by Max Barry

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41

Kremlin's Dispatch #03 - Grand Prince Viktor P. Yaroslav


Viktor Pavlovich Yaroslav
Виктор Павлович Ярослав
Віктор Павлович Ярослав

Grand Prince of Zitravia
Великий Князь Зитравии
Великий Князь Зітравії


Theme: LinkPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Hymn of the Cherubim
Original Source Linkhere


Full Name:
His Reverend Highness, Grand Prince Viktor Pavlovich Yaroslav

Birth date:
6 September 1990 (Age 30)

Place of birth:
Yaroslavgorod, Paplonbrianska, Imperial Zitravia

Religion:
Eastern Orthodoxy

Spoken Languages:
Ukrainian (native)
Russian, Greek, English, Church Slavonic (fluent)

Position(s):
Grand Prince of Zitravia
Orthodox priest (disputed)
Theologian and historian

Marital status:
Single, Arrangement in Consideration

Spouse:
None

Children:
None

>I have never written a religious figure in positive light before. This might sound like sarcasm.
>This is just Aleksey Batalov, smh.
>Chaotic neutral vibe - a cross between Gen Y and boomer.
>Will generally talk like a priest then dab on you.
>No solid political views (yet)

Jump to Political Views and Works -- for people who only come here for politics. For his biography, please go to Biography, which will be divided into parts: Early Life, Revolution and Civil War, New Era of Zitravia. For more trivial information: Appearance and Health, Education, Personality and Personal Life

"Dynamics between the State and the Church does not define the nation's virtues, at least not directly. There is no use bartering for power with the strongmen in the Kremlin, or the career politicians in the Rada. I know my place... I know my fate, and as long as I have faith, I will prevail." - Grand Prince Viktor Pavlovich Yaroslav

Roles


Grand Prince of Zitravia

- With the title having been stripped of its original power centuries before, most people have forgotten the significance of the Grand Prince, if there had been any during the Kozavian Rule. Under the Kozavian, the Yaroslav dynasty suffered more and more decline in their power and influence, until they became virtually a decorative role. Thus, the Grand Prince's roles within the Constitution are also severely limited and mostly ceremonial. In fact, the convoluted system of Zitravgrad almost excludes him out of the picture.

- The Grand Prince has certain constitutional and representational duties, but the legislation is mostly left to the Premier and the Prime Minister. However, he has an important role in maintaining cultural and spiritual unity of the people through his membership in the Holy Synod of Zitravia. The Grand Prince has a seat in the Holy Synod by the merits of being both a royalty and an ordained priest -- this often leads to confusion in foreign affairs, but most of the Zitravgradian government understands the notion clearly.

- Henceforth, the Grand Prince serves mainly as the leader of Zitravgradian Orthodox Christians rather than the whole population, thanks to radical secularization of the post-revolution government. Nonetheless, his status as a royalty is also used as a political tool to confirm the legitimacy of Zitravgrad as a sovereign state in the eyes of international community.


Biography (Back to the top)

Early Life (Back to the top)

Long before the time of Providence's calling, the Yaroslav dynasty ruled Zitravia since the Middle Ages and was partially allowing Patriarch Photius of Lytanzium to bring Orthodox Christianity to Zitravia. The first Orthodox monarchy in the dynasty was Vyacheslav the Pious, who was baptized in 986 and continued to baptize his family and his people. Meanwhile, the baptism of Kozavia was a separate event, but happening roughly around the same time. Since the 10th century on, the Yaroslav held themselves not only as worldly rulers, but also spiritual leaders who were not merely sponsoring the Church, but were considered a part of it. This continued as such until the succession crisis in the 16th century, in which a civil war broke out between two pretenders to the throne, the twin brothers Prince Ivan and Prince Kirill. This only ended when the Kozavian Tsar Alexey intervened and integrated Zitravia into the dominion of Kozavia, claiming the purpose of peace and order and his blood relations to the two Zitravian princes. (They were indeed cousins, but there was a need to stress that fact.) Prince Ivan opposed the Kozavian intervention and was preparing his troops to retake the capital city of Providenska, but passed away due to sickness before he could take action. Prince Kirill accepted, on the ground that Zitravia maintained her "own will" -- that word would be twisted many times.

Since then, the Grand Prince of Zitravia was moved to the northern city of Yaroslavogorod pushed behind the scene of Zitravian administration as a ceremonious and religious leader. The Zitravian boyars soon swore allegiance to the Kozavian Tsar, whether they were willing or not. Gradually, the Yaroslav dynasty faded into the background and could only offer "words of advice" to the Kozavian Tsar. The first breaking point arose in the 1770s when Tsarina Ekaterina "usurped" the throne from her husband in mysterious circumstances. At the time, the Grand Princess of Zitravia was Alyadroma Sergeyevna who gathered an army with the help of her husband Baron Nikolai Kirillovich Lorsavich and ordered a march to the Providenska Kremlin. This ended in a humiliating defeat of Grand Princess Alyadroma and a clear rift between the Kozava and the Yaroslav. The second attempt was in 1901, the year in which the Kozava dynasty was perhaps the least popular they had ever been before the Revolution of 2008 -- they were not popular even in their own Kozavia. At the start, it seemed almost as if Grand Prince Konstantine would be successful in securing "his" people's support, but his plans were exposed by the Okhrana (Tsarist Secret Police) and he had to flee the country, ironically just as when Providenskan Communes formed. With each blunder, the Yaroslav dynasty backed further and further away from relevance, but could not be eliminated thanks to the dynasty's religious roles... although one has the right to suspect a foul play when Grand Prince Paul and Grand Prince Maria were killed in a "car accident" in 1998.

Born in 1990 in the main (and perhaps only one remaining) line of the Yaroslav dynasty, Prince Viktor was destined for the empty title and ceremonious duties of the Grand Prince of Zitravia. Thanks to it being wartime, the first eight years of his life was sheltered and secluded, involving a routine of studying and praying. Prince Viktor never attended kindergarten and rarely had any company of children his age until he attended primary school. Even as a child, he was noted as "unsettling" in appearance, due to his brown hair which was already beginning to grey at the age of four. He was almost indifferent to his surroundings and was not capable of forming any meaningful relationship with anyone except his parents. He had no friend in school, and hence no real reference of how normal children were supposed to act. His quiet and lonesome disposition was often mistaken for maturity. At the age of five, Prince Viktor's twin brother named Alexey Pavlovich passed away due to health complications. Any mention or record of this event and even of Prince Alexey himself was destroyed, in order to conceal the questions about Prince Viktor's health and eligibility for his future position, especially to the Kozavian authority. While his parents tried to make him forget this, Viktor's memories of his twin brother were even more imprinted onto his mind.

In July 1998, his parents were killed in a car crash, which was a blow to Prince Viktor's emotional stability (if that had even existed). As he had no relative left in Zitravia, nor would his distant relatives dare to step back into the country, suspecting that the "car crash" was an assassination in disguise. Despite their urging for him to live abroad, the young Grand Prince was soon relocated from his Yemeretysh Manor to Zrakan Monastery to be raised under the care of Patriarch Fyodor of Zitravia. Thrusted from one form of seclusion to another, Grand Prince Viktor grew up as "a true Yaroslav prince" -- pious, ascetic and unpretentious. He was brought up in this extremely conservative and religious environment, yet he also had to witness the corruption within the Church at the time. While the rumors of the Church’s corrupted actions repulsed him, he remained a devout Orthodox and held great respect for the Patriarch. It was perhaps during that time when he decided to study to be a priest himself, but most around him suspected that he only did so because it was the only thing he knew.

The Grand Prince was regularly visited by the Yaroslavian nobility, among them were old names such as the Nedelykov and the Kholmatzhonov. These noblemen and noblewomen helped to bring him up in accordance to the dynasty's traditions, and Grand Prince Viktor soon was accustomed to his ceremonious and religious roles but did not understand the demand for him to take actual power, except the authority over religious aspects of the nation, then ruled by Kozavian-born clergymen. At the time, he failed to see the reasons why he should endorse a "revolution" against the Kozavian Empire. In his fairness, he was not yet an adult when this topic arrived at him, nor was he explained in details how the workings of this revolution would be -- the noblemen felt as if they couldn’t and shouldn’t mention violence to him. His understanding of the world was narrow and he had never looked at it beyond the monastery's walls.

Nedelykov soon stood up against it and told other families that there would be no future this way, The Grand Prince was soon educated in worldly affairs, mostly by the noblemen who were closest to him. But when he turned 13, he would eventually understand why he had to fight against Kozavia -- the hard way. There have been two assassination attempts against him, one in 2003 by Kozavian royalists and one in 2008 by communists. Both of them, however, were done by strangulation, due to the traditional belief that the Grand Prince or Princess of Zitravia is a person of mystical legends and religious significance -- their blood is sacred and to drop even a single drop on the Zitravian soil will bring the nation into a century of turmoils, famines and wars. Both events marked his enemies, and in both attempts, Viktor Pavlovich would somehow kill his assassins in retaliation.

"My hands were covered with blood. I was afraid, deathly afraid."
"And of what should you be afraid? Did you not think that the man who tried to kill you deserved to die by your hands?"
- A conversation between the Grand Prince and his tutor Konstantin Nedelykov

The Kozavian Empire might have created many noble families to fill into the Zitravian pyramid of power, but the Yaroslavian nobility was still a power to consider. The Yaroslavian noble families are the families that had been in the boyars since before the integration of Zitravia into the Kozavian Tsardom, thus meaning that they were regarded as the senior among the Zitravian nobility. Now in the 21st century, their names could now be counted on two hands -- Ponomarenko, Mykhajlyuk, Shchegolyayev, Nedelykov, Kholmatzhonov, Tsaplin, Karandashov, Kuklin, and Khabalov. These families have been the most ardent of the dynasty's protectors, the most devout of Zitravian Christians and the most powerful of Zitravian aristocracy... until the post-revolution era arrived and turned the world upside down for them. Some ran away, some were arrested, and some played their cards right and remained in Zitravia in relative safety and comfort.

At the age of 16, Viktor stepped outside of the monastery into the world he barely knew. Attending a high school in Providenska under the Kholmatzhonov's guardianship, he was more like a common man than a royalty. Nonetheless, he knew he was at the seat of Kozavian authority in Zitravia, and the least he stood out, the better. He was rather appalled by how Providenska had become during the years after the war -- decadent, imbalanced, and decaying. Nonetheless, he learned to live in the worldly affairs as a common man and to take care of himself rather than to be taken care of -- something of which Kholmatzhonov was reasonably concerned. Being the Mayor of Providenska, he knew that he was compromising the whole structure of the plan by allowing Viktor to be too independent because this sentiment of independence and humility would mean that the Grand Prince would become even less interested in taking the Sapphire Crown back into his hand. Moreover, the growing republicanism would become his greatest enemy. Meanwhile, Dr. Nedelykov took a rejoice in educating him in mathematics and sciences, as well as worldly and esoteric matters. In fact, it was Nedelykov's mystic charm that influenced him to these days, instilling within the Grand Prince's mind a twisted sense of morality and political ideals, as well as a strong sense of superstition.

Baron Lavrentiy Yurievich Kholmatzhonov was two-faced -- he served as the Mayor of Providenska, one of the most important posts in the Kozavian Empire, while he himself worked towards to the return of the Yaroslav dynasty. Nonetheless, he also sought to preserve the culture that the Kozavian Empire had given them over the centuries... all the while he tried to make democracy a thing in this nation. Perhaps his only crime was so much compromise.

Revolution and Civil War (Back to the top)

In the last few months of 2007, the Grand Prince still refused to give a strong opinion of the plan to reinstall the Yaroslav dynasty in Zitravia, but was willing to host a mass for the Yaroslavian nobility before leaving for the Cathedral of Providence under the Kremlin to avoid the conflicts. He was guarded by men loyal to the far-right Vice-Admiral Yermirov and the social democrat Police General Miroslavsky, both of them ironically republican in nature and couldn't care less about him as a monarch. He remained safe and sound for most of the conflicts between the Kozavian and the Zitravian forces despite his location being under the range of Kozavian post-modern artillery. For once, he discovered what the nobility tried to hide from him – the sensation of war. Unfortunately, the two men in mention savoured every minute of the conflict.

Even the fascists had two sides inside them... Led by Vice Admiral Nikolai Stepanovich Yermirov, the republican fascists were in support of a fascist republic run by a regime of military officers, free from the influence of a monarchy. It had its own struggles before forming into a small, but crucial faction filled with the top brass of the Armed Forces in the early 2000s, with its heart in the Zitravian Navy. Meanwhile, Dr. Konstantin Stepanovich Nedelykov was more of an aristocrat who wished to preserve the shape and form of the Zitravian ruling class -- the old elites. He rooted for the return of the pre-Kozavian monarchy. the Yaroslav dynasty. Although both were covered with the blanket term of "fascism" thanks to their far-right stances, they were drastically different and not even the brotherly bond would hold Nedelykov and Yermirov together to the end.

The Grand Prince was an audience in the Provisional Government, but was not expected or requested to speak. Knowing that there were likely more republicans than monarchists in the room, Viktor knew he had to be quiet until the Church was concerned. His second assassination attempt at the hand of a communist soldier became an excuse for the Provisional Government to exclude the Communist Party from the meetings but the Provisional Government itself would not last that long after Zitravia became a free (yet still conflicted) state. He had no hope for Kholmatzhonov's grand plan and soon enough he was right -- the moment the Civil War began, Kholmatzhonov took his family abroad in a self-imposed exile as the fascist, the social democratic, and the communist fought in a three-way civil war for the total conquest of Zitravia. All of them were, unfortunately for Viktor Pavlovich, republican in nature. Now left alone with his own thoughts and methodology, the Grand Prince sank deeper in a quest for self-realization, whether by the knowledge of god, arts or sciences. For once, he realized that his character was an invention of other people.

New Era of Zitravia (Back to the top)

When the Workers' Union was triumphant over the fascist and the communist, the Grand Prince knew, this time for certain, that republicanism had won the day. He returned quietly and unceremoniously from Providenska to Yaroslavgorod by a night train, unaccompanied but free to witness the world and reality itself. Withdrawing into irrelevance, Grand Prince Viktor entered the Yaroslavogorod Community College and graduated with a Bachelor's degree of Science in History and Master's degree of Theology, in 2011 and 2013 respectively. After his graduation, he became a parish priest in a countryside town of Yaroslavgorod. For almost six years after the Revolution, the Grand Prince was a nobody -- a state more irrelevant than a common man, and he was dead certain that he would be an ordinary priest until he dies. Despite believing himself to be utterly unambitious, he was filled with a kind of guilt as he also believed himself to have abandoned "his people". From then on, the Grand Prince led a puritannical lifestyle and even started to study esoteric matters outside Christianity as a "distraction". His self-punishment served no propose beyond this sense of guilt and justification, but its aftereffects would last long and prove detrimental to his health.

With Nedelykov in jail and Kholmatzhonov in exile, the old aristocracy had no real power. However, Oleksandr Kyrychenko and Dmitri Potyomkin entered the scene. They are distant cousins to Premier Miroslavsky, and both of whom were noblemen in the old system and conservative country gentlemen by origin. Dismayed by the decadence of the new regime, they would seek far and wide a mean to balance between the old and the new. And eventually, they sent for some footmen to the quiet parish. "Long live the blood of Yaroslav dynasty", they spoke -- a phrase that not everyone agrees with. Not even the aforementioned Grand Prince was in agreement with that phrase. But he was convinced that his people were waiting from him -- no matter how many there were.

Prof. Dr. Denis Anatoleyevich Mefimsky's opposition towards the Kozavian Rule started from the tamed and reserved environment of the University of Providenska but soon was translated into something people could digest. Essentially socialistic, pro-worker rights and anti-monarchy, the Workers' Union was considered radical and dangerous by the Kozavian authority (and frankly by other factions as well). Since their ideology attracted common people, the Workers' Union's strength was in the number of supporters. The Workers' Union later became the Workers' Party under the leadership of Premier Miroslavsky, but its founders are no longer sure if its ideology still remains.

The Grand Prince's debut in the capital was met with confusion as the people did not know how to react to a royalty who was also ordained as a priest. Moreover, his roles are expected to be ceremonious, cultural, spiritual and religious, but the new regime doesn't appear too concerned with ceremony, old culture, spirituality, and religion. And that is his main concern. He hosts prayers for the founding days of Zitravia and her two capitals, sends his yearly blessings to the new conscripts and works in the museum as a curator. He is not exactly sponsored by Kyrychenko and Potyomkin, but at least the two could reconcile him with the Kremlin itself. Still, Kazimir Miroslavsky, the Premier himself, made next to no recognition of the Grand Prince's desire to assume his power in Providenska, citing that "there is no mention of such thing in the (new) Constitution". Viktor Pavlovich knew he had nothing to fight with the strongman ruler like the Premier and had no real intention to do so, given how popular the latter was. Nonetheless, he studied the aforementioned Constitution throughoutly and found that it was drafted with the preservation of public order in mind and it should become obsolete if other parties were to exist. The news of 2016 election caused him to realize that in order to form the new, first democratic government there ever existed in Zitravgrad, the Constitution needed to be redrafted to allow the existence of political parties. This way, he could petition for this new government to recognize his roles in the Zitravgradian society. On the Independence Day of 2016, the Grand Prince revealed himself in public ceremony for the first time, uninvited, accompanied by priests. Unlike the Premier had planned, some people in the crowd began to cheer in Viktor Pavlovich's presence. And thus began his reign.

However secular or republic Zitravgrad is, her elected leaders receive the blessings of her Orthodox Grand Prince. During the three years of his “term”, he has been a major figure in the preservation of Zitravian culture, public charities and religious ceremonies (mostly Orthodox ones anyway). He has little role in other aspects of the administration, namely the defense and the law enforcement run by the Premier and the socioeconomic aspect under the authority of the Prime Minister. Grand Prince Viktor now resides in the Cathedral of Assumption, within the Kremlin Walls, making him the only leader out of the so-called triumvirate of Zitravgrad to live in the seat of power itself.


Appearance and Health (Back to the top)

The Grand Prince is a tall and thin young man who looks somewhat (or perhaps a lot) older than his age. His brown hair has gone white and his skin gone pale due to the stress of living in seclusion. His eyes are grey, cold and unfeeling. His general expression remains at a disapproving frown or a resting "Why, God?" face. Usually dressed in semi-formal, Viktor is always seen with a large overcoat, which he sometimes hangs over his shoulders. (Some say it looks regal, he says it gives him personal space.) He maintains short hair and clean-shaven face despite the tradition surrounding Zitravian Orthodox priests, and he rarely appears with a cassock anymore.

Suffering from low immunity, Viktor occasionally catches a cold and has an allergy to pollen. Also, it does not help that he has the physical condition of a man in his late thirties when he is in fact not yet thirty years old. Still, he is capable of holding himself in a polite, serene manner most of the time. He is rarely ever violent in his physical movement or reaction to anything, knowing that he is likely to strain his back if he moves too quickly. Still, he barely eats a full meal and religiously follows the Orthodox fasting rules – eating almost nothing on Wednesdays and Fridays and completely abstaining from drug, tobacco and alcohol. Moreover, the Grand Prince is more or less known to have practiced self-flagellation in his youth, and some of his scars do not heal well.

Personal Health Evaluation

What is it about?

Gender

Male

Age

30

Orientation

Heterosexual

Sub-Species

Full Human

Height

180 cm (Average)

Weight

57 kg (Underweight)

Hair Color

Brown (Greying Prematurely)

Eye Color

Grey

Blood Type

HR (Universal Donor)

Hand Dexterity

Right-Handed

Physical Health Quotient (PHQ-I)

Epsilon (Below Average Physique and Immunity)

Intellectual Intuition Quotient (IIQ)

Beta (Above Average Learning and Memory Capacity)

Psychological Health Quotient (PHQ-II)

Delta (Slightly Below Average Psychological Health)


Education (Back to the top)

Most of the Grand Prince's early education was homeschooling and religious and he had some troubles catching with more worldly subjects when he entered high school. Nonetheless, he is well-versed in history, philosophy, theology and Slavic literature. He obtained a Bachelor's degree of Science in History and Master's degree in Theology, and had a grasp of political theories taught to him by his mentors. He also has some interest in classical music (a sign of living with Kholmatzhonov for too long, perhaps.) Apart from Russian and Ukraine, he can communicate in English (albeit with a heavy accent), as well as Greek.

While not (properly) educated in modern socio-political theories, he reads well and catches up well with general knowledge and current happenings. Meanwhile, he finds modern art, music and literature out of his taste.


Personality and Personal Life (Back to the top)

More often than not, Viktor's extreme needs for privacy and personal space are mistaken for condescension. Quiet but not shy, he talks in frank, unpretentious tone and says exactly what he means, although also very formal in his speech. Despite his serious and mature demeanor, he is also nonchalant and not remotely interested in maintaining a regal, grandiose image outside the ceremonies -- but this is because he is cautious and paranoid. He is known to travel largely by metro (due to his distrust of taxi drivers and cars in general). He cooks by himself or buys ready meals from shops and never asks for anyone to cook for him (due to his suspicion of poisoning). He wears plain semi-formal clothes with large coats (because it is easier to blend into the crowd.) Thanks to this lifestyle, he still struggles to form meaningful relationships with people. He lives alone with no intention to be married sooner or later, although he recognizes the importance of having an heir to his position and the Sapphire Crown. The Grand Prince remains a devout follower of the Orthodox Church, prefers an ascetic lifestyle and maintains an aura of reverence more associated with a priest than a prince. His only sign of self-importance is in his belief that at least God anointed him through his faith, and he is the most strict, stern, and severe on nobody but himself. He believes (mostly without pretext or context) that pain is a path to salvation and will readily punish himself for even the smallest of mistake, but is quite sympathetic and forgiving towards others.

While quiet and pacifist in nature, one should not see him as a weak or guileless person. The Grand Prince knows the importance of social connection and the nature of political conspiracy and could bring them to use -- as apparent from him regaining his prestige and position from absolutely nothing. However, he works best alone and undisturbed as he has a problem with succumbing to other people's opinions. In arguments, he prefers to be the one who backs away but it is hard to change his mind. Despite his superficial politeness, the Grand Prince is very self-conscious about lying or covering the truth, leading to him speaking in ambiguous tone when unsure. Currently, the Grand Prince occupies a section of the Cathedral of Providence which is beneath the Kremlin, waking up for early morning prayers everyday before he goes to work. But despite all this serenity of his personality, the Grand Prince is still a man of his own generation, with a fair grasp of modernity, technology and societal trend. He is at best mature for his age rather than beyond.

Trivia

    - He likes birds, and likes feeding birds. Geese follow him, for whatever the reason.

    - There is no explanation whether he truly believes in self-punishment, or is a masochist, or thinks that scars will serve as a call for favor from St. Yeruslan.

    - Normally, he will have been barred from being married due to being ordained as an unmarried man, but with the claim of necessity to produce an heir in the near future, he is exempted from that rule. Nonetheless, he remains strictly celibate and is not very marriageable by personality and lifestyle.


Political Views and Works (Back to the top)

While religious and conservative, the Grand Prince is still quite comfortable with the liberals and the technocrats in the Verkhovna Rada and does not use much of his role as "advisor of the state", unless called for. His main political activities revolve around the Orthodox Church, the Ministry of Culture and public charities. He is regrettably unambitious in political field, preferring to preserve himself as a role model of spiritual balance. Overall, the public opinions on him are not harmonious -- the more devout population welcomes his presence to the point of zealotry while the rest believe that he does not make a difference at all, especially compared to influential men like Miroslavsky and Dresvyanin. But this is considered the first step of Zitravia's cultural revival after a long pursuit of political and economic stability. If one might ask what he has done for his "republic", Viktor's achievements are more abstract -- he ties the old aristocracy together in a symbolic bond while preventing the breakage of the sudden social changes caused by the revolution (notably the "dissolution" of nobility) and mends the tumultuous relationship between the Church and the State. In his mystic aura, he appears like a patron saint his nation once ignored. He is certainly and extremely powerful to certain groups of people.

The political party in support for turning the crowned republic to an official constitutional monarchy is the Old Zitravia Movement, to which Grand Prince Viktor has voiced his recognition for the party's existence, but not much more. The office responsible for managing the ceremonies involving the Grand Prince, his public appearances and the budgets surrounding them is called the Bureau of the Palace, which follows the state's policy of pinching every penny possible. The Bureau of the Palace consists of the Grand Prince's secretary, and that's probably all -- his true office is the Holy Synod and he sits among the bishops of Zitravia.




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