[hider=The Ruskie Defector]
[b]Name:[/b] Pyotr Sidorov

[b]Age:[/b] 20

[b]Physical Appearance:[/b] Pyotr is possessed of a strong Don Cossack heritage: pale-skinned and dark-haired, with sparkling blue eyes and a face that many women could love, topped off by a lean build and a height of 173 cm. Though he'd dress quite colorfully within typical Cossack armies and the Red Guard, the uniform of the Blackshirts does not particularly allow for this, though he does keep his hair grown out somewhat longer than regimental standard.

[b]Unit Profession:[/b] Cavalry

[b]Personality:[/b] For a man who's knowingly participating in the brutal oppression of a country's population, Pyotr is surprisingly upbeat. Whether it's the exuberance of being a young adult, a lack of comprehension of the effect his actions have upon others, or a degree of sociopathy blunting him to the atrocities being committed in the Robber Baron's name, he tends to show a face to the world that is little other than smiling and optimistic. Rare are the moments when he is morose, and even while sighting some [i]blyat[/i]'s head with his gun, he tends to retain a cheery smile sure to lighten the mood of his companions.

[b]History:[/b] Born on the eve of the new century, Pyotr was rather too young to be considered for service in the Great War, but was nonetheless trained well in the skills the Don Cossack Host held in their culture from youth, namely the arts of horseriding and of war at both short and long range, though never in as serious a situation as his future might suggest. Life was good for him, a state certainly helped by the relatively affluent nature of his familial lineage, so it was a great shame when the Russian Revolution of 1917 took place, in two separate strokes in February and October dethroning the Tsarist regime and replacing it with the Bolshevik party, which consequently decided to persecute a great deal of those Cossacks who previously benefited from the Tsars' favour.

Naturally, this did not sit well with Pyotr, and as soon as his parents gave their blessing, he took his horse Varvara and joined the Volunteer Army, a part of what would be called the White Army serving to try and dethrone the Bolsheviks in the ensuing civil war. For the next several months, he was deployed in but a few engagements with Red forces, mostly relegated to patrolling areas firmly in control of the white movement, and as a result becoming increasingly unhappy. Ironically, it was in his last battle under the White Army's banner that he came to a distressing revelation: ultimately, this was a battle of Russian versus Russian. That wasn't how things should be, he felt, not in a country as great as it had once been.

Thus, with little more than a written note at his last known position making this felt, he defected from the White Army, fleeing back to his home and strongly encouraging his miraculously-still-alive family to flee the country with him, before it was too late. Some members did; others did not. Leaving those who remained to whatever fate might befall them, Pyotr and his group made their way Westward, riding for two months through Russia's lands, and eventually reaching disputed territory between the Red Army and Polish forces at the time. Gradually, relatives peeled off from the group, either to help fight off those damn Bolshevists, or because they were sick of travelling, until by the time he reached the Polish-Czechoslovakian border, Pyotr was on his own, only Varvara and the reminders of his defection left to accompany him.

And yet he travelled further still, feeling restless, and uncontent with simply going back and settling somewhere with another relative. Eventually, he found he had travelled almost the entire length of Czechoslovakia, and so wound up in a small country bordering it, as well as Germany and Austria. A relatively tiny state called Borovia, which it seemed was having some troubles with its working class population. And whilst it was no grand war, Pyotr decided that perhaps this was where he belonged - in his mind, a worker's revolution meant another Red Terror, and what sort of man would he be if he didn't help put down such a threat, even at this small a scale, before it ever began?

So he travelled to the capital of Asnio, got himself hired as a mercenary, and was placed into the ranks of the local capitalist Baron's conscripts; some time later, he was deemed sufficiently skilled as to be relocated to the Blackshirt army proper, and now wears the uniform with no little amount of pride, for the short period of time he's had access to it.

[b]Equipment:[/b] Pyotr's weaponry is composed of items stolen as he defected from the White Army, considered against usual Blackshirt fare, and decided to keep around anyway - perhaps unwisely, considering the additional expense the Baron must put into purchasing the ammunition for his weapons probably doesn't put him in good standings with the man.
[i]Dragoon Rifle and detachable bayonet[/i] - A weapon from the Mosin-Nagant rifle line with good muzzle velocity and an effective range of up to half a kilometer, this gun is designed for use by mounted infantry such as Pyotr. Not a carbine along the lines of the M1907, but still shorter and lighter than the original M1891, it can and does have both an iron sight scope and a bayonet attached, but requires a stripper clip of five 7.62×54mmR rounds to fully reload, making it somewhat less convenient to use than the en-bloc-bearing Mannlicher in common use by the Blackshirts.
[i]Nagant M1895, "Private's model"[/i] - Another Nagant weapon, this a 7-round revolver with a gas seal mechanism that, in combination with 7.62×38mmR rounds designed for use with this weapon, greatly increases the muzzle velocity of its bullet, rivalling and even surpassing that of his Dragoon Rifle. However, its range is sorely limited, the trigger pull is remarkably heavy, its single-action hammer requires recocking after every shot, and the gun is very time-consuming to reload, requiring each cartridge to be ejected and replaced manually. Because of this and his designated role as mounted marksman, Pyotr would rather stick to the Dragoon Rifle and its bayonet even within the pistol's effective range.
[i]Varvara[/i] - Pyotr's horse, a black Russian Don about 15.2 hands tall and three years of age. The breed is well known for its stamina and endurance, though currently in short supply, and in fact were bred specifically as mounts for Cossack cavalry so they could travel long distances in short spans of time, with energy to spare. This endurance is not quite as necessary in the urban environments Pyotr is currently posted in, and she is often mildly restless as a result; she is also unarmoured, but as Pyotr prefers to fight from larger distances, this is not an issue quite as frequently as one might imagine.

[b]Prominent Skills:[/b]
[i]Horse riding[/i] - Pyotr is a skilled rider, able to direct most horses readily enough. Indeed, he has been trained to be able to control them even without the use of reins, freeing up his hands to fire his weapons from atop his mount. Speaking of which...
[i]Marksmanship[/i] - Pyotr's sharpshooting skills are damn good. Not only is he great at targeting opponents with a rifle in his own right, he is more than able to do so from atop a horse, accounting for all the creature's movements in the process, a feat matched by few others who are not mounted riflemen themselves.
[i]Melee combat[/i] - Less notable in this age of long-distance weaponplay, but when pressed, Pyotr is more than capable of using his bayonet to lethal effect, either mounted on his rifle like the head of a spear or held in hand like a sword or dagger.
[i]Outland survival[/i] - Whilst not particularly relevant in an urban environment, Pyotr is more than capable of making do for himself and others in an environment that would otherwise be considered wilderness, namely large stretches of the Russian tundra.

[b]Other:[/b] N/A
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