Independence wasn't as rosy as it was made to be. There were still about 40 000 Russian troops inside his country, and the people were starving.

Finland sighed. His government had run away from the problems to Vaasa, secured by their troops. Cowards.

When a country was hungry, that country did things it would later regret. Finland was no exception.

Häme raised his head to look in the window of the captured building. Inflation and a weak government were bad enough, but a civil war-slash-communist revolution? That had to top it.

Inside were Red prisoners, stripped of their guns. White troops – government troops – were inside, having taken the building.

Why couldn't they just get on with it, and leave Tampere alone? Häme's fine city was being destroyed!

Savo gave an order. A White soldier lifted his gun and shot the Red prisoners.

As the Whites were dragging the corpses out, Häme stopped Savo.

"Why? Why, why, why?"

"We gotta stop the revolution in its steps. If they get rooted, it's gonna be harder getting' them out."

Häme glared at her.

Finland was on the offensive. He liked it. Maybe, just maybe, he could doublethink his way into being useful for the war effort. Or just into thinking he had a free will, and was not merely a representation of the majority.

Now, let's see. The Reds were correct, the Whites were not. The Reds winning would help everybody. What were a few Whites, when the hunger would kill them anyway?

A/N

Meet Fin and his family:

Finland – human name Timo Väinämöinen, here represents the regions of Finland Proper (Varsinais-Suomi), Uusimaa (where Helsinki is), and Kymenlaakso. A Red.

Häme – human name Juha Virtanen, here represents Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Satakunta and Pirkanmaa. Merely hopes for the Reds and Whites to do their fighting elsewhere.

Savo – human name Ilona Venäläinen-Häyhä, here represents Northern Savonia (Pohjois-Savo), Southern Savonia (Etelä-Savo) and Northern Karelia (Pohjois-Karjala). A White. (Note: Can anyone help me in translating her accent correctly into English? Cause she's like "Emmää mittäänoo tehny!" and her b's and g's sound like p's and k's. Plus she renders words like "presidentti" into "resitentti".)

Lappi – human name Aarne Lappalainen, here represents Lapland (Lappi), as well as any other random regions I want him to represent. A White. Not that it matters.

Karjala – human name Valtteri Nieminen, here represents Southern Karelia (Etelä-Karjala) plus the part that was given to Russia after WW2. White, mostly.

Åland – human name Lotta Nyman, here represents Åland (Ahvenanmaa). A White.

That's it for now, I might mention a placeholder character or three, but I doubt there'll be many more.