>>3796578>influenced by their rulers>own experiencesSo your model gives a high degree of individual autonomy to the country-people, born from the stock of their nation, but forming their own mind about things like any ordinary person?
Regarding canon, that must be true, given the variance in character, but given that the trend exists where country-people tend to so often take to the (stereotypical) character and tastes of their own country, no matter the period, it might not be true in entirety.
Let's imagine: baby Romano is taken away from his homeland, maybe when the Emirate took the South, and brought to the court of Tang China, where he is isolated for the next thousand or so years, eating fancy Chinese food, drinking fancy Chinese tea. Flash forward to the Communist takeover, you take Romano and have him try a nicely made pizza, with a crispy top and chewy crumb, topped with basil and good cheese, piping hot from a burning oven. It's something completely unfamiliar that he's never had before. The twist is: it has pineapple on it. And to wash it down, an espresso romano, strong bitter black coffee with a big squeeze of lemon. Would he be revolted by the pizza, or the coffee?
Another scenario: scoop up Arthur thousands of years ago when he was Baby Britannia and Francis when he was still Frankish, not "French," before the two had met, before they were well aware of each other, before the Norman Conquest, before this whole rivalry developed, and drop Arthur (Arthurus?) in a monastery in Ethiopia, and Francis in the Nara court of Yamato Japan.
Flash forward to the middle of the Second Hundred Years' War in the 18th century.
Sit the two down in a room. Will England lunge from his chair to strangle the pagan?
Given what you'd said, I feel like you'd say no to both of these.
However, it'd be weird, wouldn't it, Romano scarfing down a ham and pineapple pizza, and being turned off by a harsh, acrid, but incredibly Italian black liquid?
