal, but I sure as hell am). Undiscovered oil is estimated to be about 22 billion barrels (second to the estimated undiscovered oil in Iraq- I mean a middle eastern country). The petroleum industries revenues account for about 12% of Rustavya’s GDP (14% for Russia, in 2005, and only as being responsible for the post-soviet GDP growth, slightly out of date statistic, so). They are considered an “energy superpower”, and the world estimates their oil and gas reserves to be worth and estimated $75 Trillion US dollars (or I guess Acrian dollars? Also, yeah, that’s the real estimate of the worth of Russia’s oil and gas, they hella rich son).
The second most profitable industry in Rustavya is their mining of non-oil and gas minerals. One of the world’s leading mineral industries, and accounting for a large percentage of Eastern Europe/Slavic State production of a range of minerals, Rustavya is ranked among the top 5 worldwide producers of a number of minerals, including; aluminion, arsenic, cement, copper, magnesium compounds and metals, nitrogen, palladium, silicon, nickel, and vanadium. Additionally, they lead the world in diamond mining by volume, and account for 27% of global diamond extraction.
To guard oil and diamonds, one might want a few tanks, and Rustavya has, frankly, all of them. They have a large and sophisticated military and arms industry, some would argue an necessarily large stockpile. They have the capabilities to design and manufacture high-tech military equipment, including fifth-generation fighter jets, and are currently working on next-gen jets with greater tracking and “invisibility abilities”, for a lack of a better term, just being quiet and using the clouds and shit to shield them from view, and signals to avoid detection, not like wonder woman’s invisible jet. They also have like, all the guns and tanks, etc. Rustavya has so much excessive military equipment, in fact, that they opened up a theme park a few years ago. Just two hours outside of the capital, it’s call Komrade Park (the actual one in Russia is called Patriot Park), you can climb on tanks, shoot bazooka’s, it’s actually pretty fun, if a little threatening. Rustavyan arms exports are valued at approximately $15.7 billion usd, their worth second only to the US/Acira. Their top exports are combat aircrafts, air defense systems, ships, and submarines.
Additionally, Rustavya is a nuclear superpower, and has numerous ballistic missiles, as well as nuclear powered submarines. They have a large stockpile of chemical and biological weapons, and invented the Novichok agents, a series of nerve agents claimed to be 5-8 times more deadly than the (british made, but idk who is england in-verse) VX series of nerve agents, and Soman (discovered during WWI, and further developed by the US/Acira and Germany, separately, during WWII). Over 100 strains of Novichok agents exist, and they are heavily guarded and kept in secret locations by the government. As Rustavya has not provided any information on the chemical makeup of Novichok, it has had be reverse engineered from victims in other nations, and it’s difficult to crack due to it’s highly volatile nature. No known treatment exists, and Rustavya has not admitted to whether or not they engineered an antidote themselves. Novichok agents are the favoured Rustavyan method of disposing of people out of their own borders. The exact stockpile of Rustavyan weapons of mass destruction is unknown, as it’s a closely guarded secret. It’s even entirely clear if the King knows exactly how many they have. In the late 80’s-90’s, they admitted to a total peak stockpile of 68,000 warheads (the united states admitted to 32 040), but, as of a UN estimate last year, they’ve gone down to 7,850 (which includes all missiles, bio-weapons, etc. btw, USA, you guys currently at 7100, no data available yet to show how trump affected that though).
Economically speaking, Rustayva has been very careful to ensure that while the world is dependent on them, their economy will survive if suddenly cut off. They have vast farming, health, and etc industries, though they may not rank as the highest in the world, they are profitable and self-sustaining enough, and if all trade was suddenly cut off, the country would survive. This is what allows it to keep enduring as it does as it pleases, since sanctions have little to no effect on their economy. The Rustayvan economy implements an odd mix of marxist-leninist communism, and oligarchy. Rustayva has an uneven distribution of wealth, yet has low poverty rates and general satisfaction amongst the people, as it’s largely abolished the bourgeoisie. The distinction in status is essentially that you are either of (proven) royal blood, or you are a commoner, and therefore equal to everyone else. The state, ie the Crown, owns most state assets, such as the aforementioned 3 major industries of oil/gas, diamonds, and arms, however, outside out of the immediate branch of the royal family, the wealthier you are, the higher your taxes. Offshore banking is considered treason within Rustavya, and the penalty for treason is, of course, death. Additionally, even if a company is NOT state owned, the Sovereign has the power to shut down or indefinitely and forcibly keep open any company they so choose. The country implements a living wage, as well as various social benefits, such as maternity and parental leave, as well as complete and free universal healthcare (includes dental). This system, however, breaks down during high periods of corruption, often resulting in civil and a near complete change of government. An easier way of understanding the Rustavyan economy is actually just to look at Amazon’s business model, the company is happy to bleed money in order to gain market share, and keep prices low to make sure the consumers are happy. With Rustavya, the Crown would be Jeff Bezos, they have all the money, and can save the world if they wanted to, Amazon is the government/whatever-remains-of-the-bourgeoisie (essentially, they’re oligarchs, but it doesn’t matter how much money they have, if they piss off the King/Queen, they gonna die), they’ll lose money, in order to make sure the customers, the people, can keep affording to buy shit, and live in homes, so that they don’t riot.
However, despite all this definitely cool and necessary information about their wealth and economy, Rustavya is best known for its political turmoil and militarial endeavours. Civil war is just another tuesday in Rustavya. It goes through governments faster than Trump goes through wives. They also don’t keep that shit to themselves, and have been encroaching on neighbouring lands and necessarily getting involved in middle east conflicts. Internationally, they’ve also been accused of meddling in the elections of other nations, as well as committing assassinations on foreign soil. Most of which they’ve denied, or openly laughed off. Because of this, they have been subject to UN and other sanctions, but it hasn’t affected their economy.
Rustavya has its own rich and historic culture, and is heavily resistant to outsiders influence, particularly from the western half of the world. It heavily resents nations *cough* The US-I mean Aciras *cough* that constantly screams that they are “the greatest nation on the Earth”, like “fuck off”, said the average Russian-I mean Rustavyan. Because of this, they loathe foreign culture, particularly western culture, and have their own celebrities. Most people recognized as international stars, ironically, would be either little or completely unknown in Rustavya.
Rustavya practices state agnosticism (during the last civil war, it became the first country to practise state atheism, though the harshness of the last government is why it’s now agnostic). While the state does not endorse any one religion nor another, the constitution allows for freedom of religion, but all government employees, including the monarchy, are forbidden from publicly displaying faith in any religion. If something of the spiritual variety is to be mentioned, they may only use vague terms such as “the divine,” or “the forces of the universe,” etc.
💎𝓡𝓮𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓽/𝓡𝓮𝓵𝓮𝓿𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓗𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂 ――――――――――
Rustavya has a long and complex history. It’s well over a thousand years old. Originally, it was known as Kievan Rus’, and was founded by Varagians (the name given by the Rus’, greeks, and others to Vikings). It’s been through several major periods of extreme political upheaval, from basic feudalism to a somewhat functioning traditional democracy in around the 1300’s, to the outright Divine Rule of Kings to a traditional constitutional monarchy to a communist rebellion, to sudden royalist revolt, back to constitutional monarchy, and a few more civil wars before the current government was established, and remains unbroken (though challenged) since 1937.
The House of Yusupov is a cadet branch of the royal house, and they enjoyed a lot of power, but it wasn't enough and they came for the crown. The Yuspov's gained support of the majority of the government, but lacked the military and the people. However, the war lasted a decade, from the 80's to the late 90's, and resulted in numerous casualties. They lost in the end, and most Yusupov's were executed, including children and completely innocent family members. At the time, their executions resulted in international outcry, but ironically had the opposite effect on everyday Rustavyan's, who resented the concept of mercy for people who fucked up their lives for 10 years.
"Dead men don't claim vengeance, and neither do their dead sons." - Paraphrase of a paraphrase of a Tywin Lannister saying. (I think it was clash of kings? no dance of the dragons. either way, it was GRRM who wrote it)
Previously part of Rökstenne, Askold was once part of Rustavyan (during the communist days), and when they last made moves indicating they wanted to take it back, Rökstenne swiftly arranged the marriage of Princess Rhiannon to then the boy king, 20 year old Nikolas. It was annexed by Rustavya a few months after her disappearance, sparking international outcry, yet little to no repercussions. They were hit with some sanctions, but they had no visible effect on the Rustavyan economy.
Following the success of getting away with annexing Askold, Rustavya has been more blatant, getting into scuffles in the Black Sea, and seizing numerous boats, as well as openly killing dissidents that had managed to escape to other countries.
» The capital city is named Voskhod and is home to Voskresenskie Palace, seat of the Sovereign.
» During the 60’s, they were engaged in a space race, and while they did not manage to claim the first man on the moon, in 1961, they manned the first flight in space and put the first man in space, as well as bringing him back. Rustavyan astronauts are called cosmonauts, and Ruscosmos (the nickname of Rustavyan Cosmonautic Organziation) remains a heavily protected and invested in industry in Rustavya.
aesthetics and stuff to come. again, adulting takes up so much time. I hate work. TToTT
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓝𝓪𝓶𝓮 ―――――――――― Rustavya (pronounced Rhoos-stahv-ya, not rush, basically pronounce it with a slavic accent, preferably Russian, but Romanian and Ukrainian works too. Also Belarusian.)
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓠𝓾𝓮𝓮𝓷 ―――――――――― Rustavya is ruled by the Royal House of Vasaätten, the current Sovereign being King Nikolas III. His Queen Consort was Rhiannon of Rökstenne.
They were… not a happy couple, to say the least. Reportedly, they didn’t even sleep in the same bed after the birth of their one and only child. Rhiannon was the daughter of a neighbouring kingdom, and the marriage procured purely for alliance purposes, yet that did not make her a pliant nor silent Queen. Opinionated, intelligent, and headstrong, she did not come to Rustavya to simply wear a crown and look pretty. The royal couple differed on many a view, and despite being a foreigner, she’s managed to get much of the Cabinet on her side, and disagreements between the monarchs didn’t end with the King always winning, however, given Rustavya’s “complex” political nature, it didn’t also end with some kind of legislation (more on that later).
Nikolas came into the throne young, just barely past the age of majority (18), and filled with ambition, vigour, and endless arrogance. He is the pure embodiment of the downsides of the Ancien Régime. However, unlike Louis XIV, he is not golden. While he has ambition, he lacks the intelligence and patience of better dictator-kings. What Nikolas wants, Nikolas gets. Aka, every basic white man, essentially. Everything went his way, until he was married to Rhiannon, similar to him in nature, but she had the intelligence and patience he lacks. While the King of Rustayva is absolute, critically, he (or she) must not appear to be, as public riots and revolutions in the past have shown, which is why the cabinet exists, to provide the illusion of a cooperative government. Rhiannon, however, was also to sway about half of them to her will, resulting in increased corruption and political assassinations, including attempts on both the King and Queen (known to have been orchestrated by each other). Publically, they maintained a civil face, but did not keep their dislike of each other entirely private, which has also split the public in terms of which sovereign to love and obey. Suspiciously, the Queen has been missing for about 5 years now, and no one can say with any certainty what has happened to her. Officially, it’s stated as foul play, assumed to have been a kidnapping, and the length of time since her disappearance makes it all the more likely that she is dead. However, this has also worked in her favour, as King Nikolas’s approval is at an all-time low of 46%, whereas the Queen, despite not being there, is at 97% approval.
Overall, Rustavya, isn’t exactly conservative or liberal so much as it is simply subject to the will of the reigning Sovereign. Social progress goes back and forth depending on who's wearing the crown. What is constant, however, is the ironclad grip with which the crown bearer rules. The free press is non-existent in Rustavya, though there is a feeble attempt to pretend the state doesn't control the news and ALL media. And the internet is heavily watched and controlled, and at times banned. Accounts that belong to users from certain foreign nations are blocked in Rustavya. Dissent is not appreciated nor welcome in Rustayva. Though depending on the severity of the dissenters actions, and the mood of the monarch, they can get off scot free or be executed.
In theory, Rustavya practises absolute-primogeniture, meaning that the title (in this case the throne) passes to the eldest living trueborn child, regardless of gender. However, there exists a provision that any marriages to other royal families, wherein the spouse is the heir apparent or presumptive of a line of succession, automatically forfeits the Rustavyan's claim to Rustavya's throne. Historically, this has been used to bypass female heirs. Only in the event of no viable living heirs (including cousins and secondary lines of succession) can the throne pass to an illegitimate child or an illegitimate line, there have been instances, however, of overruling this provision in cases of popular male princes du sangs (princes of the blood), though this has always instigated a war. Most royal matches are to be consented to by the sovereign (as such, it usually falls to them to arrange betrothal as well), however, a royal over 18 may simply get consent from the cabinet. The heir, however, must obtain consent from both the sovereign and cabinet, if they are over 18, they are free to REJECT any betrothal they so choose, but cannot accept as they please.
Although the royal couple have only one child, Crown Princess Venera, the King has another child, an older son, Grand Duke Vasily, he is a prince du sang, prince of the blood, and born out of wedlock (illegitimate) and therefore unable to lay claim to the throne, except in extenuating circumstances (that’s not to say he doesn’t want it though).
💎𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓻𝓼 ―――――――――― Blue and silver, with shades of red (though, particularly when worn by government officials, red is considered offensive since it was the colour of the last civil war leaders)
💎𝓦𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓲𝓼 𝓚𝓷𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓕𝓸𝓻 ―――――――――― (I know, I know, concise and short, but I love Russia okay? I can’t do short. I need some kind of outlet to spew off all these useless facts I’ve accumulated. I’ve embellished some of it, but most of those numbers and shit are fucking true, for Russia, Rustavya’s not real. Only changed some rankings to reflect the political shifts in Rustavya.)
Alongside being the largest country by landmass (though a lot of it is uninhabitable due it being a frozen tundra, so their population ranks them as about the 9th largest country), Rustavya is oil and natural gas rich, and known for its extensive mineral and gemstone mining, particularly of diamonds, as well as its extensive military and arms industry.
The petroleum industry in Rustavya is one of the largest in the world, a contender for the largest, but authorities are in disagreement as some believe a few middle Eastern countries may win that crown. However, Rustavya, by far, has the largest reserves and is the largest exporter of natural gas. It has the fourth largest coal reserves, second highest oil reserves, and is a contender for the largest producer of oil. However, Rustavya itself is only the fourth highest fossil fuel energy user in the world (prior to the reign of Nikolas III, they were second). They produce 12% of the world’s oil, and about 14% of global oil exports. Most of their oil goes west, particularly to Europe. In regards to natural gas, not only are they the world's largest exporter, but are the proven holder of the largest reserve. It’s theorized, but not proven, that they are also likely home to the largest volume of still-undiscovered natural gas, with a mean probable volume of 6.7 trillion cubic meters of said fossil fuel that is absolutely horrendous for the environment (listen, my country ain’t all that liberal, but I sure as hell am). Undiscovered oil is estimated to be about 22 billion barrels (second to the estimated undiscovered oil in Iraq- I mean a middle eastern country). The petroleum industries revenues account for about 12% of Rustavya’s GDP (14% for Russia, in 2005, and only as being responsible for the post-soviet GDP growth, slightly out of date statistic, so). They are considered an “energy superpower”, and the world estimates their oil and gas reserves to be worth and estimated $75 Trillion US dollars (or I guess Acrian dollars? Also, yeah, that’s the real estimate of the worth of Russia’s oil and gas, they hella rich son).
The second most profitable industry in Rustavya is their mining of non-oil and gas minerals. One of the world’s leading mineral industries, and accounting for a large percentage of Eastern Europe/Slavic State production of a range of minerals, Rustavya is ranked among the top 5 worldwide producers of a number of minerals, including; aluminion, arsenic, cement, copper, magnesium compounds and metals, nitrogen, palladium, silicon, nickel, and vanadium. Additionally, they lead the world in diamond mining by volume, and account for 27% of global diamond extraction.
To guard oil and diamonds, one might want a few tanks, and Rustavya has, frankly, all of them. They have a large and sophisticated military and arms industry, some would argue an necessarily large stockpile. They have the capabilities to design and manufacture high-tech military equipment, including fifth-generation fighter jets, and are currently working on next-gen jets with greater tracking and “invisibility abilities”, for a lack of a better term, just being quiet and using the clouds and shit to shield them from view, and signals to avoid detection, not like wonder woman’s invisible jet. They also have like, all the guns and tanks, etc. Rustavya has so much excessive military equipment, in fact, that they opened up a theme park a few years ago. Just two hours outside of the capital, it’s call Komrade Park (the actual one in Russia is called Patriot Park), you can climb on tanks, shoot bazooka’s, it’s actually pretty fun, if a little threatening. Rustavyan arms exports are valued at approximately $15.7 billion usd, their worth second only to the US/Acira. Their top exports are combat aircrafts, air defense systems, ships, and submarines.
Additionally, Rustavya is a nuclear superpower, and has numerous ballistic missiles, as well as nuclear powered submarines. They have a large stockpile of chemical and biological weapons, and invented the Novichok agents, a series of nerve agents claimed to be 5-8 times more deadly than the (british made, but idk who is england in-verse) VX series of nerve agents, and Soman (discovered during WWI, and further developed by the US/Acira and Germany, separately, during WWII). Over 100 strains of Novichok agents exist, and they are heavily guarded and kept in secret locations by the government. As Rustavya has not provided any information on the chemical makeup of Novichok, it has had be reverse engineered from victims in other nations, and it’s difficult to crack due to it’s highly volatile nature. No known treatment exists, and Rustavya has not admitted to whether or not they engineered an antidote themselves. Novichok agents are the favoured Rustavyan method of disposing of people out of their own borders. The exact stockpile of Rustavyan weapons of mass destruction is unknown, as it’s a closely guarded secret. It’s even entirely clear if the King knows exactly how many they have. In the late 80’s-90’s, they admitted to a total peak stockpile of 68,000 warheads (the united states admitted to 32 040), but, as of a UN estimate last year, they’ve gone down to 7,850 (which includes all missiles, bio-weapons, etc. btw, USA, you guys currently at 7100, no data available yet to show how trump affected that though).
Economically speaking, Rustayva has been very careful to ensure that while the world is dependent on them, their economy will survive if suddenly cut off. They have vast farming, health, and etc industries, though they may not rank as the highest in the world, they are profitable and self-sustaining enough, and if all trade was suddenly cut off, the country would survive. This is what allows it to keep enduring as it does as it pleases, since sanctions have little to no effect on their economy. The Rustayvan economy implements an odd mix of marxist-leninist communism, and oligarchy. Rustayva has an uneven distribution of wealth, yet has low poverty rates and general satisfaction amongst the people, as it’s largely abolished the bourgeoisie. The distinction in status is essentially that you are either of (proven) royal blood, or you are a commoner, and therefore equal to everyone else. The state, ie the Crown, owns most state assets, such as the aforementioned 3 major industries of oil/gas, diamonds, and arms, however, outside out of the immediate branch of the royal family, the wealthier you are, the higher your taxes. Offshore banking is considered treason within Rustavya, and the penalty for treason is, of course, death. Additionally, even if a company is NOT state owned, the Sovereign has the power to shut down or indefinitely and forcibly keep open any company they so choose. The country implements a living wage, as well as various social benefits, such as maternity and parental leave, as well as complete and free universal healthcare (includes dental). This system, however, breaks down during high periods of corruption, often resulting in civil and a near complete change of government. An easier way of understanding the Rustavyan economy is actually just to look at Amazon’s business model, the company is happy to bleed money in order to gain market share, and keep prices low to make sure the consumers are happy. With Rustavya, the Crown would be Jeff Bezos, they have all the money, and can save the world if they wanted to, Amazon is the government/whatever-remains-of-the-bourgeoisie (essentially, they’re oligarchs, but it doesn’t matter how much money they have, if they piss off the King/Queen, they gonna die), they’ll lose money, in order to make sure the customers, the people, can keep affording to buy shit, and live in homes, so that they don’t riot.
However, despite all this definitely cool and necessary information about their wealth and economy, Rustavya is best known for its political turmoil and militarial endeavours. Civil war is just another tuesday in Rustavya. It goes through governments faster than Trump goes through wives. They also don’t keep that shit to themselves, and have been encroaching on neighbouring lands and necessarily getting involved in middle east conflicts. Internationally, they’ve also been accused of meddling in the elections of other nations, as well as committing assassinations on foreign soil. Most of which they’ve denied, or openly laughed off. Because of this, they have been subject to UN and other sanctions, but it hasn’t affected their economy.
Rustavya has its own rich and historic culture, and is heavily resistant to outsiders influence, particularly from the western half of the world. It heavily resents nations *cough* The US-I mean Aciras *cough* that constantly screams that they are “the greatest nation on the Earth”, like “fuck off”, said the average Russian-I mean Rustavyan. Because of this, they loathe foreign culture, particularly western culture, and have their own celebrities. Most people recognized as international stars, ironically, would be either little or completely unknown in Rustavya.
Rustavya practices state agnosticism (during the last civil war, it became the first country to practise state atheism, though the harshness of the last government is why it’s now agnostic). While the state does not endorse any one religion nor another, the constitution allows for freedom of religion, but all government employees, including the monarchy, are forbidden from publicly displaying faith in any religion. If something of the spiritual variety is to be mentioned, they may only use vague terms such as “the divine,” or “the forces of the universe,” etc.
💎𝓡𝓮𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓽/𝓡𝓮𝓵𝓮𝓿𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝓗𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂 ――――――――――
Rustavya has a long and complex history. It’s well over a thousand years old. Originally, it was known as Kievan Rus’, and was founded by Varagians (the name given by the Rus’, greeks, and others to Vikings). It’s been through several major periods of extreme political upheaval, from basic feudalism to a somewhat functioning traditional democracy in around the 1300’s, to the outright Divine Rule of Kings to a traditional constitutional monarchy to a communist rebellion, to sudden royalist revolt, back to constitutional monarchy, and a few more civil wars before the current government was established, and remains unbroken (though challenged) since 1937.
The House of Yusupov is a cadet branch of the royal house, and they enjoyed a lot of power, but it wasn't enough and they came for the crown. The Yuspov's gained support of the majority of the government, but lacked the military and the people. However, the war lasted a decade, from the 80's to the late 90's, and resulted in numerous casualties. They lost in the end, and most Yusupov's were executed, including children and completely innocent family members. At the time, their executions resulted in international outcry, but ironically had the opposite effect on everyday Rustavyan's, who resented the concept of mercy for people who fucked up their lives for 10 years.
"Dead men don't claim vengeance, and neither do their dead sons." - Paraphrase of a paraphrase of a Tywin Lannister saying. (I think it was clash of kings? no dance of the dragons. either way, it was GRRM who wrote it)
Previously part of Rökstenne, Askold was once part of Rustavyan (during the communist days), and when they last made moves indicating they wanted to take it back, Rökstenne swiftly arranged the marriage of Princess Rhiannon to then the boy king, 20 year old Nikolas. It was annexed by Rustavya a few months after her disappearance, sparking international outcry, yet little to no repercussions. They were hit with some sanctions, but they had no visible effect on the Rustavyan economy.
Following the success of getting away with annexing Askold, Rustavya has been more blatant, getting into scuffles in the Black Sea, and seizing numerous boats, as well as openly killing dissidents that had managed to escape to other countries.
» The capital city is named Voskhod and is home to Voskresenskie Palace, seat of the Sovereign.
» During the 60’s, they were engaged in a space race, and while they did not manage to claim the first man on the moon, in 1961, they manned the first flight in space and put the first man in space, as well as bringing him back. Rustavyan astronauts are called cosmonauts, and Ruscosmos (the nickname of Rustavyan Cosmonautic Organziation) remains a heavily protected and invested in industry in Rustavya.
aesthetics and stuff to come. again, adulting takes up so much time. I hate work. TToTT
[center][h1][color=#8f7799]♕ 𝓒 𝓛 𝓐 𝓡 𝓐 ♕[/color][/h1]
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[color=#c8becc]𝓆𝓊𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝓇𝒶𝑔𝑜𝓃𝓈[/color]
[color=8c9988][sub]don't talk to me unless it's about dragons or pedro pascal[/sub][/color][/center]
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><div class="bb-center"><div class="bb-h1"><font color="#8f7799">♕ 𝓒 𝓛 𝓐 𝓡 𝓐 ♕</font></div><br><img src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/233c3d76bea8b30f2d7d945e2e74591e/60b07236b1290cbf-36/s400x600/82ceda4107706f8d6379ed2481a276aba5970769.gif" /><br><br><font color="#c8becc">𝓆𝓊𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝓇𝒶𝑔𝑜𝓃𝓈</font><br><font color="#8c9988"><sub>don't talk to me unless it's about dragons or pedro pascal</sub></font></div></div>
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