Riku Tavash

Rikharthu Czernobog Tavash (Russian: Рикхартху Чернобог Таваш; born 21 December 2151) is a formerly Soviet, mid-rank military officer of the Cyberian Military Forces, and an engineer. He was previously a policeman, police officer and later a member of riot control. He is the founder, CEO and lead designer of Vash FD&M. Similarly, he is the Director of Research & Development in the CMF, a title he is the first to receive.

Tavash was born in Articuno, Alaska under the rule of the New Soviet Union. He studied aeronautical engineering at Kadic Academy in the city of Overcast, Cyberia, graduating in 2180 with a bachelor's degree.

Tavash is known primarily for his propensity for the tinkering of existing military hardware into upgraded variants or new platforms, from small arms to aircraft. Though the latter was only available to him later in his military career, Tavash has stated that vehicles are his favourite to work on. A number of personal/side projects of his have also caught the public eye. He has been credited on many occasions for improving the quality of life of soldiers and officers alike through progressive development of equipment and logistics.

Childhood
Tavash was born in Soviet-annexed Alaska on the 21st of December, 2151. At the time of his birth, his mother, Vesna Volkov, was single and unmarried. His father, Zvonimir Tavash, had been killed a year before his birth by the New Red Army, of which he was a conscript, for unauthorized sexual conduct with a factory worker. At this time of Zvonimir's death, Vesna was allowed to keep her life and her child under obligation that he be raised with guidance from the NRA.

When he was born, Tavash was given the surname of his father, the first name of Rikharthu by his mother, and the middle name of Czernobog by the NRA. Czernobog is an old Slavic deity whose name translates to "Black God".

As a child, Tavash quickly developed a hobby of disassembling Soviet small arms upon curiosity of how they functioned, and subsequent awe of the many different designs and potential for improvement. At the age of four, Tavash was ordered to attend state schooling, where he was to be indoctrinated with Soviet propaganda among other things, albeit with his mother preventing it from turning Tavash into a blind follower.

At the age of nine, Tavash's mother made a drastic decision. She had taken her child to the nearby port, and snuck aboard a nuclear-powered shipping supertanker of a neutral party. Sometime before the tanker's sailing, Tavash's mother lost contact with him, was discovered and subsequently ordered off the ship. Tavash however, remained on the ship in a hiding place, put there by Vesna. It was not until after the supertanker had set sail, that the child was finally spotted. However, it was too late for the ship to turn back, as such, young Tavash was looked after and cared for by multiple crew members throughout the month long journey. Upon arrival in Ross Island, Cyberia, Tavash was immediately transported to the nearest orphanage, where he lived without adoption until the age of 17, where he took the first opportunity possible to join the Cyberian Military Forces.

Tavash was known to be a harsh bully throughout his childhood, even going so far as to hospitalize classmates during Soviet schooling, a feat which was largely prevented during his growth in Cyberia. Due to his natural size and strength (which in turn was due to gigantism), there were not many children who could stand to oppose him. Bullying got him into trouble numerous times in school.

Early into his military career, Tavash discovered that his mother was killed by the New Red Army not long after he had been left on the nuclear supertanker.

Education
In 2155, Tavash's mother was ordered to enroll him into New-Soviet state schooling. He attended School No. 256 in his birth town of Articuno, Alaska. The government taught him basic math, computer literacy and the Russian language, amongst close-minded propaganda promoting blind loyalty to the state as well as the inferiority of other countries. His mother, unhappy with the authoritarian regime, personally taught Tavash with her own home schooling and critical thinking, and attempted to pursuade him not to become like them.

From 2160 to 2168, Tavash attended Cyberian middle and high schools in the metropolitan area of Ross. There he was taught the English language and broader, more practical topics than offered in Soviet schooling.

On the 1st of September 2175, at the age of 25, Tavash was accepted into Kadic Academy in the city of Overcast, Cyberia. With military grants, the majority of his studies included the practical applications of aeronautical hardware and electronics, and minorly included similar topics focused on ground vehicles. He graduated in 2180 with a bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering, and with it he later became a commissioned officer in the military.

Military
Tavash spent half his childhood without parental figures, and living unadopted in a Cyberian orphanage. Later into his Cyberian schooling, Tavash eagerly visited recruiters increasingly often after school. He became good friends with a staff sergeant by the name of Schreiber, who taught him many things about the military, and offered him the very first opportunity for enlistment as soon as Tavash was of age.

During the eighth week of basic training, Tavash was given the choice of his first occupational specialty. He opted for a job in civilian law enforcement, and so was sent to Jakari HQ for further training. Tavash served as a policeman for four terms (12 years), rising to the rank of staff sergeant before changing MOS to riot control for one term, where he eventually achieved the rank of chief warrant officer.

Tavash has been charged on a number of occasions for causing the deaths of civilian criminals throughout his time as a policeman and member of riot control. However, most of not all of these charges were handled internally and all did not result in jail nor prison time.

Having graduated Kadic Academy as a bachelor in his later years as a police officer, Tavash applied for commission and attended officer training school soon after. Upon completion of OTS, he joined the research & development division of the main body of the CMF as a second lieutenant.

It was at this point that Tavash was became most influential to the CMF. Upon arrival at Ramiel CMB he began to acclimate hisself to life on-base, and noticed many points where quality of life could be improved in a cost effective manner. Tavash began speaking with and pursuing his superiors to allow him to try different ways of handling various aspects of military life, alongside his primary job of improving military hardware.

Tavash continued to rise in rank as he proved to have a knack for proposing practical solutions to problems and further needed subordinates to carry out larger projects as well as multiple projects in general.

Tavash is credited with consolidating the military-industrial complex into a single wing of the CMF, where all R&D is handled internally rather than contracted to external companies.

Tavash is still currently enlisted in the CMF, at the rank of Colonel (O-6).

Influence on the Military
Starting in his first years as a second lieutenant, Tavash was on his way to restructuring the way the CMF handled the military-industrial complex. Before the present time, the military would offer contracts to external companies, commissioning the design of a certain item, and asking for the right to use their designs in military hardware for a certain period of time. This meant that military was not in complete control of the way components were designed. Tavash wished to change that, and so he offered many of his own designs. Coming from the then smaller internal research & development division, he had a bit more inherent persuasion in the eyes of his superior officers.

Tavash proposed that they only internally create and test designs virtually, and apply a significant portion of servicemen (larger than the R&D division was at that time) to a dedicated manufacturing and testing wing for further testing of accepted virtual designs. To realize the first half of his plan, Tavash funded and supervised the building of an extremely powerful supercomputer for the purpose of running a very complex and accurate physics simulation engine, would be used to test any number of physical interactions in a virtual, thus much more cost effective, environment. Tavash emphasized the fact that the virtual test environment alone would not be sufficient for adoption of new military hardware, and so he requested the expansion of the R&D division to dedicate them to the manufacture and battle-testing of promising virtual developments.

As Tavash was progressively promoted to mid-ranks, he became the main commanding officer of the research and development wing of the CMF. Soon after, he was given a new officer MOS and job title of Director of Research & Development.

Business
Some time after Tavash became the Director of R&D, he began to bring his own, personal designs to light using the same physics simulation software and supercomputer his subordinates use. He expressed interest in manufacturing and selling his gun designs to the general public. However, his superiors disallowed the use of the R&D wing's manufacturing processes in the creation of personal projects. This prompted Tavash to purchase his own manufacturing equipment, and soon hire civilian workers to fabricate components for him under his supervision.

Tavash then offered some of his early designs to close friends upon completion of their physical iterations. Many of them expressed great interest in his work, stating that they could sell well to the public. Over time, Tavash founded the company, Vash Firearms Design & Manufacture. He put his completed designs out on the market, which became well-received, if not a bit expensive.

To this day, Tavash continues to sell and develop upon many kinds of firearms and products that are largely related to firearms of all kinds. Some of his products are labeled as "novelty" items as he calls them, due to the fact that they serve little purpose other than the 'cool' factor. Arguably the most well-known novelty item he produced was the Vash NT, a civilian supercar powered via purpose-built turboshaft engine. It is generally regarded as quite expensive and fuel-hungry, but quite fun.

Political
Tavash has willingly gone on record saying that he does "not believe in the left, center, right spectrum; democrat, republican, independent or what-have-you," rather he posits that every man, woman and child harbors situational beliefs unique to themselves only, which may or may not change over time. That being said, Tavash states that his political views "altogether form a right-leaning mindset with democratic checks and balances."

Religious
When asked what his religious beliefs are, if any, Tavash responded:


 * Well there are times where I do wonder about what's the, supreme creator of the universe; the cause of the big bang you know? And the most, compelling idea of what the creator is, is I think the simulation. You know once you get down to the smallest intervals of time and space, like frames and points respectively, with emergent behavior I think it all adds up.

Tavash was further questioned about how his view on the computer simulation hypothesis affects his projection of the future, Tavash replied, "The simulation will stop me if they really want me to. [chuckle]."

Space Industry
Tavash has expressed that he, personally, cares little about interstellar or even interplanetary travel. Rather, he is more interested in weaponizing satellites and "bringing back the SR-71."

Gigantism
Perhaps Tavash's most defining feature is his extremely abnormal size and bulk. Standing at 9'4" (284cm), he has stated this is due to gigantism that he has experienced since childhood. Despite experiencing this disorder, Tavash does not outwardly show any signs of debilitation due to it. Friends and former superiors of his have recounted days where he would seem fatigued or otherwise weakened before he became a mid-rank commissioned officer.

He himself recounts that he was 7'4" (223cm) around his twenties, and 8'2" (248cm) in his thirties. Tavash also states that he has not grown very much, or at least not as fast, after the nine foot mark reached in his forties.

Tavash's extreme size has led to many accommodations being necessary for his quality of life, including but not limited to, a custom uniform made far outside normal size ranges for servicemen, and special APCs upgraded by him for transport.

Native Language
Russian is his native language, and English is his second. Tavash learned Russian from birth for about nine years in the New Soviet Union, until he immigrated to Cyberia, where he was then taught English. Due to English being mostly unknown by him until the age of nine, Tavash holds a bit of a Russian accent, even as he speaks English much more often.

Family
Tavash has raised many children at a distance, stating that he is "always busy at work but I sneak away when I can." Through his life from 18 to his present age, Tavash has conceived at least six children to at least five different mothers, and adopted four. He has gone on to say he has put the majority of them through the military.

In the year of 2190, Tavash married a military scientist by the name of Alabaster Eversnow, a male snow leopard. Before the marriage, Tavash assisted Eversnow in raising his kitten child after Eversnow's divorce. Tavash has since adopted the child and has the two snow leopards live with him to this day.