Individual



Character's full name: Nikolai Andreivych Zelinsky

Alias/ Nickname/ Code name: Nick or Zelinsky (by Americans) , Sibir (by Family members)

Gender: Male

Age: 32

Date of Birth: 04/18/1984

Birthplace/ Home/ Place of origin: Dikson, Russia

Nationality: Russian

Ethnicity/ Cultural Heritage: Ethnic Russian



Appearance



Hair color and style: Short, swept back medium blond hair

Skin Tone: Pale Caucasian

Eye Color: Blue

Height:6’ 5”

Build: Athletic

Visible mutation: N/A

Scars/ Tattoos/ Piercings: Thieves’ cross is tattooed on his chest about five inches tall, three inches wide. In the center of it is the date of his induction ceremony (Jan 6th, 2008). He also has a spider tattoo facing right side up on his left forearm.

Other features: Visible tremor in his left hand reminiscent of nerve damage.



Everyday clothing style: Nikolai’s usual style of dress is a pair of relaxed fit medium to dark-wash jeans, a Henley or thermal shirt of some kind (t-shirt if it’s really warm), and a flat cap if it’s sunny. He wears dark brown shoes or boots, a matching belt and a watch on his right hand with the same brown leather as the strap. It’s an analogue watch with what looks like a gold face and the numbers are in roman numerals. The back of the watch as a message engraved in it in Russian.

Uniform: When out doing his thing for the Odessa, Nikolai wears a black suit dress with black dress shoes, a dress shirt of some kind with the collar open and a black flat cap or hat to hide his face from cameras.

Sleepwear: Usually wears sleep pants and a t-shirt

Miscellaneous clothing: Sometimes Nikolai will have a shoulder holster on under his jacket with an illegal firearm (a pistol of some kind) tucked into it. He wears an Orthodox cross on a chain during religious holidays such as Christmas, Lent and Easter.



Character



Personality: Nikolai Zelinsky is a seemingly stoic young man not because he doesn’t have anything to say but because he is embarrassed by the way he stumbles over his words. He hates being embarrassed and as such would rather not do something unless he knows it’s something he would be good at. As such he has a very few select activities he does in his spare time outside of work most of which are not particularly social gatherings. He is trying to improve his grasp of English, at least speaking it, but it is slow coming.


Because he has trouble expressing himself with words, Nikolai is a very tactile person. If he gets angry enough, he will break something or punch someone. If he’s sad, he’ll cry. If he’s afraid, he’s more inclined to fight than flee. He hugs his few friends and relatives, even kisses a few on the cheeks, as they did back home in Russia. If he has to restrain himself, he will, but it takes effort from him to do so. It’s why he finds more enjoyment out of physical pursuits and work than something intellectually stimulating.


Nikolai is more inclined to get along with fellow Russians or at least peoples from the former Soviet Republics. He’s not a communist himself but the shared language if not custom of it helps as an ice breaker for him. He believes himself too old to go back to school and considers himself about average intellectually. He considered enlisting in the Russian military before the nerve damage that ruined his arm. Now as he works with the mafia and although he is resigned to working with them he still believes he can do some good for the community through them.



Hobbies/ Interests: Playing / watching hockey and boxing, ballroom dancing at the small local run studio nearby his place (he’s at an intermediate level), clubbing on occasion, keeping up with both American and Russian politics.



Job or part time job and description: Commercial window cleaner (legitimate). Brotoka (criminal)



Fears/ phobias/ concerns: Nikolai is afraid that in time the nerve damage down his arm will get worse. He knows it’s a result of an injury rather than a degenerative disorder but is afraid he will develop Parkinsons.

He is also worried his English won’t improve much more than it already has. With so many accents around him, he can barely understand some of them. He wonders if he’ll always be labeled as the Ruski. He doesn’t like standing out too much in a crowd. Unfortunately being 6’5” doesn’t help with that.

He also has this recurring nightmare of having his mouth sewn shut.



Special talents: Nikolai is fairly strong from a human but not to the point of being “super powered” about it. He is decent with a firearm when he needs to be.



Morality



Good/ bad/ neutral/ other: Nikolai is Lawful Neutral. He has his own personal moral code be believes in and that code isn’t one that he bends easily. He can and will threaten others, even kill if he’s pushed to it, but he won’t sleep well at night.



Mutations



Mutation description: None. He’s human thus has no mutation.

Strengths: N/A

Weaknesses and Limitations: N/A



Physical Abilities



General Physical Capabilities: As a large physical person, Nikolai is stronger than average but not beyond human limitations. He can lift up to two hundred fifty pounds and carry it a while if he has to. Can run a mile in about 5 minutes. Regularly jogs about 3 miles in the mornings.

Fighting Style: Combat Sambo

Fighting Style Pros/Cons: Combat Sambo is a combat style that many of the Odessa remember as a good number of them are ex-KGB. Nikolai learned a ruthless variation, allowing for groin strikes, head butts and exploitation of weaknesses.



History Of Your Character



Nikolai Andreivych Zelinsky was born to Ivana and Andrei Zelinsky on April 18th, 1984 in the Arctic closed city of Dikson, Russia. His father was a fisherman at the time and his mother a nurse at the local doctor’s office. The relatively small town was home to about five thousand people then and most of the children knew each other by name. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was a small, if very cold community where the people felt safe from the dangers and risks of the cities.


But after the fall of the Soviet Union and the economic collapse that followed, their once 5000 strong town began to deteriorate. Families lost their ability to make ends meet as inflation skyrocketed. Eventually the mafia began reaching out to those with skills they could use… such as the boat and fishing company Andrei Zelinsky owned and the aid of Ivana Zelinsky to care for their wounded. By 1993, the family was moved to somewhere more “useful”, a larger town named Murmansk where the Zelinsky fishing vessel would not be questioned as Nikolai’s father was pressed to work for the mafia as a smuggler. Nikolai and his mother kept their heads down while father was away in hopes of avoiding undue attention.


As time passed and Nikolai grew, however, his size caught the attention of his father’s “business associates”. To try and protect him, Andrei encouraged Nikolai to learn to sail and fish with him on his ventures to and from the United States during the summers but an accident while fishing dislocated his left arm partway through their trip. With no one trained on how to set it back into place properly, by the time it was set back into the socket the nerve damage was done. He regained the use of his left arm but developed a tremor in the hand. Being right handed meant he could write and eat but his shaking left hand made using a firearm dangerous and eliminated him from several of the fields he had been considering after finishing his education, including the Russian military and police forces.


Eventually the Russian police caught onto the Zelinsky boat being used for smuggling and, while Nikolai and not been on the ship at the time, his father was arrested and convicted, his boat taken. His mother, sick with cancer pressed, Nikolai to leave Russia while he still could, before the mafia decided to use him in his father’s place. He applied for a work visa to the United States, trying to be discrete. His discretion failed and the Family let him leave on one condition… he was to report to the Odessa crime family upon getting settled to help them with whatever they needed.


His work visa was granted shortly after his mother passed away. With nothing left grounding him in the city he moved to Brighton Beach in New York where he paid his respects as he was ordered and began looking for work. He found some eventually as a commercial window cleaner and did his best to keep his head down as he had in Russia. Mostly, the family used him to either gather information as the tremor in his hand made him too easily identifiable for most violent crimes or use his tall, athletic frame to intimidate while another extorted. He rarely if ever was dragged into violence… until the Sanctuary Police Massacre.


The mafia then focused on exploiting the mutant population within the Russian community, claiming to use what influence they had to protect the people… provided they paid. By the time the Mutant Registration Act was enacted, the mafia had a firm grip on the mutant Russian population in Brighton Beach, and Nikolai was pressed into leading more than a few “debt collections” himself. The threat of reporting the unregistered to the authorities to be sent to the Camps was enough in most cases. For some it took reporting a family member of theirs. It always sickened Nikolai to learn when it was the children.


He was inducted formally into the family on January 6th, 2008 and assigned an apartment complex to watch over when he was home. Trapped and unable to find a way out, Nikolai accepted his fate as a member of the Odessa family and continued racketeering the mutant families, hoping to minimize the damage done to them if he could. By the time the resistance broke the New York Camp, Nikolai was made Bratok. He was taught how to compensate for his shaking hand when using a gun and how to fight more effectively than the scrapping method he was using. He prayed he would never need to use what they taught him.


He became too busy to pay much attention to the world outside the small community between working both with the family and his regular job. The Mutant Registration Act in Romania sent ripples through the families that still had members there. He would never be sure if its quick overturn had something to do with the family’s influence or not though. The odd thing attacking Central Park that Christmas Eve certainly made the news but the family stayed out of that one, letting the “freaks” take care of their own mess.


Eventually the “freaks”, as the Pakhan called them, showed just how dangerous they could be and the families the mafia used to exploit were instead being carefully combed through for useful talents. Some of the more subtle ones were used to augment the rackets. Nikolai got to know a few of them who, like him, wanted nothing to do with crime but had little choice. He helped them as best he could adjust to what would be expected of them without being obvious of what he was doing.


Then the videos surfaced. Riots broke out. The family took advantage of the chaos to “take care of” a few key people in rival gangs. Nikolai killed a few of them himself. His tremor became more pronounced after that. A sting that came that following year had him arrested for the crimes but he stood strong against interrogation and the family lawyer was very good and got him acquitted. While he was in jail the META bots were introduced to the police force. He stayed on the down low for a while, as was protocol, focusing on his work as a window cleaner while the higher ups figured out a way around them.


They never did get the chance. A bombing of the mutant shelter in Texas had such a wide effect that the mutant members of the family began to rebel, claiming that they as more powerful members should be granted more authority and respect than humans. The Pakhan was not pleased with the idea and ordered them executed. Unable to bring himself to kill women and children, even as super powered as they were, Nikolai contacted local authorities and used what influence he had to save as many of them as he could. He might have gotten caught by the family had the bombing of the bridges and tunnels to Manhattan not thoroughly distracted the mafia from the families that went “missing”. Most were presumed dead or caught in the chaos.


With Utopia’s announcement and its doors opening to the public, Nikolai watches anxiously for the next disaster, praying the Pakhan will not think to take more active steps and push him further down the path of violent crime. With the police on edge and with mutants to call on should they need them he doesn’t think he’d last long in the war he’d get caught in the middle of.



Roleplay



Where did you learn about this site?: I genuinely don’t remember. Looked at a lot of RPG reference sites.

Do you have any other characters on MRO, if so who: This is my first one.

Sample RP:

Oh Nikolai hated nights like tonight. He was used to the cold, but add rain into it and he was downright miserable. His shoes were not waterproof and it was raining just hard enough to soak his socks lightly, making what chill did get into his shoes all the worse. At least he had an umbrella this time. He wouldn’t have to worry about freezing on the way home. He wished he smoked just to have something to do while he waited in the mostly abandoned park. He had turned off his phone three blocks back, as was standard in case the police were tracking it. He already had his lookouts scattered about the place in case this should turn south. Whoever the contact was had better be important.


A few really dedicated joggers were still out in the rain though, making their rounds, and it didn’t escape his notice that a few of them were… more than human. Huh. He hadn’t thought that there was still a strong enough mutant population in these parts what with Utopia’s doors opened. After the bombings and riots in the city, the mutants were not exactly the favored people anymore. Not that he cared. People were people. Terrorists were terrorists. Some people were just inherently more capable of destruction than others… with or without tools. He was glad in a way that his shaking left hand made him more like the former. He didn’t want to imagine what the Family would have done with someone of his size otherwise.


He was so lost in his thoughts he almost jumped when someone sat next to him on the bench, someone he wasn’t expecting certainly. The flickering street lamp he sat under didn’t exactly provide good lighting and like him they too were covered up against the storm. Still when the Boss had said that he was to meet a contact to gather some intel, this had not been what he was thinking… and the messenger less so. At least this job wasn’t trafficking. His father had been something of a smuggler but Nikolai himself was far from good at it. Too obvious he supposed.


Still if this wasn’t the person he was waiting for he knew he shouldn’t give away the game so easily. While not exactly Brighton Beach this wasn’t necessarily enemy territory either and the police seemed to enjoy finding new ways to trick information out of his Brothers. The Family had lost enough of their number to the cops, the violence and the Camps. They couldn’t afford to lose much more. Not until they could rebuild their numbers somehow.


“Chilly night isn’t it?” he said aloud to the person next to him trying to see stars through the clouds that continued to drop rain on them from around the hem of his umbrella, “You’d think we’d be used to it by now. The homeland is much colder.” Well, most of it anyway. He had no idea where this person was from or even if they understood him. However if this person was here to meet him and have information for Sergey they would not have been surprised by his Russian.


When he got no immediate answer he glanced at the person, expecting almost a stereotype of a fellow gangster. He did not expect to see the one who was sitting there. He almost tucked his bad hand away out of sight in his surprise. The shaking of it was always a tell he hadn’t quite been able to get rid of. But to hide it would be to admit it as a weakness and the Odessa did not show weakness, especially in front of peers. So he would have to hope they either didn’t see it or didn’t think to draw attention to it.

Welcome to MRO, all official-like!

Welcome! Character sounds amazing so far!

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to MRO! Interesting character! Maybe we'll bump into each other some night on the town.

Welcome! I see where you took inspiration from. Loved that movie and love your adaptation here! Excellent job bringing in the history like that! Bravo! Looking forward to interacting!

Welcome to the site!