Vertika Lantsov

Vertika Veryovkvina Lantsov (Euluska Euvista: Vertьyka Verëvkьvina Lantьov) was a notable communist politician from Halcyon, and the wife of Tamerlane, the Communist Premier and revolutionary hero. Vertika was also a well-known and published author; she published under a pen-name, "Lassica Fairhair" during her time as part of the pre-revolution government cabinet, but then revealed her connection to her works after the revolution began.
== Early Life ==
She was born in the Greater Bygone district of Halcyon in 206 C. Her father was a phosphochandler, a workman who made neon lights which defined Bygone's hedonistic industrial skyline. Her mother was a local councillor who worked . Vertika grew up with an understanding of the working people, but also a taste for politics. She also grew up with many family friends who were farmers. It was through these family friends she met members of the Halcyon Worker's Party (the evaniks).
Vertika was a very smart woman growing up, and wrote very well. She first wrote short stories and poems, but this would become the foundation for her later political writings.
== Political Career ==
In the early 240s, she ran for office in the elections as part of the Evaniks, and won her home seat of Greater Bygone. She pushed for farming reforms, understanding that to support the peasantry, the farms were the foundation of all food supply. She soon became an expert in agrarian politics. She held her seat for six years. When the Evaniks finally won the majority of government in the late 240s from the centrists, the party leader and Prime Minister, Tahlia Kerenka, appointed Vertika to be the Head of Peasant Collectives, part of the cabinet! Vertika was in charge of championing the grain farmers and outskirt workers beyond Halcyon's walls, such as those of the towns of Jarren's Well or Shrike's Roost. She was not a great orator, but she was a great writer, and often wrote the Prime Minister's speeches for her!
=== Joining the Communists ===
It was during this time that Kerenka confided in Vertika that she had been secretly associating with the known communist terrorists - the Lionhearts (Lyvretniks). Lantsov did not rat her out, but attended several meetings, beginning to finally believe that revolution was the only way for Halcyon to cast off the shackles of the shell of its Fascist rule. The whole system was rotten, and needed to be upheaved. Also, during her first foray into communism, she met the young revolutionary leader Tamar Lansenvik, and formed a friendship with him. They soon became romantically involved, but kept their relationship a secret for fear of jeopardising her political career.
== Writings ==
Vertika wrote and published several books from 246-252 C on the state of the monarchy, government, and the need for revolution. She did so under a pen-name, obviously, to avoid connection to her political career. She dubbed herself Lassica Fair Hair, which was an overt reference to the legendary eponymous hero of the Euluskan people, Luska - a sort of tongue-in-cheek way to show that the Euluskans' greatest hero was turning on them, disgusted at what her descendants had become. 
Her works included several books that became very famous and well-known:
Title 	Content
On the Conditions of the Halcyian Worker	a short, easy-to-read educational manifesto trying to make people aware that the struggle of their lives is not something set in stone, and could be changed through violet revolution rather than striving against a governmental system designed to oppose
The Myth of the Divine King 	a decently sized non-fiction that challenges various justifications for the concept of a monarchy, set out in the form of debates between the author and various historical great statesman, like Euluskan Emperors, Felonil/Early Halcyian ministers, etc
The Donkey's Crown 	a short comedic satire about a Queen who falls out of her carriage and ends up alone in a peasant village, the peasants do not recognise her without her lost crown and presume her fine clothing to be a foreign oddity, giving her the nickname of 'Donkey' because of her odd looks; she is forced to live as a commoner for a month where she learns humility and the fallacy of a monarch's station. She returns home and abdicates the throne.
The Sea of Crabs 	a full-length historical fiction novel about a ship full of Felonilian sailors who shipwreck on a desert island in the North Vortic Sea; their oppressive captain is torn apart by crabs in an 'act of god', the sailors establish a utopic collectivist society and live well for years, before Euluskan officials come and, in a tragic ending, reestablish law and monarchy over them by forcing them to go home, reminding the reader of the tragedy of monarchy.
The King's Superstition 	A long, humorous satirical epic-poem where the king of a far off land is convinced by his court sorcerer that there is a man, the 'lowest of the low among men' who will bring ruin to the kingdom. He spends years sending his guards to search every farm for suspicious paupers, imprisoning various peasants, getting jumpy at every sign. Years later, the kingdom is in ruins because all of the farmers have left or been imprisoned and there is no food, and he realises the 'lowest of the low' was him all along
== Revolution & Post-Revolution ==
In 252 C, on the eve of the revolution, she and much of the Cabinet joined the Tyro King Copper I in the Palace of Mirrors. When the communists stormed the palace, the ministers who were in on it turned on the king. The noble cabinet, Tamerlane, and some revolutionaries took the King to the abandoned Gilded Heath goldmine and executed them by firing squad. Vertika did not attend, but knew of the event well from Tamerlane's retellings. 
After the six-week civil war ended, Vertika was made Agriculture Commissar. She could go public with her writings, and with her relationship with Premier Commissar Tamerlane Lansenvik.
Category:People
Category:People of Power
Category:Politicians