Nations are confusing and they spend like half of their lifetime in an identity crisis because of that kinda stuff, so don’t worry, Feli is just as confused as you he just doesn’t admit it. Feli is very old, actually. He existed in Acient times as the Roman city Altinum, then became Venice and then finally Italy in 1868, two years after Venice became part of the Italian kingdom and seven years after it came into existence. His childhood memories are blurry and he can only remember bits and after he became Italy, he felt rather detached from his nation-self. He did not want to give up his identity as Venice for a long time and got really defensive when someone pointed out how his accent changed or his hair got darker or how he kinda resembles Cassandra in looks. He needed some decades to accept those changes. So to answer your question: Yes, Feli is super old and existed before Italy, but him becoming Italy changed his looks and personality so one could say Italy-Feli and Venice-Feli aren’t the same person. But that would make him upset. Then again those changes could just be puberty at work. Feli doesn’t know himself, actually. But he is paranoid about looking like his sister too much and even more paranoid about becoming out of touch with Venice so there’s lots of overthinking. In Ludwigs case, check out @askimperialludwig for more info on Karl (Holy Roman Empire) and how Ludwig came to be!
