The WCRB Files: A 1983 Doomsday Record

by mdc1957

The wake of Doomsday left many gone forever. Those who survived live in a changed world, some for better. Others for worse. Here are what became of them. A series of profile-style vignettes for the Doomsday-verse AU for Hetalia and partly inspired by the Game of Thrones series. Featuring both canon Nations and OCs. (NOW ON HOLD.) .

6. File 06 - Cleveland

The WCRB Files

A 1983 Doomsday Record through the Nation's Eyes

**File 06 - Kingdom of Cleveland - William Kirkland**

"House Percy is not like most royal houses, just as the Kingdom of Cleveland is not like most Survivour-Nations in this part of the world, let alone the British Isles. Sure, they hold descent from the old royal family, a much better claim than those African cowards far away in New Britain. And aye, our Northumbrian tongues are older than what was spoken in the United Kingdom days. Yet unlike more established monarchs, our ruling line's a really young one. But divvn't treat it like some weakness. I'd like to think that youth in all its freshness is our strength, especially nooadays.

Though many of my people have ties to merry old England, our history really began with atomic fire. There are those who still remember that time in 1983 like it was yesterday. Everything went gan't hell they say, the United Kingdom torn asunder as two mighty blokes ripped each other apart. It soon became clear as day, so it went, that no help was coming from London, which is probably some rotted midden for all I know. Many had to go underground or into the countless camps outside the old cities. Those who remained after the fires died out faced disease, starvation and the dreaded fallout. If not for their sacrifices, if not for a surviving member of House Windsor, the last of her name, whose child in time would become the first Percy in her name – nowt, I cannit imagine.

Still, everyone in this land pushed through. Even the youngest bairn found that childhud ended as quickly as it began, just as I learned. We scavenged leftovers from the old world. We farmed whatever we could, fought to live another day. In time we also got the old factories bustling again. Brought Her Majesty's justice to those nasty gowks to the point that by 1995, my folks' status as a Kingdom was as real as it could be. And along the way began discovering lads and lasses from other Survivour-Nations across the old country. But though it was, aye, a great blaa to us to learn the true extent of what some were calling Doomsday, it was still good to see some friendly faces.

Of course, we're not gowks that we're ignorant to what other say behind our backs. Aye, many of our people do fight with old rifles and blades, some even riding on horseback and carts. Unlike those old Nordic lads across the North Sea whose planes and actual weapons we buy, or our bloody 'friends' in the Celtic Alliance who only recently tried to welcome us into their republican lot. But we Clevish are more than meets the eye. For aye, we do have working electricity and railroads, our football teams still as ready as ever. House Percy also takes pride in bringing ties with neighboring Northumbria ever closer, leading to one of the safest places this side of the Isles. Is it any wonder why my siblings look up to me better compared to those Celtics buggers? If that makes us a sight of ridicule, I says come at thee!

Our flag uses the old Northumberland standard, fresh as it was from the United Kingdom days. As for our motto, my realm uses that of our centre, Middlesbrough. Resurgemus. A fitting one, come to think of it, alongside that which I silently swore on old England's deathbed and to my siblings:

God save the Queen."

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As for some trivia:

The Kingdom of Cleveland is an OC for the AU as well as a Survivor-Nation in the 1983: Doomsday material. It's located in the Northeast England, which also includes Northumberland has an historic area called Cleveland.

The Windsor in question is Princess Anne (1950- ), Queen Elizabeth II's daughter. Her own successor is Zara Phillips (1981- ), who in the AU became the first Princess of House Percy.

The Celtic Alliance is a union of Celtic lands led by Ireland and Scotland that's one of the leading powers of Europe and virtual guardian of the Survivor-Nations living in what used to be Great Britain.

Resurgemus means "We shall rise again" in Latin, and is the in-verse motto of Cleveland.

As Cleveland is in Northeast England, I also sprinkled the text with elements of the local accent called Geordie, which is closer to Old English and even Danish than standard British English.