Name: Tim van Noodvelt
Representative of: Netherlands/Holland (sovereign state, including Caribbean Netherlands and Aruba)
Gender: Male
Nationality: Dutch
Ethnicity: White (Dutch, Belgian, Luxembourgish). This is because of his siblings that are blood-related and form the Benelux union.
Sexuality: Straight (but is a supporter of LBGTQ rights)
Age:
(human and historical)
Human age = 24
Historical age = 485
Brief personality:
(at least 5 sentences)
Netherlands is said to be a strong strategist and world-dominating type of man who likes really young women (aka Lolita Complex, or lolicon) and thinks nothing of using some types of shady drugs, such as weed. He is the type of man that, when it comes to completing tasks, puts all his emotions aside and tries to get the job done. As a result, he is widely respected by his peers.
Tim can also be described as the type of person that is anti-social and does not make new friends easily due to his somewhat aloof, cold personality, what others would describe as "emotionless" and "robotic", and his peers think that he only cares about himself and his duties. This is not true. He has two younger siblings, Belgium and Luxembourg, whom he takes care of, does everything for them and loves them to bits. He is also an avid fan of romantic poems, stories and movies and longs to find the right woman for him, whether she is a nation or not.
Tim is also thought to suffer from OCD (as he is obsessed with keeping his house and space tidy, objects and belongings very neatly arranged) and maybe a mild form of autism/Aspergers (which nobody, even his siblings, are aware of).
As a country with very high English proficiency, he can speak English very fluently alongside his native tongue.
Brief physical description:
(at least 5 sentences)
He is well over six foot tall (given that the Dutch are the tallest in the world) and even towers over nations such as Russia and Sweden.
He has short, vertical scar on the right side of his forehead. The cause of this scar is unknown, however it is possible that it was caused by the Rotterdam bombings during World War Two, when Germany invaded Holland.
He has somewhat short, spiky dirty blond hair with sideburns, which is styled and is naturally straight and limp with hardly any volume, with his fringe almost covering his almond-shaped, smallish green eyes.
Netherlands is said to be quite muscular, but nowhere near as muscular/ripped as Germany (for example, Germany would have a very defined six pack like you see on supermodels. The Netherlands/Tim on the other hand has a flat stomach but his abs are not as well-defined). This is due to the fact that the country is skilled in civil engineering, helping to build dams all over the world, even helping to construct the city of Dubai. He also frequently uses the bike instead of the car. Despite this, the Dutch have a reputation for quite an unhealthy diet, being high in fat (e.g. stroopwafels) and the tons of creamy cheeses produced, meaning he does not have a supermodel build.
He also wears a blue and white striped scarf around his neck, with the colours representing Zeeland, a Dutch province. Tim never takes this scarf off, for whatever reason.
Tim is almost always carrying a giant white fanny pack with him.
The Netherlands himself also suffers from constant epiphora (watering eyes) due to the fact much of his land is below sea level and is prone to flooding.
His sister, Belgium, describes him as "extremely handsome" but he seems not to care much about this fact.
Skin type: normal/oily (due to much of the land being below sea level and the fact Holland gets plenty rain every year)
Skin complexion: normal for Caucasian
Hair texture: straight, fine at tips, shiny
If you can't be bothered to read the above passage, here is a picture:
Brief history:
(at least 5 sentences)
After the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic was born after Spanish independence. As a young boy, he grew up extremely poor with hardly any money and was living in sub-standard conditions compared to his baby sister Belgium, who had quite the opposite lifestyle. He was determined to change that, so he worked hard for what he wanted, even for the tiniest of rewards, hoping to achieve and obtain something good in return.
As the years went on, he then became the Batavian Republic, client state of France, and eventually part of the French Empire. He had to work as France's slave and he ordered poor Holland to perform mundane, somewhat cruel tasks for him against Tim's will. He was fed up of this lifestyle and was almost to the point of wanting to take his own life because of this, so he fought against France and became independent sovereign state in 1813.
From then on, he tried to erase his cruel memories from his past and moved on, finding education, starting up his own multiple businesses and is now one of the most industrialized nations of Europe. Due to the Netherlands having some of the most acclaimed universities in Europe, such as Utrecht, Tim has a PhD.
He is also one of the first countries to legalize gay marriage and could not care less about people's lifestyles and how they want to go about their daily lives, therefore becoming one of the most liberated nations of the world.
Ancient times
Geographically a difficult area to live, the ancient Netherlands had for its inhabitants Celtic and German tribes, one very important feature - safety. Its rivers, lakes, wetlands, and woods were impossible to cross for the invaders.
It is only in the 1st century BC, that the ancient Roman Empire conquered the southern part of these lands establishing an important military post in Nijmegen. North of the today’s Netherlands remained not conquered nor even invaded. Under the Roman administration, prosperity grew for almost three hundred years.
Early Middle Ages
As the Roman state got weaker, barbaric Germanic tribes started to invade the land. Most powerful of them, the Franks invaded the territory in the 5th century and brought the Christianity with them. By 800 today’s Netherlands was a part of the powerful Franks Empire of Charlemagne. It is in Nijmegen that Charlemagne built one of his palaces. Tradition says that Nijmegen was his favorite residence, while Aachen (today in Germany) was the empire’s capital.
Economical growth in the Middle Ages
After the fall of the Charlemagne Empire (he died in 814) the Low Countries territory has been divided into several smaller states – ruled by dukes and counts. At the same time, already in the Middle Ages, a strong economical development made the Netherlands one of the richest areas in Europe. Agriculture along with crafts and commerce, rich towns and important trading links reaching as far as Asia and North Africa, transformed the Netherlands into the area where the feudal power has been limited, safety of movement and economical activity established, sustained growth possible.
Renaissance and fight for independence
The neighborhood powers – first Dukes of Burgundy and later the Habsburgs (after 1477, the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to Archduke Maximilian Habsburg) tried to dominate the Netherlands and introduce its taxation there.
In 1555, Charles of the Habsburg dynasty granted the Netherlands to his son, Philip II, king of Spain. As Philip II was, a Catholic and part of the Netherlands protestant the Dutch resisted not only the new taxation, but also the intolerance and oppressive methods of administration of the Spanish king and his governor Prince Alba. A long eighty years lasting war began. Feeling of the national identity developed in the Netherlands during this war.
In 1581, the Union of Utrecht proclaimed independence from Spain. The new nation suffered a series of reverses in the war, but finally in 1648 the Spanish recognized the sovereignty of the Republic. The Dutch Republic remained until 1794 at least nominally, under the power of the Austrian throne of Habsburg.
The discoveries era
Despite all the war destructions and hardship, the Dutch continued expansion on the seas and discoveries of the new routes and lands. By the mid-17th century, the Republic was the biggest maritime power of Europe, and Amsterdam was the most important financial center of the continent. Naturally, wars about the domination on the seas with England and wars to resist growing power of France on the mainland followed.
18th and 19th Century
Beginning of the 18th century, with the domination of the big absolutist empires of France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia on the continent, and United Kingdom on the sea, the demise of the tiny Dutch Republic begins. An important economical factor has also been the fall of Poland, which lost Ukraine to Russia and was not able anymore to supply grain to the Netherlands.
Growth of the liberal and republican ideas all over the world and resistance to these ideas by the people who ruled the Dutch Republic, lead at the end of the 18th century to the creation of The Kingdom of the Netherlands, which after the fall of Napoleon included also the territories of the today’s Belgium and Luxemburg.
Belgium provinces revolted in 1830 and separated into the Kingdom of Belgium. Luxemburg although independent, has been united with the Netherlands by a person of a monarch. Luxemburg finally separated from The Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1890, when Dutch King William III died not leaving a male heir, which was a condition to rule the Duchy of Luxemburg.
Time of peace and prosperity
In the second half of the 19 century, through slow but constant economical growth and important constitutional reforms, the Netherlands became a liberal and modern state. During the WWI, the Netherlands remained neutral.
World War II
During World War II (1939-1945), the Netherlands was invaded and occupied by the Germans (1940). After two years of relative prosperity, when only the Jewish population has been prosecuted, the whole country began to suffer the burden of war and increasing German terror.
Dutch resistance against the attempts of the Nazi Germany to incorporate Netherlands into the Third Reich during the WWII, and the leadership of the Royal Family in the struggle with the occupants, are still alive in the Dutch people memory.
Last decades
After the difficult years of reconstruction directly after the WWII, the Netherlands sustained in the second half of the 20th century a continuous and fast economical growth. Today the Netherlands is one of the most developed and wealthiest countries in the world.
Religious affiliation: Athiest, but used to be a Protestant
Any special powers or abilities: None, other than having the ability to lie blatantly and get away with it because of his expressionless face and model good looks.
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Subject: Hallo! (Tim van Noodvelt, the Netherlands) 
Wed Aug 31, 2016 9:58 pm
