Human name: Rhys Kirkland.
Country's name: The principality of Wales
Appearance since he is an OC:Eye colour: Aqua
Hair colour/style: Sherbet orange. Depending on the lighting it can look more red or blonde. Rhys keeps his hair in similar style to Arthur, except it behaves better and looks less messy.
Height: 176cm
Other features: He also has thick eyebrows like Arthur although Rhys eyebrows are the same colour as his hair and less prominent.
Personality section: Growing up Rhys was by nature passionate, expressive and creative. He is relatively placid, self confident and successful at what he does and prefers to do things in his own way.
Stubborn determination: He is very stubborn and if he is insulted or bullied he will not stand for it, however he does not respond to immature acts and finds those best to just ignore.
Why this trait?: After many years of struggling, Wales became England first colony. It did not come easily, Wales fought with much tenacity and almost brought England to his knees. The Welsh did not go without a fight and stated they would rather be completely wiped out than taken over. When England finally took control of Wales they did rebel the rebellion went on for many many year and they only were defeated when financial support from France dried up.
Natural charm, love of poetry and cultured.
Why this trait?
After a valiant and spirited effort of keeping the Romans out, Wales was part of the Roman empire for over 300 years, in this time Rhys absorbed a lot of Roman culture and discovered his love of art and the written word. Among a lot of the Welsh community , he was willing to call himself Roman as long as Rome considered him a free man. When Rome left, Rhys actually kept a lot of the Roman systems including Roads and Urban settlements and kept the idea of estates and property.
Other traits he inherited from Rome.
-He does have a sense of taste, he is not the best cook but he can cook tasty meals with his signature dishes in particular. Italian food is still very popular in Wales and there is still a lot influence there.
A cultured man, but is not against hard manual work.
Why this trait?
As much as Rhys likes to be a quiet philosopher he knows how important it is to pull ones weight when needed and is not afraid to get his hands dirty with a hard days work.In the 20th century a huge coal boom. In the first decades of the century, 63% of his people lived around the production of coal and steel.
Dry sense of humor: Although Rhys can be witty and does have a sense of humor…. He is awful at telling jokes. Jokes just do not come naturally to a sober Rhys. His joking, sarcasm and serious tone is almost exactly the same and he is better suited to telling stories then jokes.
Why this trait?
Rhys has mainly just been stuck with Arthur and his brothers for a long time and Sarcasm and dry humor was just something that became a habit with dealing with. Wales himself is a quiet person in general and it is just not his strength to be funny.
Why is he quiet and reserved?
He is introverted but not shy, he has not issue talking to most people. He lacks a large cosmopolitan hub and has become use to the quiet life. (Most Welsh travel into London to do their big shopping trips) The Welsh landscape is still mostly mountains and rough countryside.
He Speaks in English MOST of the time.
Why?
Only 1 in 6 people in Wales speak Welsh. When Rhys is not in the company of other Welshmen he speaks in English. (Unless he is speaking in Welsh to annoy his brothers) At one point in history Welsh was actually BANNED from being spoken or taught in Wales (thanks to Arthur) Rhys does prefer to speak Welsh when he does talk.. he knows Arthur can still understand him so he often does not bother to speak in English to him out of spite.
He does have an accent, his U's do sound more like O's. He does sometimes forget the English technical terms for things and often calls food it's welsh name.
Chivalry
Although he can be blunt, rude and even cold towards men, he makes a conscious choice to act gentlemanly towards women. He is the type to open a door for a woman and stand when a lady enters a room. If a woman is being polite then he is polite. If he finds a womans’ behavior irritable he will usually excuse himself from the situation and avoid her.
Why this trait?
This one is trait that became more prominent in modern times. (And in a human AU would be something that started to happen when he was starting his teenage years)
Role play sample:
1)
Rhys was of course sitting up and waiting for his irresponsible little brother to come home, sitting and writing down his thoughts in Welsh to pass the time. Rhys knew the worst thing to do was forbid Arthur from doing something, it would just lead the boy to want to do it more. So instead of stressing he would just make sure what behavior was expected of him and he would be disappointed if the other if he did not live up to that and praise him when he did. He was just planning to wait up for the other and then ignore him once he knew he was safe but when the boy came bursting in tears and dirt his plan changed.
"Arthur...?" He sat up and walked over to the other, bending down to look at the other to make sure he was not injured. "What on Earth happened to you this time?"
Arthur seemed to be in too much of a fluster to manage to explain himself properly and he looked even more disheveled than usual. He bent down as Arthur managed to blurt out that he had tripped over in the woods and ripped his green cloak and was no distraught that he would not only be in trouble for being late but also in trouble for ruining his clothes.
He shook his head when he heard what had happened, Arthur was also so clumsy, if he was not tripping over his ridiculously long cloak or the many tree roots in the forest he was tripping over his own feet. Rhys sighed and patted Arthurs messy hair. "Perhaps if you did not go running around the forest like some sort of goblin all the time and watched where you stepped things like this would not happen." He scooped the boy up and wiped Arthurs face with the handkerchief from his pocket. "This is not like the times when you got distracted and came home late.... accidents happen I suppose but I expect you will try to be more careful in the future. Otherwise I will have eaten all the Bara brith without you while I sit up and wait for you. Now please...calm down"
Arthur stopped his tears and choked out a reply. "So... big Brother is not mad at me...?" He looked up at Rhys. ".....Is there any Bara Brith left...?"
He put the other down and nodded. "There is... if you go wash up and change out of those muddy clothes..." He grimaced slightly as he realized that he was now covered in muddy marks, which would not have been such a big issue as he was fine with getting his hands dirty but he had already gotten ready for bed and was in his night clothes. "Honestly... did you fall into a pig pen?" He sighed.
He did not get a reply, Arthur was already scrambling away in an excited manner and Rhys rolled his eyes as the boy ran off chanting about desserts. "He will never change.." He smiled softly to himself.
(I am keeping the old RP there but here have another one I suppose )ROLEPLAY 2Rhys did not know he had the capacity to feel such anger as he did at this moment. Arthur had gone too far and Rhys could no longer take the way that Arthur treated others when he was on one of his overly smug power trips. The English had dismissed his ruler Owain Glyn Dwr claims to some of his own land in favor of Lord Grey who in Rhys opinion was just a crony that was owed favours by the new King of England. Not only had his Prince lost the case but he was ridiculed and the Welsh people openly mocked and Rhys could no longer accept his brothers leadership.
"If you are going to fight dirty brother... then you leave me no choice." Rhys sighed and donned the red and yellow colours of the Prince of Wales, speaking to no one but the horse he was preparing for battle. His Prince was going to invade while England was preoccupied with Scotland, further proof the none of the brothers were seemingly able to get along for too long without bickering or power struggles. Rhys would of been happy to be able to stay out of all this annoying mess of politics and war, he would be a lot happier if he had time these days to write poetry or relax but since peace was not something that the people around him wanted he had no other choice but to fight, and he wasn't a push over either.
Wales may not be as powerful as Arthur, he did not have as great an Army nor did he have control as as many castles or land as he did. But his people were strong. The Welsh were a stubborn and hardy people just like Rhys was and he could not sit by and watch them suffer.
He would be moving towards the North-east, attacking the English boroughs to push back the influx of the English presence in his land. Ruthin... Denbigh...Rhuddlan.. Welshpool... all would be attacked and burnt to the ground in defiance to the English rule. Many people from all walks of life were joining together to support this cause, farmers and warriors were standing together to support the Prince of Wales, the true leader of his people, not some English pretender.
He may be the most calm of his brothers but he was no push over and Arthur had pushed him to his limit. He would fight his brother with all his might, no one knew these mountains like he did and Arthur was getting way too comfortable with the easy life in a plushly decorated castle.
Owain Glyn Dwr, just like the great red dragon would lead the way to victory against the English or he would fall fighting for his freedom.
Anything Else?: Favourite colour is; Green?
Also when I RP Wales I do use Slang and Welsh words but those usually pop up when it is a casual conversation or a fight which is sort of hard to show when I am trying to focus on just one character. You will get your 'boyos' and 'popty pings (Microwaves)' through my Rps don't worry. :3
Email:
hey_boyo@hotmail.com