[hider=Alexei "Wotan" Popov]
[i][center]"Be punctual, be precise, be tactful, and above all else be prepared for anything."[/center][/i]

[color=darkgray]
[color=white][b]Name:[/b][/color] Alexei "Wotan" Popov aka "Guerrilla King", "Lord of War" 

[color=white][b]Age:[/b][/color] 64 

[color=white][b]Species:[/b][/color] Human 

[color=white][b]Appearance:[/b][/color] Standing roughly 5'10" and noticeably muscular, but not as much as he would have been in his prime. His fully grayed hair is kept short and easy to manage while his beard can get a bit unruly at times if he spends an especially long time on the battlefield. His left eye socket is surrounded by vicious scaring and the eye itself replaced with a military grade cybernetic. His manner of dress is rather bland, long cargo pants and shirts with neutral colors or whatever camouflage pattern his current allies have laying around in his size. 

[color=white][b]Background:[/b][/color] Born in 4173 at the edges of what could officially called Dolsilvec Foundation space back then, Alexei joined the ranks of the Foundation military with stars in his eyes as he set out to help make the galaxy a safer place. His grand dreams slowly died as he began to see the truth: everyone is just out for more money and power. This being the case, he decided to take some of the pie for himself. He volunteered for higher and higher tier, more and more classified military units within the Foundation just in time for the Veiled War. 

Alexei had worked his way up the chain into blacker and blacker operations until he joined the ranks of Spetsgruppa 13 aka "Spetsnaz Group 13", the response to NATO's not so subtle influence on "disposable" colony worlds. Group 13 was tasked with a very similar mission set to United States Special Forces back on Earth: to integrate, train, and organize local populations into effective fighting forces turning those areas into hostile territory for enemy forces. Group 13 members were usually deployed in either 2 or 4 man teams and some deployed as lone operators. Alexei mostly worked solo towards the latter half of his time with the unit. 

His work saw him very busy throughout the Veiled War but he often felt chained down by his leadership. They were always so concerned about public image, ethos, and not getting their hands dirty. Alexei often struggled to complete his solo missions while bogged down by in-house politics. Heavy partner force casualties and civilian death looks bad on any commander's resume but sometimes bad things need to be done. It's war. People die. Alexei felt more and more that he could win the fights he was given, he just wasn't being allowed to. 

Eventually, he couldn't stand being "held back" any longer and went turncoat, making contact with NATO personnel to offer information and his services. Not wanting to pass up this exceptional opportunity, he was readily accepted with open arms... and promptly encountered the same problem. He was constantly in trouble for being too harsh with those under his command. "They're just civies you gotta ease up." they'd say "You want them to die comfortably, I make them suffer so they might live," he would reply. Naturally, it didn't take long for him to abandon NATO as well and disappear into the cosmic wind. 

He eventually resurfaced amongst a group of "freedom fighters" who gladly welcomed his offer to improve their operations and were more than happy to pay his fees. NATO and the Foundation each went to great lengths over the next decade and a half to find and capture their shared embarrassing mistake (without the other's help of course). Alexei hopped from system to system, battlefield to battlefield, lending his expertise for temporary shelter and a great deal of monetary compensation. He was happy to finally have groups of people who understood what it meant to wage war and were happy to do whatever he told them because they knew they could win if they did what he said. It was the satisfaction of a battle well fought that kept him at it. Stories began to spread about Alexei and his bands of rag tag militiamen ambushing larger, better armed forces in the dead of night, inflicting grievous injury on equipment and personnel before disappearing into the countryside or the back alleys of cities. These swift and deadly raids were likened to the "Wild Hunt" of old Earth mythology by one NATO commander and their leader soon became known as "Wotan", named after the ancient Earth proto-germanic pagan god. The comparison gained traction when more and more terrorist cells, rebel groups, pirate fleets, and even the occasional drug cartel in the Helios Expanse suddenly demonstrated quantum leaps in their tactics and discipline consistent with the Group 13 playbook. Leadership on all sides of the Veiled War attempted to discourage their troops from likening this rabble rouser to a god of war but the name stuck regardless. 

[color=white][b]Character Evaluation:[/b][/color] Alexei has been described as ruthless, all ice cold calculus and efficiency, with little patience for incompetence or error. His methods are harsh if not outright brutal but no one can argue with the results. He takes his job seriously but has been known to occasionally show glimpses of a sense of humor. 

[color=white][b]Skills:[/b][/color]
[i]Multilingual[/i] (Fluent in Russian, English, Spanish, Mandarin, and French. Conversational in Swahili. Knows key phrases and words in Arabic and multiple alien languages. 

[i]Weapons Expert[/i] - Familiar with the usage and upkeep of all common human small arms and some light artillery as well as many Yrrkadian and Conglomerate small arms. 

[i]Reconnaissance[/i]
[i]Small Unit Tactics[/i]
[i]Combat Leadership[/i]
[i]Unconventional Warfare[/i] 

[color=white][b]Loadout:[/b][/color] His main weapon is whatever he can scrounge up from his current allies but he has a few staples. 

[i]Ayad Armaments KS5 Handgun[/i] - A simple hammer-fired, 15+1 capacity 9mm pistol. With tolerances wider than a barn door and less moving parts than you can count on your fingers, it's a wonderful choice for a mercenary on the go. A fantastic sidearm that's easy to service, doesn't break, doesn't jam, and doesn't even dent when used to bludgeon someone. Alexei can attest to all of that personally. 

[i]Ayad Armaments KSM33 "Locust" SMG[/i] - Ultra compact, ultra robust folding submachine gun bringing surprising firepower in a conceable package. 30+1 capacity, single shot, 3 round burst, or full auto selections available with holo sight standard. 

[i]Fighting Knife[/i] - Fixed 8" single edged with blacked out blade. Nothing particularly fancy.
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