ok so u know how things are, chapter number ends with 1, character descriptions arrive

greece's mom / ancient greece / the eastern roman empire / the byzantine empire (she actually never called herself byzantine, it was a name a historian came up with long after her death to differentiate her easily)

* rlly smart and clever
* knows how to read and outsmart almost everyone
* great at realpolitik
* likes roasting people (greek fire but verbal)
* used to make fun of old great bulgaria when they were young
* 'lol, ur legs are crooked from riding ur horse'
* very manipulative
* you think she didn't know of his feelings towards her? think again
* they were quite useful, after all
* she also knew that khazaria liked her too... and that he killed old great bulgaria out of jealousy
* after all, having 1 powerful northern neighbor is easier and more useful than having 2
* also she was both a dangerous schemer and a scary warrior (rather than a scheming coward)

the seven slavic tribes

* south slavic
* actually, she was only one person born from the union of 7 clans (rather than 7 different people)
* fairly normal and unremarkable (unlike a certain yogurt weirdo who says annoying jokes on purpose)
* friendly, well-meaning and non-judgemental
* after all, she befriended someone quite different from her (danube bulgaria)
* eventually, she died, allowing for her people, strength, language and culture to pour, integrate and merge into bulgaria
* bulgaria did NOT take this well but he eventually accepted it... now, he speaks her language as a reminder of her, his first friend
* they befriended each other much before bulgaria met wallachia and serbia
* the language she spoke was kinda similar to the western bulgarian dialects

the severians

* actually east slavic
* kinda eccentric
* her people were said to live in a violent manner so there's that
* she spoke in a way similar to the east bulgarian dialects
* like some sounds are soft
* this annoyed the seven slavic tribes
* once she realized that her manner of talking was annoying her, she kept doing it on purpose, even botchering up her pronunciation at times on purpose
* maybe she wanted to remain different on purpose?
* like the seven tribes didn't judge people for being different but the severians, on the other hand, valued uniqueness and being different
* so she became friends with bulgaria bc he was different and thus, interesting
* not all of her people merged into bulgaria, only some
* still, she must've left an imprint
* if she did not, how come that half of bulgaria speaks soft (e becomes i or ie)
* not alive today

macedonia

* appeared in the early 20th century after several wars
* is believed to be related to bulgaria
* he'd rather have his own identity
* which he achieves by separating himself from bulgaria
* doesn't rlly like bulgaria rn (bc of current politics, but also bc of ww2 and what he was taught)
* quite stubborn
* emotional