What happens to personifications of countries that stop existing, or merge with others? Did say, the Republic of Texas die off once the US annexed it?
That's actually a very good question! I hadn't thought about that before. I was so worried with discovering how nations are born that I didn't thought on how they die. I didn't even thought that they could die, since they're immortal!
I wasn't able to find a good answer with what I had available. So, in order to gain as much information as possible, I had to turn to asking people with more experience than me to answer our questions. Again, I know it's not the safest way, but... I guess, if I don't take some risks, I won't be able to reach some important stuff.
Apparently, there are these professionals... "nationologist" (I think that's how you write it), who specifically study about the nations. It is said they are people who work exclusively to the government, in order to understand how a personification can affect the land, or the other way around. For example, if a nation gets sick, that means that the country will go/is going through a economic crises. It's actually pretty useful, if you think about it. Some good predictions you could make there, huh?
Since I found out about the nationologists, I searched for one and it wasn't that difficult to find! It was a man who I saw out of the corner of my eye one time or another, but we never got to interact face to face. I used to question what the hell he was doing there if he wasn't apparently doing anything important. It turns out he was. Studying nations, just like I am right now.
Does this make me a nationologist..? Oh well, that's unimportant now.
I asked some things to him, saying that I just wanted to understand better with "what" I was working with. He seemed to be a very serious person, but actually was kind enough to answer a couple of questions, which was better than nothing.
First, I had asked about the "death of nations" and how it worked, since this is the main topic of the question anon made. The man answered that nations die the same way they are born: human belief. He explained that a nation is born from the moment that people believe that they belong to a certain country — I actually explained that in my first ask, but perhaps not as well explained as his. So, more than anything, this first part is a confirmation of what we believed to be true. He also said that the belief of a nation is very complex and relative, a single person believing that they belong to a country that doesn't exist at all wouldn't be enough for that nation to be born. There has to be a ton of people who strongly believe that they belong to a certain nationality, to the point that they can set an independent political and economic system. After all, these two factors are the main ones to sustain a personification's life. So it's no surprise that a nation is only... well, a nation, from the moment these two things are settled.
The same way, a nation dies when the country is falling apart, and the people start to believe they don't belong there anymore. I told him about the Republic of Texas, and he explained that Texas was a young-looking personification, since it didn't last very long. The personification started to "die" way after the annexation. Its former people viewed themselves now belonging to "United States", not "Texas" — and that was what really killed it, not the annexation itself. And many years later, the personification, having its nationalism completely forgotten, disappeared.
He also mentioned other two examples of the same case, both in US: the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Confederate States of America. The Kingdom of Hawaii is quite old, considering how long it has lasted. Now, the Confederate States is really young, after all, it had existed for literally four years. If anything, its nation would've looked like a child, or a pre-teen (it's pretty strange to imagine a child fighting in a war, to be pretty honest). And even so, both had the same end, which all of us know. The personifications disappeared after their people became "Americans".
Well, with all that discussion, at least we got the answers for both this and the previous question.
The man got suspicious on why I would need to know how a nation dies, so I had to ask him something else. I asked him how are nations born — if they are born from humans, another nation, or if they are generated by Earth itself. He said that nations can be born from both humans and other nations, however, it has never been seen how it happens. It's just stated that, if human women are pregnant with a nation, the chances of them dying while giving birth are 99,80%. Why it happens is a mystery. On the other hand, we have nations who gave birth to other nations. For example, we can be sure the Roman Empire had lots of descendents... like Italy, Spain, France, and many other nations which came from it. But it's said that the personification of Italy itself declared that the personification of the Roman Empire was its "grandpa", or something like that. Which makes me wonder who are Italy's parents. Even that is unknown.
Knowing all of that was making my mind blow, honestly. I was really getting interested in learning more about nations, and acted a little impulsive. I probably made more questions than I should, so many that the man must've started to think I'm crazy. But it was just when I asked "Why the nations are hidden from the public" that he dismissed me out of hand, saying that "There are things that someone in your position shouldn't know about", perhaps referring to my job. I decided it was best to leave, unfortunately, noticing there's no chance he's going to be an ally.
That's why I didn't talk to someone else about this before. I didn't want to arouse suspicion. And I almost failed miserably now.
I'm going to be more cautious next time. If a "next time" will be needed, at least.
