Name: Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Lebed
Callsign/Nickname: Swan (or often 'Swanny')
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Appearance: Yev stands at about 5' 10" and has a fairly burly build. He has a fairly amicable smile on his face most times, but when it turns serious is when you have to worry. If it turns to a frown or a grimace, things have really got bad. His left hand's ring finger is missing from the first knuckle down, due to an accident. However, if asked about it, he will often make up stories about how it happened for his own amusement, making them increasingly implausible, the more people ask.
He speaks with a fairly heavy, noticeably Eastern European/Russian accent and occasionally broken sentence structure, but is absolutely fluent and understanding in English, especially reading and writing.
Nationality: Former Russian
Personality: Yevgeny 'Yev' Lebed is generally a pretty amicable, jovial man. He has a good sense of humour and is easily given to laughter, and good humour. He likes to have a good time, and prefers to see the light side of things - even if it sometimes is stereotypically bleak or dark Russian humour. This often serves to help him cope with the horrors he has seen - and participated in.
This does also mask a much more intelligent and deep personality and complex character. While he may act like something of a jovial clown, he has a much more introspective, thoughtful, and emotional intelligence to him, and a broad array of interests, rather than what the surface shows or might imply.
It also hides his guilt and shame for operations he was forced to carry out during his time flying with the Soviet Air Force, before he - like many others - went AWOL and turned against the government and their superiors as the country fell apart. Nonetheless, while he does not deny his past, and is not proud of what he did, he will stand up for himself if he is antagonised for it and is
very clear that what he does now he sees as penance for his former actions, and is improving the world for the better.
History: Yev was born into the USSR, to a relatively normal family. His father was an officer in the Soviet Air Force, and his mother a school teacher who specialised in history. While his father was an officer in the Air Force, he was less 'indoctrinated' than many of his comrades, thanks to a widely read background and several exchange tours with other Soviet allies. Coupled with his mothers' more liberal embracing of history, Yev and his sister were raised with a more open-minded attitude than many others, though they were also carefully taught to be very aware of who they revealed this to and how they behaved around others.
Nonetheless; Yev pursued a career in the armed forces and was quite successful, despite the difficult climate that was taking hold more and more within Russia. Shortages of almost everything were growing, as was discontent and desperation. But if anything, this meant that the Armed Forces were a good option - meals, housing, and comparatively comfortable living compared to the average man or woman on the street. And perhaps if one was part of the apparatus, there may be a better chance to change how it worked.
Eventually, as things came to blows in the late 90s, Yev saw his first action as the 'small wars' between Western and Soviet forces erupted, and he was put into combat. While he was terrified, he survived and even managed to somewhat distinguish himself to a modest degree. He flew over Afghanistan as well as various other theaters over Europe and in the Far East, as well as also providing air support during the Soviet involvement in the Rhodesian Bush War. He carried out exchange and training programs for foreign air forces in South America during the early 21st century, and experience some of Western culture by close proximity at this time, after travelling on leave passes across the border into more capitalist and cosmopolitan countries, as well as experiencing their culture through music, television, books, and films, as well as newspapers and the internet, all of which he found fascinating and eye-opening, and made him think even more than the teachings of his mother and father had.
He returned to Russia in late 2003. Just prior to the Heavenfall, his father suffered a serious heart attack and was hospitalised due to complications from the attack that left him comatose. This attack was bought on by an investigation into his Mother by the KGB, after an anonymous tip. Before much more could take place, the Heavenfall occurred and the chaos that followed.
Yev survived, but both his parents were killed, and his sister registered as missing. Pressured into flying, he was involved in several strikes and aerial operations to enforce borders and control in the face of rising chaos and disorder. However, as the orders became increasingly confusing, lacking in clarity, and cruel; he grew more and more dissatisfied and disillusioned in the increasingly despotic rule of 'The Party', or what remained of it. As more and more of the military and regional bureaucrats and leaders turned against them, he too joined the rebellious elements, before finally leaving Russia altogether as the government ceased any kind of functional control altogether, leaving to find somewhere he could hopefully find something better, and put his talents as a pilot to better use.
Eventually, this lead him to Shattered Steel, where he enlisted as a pilot, hoping to try and do something better with all he'd learned than what he'd managed so far.
Personal Gear: - Normal Shattered Steel Pilots' gear and equipment
- MP-412 REX Revolver
- AKS-74u Carbine (with red-dot sight)
- EBook Reader
- MP3 Player
- Survival/Combat knife
Personal Aircraft: Su-24 FencerAircraft modifications:- Compatibility with western GPS instead of GLONASS
- Upgraded cockpit avionics (glass cockpit + helmet mounted sight)
- AESA radar
- Aircraft Carrier compatibility (i.e. folding vertical tail, tailhook, reinforced landing gear and associated systems)
- Modified for single pilot operation
Anything Else:Yev's Callsign of 'Swan' was awarded to him as a nickname. After his defection from the nationalist forces to the 'free' Russian forces, his Su-24 (a stock variant rather than the upgraded one he flies now) was painted a very light grey, almost white, to distinguish it from Nationalist aircraft. The nosecone was replaced after being damaged, and was left unpainted in the fibreglass composite, that had a yellowish tinge, making it look like a Swan. As his surname means 'Swan', he found the name fitting and adopted it as his own.
Even after the nosecone was repainted in black, the name stuck, and Yev adopted it as his own, keeping it after upgrading to modified and upgraded Su-24 when he joined Shattered Steel, and even repainting his aircraft in a similar colour scheme of almost-white and black nose.
The actual incident where he lost the part of his ring finger on his left hand was nothing military or dramatic at all; it was actually a domestic accident while helping a friend with a mechanical repair on their car; a jack collapsed and it trapped his finger.
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