Mornin' folks. I've noticed a lot of we nations are getting caught up in replying to letters. Since we're moving into Winter now I reckon things'll be getting pretty lonely around here so I figure me and Shet would give this a go, too!

Hope to hear back soon,

Thorfin Rendall (The Orkney Islands)

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Hey. Yeah I ain't gonna fluff it up or anythin'. Orkney dragged me into this; I have nothin' better to be doing and he threatened to ban me from his pubs if I didn't go along with it. So yeah, write in soon I guess.

Holger Eriksson (The Shetland Islands)

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Their Profiles

Human Name: Thorfin Rendall

Nation Name: The Orkney Islands

Appearance: A tall well-built young man with short, spiky black hair and blue-grey eyes. He has a very casual, and quite frankly quite scruffy appearance – only making any effort when he absolutely has to. His skin is very lightly tanned due to being outside working most of the time (however it doesn't get too noticable since he doesn't get much sun at his home). Also he has a problem with his left leg in that it never stops being sore and sits at a funny angle even though he has never injured it. This gives him quite a noticable limp.

Likes: Hanging out, laughing, drinking, teasing Shetland, telling stories, folk music from around the British Isles and helping people.

Dislikes: Stress, people coddling him because of his limp, heat, not being able to do things at his own casual pace and confrontations

Personality: Easy-going and modest – Thorfin is a hard worker who doesn't believe in getting stressed out about anything. He likes to think that all good things come to those who wait and as such seems to be blessed with infinite patience. He is also friendly and is very willing to forgive anything except when it comes to the well-being of his people.

Not many people know he actually exists which does get him down a bit, as he's not exactly shy or quiet. He doesn't throw himself into the limelight but at the same time Thorfin doesn't think that he's that forgettable or ignorable.

He is always willing to lend a hand when it comes to anything, no matter how trivial the matter might be. A friendly young man who is always happy to have anyone as a guest or go down to the pub with them for a casual drink. He loves to have a laugh and mess around – but even if he doesn't seem to be Thorfin does know when he needs to be serious.

He hates confrontations, they leave him fairly grumpy and irritable afterwards – however he is not afraid to take up arms or stand his corner with stubbornness he has got from both his Norwegian and Scottish rules. He is an accomplished fisherman, farmer and all-round handy man with a love for music, dancing and gossip.

Thorfin is good friends with Canada, who actually has a lot of residents of Orcadian descent thanks to the Hudson Bay Company. And he also has some connections with North Italy in the form of the Italian prisoners of war from WWII and one in particular Domenico Chiocchetti – from Moena – who built the Italian Chapel which still stands on the Island of Lamb Holm to this day.

Human Name: Holger Eriksson

Nation Name: The Shetland Islands

Appearance: Built very similarly to Thorfin, if slightly taller and a bit beefier. Holger has straight, shoulder-length blond hair and bright green eyes. He also tends to dress for colder weather most of the time – which means he has trouble when it comes to warmer conditions. Holger also has a slightly darker tan than Thorfin, not by much as he still has a lack of sun around his home. Pierced into the top of his right ear are two small but thick metal rings, pretty much lining right with the outline of the ear.

Likes: Peace and quiet, fish, meat, animals music, dancing (even though he'd never admit to it), colder weather and physical work.

Dislikes: Loud places, lots of company, vegetables, heat, being annoyed or forgotten, sports, cars and cities.

Personality: For the most part he is very similar to Thorfin in his personality, although he isn't quite as social and can be wary of unfamiliar individuals. He also tends to cling to more of his Norwegian heritage than Thorfin did and has more of a temper. He doesn't associate much with the rest of the British Isles but he is on very good terms with his cousin. Holger is very quick to defend his cousin, though he knows very well that he doesn't need to.

Holger doesn't get out very often and as such has grown very accustomed to being on his own – though he won't shun friendly company as long as it isn't for too long and he happens to know the company in question.

He shares a love of dancing and music with Thorfin and often finds himself getting dragged out by the more outgoing man for a few drinks and generally a good banter. Holger is outwardly quite disapproving of Orkney's love of good gossip, but secretly gets quite into such things himself.

One pass-time Holger is incredibly fond of is fishing and swimming, though he was never the farmer that his cousin was. Thorfin teases him a lot about his almost-obsession with Norway. At the same time he harbours a fair amount of bitterness towards Scotland, although he cannot pin-point exactly why that is.

Generally he tends to give of quite a grumpy first impression and will not hesitate to shun people he finds irritating. Still he gets to be very loyal towards people he grows to care about. In fact he has been known to get very defensive of Orkney. Much like Thorfin, Holger often offers help to his people for manual labour. However he is nowhere near as chatty while doing so.

He prefers the company of nature to that of other people. Just as long as it is quiet and he can let loose and relax.

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Orkney and Shetland have gone from being Pictish territories to Norwegian and were more recently given to Scotland as a dowry when one of his princesses went to marry one of Scotland's rulers. The two of them aren't very well-known even within the United Kingdom and as such get easily over-looked even by Scotland.

Thorfin tends to refer to Shetland as either Shet (a simple abbreviation of his nation name) or Sheltie which is the Orcadian term for a Shetlander. Normally Holger just calls Thorfin by his human and nation names. However at times when he sometimes uses Selkie, in reference to the seals his islands were named after.