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whatisnarva
Contact Info: plurk: whatisnarva, email: whatisnarvaATgmailDOTcom
Other Characters Played: N/A
Preferred Housing: Hastings 842, his old house
Character Name: Ivan Braginsky | The Russian Empire
Character Series: Axis Powers Hetalia
Character Age: early twenties
Background:
Country & Character +1
History:
Russia was born in the vast, cold lands on the European side of the Ural. It is hard to say when he first met his sisters, but he certainly knew them from a very young age and they hung out together sometimes. (The following I talked about and agreed on with Nika - this follows the Varangian theory) The first adult nation that he met was Sweden, whom he knew as "Rus". Later on he adopted the older nation's name because the Viking was not only cool and strong but also treated him relatively nicely and helped him unite some of his tribes, enough to realize that he was a nation! But then the Vikings didn't come any more, and not too long after another adult came - Tartar, as Hetalia canon calls him. That time was not easy at all and is definitely one of the earliest explanations for Russia’s unusual behaviour. He was already acting in a strange way when he met Lithuania for the first time, during the Tartar Yoke. Lithuania commented on his behaviour to that effect.
But the times changed, and Tartar got weaker and weaker. Russia grew and after his territories had unified (by one little territory violently swallowing the others - Russia's very upbringing and formation was not particularly peaceful), he started to reach out for others. Since they were the closest nations, his sisters were the first one whom he tried to take territory from and add his to his lands (they had also been the main victims of his raids before he became strong enough to make them pay tributes) and finally, he had grown enough to start and clash with the stronger countries around him.
This did not go over very well. Poland and Lithuania were not amused, nor was Sweden (or Ottoman, or any other power around him). The Livonian wars and the Times of Troubles were not the only backlashes that he had to endure (though the Time of Troubles was probably the closest call, with Poland and Lithuania completely destroying one of the more fertile areas of his lands, his capital being occupied, and all the false Dimitries...). The times of troubles was also one of the things that strengthened his paranoia regarding other nations of superior strength: After all Poland had pretended to help him when offering the first Dimitry, and been friendly and everything, and Russia had trusted him and only caught on a while later. The strong ones control the weak ones, and the only way to avoid being completely destroyed by them is to use violence against them. The Livonian Wars only served to show him that he wasn't strong enough yet to keep other nations in his house – something to work on rather than something to make him give up his wish to have weaker nations live with him.
Peter the Great, despite Russia’s weak position, managed to achieve great things: When the Great Northern War started, Russia's army was a badly organized, poorly trained group of men. When it ended only 23 years later, he had managed to beat one of the strongest and most fearsome armies of the time, and Europe asked: "Who the heck is that and how did he do this?!". A new major power had risen from rags to glory in less than 100 years. And Peter did not stop his reforms there. He, as well as his successors, had two major goals: Strengthen the motherland and at the same time make sure that it stayed itself - Panslavism was born during this time, originally to deal with the sudden gain of the non-Slavic former Swedish territories of Estonia and (parts of) Latvia and the cultural influence that they brought - as well as the "high cultural" influence from France and to a minor extent also other countries. Later on, Russia would remember this when forbidding the Baltic languages to make sure that they would become more like him, not he more like them, or when he tried to erase the Polish culture again and again. It was also one of the things that kept Russia from properly catching up with the social and technical developments.
The next huge project was to build a new capital: St Petersburg, proud and white, made of stone and designed to follow the newest trends. A lot of sacrifices were made for it, but then it was built. It was a way of Russia showing the other nations how far he had risen - and his rise would continue, his territory spreading to finally "bring home" his sisters, Lithuania, Finland, Siberia, parts of Poland, and other territories. Lithuania and Poland (and much later on Finland) turned out to be big troublemakers, but that only meant that he tightened his grip on them.
In 1812, where I will take him from, Russia has been invaded by the Grand Armée of Napoleon who has managed to come as far as Moscow. But the nation himself is still free and though he already lost many men and the invaders have burnt lots of his land, he is far from beaten: Having seemingly endless human resources, much unlike the French and their allies, and even more land to retreat to while moving around troops and coming up with a new strategy are the main reasons why the country got never successfully invaded by an army as long as it was okay internally. Russia is battered, but far from broken, and very, very angry. By October, Napoleon's defeated troops are on their way home, suffering more and more casualties the longer they take, and the outcome of the Patriotic War of 1812 will be the downfall of the short Frenchman and the start of the Sixth Coalition. The army, beaten by the Russians and subjected to the harsh Russian winter and the mostly destroyed soil that they left behind them when they invaded (and which thus has no food to offer to them), will practically dissipate into thin air – few armies in history have been beaten more thoroughly than this one. ...you really should think that France would have learned from Sweden and not invaded Russia in June, far too late to avoid meeting the General...
Personality:
At first glance, Ivan looks like a nice person, friendly, happy and well-adjusted; a bit like a giant child. That is until you have talked with him for a while and noticed that some of his habits and opinions are a bit... unique, including his way of interacting with others. Paying closer attention to his smile also hints at a less-than-sane nature. It seems a bit too ever-present (he seems to have a wide variety of expressions, from friendly to axe crazy, but there are very very few pictures of him that do not show him smiling). His smile - which sometimes doesn't match the tone and subject of the conversation at all - combined with his height, can seem creepy. It seems empty most of the time, even if it reaches his eyes. Which it usually does.
It is possible to have conversations with Russia which begin in a normal and positive manner, but they often become unpleasant when Russia explains his words or draws logical conclusions, which Russia himself usually doesn't realize himself. This is a frequent experience in the canon of Hetalia. He doesn't consider "I like them" and "They will be one with me/they'll be easy to control/etc” to be contradicting statements, for example.
But he also tends to not realize when his actions hurt others or make them uncomfortable/unhappy if he didn't mean them to hurt the other person. Sure, he will use force to make people comply (and use it rather often, even for his time), but most of the time he only wants to help. Unfortunately, it can take him a long time to realize that his actions can be detrimental - like the unification of Estonia and Northern Latvia, which almost made them collapse, or when he wanted to help Latvia stop shaking by holding him still – which made the smaller nation faint from fear. His profile explains that Russia has "the cruelty of a child", which describes him well. He is like a child that holds a butterfly by its wings to be better able to look at it and see what will happen, not aware that it will severely damage and in the long run kill the creature. Additionally, he has been described to have the "simplicity of a country bumpkin" (which mostly shows in how he sometimes seems very naïve and inexperienced, and impression that is only supported by his body that looks a bit like that of a giant child). There is an easy explanation to that: Look at a map of Europe/Asia. Now back at Russia. Do you see that chunk of land to the far east, north and north-west of the cultural centres of Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia? Yeah. He just lives in the backwoods of any region of the world that he might belong to, and it is not a region that people would want to pass to reach other places – they naturally prefer warmer and more ice-free routes, which means that all the cultural exchange that Russia got after the Tartar Yoke ended? He had to reach out for that himself and grab it and then try and hold on to it. Culture only came to Russia when a Tsar really wanted and supported it and did a lot for it, like Catherine the Great. As soon as that support lessened, the relative internationality was gone – and it never extended past the court either way. Most of Russia would always stay very far away from Europe, further even than the actual geographical location. This might be a reason why he tends to stalk others or not say anything when he is with groups of people unless he is asked to do so: Due to his isolation in a geographical as well as political and personal sense, he is socially rather inept and he knows that. The logical conclusion is to stay out of actual interaction and to rather remain in a watching position.
Much in this line is Russia's wish to have everyone live with him. He doesn't want to be alone anymore. The nation grew up alone and with only the occasional solace of his sister's presence but the constant presence of the General, who might have meant safety but except for that only meant pain (hunger, his people dying...) and scary winter nights. He craved for someone to hold him, for someone to protect him and be there when he needed them, just like every other child. But the only ones who came either left too soon or hurt him even more. It was scary, being alone was scary. He didn't want to be scared and hurt and alone, because all of those went together at one point. And if his ‘friends’ try to leave, he will simply not let them. He does not see this as a purely selfish goal, however; having everyone stay with him, will, in his opinion, make everyone else happy as well. Until the other nations understand that they're happy with him, and wilfully choose to live with him, he has to make them stay. If they do not understand that that is the only thing that will make them truly happy in the long run, he has to help them and fix them until they understand it. All great achievements (for example the building of S. Petersburg) need to be forced. "Friendships" are about strength and dominance/submission. You can only be friends with others if you are strong enough to make and keep them your friends (and he does not want to be controlled, because then he gets only left in the end; so he has to be the stronger one. And he will better than them. He will never leave anyone). There is no such thing as an "equal" ...later that will warp into a crude travesty of forced equality with him as the first amongst equals. Communism in Russia only functioned and managed to last for 70 years because it was NOT about letting people decide for themselves from the very beginning.
More generally speaking, Russia likes company... though he is rather the quiet, watching - erm, yeah. Stalking would be the correct word here - type. Whether people are yelling at each other, or singing and being happy together, as long as they are lively Russia will be content. As a reason he gives that he grew up in a lonely and cold place. He apparently also does not mind seeing those important to him with "troubled faces”. Because then they need him, and notice him, and won't just forget about him, and it will be easier to keep them or win them back one day.
Despite how much he likes company and hates loneliness, he seems to be able to cope with it quite well – there doesn't seem to be much of a difference between his personal state of well-being in modern day strips (where he lives alone) and those from an earlier point of time. He knows how to cook and most likely is good at keeping house in general if he has to, and having spent centuries more or less alone without ever trying to unify with someone, he definitely has to have developed the emotional and mental tools to deal with being alone unless the being together is on his terms.
Russia is also a very hands-on person. He won't stop and ponder the advantages and disadvantages of something very long, or the fact that he might damage someone else's property or hurt himself or others. This is nicely demonstrated in the Non-Aggression Pact strip where he hacks a hole into Germany's roof without a second thought as soon as he realizes that the attacker is up there. He also doesn't question orders when they come from someone who has the right and power to order him around. The most important reason for this is probably that for many centuries, Russia was a strictly autocratic society with a very immovable structure and an overwhelming majority of the population being unfree, either as serfs or as house servants... and later there would still always be strong leaders with a strict hierarchy below them that would lead everyone without much input from or dependency on the masses. Following orders, knowing one strong man in charge, is just something that seems natural to Russia.
Because he grew up in a place where he was alone, lonely, cold, constantly in fear of some invasion or another, starving, scared, and abandoned when he needed someone, a lot of screws in his head seem to have come a bit (or more than a bit) loose. He had his own share of insane, overly cruel, or just ruthless and paranoid bosses, and on top of all that, he is General Winter's favourite. They have a pact, and while nobody knows what exactly it entails, we can state two things: The General gets full reign of Russia for an extended amount of time every year (which is painful because the harsh Russian winters will always kill people and usually result in a lack of food), and in return the General will keep his enemies at bay as much as he sees fit (the Battle of Narva and the Winter War are two good examples of times when the General clearly sided with Russia's enemies). Russia becomes even more unhinged after after the point I'll be taking him from, and he gradually slips more and more into actual insanity, finally completely snapping in 1905.
Abilities: He is a nation. That means that he is kind of immortal (canon has never shown a nation to be born or die. They "are found" as toddlers (for example America), and "leave" when their time is due, usually after a century or two of rapid aging (for example Rome).); this however doesn't mean that he can't get hurt - at least, canon doesn't seem to suggest that. APH has a lot of throw-away comic relief injuries, so it is hard to tell that and real injuries apart sometimes (what with incidents like Lithuania running around with an arrow in his head), but most players seem to assume that their bodies get hurt normally and just heal faster than a human's body would - and much more thoroughly.
Aside from being a nation, Ivan has a couple of abilities that he does not share with all other nations. While he loves warmth, he doesn't seem to suffer from the cold like others; centuries of living in the cold seem to have made him immune to it. But his immunity may not be limited to the cold. He dresses almost the same, no matter what the weather, despite having more than one set of clothes. That might indicate that he isn't affected by any temperature.
He walks with General Winter, they have a pact (the General is allowed to hurt Russia and invade his lands, but in return will protect him). The General is the personification of the Russian winter, and as such abuses him every year, but in return protects him from enemies. The General's abilities seem to be everything that you would expect from The Winter: Manipulating the temperature, freezing water and making it snow. (Note that this pact, if you step back from canon and look at history, seems to have gotten broken quite a few times over the years - Narva in 1700, the Winter War against Finland...)
Russia has a very high pain tolerance and, due to considering getting hurt rather normal, does not evade pain like a normal person would (the main Russian "tactic" has almost always been to use their advantage of having almost infinite human resources and a lot of land that made invading the country almost impossible. In nation-tan terms, that could be interpreted as Russia being able to take a lot without going down, and using that consciously to his advantage, not minding the getting hurt).
His whole body does not react strongly to external influences (when France groped him in the Christmas strips, he just stood there and then told a baffled France that he didn't feel anything).
Sample Entry: Everything in this journal and here
Personal LJ:
whatisnarvaContact Info: plurk: whatisnarva, email: whatisnarvaATgmailDOTcom
Other Characters Played: N/A
Preferred Housing: Hastings 842, his old house
Character Name: Ivan Braginsky | The Russian Empire
Character Series: Axis Powers Hetalia
Character Age: early twenties
Background:
Country & Character +1
History:
Russia was born in the vast, cold lands on the European side of the Ural. It is hard to say when he first met his sisters, but he certainly knew them from a very young age and they hung out together sometimes. (The following I talked about and agreed on with Nika - this follows the Varangian theory) The first adult nation that he met was Sweden, whom he knew as "Rus". Later on he adopted the older nation's name because the Viking was not only cool and strong but also treated him relatively nicely and helped him unite some of his tribes, enough to realize that he was a nation! But then the Vikings didn't come any more, and not too long after another adult came - Tartar, as Hetalia canon calls him. That time was not easy at all and is definitely one of the earliest explanations for Russia’s unusual behaviour. He was already acting in a strange way when he met Lithuania for the first time, during the Tartar Yoke. Lithuania commented on his behaviour to that effect.
But the times changed, and Tartar got weaker and weaker. Russia grew and after his territories had unified (by one little territory violently swallowing the others - Russia's very upbringing and formation was not particularly peaceful), he started to reach out for others. Since they were the closest nations, his sisters were the first one whom he tried to take territory from and add his to his lands (they had also been the main victims of his raids before he became strong enough to make them pay tributes) and finally, he had grown enough to start and clash with the stronger countries around him.
This did not go over very well. Poland and Lithuania were not amused, nor was Sweden (or Ottoman, or any other power around him). The Livonian wars and the Times of Troubles were not the only backlashes that he had to endure (though the Time of Troubles was probably the closest call, with Poland and Lithuania completely destroying one of the more fertile areas of his lands, his capital being occupied, and all the false Dimitries...). The times of troubles was also one of the things that strengthened his paranoia regarding other nations of superior strength: After all Poland had pretended to help him when offering the first Dimitry, and been friendly and everything, and Russia had trusted him and only caught on a while later. The strong ones control the weak ones, and the only way to avoid being completely destroyed by them is to use violence against them. The Livonian Wars only served to show him that he wasn't strong enough yet to keep other nations in his house – something to work on rather than something to make him give up his wish to have weaker nations live with him.
Peter the Great, despite Russia’s weak position, managed to achieve great things: When the Great Northern War started, Russia's army was a badly organized, poorly trained group of men. When it ended only 23 years later, he had managed to beat one of the strongest and most fearsome armies of the time, and Europe asked: "Who the heck is that and how did he do this?!". A new major power had risen from rags to glory in less than 100 years. And Peter did not stop his reforms there. He, as well as his successors, had two major goals: Strengthen the motherland and at the same time make sure that it stayed itself - Panslavism was born during this time, originally to deal with the sudden gain of the non-Slavic former Swedish territories of Estonia and (parts of) Latvia and the cultural influence that they brought - as well as the "high cultural" influence from France and to a minor extent also other countries. Later on, Russia would remember this when forbidding the Baltic languages to make sure that they would become more like him, not he more like them, or when he tried to erase the Polish culture again and again. It was also one of the things that kept Russia from properly catching up with the social and technical developments.
The next huge project was to build a new capital: St Petersburg, proud and white, made of stone and designed to follow the newest trends. A lot of sacrifices were made for it, but then it was built. It was a way of Russia showing the other nations how far he had risen - and his rise would continue, his territory spreading to finally "bring home" his sisters, Lithuania, Finland, Siberia, parts of Poland, and other territories. Lithuania and Poland (and much later on Finland) turned out to be big troublemakers, but that only meant that he tightened his grip on them.
In 1812, where I will take him from, Russia has been invaded by the Grand Armée of Napoleon who has managed to come as far as Moscow. But the nation himself is still free and though he already lost many men and the invaders have burnt lots of his land, he is far from beaten: Having seemingly endless human resources, much unlike the French and their allies, and even more land to retreat to while moving around troops and coming up with a new strategy are the main reasons why the country got never successfully invaded by an army as long as it was okay internally. Russia is battered, but far from broken, and very, very angry. By October, Napoleon's defeated troops are on their way home, suffering more and more casualties the longer they take, and the outcome of the Patriotic War of 1812 will be the downfall of the short Frenchman and the start of the Sixth Coalition. The army, beaten by the Russians and subjected to the harsh Russian winter and the mostly destroyed soil that they left behind them when they invaded (and which thus has no food to offer to them), will practically dissipate into thin air – few armies in history have been beaten more thoroughly than this one. ...you really should think that France would have learned from Sweden and not invaded Russia in June, far too late to avoid meeting the General...
Personality:
At first glance, Ivan looks like a nice person, friendly, happy and well-adjusted; a bit like a giant child. That is until you have talked with him for a while and noticed that some of his habits and opinions are a bit... unique, including his way of interacting with others. Paying closer attention to his smile also hints at a less-than-sane nature. It seems a bit too ever-present (he seems to have a wide variety of expressions, from friendly to axe crazy, but there are very very few pictures of him that do not show him smiling). His smile - which sometimes doesn't match the tone and subject of the conversation at all - combined with his height, can seem creepy. It seems empty most of the time, even if it reaches his eyes. Which it usually does.
It is possible to have conversations with Russia which begin in a normal and positive manner, but they often become unpleasant when Russia explains his words or draws logical conclusions, which Russia himself usually doesn't realize himself. This is a frequent experience in the canon of Hetalia. He doesn't consider "I like them" and "They will be one with me/they'll be easy to control/etc” to be contradicting statements, for example.
But he also tends to not realize when his actions hurt others or make them uncomfortable/unhappy if he didn't mean them to hurt the other person. Sure, he will use force to make people comply (and use it rather often, even for his time), but most of the time he only wants to help. Unfortunately, it can take him a long time to realize that his actions can be detrimental - like the unification of Estonia and Northern Latvia, which almost made them collapse, or when he wanted to help Latvia stop shaking by holding him still – which made the smaller nation faint from fear. His profile explains that Russia has "the cruelty of a child", which describes him well. He is like a child that holds a butterfly by its wings to be better able to look at it and see what will happen, not aware that it will severely damage and in the long run kill the creature. Additionally, he has been described to have the "simplicity of a country bumpkin" (which mostly shows in how he sometimes seems very naïve and inexperienced, and impression that is only supported by his body that looks a bit like that of a giant child). There is an easy explanation to that: Look at a map of Europe/Asia. Now back at Russia. Do you see that chunk of land to the far east, north and north-west of the cultural centres of Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia? Yeah. He just lives in the backwoods of any region of the world that he might belong to, and it is not a region that people would want to pass to reach other places – they naturally prefer warmer and more ice-free routes, which means that all the cultural exchange that Russia got after the Tartar Yoke ended? He had to reach out for that himself and grab it and then try and hold on to it. Culture only came to Russia when a Tsar really wanted and supported it and did a lot for it, like Catherine the Great. As soon as that support lessened, the relative internationality was gone – and it never extended past the court either way. Most of Russia would always stay very far away from Europe, further even than the actual geographical location. This might be a reason why he tends to stalk others or not say anything when he is with groups of people unless he is asked to do so: Due to his isolation in a geographical as well as political and personal sense, he is socially rather inept and he knows that. The logical conclusion is to stay out of actual interaction and to rather remain in a watching position.
Much in this line is Russia's wish to have everyone live with him. He doesn't want to be alone anymore. The nation grew up alone and with only the occasional solace of his sister's presence but the constant presence of the General, who might have meant safety but except for that only meant pain (hunger, his people dying...) and scary winter nights. He craved for someone to hold him, for someone to protect him and be there when he needed them, just like every other child. But the only ones who came either left too soon or hurt him even more. It was scary, being alone was scary. He didn't want to be scared and hurt and alone, because all of those went together at one point. And if his ‘friends’ try to leave, he will simply not let them. He does not see this as a purely selfish goal, however; having everyone stay with him, will, in his opinion, make everyone else happy as well. Until the other nations understand that they're happy with him, and wilfully choose to live with him, he has to make them stay. If they do not understand that that is the only thing that will make them truly happy in the long run, he has to help them and fix them until they understand it. All great achievements (for example the building of S. Petersburg) need to be forced. "Friendships" are about strength and dominance/submission. You can only be friends with others if you are strong enough to make and keep them your friends (and he does not want to be controlled, because then he gets only left in the end; so he has to be the stronger one. And he will better than them. He will never leave anyone). There is no such thing as an "equal" ...later that will warp into a crude travesty of forced equality with him as the first amongst equals. Communism in Russia only functioned and managed to last for 70 years because it was NOT about letting people decide for themselves from the very beginning.
More generally speaking, Russia likes company... though he is rather the quiet, watching - erm, yeah. Stalking would be the correct word here - type. Whether people are yelling at each other, or singing and being happy together, as long as they are lively Russia will be content. As a reason he gives that he grew up in a lonely and cold place. He apparently also does not mind seeing those important to him with "troubled faces”. Because then they need him, and notice him, and won't just forget about him, and it will be easier to keep them or win them back one day.
Despite how much he likes company and hates loneliness, he seems to be able to cope with it quite well – there doesn't seem to be much of a difference between his personal state of well-being in modern day strips (where he lives alone) and those from an earlier point of time. He knows how to cook and most likely is good at keeping house in general if he has to, and having spent centuries more or less alone without ever trying to unify with someone, he definitely has to have developed the emotional and mental tools to deal with being alone unless the being together is on his terms.
Russia is also a very hands-on person. He won't stop and ponder the advantages and disadvantages of something very long, or the fact that he might damage someone else's property or hurt himself or others. This is nicely demonstrated in the Non-Aggression Pact strip where he hacks a hole into Germany's roof without a second thought as soon as he realizes that the attacker is up there. He also doesn't question orders when they come from someone who has the right and power to order him around. The most important reason for this is probably that for many centuries, Russia was a strictly autocratic society with a very immovable structure and an overwhelming majority of the population being unfree, either as serfs or as house servants... and later there would still always be strong leaders with a strict hierarchy below them that would lead everyone without much input from or dependency on the masses. Following orders, knowing one strong man in charge, is just something that seems natural to Russia.
Because he grew up in a place where he was alone, lonely, cold, constantly in fear of some invasion or another, starving, scared, and abandoned when he needed someone, a lot of screws in his head seem to have come a bit (or more than a bit) loose. He had his own share of insane, overly cruel, or just ruthless and paranoid bosses, and on top of all that, he is General Winter's favourite. They have a pact, and while nobody knows what exactly it entails, we can state two things: The General gets full reign of Russia for an extended amount of time every year (which is painful because the harsh Russian winters will always kill people and usually result in a lack of food), and in return the General will keep his enemies at bay as much as he sees fit (the Battle of Narva and the Winter War are two good examples of times when the General clearly sided with Russia's enemies). Russia becomes even more unhinged after after the point I'll be taking him from, and he gradually slips more and more into actual insanity, finally completely snapping in 1905.
Abilities: He is a nation. That means that he is kind of immortal (canon has never shown a nation to be born or die. They "are found" as toddlers (for example America), and "leave" when their time is due, usually after a century or two of rapid aging (for example Rome).); this however doesn't mean that he can't get hurt - at least, canon doesn't seem to suggest that. APH has a lot of throw-away comic relief injuries, so it is hard to tell that and real injuries apart sometimes (what with incidents like Lithuania running around with an arrow in his head), but most players seem to assume that their bodies get hurt normally and just heal faster than a human's body would - and much more thoroughly.
Aside from being a nation, Ivan has a couple of abilities that he does not share with all other nations. While he loves warmth, he doesn't seem to suffer from the cold like others; centuries of living in the cold seem to have made him immune to it. But his immunity may not be limited to the cold. He dresses almost the same, no matter what the weather, despite having more than one set of clothes. That might indicate that he isn't affected by any temperature.
He walks with General Winter, they have a pact (the General is allowed to hurt Russia and invade his lands, but in return will protect him). The General is the personification of the Russian winter, and as such abuses him every year, but in return protects him from enemies. The General's abilities seem to be everything that you would expect from The Winter: Manipulating the temperature, freezing water and making it snow. (Note that this pact, if you step back from canon and look at history, seems to have gotten broken quite a few times over the years - Narva in 1700, the Winter War against Finland...)
Russia has a very high pain tolerance and, due to considering getting hurt rather normal, does not evade pain like a normal person would (the main Russian "tactic" has almost always been to use their advantage of having almost infinite human resources and a lot of land that made invading the country almost impossible. In nation-tan terms, that could be interpreted as Russia being able to take a lot without going down, and using that consciously to his advantage, not minding the getting hurt).
His whole body does not react strongly to external influences (when France groped him in the Christmas strips, he just stood there and then told a baffled France that he didn't feel anything).
Sample Entry: Everything in this journal and here