New York

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Notes
-New York presents himself as a very cool and collected guy (but is actually pretty spacy). Since he's in charge of America's financial backbone (Wallstreet) he follows a tight schedule and gets all out of sorts if anything is out of place. If someone takes one of his lists, he can't function because deep down he can't keep anything organized unless he forces himself to.
-New York's appearance is very important to him because New York, New York is a cultural icon for America. His hair and clothes are always well kept and he's up to date on the latest fashions.
-Acts a lot tougher than he really is. Actually, it's more like he acts a lot tougher than he's willing to back up. Deep down New York doesn't like violence much, but when push comes to shove he can hold his own with the best of them.
-New York puts sticky notes on everything.
-New York can be very arrogant and snobbish at his worst, but he's a good person who can be a bit of a bleeding heart at times. He's actually a very sensative person once you get past his cool/jerk attitude.
-New York doesn't get along very well with a lot of his neighbors and has made quite a few enemies in the south. Even so, he's seen as a pretty cool guy and many of the states look to him to find out the latest news and trends.
-New York's favorite victim is New Jersey and he frequently spreads nasty rumors about her through his newspapers and TV stations. Everyone believes the rumors.
-New York loves plays and "new-age, mold-breaking" types of things. He's very open to new experiences and ways of thinking. Likes art a lot, too. Very creative guy.
-Even though New York likes to act like he's straight-laced and a model citizen, he used to be a gangster. Still has some pretty shadey tendencies.
-One of America's top 3 economic giants. His economy is greater than most countries (ranks in the top 20). In fact, his GDP is just a little under Russia's. He claims he doesn't care too much about competing individually with countries as long as he's doing his best to support America, but secretly smirks to himself about it. (He's richer than his original colonizer, Netherlands!)
-Since 9/11 he's had a major phobia about planes. For a long time he couldn't even get near an airport without having a panic attack, but he's started to recover. It still makes him physically ill to have a plane pass by too close overhead.
-Originally the colony of New Netherlands. (He's Dutch.) He was born purely for economic and trade pursuits so actual colonization/immigration wasn't a focus of Netherlands when forming his colony. Netherlands only took an active interest in developing and strengthening New Netherlands after his Brazil colony was taken from him in 1654.
-New York's feelings towards Netherlands are usually frustration for personal reasons rather than political. The ever neurotic Netherlands freaked when he discovered his colony was personified and claimed "He wasn't ready to have kids... even if it was only a baby brother" then somehow convenced himself New Netherlands was a dilusion brought on by heavy drug usage. New York, in return, refers to Netherlands as a druggie and claims most of his behavior (even kindness/good things) is because he's high. (Doesn't actively dislike or hate Netherlands though. But obviously isn't neutral despite claiming he doesn't care.)
-As a colony his care was primarily entrusted to the Dutch West India Company, but they mishandled him and caused a war between him and the native populations in 1638 despite his protests (Rhode Island's Anne Hutchinson was killed during this conflict. New Netherlands had given refuge to a lot of people who were banished from Massachusetts. The Indian Nation, Mohawk, was the one who finally stepped in after two years of conflict and helped establish peace between New Netherlands and the others.) Netherlands eventually came down on the West India Company and he gave New Netherlands' people thier own form of self-government in 1652.
-Apparently has family across the ocean in Europe (Dutch Provinces) but he's never met any of them.
-Even as a colony New York was bilingual. He primarily spoke Dutch, but he could also speak French, English, most Scandinavian languages, some Portuguise and Spanish. It seems his society has never been homogenous and he was always surrounded by people of many different origins.
-New Netherlands had an official religion, but wouldn't allow others to be persecuted within his borders. He believed that if he was going to convert someone, it would be done through setting a good example rather than forcing his beliefs on them.
-In 1655 New Netherlands took over New Sweden (Delaware) after Netherlands pushed out Sweden and Finland. He was very lenient with New Sweden and allowed him to keep his own autonomy, militia, religion and court with very little interference. He didn't tell Netherlands about New Sweden also being personified because of how timid New Sweden was and he didn't see the point since Netherlands would probably just think he was also a "halucination."
-New York still acts as a semi-big-brother figure/caretaker to Delaware at times and will stick up for him when Pennsylvania isn't around or when Delaware is facing problems Pennsylvania can't understand. New York is best able to understand Delaware's feelings out of the North because they were formerly under the care of other nations before England or America (and shared living under Netherlands for a while). They can sympathize with each other's "daddy issues" best.
-Avoided interaction with the New Englanders as long as possible, but eventually had to start diplomatic relations with them when border disputes began. Connecticut moved in on his land which angered New Netherlands and he would posture threateningly, but was afraid to actually attack or do anything knowing "big brother" Massachusetts was far stronger than he was. He'd heard about how dangerous Massachusetts could be from the natives and wanted to avoid conflict with the powerful colony.
-New York and Massachusetts were wary of each other before England took over New York and afterward. Today they get along well enough unless someone brings up baseball. Their rivalry is intense and terrifying. (New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox is serious business.)
-When England decided to capture New Netherlands in 1664, the colony easily surrendered without a struggle. He was aggrivated and bitter against Netherlands and the trade company in charge of him for failing to properly defend him against attacks. For all his apparent strength, he was actually pretty helpless against invasions due to his caretakers' indifference towards his situation. His only real terms of surrender was that England respected his stance on freedom of religion.
-New Netherlands was briefly retaken by Netherlands 6 years later during the Third Anglo-Dutch War (once again didn't put up a fight), but at the end he was returned by a treaty (Only held by about a year). Apparently the State of Zeeland (who went to the trouble of recapturing New Netherlands) tried to convence the States of Holland to keep the young colony, but he wound up being traded for Surinam.
-When the states met to debate what they would do during the Revolutionary War, New York didn't want to rebel. He thought the others were just acting spoiled and saw rebellion as a mistake. He eventually joined them but was extremely reluctant and practically had a mini-civil war within his own borders over the issue. Didn't declare his independence until after America had already signed the Declaration.
-In WWI he was the 27th Infantry Division. One of the only Divisions completely made up of one militia and not a combination of several. (Only Illinois and Pennsylvania had their own seperate divisions made up entirely of their own militia. All the other divisions were combinations of militias.) Helped break the Hindenburg line with the 30th Infantry Division (TN, SC, NC)
-In WWII he was once again the 27th Infantry Division and was the first deployed to the Pacific Theater. (I think... Not sure about this last part. Need more research into 27th's movements.)
Category:United States