There have always been signs to the fall of a nation. The collapse and rebirth. Humans poured over them in history class. New political leaders. Failing infrastructures. Economies that stay stagnate. Takeovers by other countries. Cultures that die. There's a list. They repeat them over and over again, memorize them for tests.
For the Nations themselves- the heart and blood of the people, personified into living, breathing things- there are other signs. Slight differences. Fatigue. Hurt. Injuries that won't heal. AGING. One sign, however, stands above all the rest as the worst. The true symbol of the end. You know without a doubt when you see it that your time is coming, you'll die soon.
It comes in the form of a child.
Small, unassuming. Innocent children who know nothing but a pull, a connection, to your own people. Your own culture but in ways different than you now. It happens to nearly all countries. All cultures. A sign of the changing times. A sign of your death. Rome had two. Greece had one. Even Prussia had one. His protege. His little brother. He fell shortly after his arrival, after all, didn't he?
The current nations had no such prophecies of doom. Of their death.
At least- that's what they told each other.
Had they not kept the truth from each other, in the end, perhaps they could have helped each other. Prevented the catastrophe that was coming. Prevented the end. After all, with so many nations having 'heirs' it could have only been a sign that something awful was coming. Something life altering. Something that would go down in history.
On november 7th, 2024, it finally happened.
It had been unnaturally hot that year, temperatures spiking above and beyond what everyone considered normal. Even in Denmark the heat was in the 30s- and still rising. World leaders were at a loss. The Nations themselves- they were just as loss. Fighting and blaming had begun and it grew worse with every meeting. Denmark held the latest one, which, with the broken air conditioner and angry attitudes, was swelling to an end faster than anyone had anticipated.
3 PM.
The sky blackened, just for a moment, and then a crack went off, heard everywhere around the world. Louder than thunder, it shook houses to their foundations, toppled items over. There was no time to react from the noise, though, because as soon as it hit your ears- then came the heat. Hotter than anything. It was like a bomb had went off, simultaneously, across the world. People standing outside on the streets died. Buildings melt. Steel curled in on itself. Dry fields caught aflame. Electronics dimmed and died in your hands.
It lasted a moment, maybe two, and then like that it was gone. A thick humid taste was left in the after shocks, sticky and uncomfortable to bear. They thought it was over. That was that.
And then came the earthquakes.
And then the floods. (when ice melts what are you left with? water. condensation. water water water. water everywhere and not a drop to drink.)
Gasses, oils, acidic rain, it all rushed into the water. It's untouchable now unless you filter it. Ash rains from the sky from fires that can't be put out across the world. It's almost inhospitable.
But humanity manages. Humanity has a way of coming back from the flames anew. Countries can be remade. New societies can emerge. New cultures from the ash.
And those 'heirs' to the nations, little warnings of what was coming?- Well. It's a new world to shape how they want.
i'm fucking trash. anyway. hi. this is all because years ago i rped hetalia characters and some had kids and well. i wanted to use those original characters again. so here i am. making an entire universe and series for these characters. i'm trash. i'm sorry. i know.
canon hetalia characters WILL be showing up, though! eventually. for now though, enjoy this. i'll do little introduction posts as each new character shows up i guess. the story will have several povs, the main being one of the heirs to belarus, an existing culture (cornwall), a heir to egypt, a heir to germany, and a heir to america who appeared after the end.