Riku Tavash

"It's not just my job to secure my country's future; It's my way of life."

- Col. 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, a police officer, and later a member of the Riot Control Corps. 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. Tavash also subtly began to admire the Soviet soldiers that were all around him. 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 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 persuade 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 2177, 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 2184 with a bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering, and with it he later became a commissioned officer in the military.

Military Career
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 began to see them as father figures and 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 (17.5 years of age).

Tavash did quite well in his time as a bare-shouldered private through basic training, although he found it tiresome to lead unmotivated troops. During the eighth week of basic training, Tavash was given the freedom to choose his job area. 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 one term (4 years), rising to the rank of staff sergeant before his abnormal height made him unfit for duty as a police officer, and thus needed a change in MOS. Knowing that the Riot Control Corps quite liked having very large personnel on their staff, Tavash soon transferred to riot control for two terms (8 years), where he eventually achieved the rank of chief warrant officer.

Tavash had 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 member of riot control, 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. This was in addition to the many idle thoughts he had earlier in his career about improving on things. Tavash began speaking with and persuading 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 mostly into a single wing of the CMF, where most 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). In total he has spent roughly 37 years working directly for the Cyberian military.

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 Career
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.

Origins
As a schoolchild, Tavash didn't like to play nice with most of his classmates. He found it easier to force what he wanted out of them rather than persuade it out of them. At one point, he even hospitalized a classmate when they dared to stand up against him. Needless to say, his teachers disliked this about young Tavash. However, the Soviet higher ups in the school system turned a blind eye to Tavash's antics. In some capacity, they even encouraged his bully behavior. His mother didn't look too far into his boasting about his natural strength and superiority above his peers.

The Soviet school system taught him how to be strong and how to work together with his comrades. They also tried to teach him to practice blind loyalty to the state, a teaching that his mother subtly raised him to ignore.

This bully personality was carried with him through to his late childhood years spent in the Cyberian orphanage and Cyberian schools. There, the young Tavash found himself in many fights that ended in a forceful breakup or his victory. These fights generally began as either a teasing of his orphan status or frustration with never finding replacement parental figures. He was suspended from school multiple times and even threatened to be expelled. These infractions played a large part in why he was never adopted, which only cycled back into malicious behavior.

In his high school years, Tavash turned to the military to fill the void left by the absence of parents. He very much admired riot control specifically, due to their well-known aggressive nature.

During his early career as a policeman, he felt a great sense of duty to serve to protect his country. As Tavash became a police officer and later a member of riot control, he felt his bully nature resurge within him.

Present Day
Now in his current place as a commissioned officer, Tavash holds onto both his sense of duty and his sense of power. He enjoys being seen as an intimidating figure. He admonishes those that he feels are weak, and forwardly gives advice that he thinks will help strengthen them in the future. Those who don't think like him are commonly corrected by him whenever he pleases. Tavash very much prefers logical and practical approaches to problems and is a proud, self-described realist.

Beyond his domineering personality, he is known to be a sweet person, but only to those he sees fit to deserve the sweet side of him. It's no secret that he treats his husband and stepson with much more love and compassion than he does with the majority of outside people.

Political Views
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."

Religion
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]."

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

Relations with Soviets & Foreign Policy
When asked about his relations with the New Soviets, Tavash replied:


 * I was born and halfway raised by Soviets. That doesn't mean I look up to them. If I really had to answer I'd say I'm cautiously neutral to the New Soviet Union, but I will not let that neutrality jeopardize my country. I am loyal to Cyberia first and foremost.

Tavash has also publicly stated that he is neutral to most of not all other countries, as is the Cyberian military itself. He echoes the cautionary remark of the CMF that he is "always watching."

His Personal Image
One of his defining features is the constant, natural frown/scowl he has as an expression. Tavash mentioned that he is amused by the fact that people see him as a hulking wall of anger. "It keeps clingy ones away," he's said.

Tavash has expressed regret in the fact that he is so tall and large, as it makes it impossible for him to personally test the vast majority of vehicles and vehicle upgrades that he produces for the military. He has expressed a burning passion to fly and drive, however again his size makes it impossible for him to fit in driver's and pilot's seats. Rather, he experiences them vicariously through close friends and family members.

Tavash has been known to create flight simulators, as well as drive-by-wire systems in the backs of APCs and IFVs to facilitate his ability to drive them, sometimes similar to or acting as unmanned vehicles.

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 currently 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. Tavash did not personally disclose that he had gigantism to his superiors until around the time he became a 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 more often.