Rasakov Alexei Sergeyevich

Friends call him Alyosha. Enemies sometimes call him "Kop'ya Isen" which roughly translates across both Ravkan and Fjerdan tongues as "Ice Spear".

26

He/Him

Ensign of the Second Army

Etherealki, Grisha (Tidemaker)

January 15th

ArtBreeder

Quick Setting: Originally from the Grishaverse, but that setting is easily boiled down to WWI-tech level, low fantasy Russia.

Quick Description: He is an Ensign in the Second Army (military rank right below Captain, highest of the low-tier ranks). He is a water elemental that specializes in ice (like literally, ice bending ATLA style). His latest assignment was to Novo Krynzy, a fishing village known for a lot of corrupt and illegal activities with the mission to get this place under control and there are serious promotions in his future (and also forgiveness for past problems as he's still dealing with grief over the death of his oldest brother Gregor about 4 years back).

Magic Awareness: Outside of the Grisha powers there is no magic and being magic makes you an "Other".

5 FT 11 IN

Strong and Sturdy

Cornflower blue

Black

He keeps it somewhat short, but enough to comb it to the side and style it

None

The standard uniform of the Second Army's Tidemakers, a blue kefta with pale blue embroidery. One his belt he carries several small utility bottles full of mineral water, in case a water source isn't near at hand.

Most when meeting Alexei are struck first by the unmistakable confidence with which he carries and conducts himself. From the squared set of his shoulders to the subtle lift of his chin, there can be no mistaking even at first glance that he is a confident man, sure of his actions and decisions and projecting an air of competence, composure, and certainty in every action and movement.

That confidence lends Alexei an advantage in preparedness, but it has also created a situation where he has come to believe he will invariably be correct more often than others, even to those who may have more experience than himself.

This is true just often enough to be dangerous; it leads to Alexei rejecting the thoughts of others more often than he should, making him frequently stubborn and even hide-bound, with a distinctly "my way or the highway" attitude that has more than once gotten him in trouble or caused him to fail to accept a solution looking him right in the face.

For all the trouble it has caused him, however, it has also lead to him being resolute in the face of hardship, and though more flexibility and willingness to listen would certainly not go amiss, it is difficult to deny the advantages of having that unbending solidity when life becomes difficult to weather.

It is a role he accepts, anyhow, when others can tolerate his standoffish nature long enough to get that close. All the certainty and resolve in the world, after all, does not change the fact that a dry sense of humour, deadpan expression, sharp tongue, cold demeanour, and disinterest in most social niceties do not make for the most welcoming and approachable of people. Alexei puts little to no effort into curbing these effects, making him something of a loner by force, as people tend to give him a wide berth to avoid dealing with his sharp demeanour.

Unpersonable though he may often be, it cannot be denied that Alexei gets things done. Indeed, hard-working and diligent, he is the sort to ensure that any task left to him is completed - but simply complete is rarely enough. It must be completed swiftly and with as little waste as possible. Alexei is a man with a plan, and the cornerstone of that plan is almost invariably a timely and orderly execution.

And woe to anyone who should interfere with that. Alexei has not come through the things that he has by allowing complications, living or otherwise, to undermine or interfere with his objectives, and his method of resolving such problems tends to be extremely direct, often to the point of aggression. The adage says that when all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail, and in many ways, Alexei epitomizes that idea but for one point: Alexei does not have a hammer; he is the hammer.

It likely comes as little shock that such aggression can sometimes have fallout, occasionally very negative and serious fallout. Alexei certainly understands as much. As that has not deterred him from his course, he has learned that it is therefore necessary that he take responsibility for the consequences of his conduct and, by extension, every other aspect of his life.

Responsible, however, should not be conflated with patient. Alexei accepts that his choices have consequences and that those are his burden to shoulder, but that in no way means that he must be patient about shouldering them, which is just as well, because the word is barely a part of his vocabulary. If there is anything that Alexei cannot tolerate, it is waiting.

In many ways, Alexei has little tolerance in general. It isn't that he is a hateful person; he's not. In general, he actually tends to be a very level person who likes most things. When something does get under his skin, however, he is a person who has little to no time for it, and, despite his often cold demeanour, his anger is quick to flare. Though he has never been of a violent temperament and his experiences in the war have ensured that he chooses violence only as a last resort, he nonetheless tends to run very, very hot under the veneer of dispassionate ice.

• resolute


• efficient


• confident


• responsible


• passionate

• aggressive


• hot-tempered


• standoffish


• stubborn


• impatient

Alexei cannot lay claim to many friends even within the Second Army, but those who do find themselves a steadfast and stalwart friend.

Enemies tend to find themselves met by swift justice at Alexei's hands. He has a particular hatred for Fjerdans thanks to his childhood on the border.

Alexei has never seemed particularly interested in romance or settling down. He isn't a man of a physical nature to begin with thanks to his loner tendencies and a lack of a desire for intimacy, much to the jesting of his friends. Physical intimacy is used more as a form of stress relief as is often the case with soldiers, and Alexei mentally separates such acts from the desire for 'love' and 'affection' and 'companionship'.

This is not to say that he is immune from feeling love by its nature; but more so that any expression that could be considered love is strange and confusing to him as a general rule. He often doesn't know what to call the emotion when it may present itself, and confuses it for other things unless someone else is able to point out what it is he experiences as something close to affection or love.

He has a weakness for card tricks and sleight of hands, and often practices in his downtime. He claims in his own defense that it helps keep his fingers nimble and dextrous, although his friends would say he just likes to show off.

One of numerous children in a poor family in a border village to Fjerda called Ussuvat, near Ulensk, working a farm. Too many mouths to feed and still not enough labor for the work. He is the second youngest with 3 sisters and 2 brothers. His father died in the Border Wars when he was only a toddler. It was a hard life and tensions ran high often.

Of his family, only his eldest brother turned out to be Grisha, like him. Once he was tested at age 10 and left for the Little Palace, he never returned to the farm again. His eldest brother took him under his wing but for the most part Alexei shifted all familial allegiances to the Second Army.

His eldest brother died during a battle not long after Alexei made Sergeant. After that he severed all ties with his remaining family and devoted all his energies to the Second Army.

• See "Family Overview" for brief description of life before his Grisha testing




• Alexei has been aware of his powers since he was about 6 years old, but they were violently suppressed and kept a secret from their village, lest their family's farm become even more of a target for Fjerdan raids as their close proximity to the border made their village frequent targets. Locals were aware that his eldest brother was tested and taken away, and suspicions ran high that he and his siblings would be next.




• Tested at age 10 and found to be a Grisha. His eldest brother assisted in his transport to the Little Palace along with others from their area.




• Alexei flourished within the Little Palace and it became apparent from an early age that he was gifted in the ice abilities of the Tidemakers. These skills he honed specifically.




• Left the Little Palace to join in the ranks of the Second Army at 16, one of the youngest in his age group to do so at the time. He had promise to rise quickly through leadership and was eager to prove himself.




• However, Alexei's eldest brother was killed in battle not long after he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant First Class, and Alexei spiralled into further withdrawal as someone who was already rather reserved and quiet. His career advancement slowed to a crawl as his confidence and "always right" attitude soured even towards his colonels and captains, and Alexei was reassigned to small outfits and guardpost duties bouncing from division to division until he could properly pull himself together.




• It's only been after about 4 years that Alexei has managed to recover and pull himself together enough to be put back into active military detail. He has finally achieved the rank of Ensign and being put in place over a contingency detail sent to Novo Kryzny to assist with some of the troubles there. It's a port city useful to Tidemaker abilities and has been dealing with general unrest and illegal shenanigans, particularly a spike of attacks and even one assassination on a prominent political figure in the area.




• Alexei has been told, if not outright then heavily implied, that Novo Kryzny should be seen as his chance at redemption. Should he prove himself capable here, then he is redeemed in the eyes of the Second Army and can look forward to continuing his military career in a way he hasn't been able to do since Gregor's death.

Alexei is a Grisha of the Etherealki type, specifically Tidemaker

He has all standard Tidemaker powers and is perfectly average with them; not particularly weak but not particularly powerful, either.

However, he specializes particularly in the use of Ice in the abilities and is both adept and powerful with those.

Some skills to call out in particular:

Ice blade: Tidemakers can create a sword-like blade of ice.

Ice claws: Using ice claws involves the Tidemaker drawing water around their fingers and freezing it. They can also be sent forward, shooting them at an opponent.

Ice creeper: A Tidemaker can send a ray of ice on the ground, speeding at an opponent to freeze them. This technique freezes a trail of water beginning with the Tidemaker performing the move and ending with their targets freezing.

Ice disc: A Tidemaker can create a cylindrical column of ice and proceed to slice razor-sharp sections of it off and send them at an opponent.

Ice floor: With a sufficient amount of water available, a skilled Tidemaker can cover a large area of the ground with ice, trapping their enemies' feet in ice while allowing them to slide around. The size and length are all determined by a Tidemaker's control, and more powerful benders can create larger floors.

Ice hook: Tidemakers, if creative enough, may form a hook out of ice which they can use to climb vertical surfaces.

Ice line: Tidemakers can create lines of twisting ice columns to knock out their opponents.

Ice projectiles: Tidemakers are able to rapidly shoot projectiles of ice at their opponents.

Ice wall/ice shield: Tidemakers are able to freeze water in front of them, creating a shield or even a large wall of ice.

Ice spear: The ice spear is a move that involves freezing a stream of water into a spike and firing it at the intended target.

Iceberg spike: Tidemakers can shoot small shards of ice at their opponent, or cause a giant spike to protrude from a body of water.

Alexei has not been granted any amplifiers or other objects of power that may assist him with his abilities at this time.

However, as part of his uniform, Alexei carries around small utility bottles of various water-based solutions that can be used when other sources of water are not available in the environment. Mostly these are mineral or distilled water bottles which as just as useful in emergency preparedness situations as they would be in a battle, but some of them are mixed with salts or powders that make them more potent or even easier to freeze. There are 6 bottles in total which are kept on his belt.