Central Italy (Empiretalia)

General Information
Country Name

Central Italy, Italian Republic

Centro Italia, Repubblica Italiana

Alternative Names & Nicknames

Centro, Centritalia, Italia Centrale, Italia.

Former Names

Republic of Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Confederation of Central Italy/United Provinces of Central Italy, Kingdom of Italy.

Repubblica di Firenze, Granducato di Toscana, Confederazione del Centro Italia/Province Unite del Centro Italia, Regno d'Italia.

Birthday

20th of September

Birthday Origin

20th September 1870 is the date when the Papal States, which is today's territory defined as Central Italy, was annexed and replaced with Centro, who then inherited Rome, the Capital.

Human Name

Eleonora Vargas

Name Origin

The Greek meaning of the name is "she, who has mercy", "compassionate". There are many more deeper meanings and many other ways to spell this name. In Germanic it means "to grow", while the most widely used meaning, is the most beautiful one: "she who was raised in the light".

Vargas is the family name the Italian siblings all carry, although it is of spanish origin instead of Italian, which references the colonization of parts of Italy by Spain in the 16th-17th century.

Physical & Mental Age

19

Republic of Florence: 1-11

Grand Duchy of Tuscany: 11-15

Confederation of Central Italy: 16

Kingdom of Italy: 17-18

Republic of Italy: 19

Height

1.50m~1.52m (5')

Hair Color & Eye Color

Honey-Brown/Light-Brown Hair & Yellow eyes.

Her yellow eyes are a direct reference to the Roman Empire's eyes, which also reference the beautiful eyes of Wolves and Eagles, the prime symbols of Rome and the Roman Empire.

Languages

Usually Centro is believed to talk only in Italian, but it's only the half of the truth. Her actual language is called "Central Italian" and it's a mixture of dialects from all the regions that are part of this sub-national region. Another language is "Fiorentino" which is spoken mostly, if not only, in Tuscany.

National Animal

The Capitoline Female Wolf.

Rome's signature animal is the Capitoline Wolf (a bronze statue which is believed to have Etruscan origins), which remembers the legend of Romulus and Remus when they were found by a female wolf strolling around the Tevere river (which is considered sacred by Romans), who fed them and saved them, so that they could grow up and one of them, Romulus, would create the legendary city of Rome

National Flower & Religion

Lily (but also Violets and corbezzoli). White Lilies, also known as Lilium "Stargazer", hold a religious meaning in Italy, they represent sweetness and purity, modesty and virginity. Religion in Italy is highly held and more than 80% of the population practices Roman Catholicism.

Centro's design, before becoming an Inheritor in 1870, is inspired by the grace and purity of white Lilies, which symbolizes her having a positive outlook on the world and being free of big responsibilities, not being tainted by harsh modern politics and wars.

Description
Central Italy is the personification of the central part of the Italian peninsula, which is politically constituted of four italian regions (Lazio, Tuscany, Umbria and Marches), while geographically it would include Abruzzo too, which is politically part of South Italy for cultural and historical reasons. She borders North and South Italy, as well as Vatican City and San Marino, which she regularly hangs out with. She’s the current designated Inheritor of Rome.

Centro is a strong-willed girl, nominated to be the spokesperson of the Italian Siblings and the political and military planner. She is a smart person who can come up with fantastic and artistic ideas, but her laziness won't let it show through. She has a strong mind, capable of remaining calm in most situations, but a weak body not made for physical fighting, in which her small height and weight play disadvantageous roles. Her roles play a big part in meetings, in which you can always sense her present due to her mannerisms and way of speaking. Her unpopularity strikes her violently, knowing that she'd always have to explain who she is at any meeting she goes to, whenever bosses or other countries expect to see North or South Italy but see her instead.

Although she plays the biggest technical works in Italy like managing the Capital, Politics and Tourism, she seems to be always erased or forgotten in favor of her brothers. She will never admit how inferior it makes her feel and keeps slacking off like nothing happened. She’s the laziest out of her siblings, yet her expectations for her own work is always high.

Appearance & Info
Centro’s appearance is the trait she’s the most proud about. She always takes care of herself, her exterior appearance is what seems matter the most to her, even going as far as to being extremely bummed out whenever she doesn’t look perfect. She always sets up high standards for anything she does, including her exterior. She constantly brags about the beauty of the cities and in her territory and how her cities are the prettiest and best in the world, referencing the saying “Roma caput mundi”, which translates to “Rome, capital of the world.”

She has long, well-kept and wavy honey brown hair which reaches almost the middle of her back. She thinks it’s a beauty-factor and enhances the way she’s perceived by others. Her hair is one of the traits that she brags about the most. It symbolizes the beautiful Valle d’Orcia, which is a valley situated in Tuscany, it’s currently an UNESCO world heritage site and it’s full of many big yet gentle hills that make up the waves in her hair.

Her bangs consist of a single lock of hair in the middle of her face, a pun that contains her name. “Al centro della sua faccia”, “In the middle of her face”. It symbolizes her geographical position in Italy: in the middle, between South and North. Centro’s curl is similar to North Italy’s but on the opposite side of the face, it represents the biggest island in Central Italy’s territory: Elba, in which the French Emperor Napoleon was exiled.

Her eyes are of a honey brown or a deep yellow with a hint of orange like her brothers. This specific trait was directly inherited from Ancient Rome, who had the same eye color. Being an Inheritor of Rome didn’t change this fact, but changed other features of hers.

She often wears Military/Soldier clothing only, since she’s almost always on duty. Her uniform consists of the normal Italian Military Uniform, except it’s of a soft beige color, her jacket’s sleeves are pulled up, while also wearing shorts with normal military black boots and white socks underneath. Under the jacket, it’s clearly visible a grey shirt and a slightly darker tie, similar to her brothers’. Her insignia is placed on her left jacket sleeve, while on the opposite sleeve, there’s a visible Italian flag. Around her waist, it’s also visible a black belt which previously had small yet useful pockets. A detail that must not be missed is her Red Bandana which represents rebellion but also the Red Band of Italy, which includes 3/4 of her regions. The Red Band of Italy is mostly a Political Alliance between these regions which are extremely left-leaning.

Her hat and gloves are not always there but are part of the full uniform. The hat she often is seen wearing leans on the left side of her head and is of a red or sometimes black color with a coat of arms which signifies where she belongs. Her gloves are thin and warm and of a jet black color.

Despite her wearing military clothing most of the time, her physical strength is not developed at all, being the smallest of the Italian Sub-National Regions is what made her way shorter than bigger regions like her brothers. Her short height has always been a bad yet useful factor of hers, she has an advantage in running away and not being noticed around taller people, which makes her escapes and run-aways more effective. She seems to be highly allergic to work, which she always escapes from.

Fun Fact Sardinia is almost always associated with Centro, which leads the two to fight about if Sardinia is truly part of Central Italy or is not classifiable. But most of the time, they stick up for each other.

Appearance before 1870
Before the Breccia of Porta Pia, which constituted the start of Centro’s control over Rome, the Capital of Italy, Centro was a completely different person. One of the major changes of becoming an “Inheritor of Rome” was a physical change which wasn’t very drastic but still had a toll on her.

When inheriting new territory, the Countries’ physical appearance and personalities change, it’s common knowledge between the nations, which makes them scared of losing their old selves with too much power over too much land. Generations of Countries had subsequent changes due to the many influences and genes they were inheriting with their border expansions. Some say that Rome looked nothing like he did in his final stages of life before becoming a great Empire.

Centro inherited 3/4th of her current land in  just one moment, which made the changes go by at a faster rate. The physical changes made her who she is today, but before that year she was known as the United Provinces of Central Italy (General Government of Central Italy/Confederation of Central Italy), she was a bit shorter and with darker hair, which became honey brown due to the territories’ influence of the Papal States who had extremely lighter hair compared to hers.

UPOCI dressed in an all white fluttery dress, representing the purity of her youth, with shoulder-length brown hair and light brown eyes. Her expression was constantly serene and care-free, stepping down of the high horse people expected her to be on to live with the townspeople, trying to lead a normal life, not as a country but as a fellow human.

Psychology
Centro’s psychology is not nearly as complicated as Vatican’s but all people can see is a surface-level personality which repeats itself over and over. Centro never wanted to go through the changes of the new territories, she never wanted to have a responsibility over a nation’s well-being. Centro looks and sounds highly cynical and full of herself, but it’s just a mere coping mechanism to remind herself of her worth. She needs constant reminders of her beauty because the only thing she thinks that matters is a beautiful and attractive exterior, while having an attention-deprived personality. The lack of attention she suffers from is highly noticeable: being erased out of maps, her borders not recognized and always denied of her history, her accomplishments led her to seeking attention in other ways, like acting super extravagant with a seemingly unlikeable personality to hide the fact that she thinks of herself as a boring individual, it’s a way of showing others that “the third one” isn’t worth ignoring and erasing. Her whole act became her new personality during the territorial changes. Constant reminders of being the least known, makes her want to turn them into cheers when she climbs to the number one spot. Nonetheless, she never gives up hope and shows her true warm and supportive colors only with people who are close to her.

Personality & Interests
Centro is not the best kind of person to deal with, her mind is of steel, literally. She will not budge if she makes a decision and will go through with any idea she approves of. She mostly served as the planner in wars, sitting in her hideout and just giving orders. She wasn't the best at it, but she managed to keep her role for a long, long time.

She acts as if she has the best regions in Italy. A common trope about Tuscany and, mostly, Florence is that the people from there feel superior to other regions because of the fact that Italian originated from the Fiorentine dialect; Centro displays all of these traits, even trying to boss around her brothers. Her mannerisms and the way she looks down on people irritates almost everyone she talks to.

Even if she's just acting out the role of "the Inheritor of Rome", this didn't give her much popularity between people who wanted to move there.

She has a strict policy of being the nicest person to any tourist coming to visit, in reality she has very bad manners and is used to shouting and making passive aggressive comments. It's hard getting on her soft and nice side since she always closes herself in her shell of rudeness and cynicism to avoid being deemed as fragile and sensitive, she even tries to mask the fact that she cries very easily. She swears a lot and holds many long-lasting grudges, which she carries everywhere she goes. She doesn't even try to hide the smugness in her expression every time she brags about the Italian Language, Renaissance, the Colosseum and her history in general. Her apparent patriotism is also a heavy factor in her smugness, she loves herself… a bit too much.

The best reccomendetion  people could give you is to try and be the nicest possible with her to get on her good side and consider you a friend. It is indeed hard to do so because of her diffident nature but it's not an impossible task to complete.

As much as she talks down on her brothers, she's very protective of them. She still holds resentment towards them for the simple fact that her existence is denied in their favor, a fact which the two have no control over. However, she wouldn't be great without their help, too. After Centro was annexed to Piedmont-Sardinia, the two tried everything to revive her and give her territories back, which led to them annexing the Papal States and then giving Centro new territories so that she could come back. She wishes to show her gratitude by "protecting them", being diffident of their acquaintances.

Like her brothers, she has amazing cooking skills, but sometimes she's too lazy to even read a recipe, so she tries to remember everything from memory. Centro's messy manners also play a role in how she works, she always forgets where things are placed because of all the chaos.

She's also known to stay very far away from the frequent conflicts North and South have, deciding who is the best and who is inferior to the other; she gets out of the conflict by just saying that she's the best to then walk away and realize that they had completely forgotten her existence.

Centro is a heavy sleeper, as much as she brags about her warrior origins, directly coming from the Roman Empire himself, she is the laziest out of the three, usually skipping the work she's assigned to do as the duty and responsibility of a representative of a country, just to go home and sleep, sometimes watching TV or listening to the news.

She may seem like the worst person to become the Inheritor of Rome, but in reality, Centro is much more than a lazy and chaotic person who loves to brag and be rude to others because of her complexes. Her exaggerated behavior was a result of being constantly ignored, wishing that she could become infamous but at least known as an existent part of a larger country. She's a pretty positive person who loves and cherishes her friends and family, which she wouldn't trade for anyone else

She has a deep desire of being a good leader, a mentor that people can use as an example of greatness. Because of this, she always tries her best to make good impressions on people she just met; after meeting said people she will then create an opinion based around them. She's never afraid to speak up and let her opinion be known, only if she deems the people worth enough knowing her opinion. Despite her negative traits and excessive vanity, her loyalty as a friend and sister surpass anything else. She's capable of being really funny yet dramatic at the same time, artistic and talented just like her brothers. No more, no less. Most people just need to understand that she needs to be herself without keeping up this arrogant persona for attention.

Because of the renaissance, Centro picked up the interest towards poets and artists, which were most if not all located within her territory, people like Leonardo da Vinci, Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio, Francesco Petrarca, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Raffaello Sanzio and many others were all people who worked around her and seeing them being so great and passionate about their professions, she began trying to write and paint like those humans she was surrounded by. By the era of risorgimento, Centro had finally found her passion for poetry and how she could describe her every moment with words full of meaning. Her writing skills were useful when she eventually became an Inheritor and had to make speeches for the people along with South and North.

Personality & interests, Before 1870
Before being annexed by Piedmont-Sardinia in 1860 and becoming the representative of a new lands, Centro's personality was widely different. This personality change was also part of the common knowledge of new territories. New territories and new lands create changes in personality and physical appearance.

Centro, also known as the United Provinces of Central Italy in 1859-1860, was a kind and gentle "lady-like" girl, who dressed in all white and was mostly shy and silent. She didn't talk much, but her demeanor was far sweeter than what people expected her to be, judging from the present day. She always wanted to help the citizens of the cities and towns she often visited.

She knew that the world she lived in wasn't going to be nice to her back, even if she tried with all her might, but she accepted the world just the way it was and let herself get caught in Sardinia's trap, set up just to annihilate Centro out of jealousy of her positive outlook and good life.

Present Centro is very dismissive about what happened before 1860, because of the amnesia caused by the revival of a dead country, which also happened to the Holy Roman Empire. She often tries to be close, yet distant, to Germany in the hopes to study the mysterious causes and deep history of the taboo revival of dead countries, which had happened to many.

The Inheritors of Rome
The Inheritors of Rome are the predilect descendants of the Roman Empire, the ones chosen to continue Rome's legacy. They are perceived as the designated leaders. They are either chosen by fate or by a third party. They gain full access to the senate and government right after the crowning ceremony, where the Inheritor has to wear a golden laurel leaf crown, which is what old Roman Kings wore to symbolize their power and sovereignity over the people of Rome.

The requirements of becoming an Inheritor of Rome:
There have only been a few Inheritors of Rome throughout history, all of whom were assassinated, which led to the choice of a new Inheritor to fill the role instead.
 * One must not be a human, the Inheritor must be a humanized representative of the nation they come from.
 * One must be related to the Roman Empire in some way. Be it a sibling, child or grandchild and so on.
 * One must be given consensual power over the city of Rome. Capturers shall not be crowned nor seen as the Inheritor in any way, shape or form.
 * One cannot nominate themselves to fill this role. The Inheritors are naturally chosen or chosen by other nations when borders are re-established.
 * The Inheritor must have Rome in their territory.
 * The Inheritor can only be dethroned by death.

As Rome wished when he died, he wanted his kin to continue his legacy and keep his memory great.

From earliest to last Inheritor:
Centro casually inherited Rome when taking over Papal States' territories, subsequently becoming the predilect grandchild by Rome, who often comes to visit her and give her tips.
 * Roman Empire/Ancient Rome
 * Papal States
 * Central Italy

Relations
Central Italy is the core of international relations in Italy, she's in charge to keep good relationships with allies and friendly neighbors, even though it can be extremely hard for her to keep her short temper at bay. Centro is an extrovert and this helps her create more relations with more countries, although her brothers can't expect her to come back home with a bunch of new friends, also because she's the least known of the three.

Roman Empire
Although the Roman Empire is dead, he is been shown coming back to the alive world as a ghostly entity who takes up form of a normal human, so that he could hug and be seen by humans alike.

Centro, after becoming an inheritor, also became Rome's favorite grandchild, hoping for her to bring back the glory of Rome with her leadership. She often feels watched, even when alone and blames it on his grandpa, who's nosy about her work and business as an Inheritor.

Rome never loses hope about her and treats her as if she was the only existing land in the world, ignoring North and South in the process, who often feel jealous, which means many fights are going to occur to decide which one is the most worthy of Rome's attention and love.

She and Rome also often go out drinking wine when they're having a bad time in their respective worlds. Rome might have accidentally cheated on a girl in heaven, while Centro might have accidentally created more problems at the world meeting with her attitude.

They share their pain together because of their similarities. Deep down, Rome knows Centro is so similar to him because of the curse of the territories that belonged to him.

In an old comic, Rome can be seen saying: "Who has Rome? [...] That's what i thought!" In regards to North and South asking Rome why he doesn't give them any attention.

Centro knows that the attention she gets from her Grandpa are only because she inherited Rome, she knew he would have acted the same way he does to her to anyone else who would have modern Rome in their territory.

America (U.S.A.)
Centro and America have always had pretty good relations, politically and outside of strategics and politics. Centro was quick to befriend him, mostly only seeing him as a source of protection, great power and influence but the two actually hit it off very well and became really close friends. America having a huge love for Italian culture and cuisine alike.

The two rarely ever fought, but when that happened, it lasted for many years until they forgot anything ever happened and started chatting again at meetings. Those major events were WWII, when the two found themselves fighting on different sides and another time where the two had a severe fight in the 1890s where both of them had removed their embassies of the respective countries in their important cities.

But after all, they're two heavily emotional and dramatic young adults who are also of the same age (19). To this day the two are allied and often hang out.

Austria
As much as Centro dislikes Austria and his snobby behavior, she doesn't criticize him, knowing that she acts in the same way as he does. Holding resentment because of the domain over her brother Veneziano when he was a child and into teenagehood.

The two would at least get along if anyone initiated the first move. In other words, they're neutral, in terms of actions, of each other.

Her protectiveness of her brother, who she sees as vulnerable, stops her from even initiating a conversation or even awknowledgement of his presence in the room, while Austria doesn't even know what to make of all that, not even knowing who she is without reading Centro's name on the meeting chair that belongs to her.