your account has answered my prayers I’m dropping to my knees in gratitude rn
also may I propose a parallel between how france is abused by rome as gallia and how he treats england during the norman conquest
like he uses the same methods of subjugation rome used on him because that’s all he knows about how conquest should work - older more advanced power civilises vulnerable young savage with manipulation and violence and starvation etc
I can see him being initially unsure of some ways in which rome had hurt him because he was always told everything that happened was for his own good. But then when he does the same to england he’d finally understand the hype/discover his sadism and realise it was always all for romes benefit.
He might question whether rome lied to him or even really loved him at all but nothing can be done about that now rome is gone. Except maybe take out his resentment and betrayal on his conveniently trusting new ward?
Anyway you the goat bro ❤️
Thanks for sucking my cock, King, but yeah, that's basically how i see Gaul>France and how Rome abuse on him (mentally, physically and sexually) affect him both as a 'human' and 'nation'.
While i do agree Rome would said what he do is for Gaul sake (the typical manipulation tactic) i would also like to add how Rome also would claim what he done to Gaul are normal. Because to Rome, this is what they are made for. Nations are not human who grow just because time passed. They are born to conquer, to expand, to survive through domination. Violence is not an aberration: it is their nature. Isn’t that why they grow stronger with every land they take? Isn’t that why they persist, long after humans die, enduring through centuries? Aren’t they meant to fight, to carry the will of their people, no matter the cost? Is it not so they could fight and help human who claimed them as their own when they’re all born alone?
And that idea does not die with him.
I think this is why France, in many ways, comes to resemble Rome in ideology sake (not physically, like Spain echo Rome’s image). France inherits that mindset, even if he does not fully realize it. The belief that to be a nation is to claim, to dominate, to assert oneself at the center of the world.
Rome was once the heart of Europe.
France, later, becomes its cultural and historical center.
And with that comes a dangerous sense of entitlement. The quiet, ingrained belief that conquest is not cruelty, but a right.
Personally, i think Francis consider Rome did love him (either because he's deluding himself to keep feeding his ego or is it actually the truth would be up to you) as he see 'love' of nation are far different on how human consider 'love.' Nations do not get to love freely. The closest thing that can be considered ‘marriage’ is alliance and by itself can only be arranged by humans and will always bound to politics (ofc it will break so easily.) And beneath all of it lies that constant, gnawing instinct to consume, to conquer, to expand. Love, for them, is always conditional. Always fragile.
Then what is love? Francis then think, as they're creature who can only survive throught conquering other, is it dominating other is a sign of love? Is it not what Rome had done to him? The sadism, the abuse, that is part of love is it not?
Perhaps that is why as he grew older Francis longs so desperately to be human.
He always acting like he is the paragon of freedom, and yet there is nothing truly free about him. He cannot choose who he loves without consequence. He cannot die when he wishes. He cannot even fully distinguish which parts of himself are truly his.
Is his personality something he created… or something shaped by his people?
Is he wearing masks, or are those masks the only identity he has ever known?
And if he cannot tell the difference what, exactly, is left of Francis within France?
