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It is not known to many, but also acknowledged by them all in one form or another, that there exists a higher power who can force a Personification to do what they must do.
Personifications call this out-of-body experience as 'when the government takes back control', after an accumulation of disobedience had amassed to such an extent, that the Personification must be set straight to align with their goals, whether they like it or not.
Russia identifies them as The Principalities.
Turaŭ's condition can't necessarily be considered as an example for the moments in where The Principalities had to take hold of her state, but his cousins can be used as an example. Like Tver. And Pskov. Ah, she's thinking about them again. She should stop doing that, but that's not something she can necessarily control.
It's the guilt simmering down below.
"I can tell that you are deep in thought."
Turaŭ isn't wrong for thinking that. Because that wasn't just him having a close guess, but that was what she was doing anyway.
"Dziyanisiy?"
"Yes, Grandmother?"
"When you first heard the news that I was the one who executed Vladimir, what did you think about it?"
The ghostly apparition of Turaŭ's had a sour expression present on his face. Those words seemed to have brought unpleasant memories back to the top of his head. Well, that happened in the early fourteenth century, so by that moment, he should be under Lithuanian rule. Considering he died under it, those memories wouldn't be the most admirable to look back to.
Well that was an overstatement. Technically by that time of Vladimir's death, he was still independent from Lithuania—though under Ruthenia. But that certainly didn't change his close proximity to the Balt. From that correlation, the reaction makes sense.
Other than the fact that the topic was of Moscovia killing Rus Land's son, his uncle.
"I do not quite remember what I felt exactly, but I saw how Ruthenia reacted to it and that my reaction was more milder compared to his own."
She wouldn't correct him on that referral. Ukraine herself allowed for that to be used when referring to Ruthenia, anyway.
"And how did Ruthenia take in to that information of a brother's execution?"
"Originally, when Volodymyr read out the first parts of the letter's content, Ruthenia said that he wasn't surprised that one of the Zalessians got executed. It was more on the fact that Vladimir was the one to be punished, rather than Ruthenia's nephew."
Details were missing from that letter, it seems. She wasn't sure who wrote it specifically, but from what she recalls of the description of how the letter was written, it was likely one of the khan's cities.
"But when Volodymyr got to the part of who executed him, she wasn't articulating well. I think she was also shocked by what she had just read.
"With the arrival of this letter, the Grand Principality of Vladimir has been executed, by the hands of his own appanage... Principality of... I— what— this—"
"Volodymyr?"
"Moscow."
"After that, the council went silent. You know they still held a sense of belief that maybe you—Moscovia—were Rus Land. But ever since that day, they had forsaken that."
"Because Rus Land would never do that?"
"Yes."
And that is true. Rus Land would have never done such a thing. Moscovia, on the other hand, was not Rus Land, and was not bound to any specific relations from before.
Details were most definitely missing from that letter.
Moscovia hesitated.
"Ruthenia paled extensively, when Volodymyr said that. He was already pale, it only got whiter after the letter. His face was, well, the easiest way to describe it was horrified."
"I can only imagine."
That was a lie, she'd seen such a face from both Volyn and Halych before. They really were an odd thing to see. Turaŭ noticed that it was one, but he ignored that, opting to not bother pointing that out.
"Vladimir was the one who got executed, rather than Tver, because he offered himself to be the bearer of sin as an exchange for his son's life."
"That is... in-line from what I have experienced with him."
Of course it was. Vladimir had it in him, perhaps because he knew that the title and principality could live without its Zemstvo.
That day of his execution was a foreshadowing to the former Grand Prince Aleksandr's execution, twelve years after his escape.
That day was also the first strike of disobedience she had shown against the will of her ruler. She should've held strong resolutely, not hesitate in the face of Death. The Principalities had remembered that. And the first would not be the last, far from that.
Oh, they surely did track each and every act of disobedience she committed.
"You heard of stories of Zemstvo losing their own autonomy and forced to do their government's bidding?"
"That happened a lot to Vaivydas, actually. Though not to any of our family, as far as I am aware. Unless that happened to you."
"It did happen to me."
"Oh."
A valid reaction. She couldn't help but to wonder why Lithuania had gone under The Principalities' control so many times. Was it just because of his affinity to the supernatural, or was he really that much of a rebel? Russia never knew, and she never asked. Perhaps she could do that when she meets Lithuania's ghost some time soon.
Being under The Principalities' thumb was an uncomfortable sensation. It's as if you lack any sort of control to your own body, and the more you disobeyed, the hazier your memory became within that state. It only took a few strikes to have that happen. Even less if the disobedience was a major obstacle to the unobstructed and continued flow of the river of fate.
The consequences were grave when the time passed. All that regret would have been thwarted away if she hadn't hesitated in all her executions of her fellow Zemstvos, especially to her own children.
But The Principalities do not find it in themselves to care for her beliefs, for they are unfeeling and it is only their duty to correct the Personification who had taken the wrong path to their sustained existence.
Byzantium knew that. Perhaps that was why the empire had warned her of such a threat, centuries before it came to pass. She was always the all-knowledgeable.
And once all those strikes have formed a perfect circle, would The Principalities commence their act and fully take hold of the Personification's mind.
When that first happened to Moscovia, a great sin had been repeated once more—an innocent human died.
She was then cursed by Archangel Michael.