Tamerlane of Halcyon

Tamár Anžir-Lansënvik, more famously known by the mononym Tamerlane, was a legendary revolutionary from Halcyon who spearheaded the city's turn to communism in 252 C. He later served as the first Premier of the Communist Republic of Halcyon.
== Early Life ==
Tamár was born in the Mad Mile district of Bygone, the part of Halcyon north of the rivers, in spring 216 C. He grew up quite poor - his father was an alarm-man, a fellow who rapped on the windows of workers to rouse them, when alarm clocks were unreliable and seldom available in the poorest areas of Bygone. His mother was a Datrian Kintirakki nurse who worked long hours. His mother's brother was Áþris Anžir, a wheelchair-bound academic at KU University who supported the Anžir-Lansënvik family with his meager wages. Eleven generations prior on his mother's side, Tamár's ancestor was Henri "The Astonishing" Anžir, a stage magician whose murder was responsible for the advent of electricity in Halcyon before the Collapse. Tamár was the middle child of some six siblings, three of whom died in workhouses. From a young age, he held strong views on the treatment of the workers in Halcyon and understood their plight as one of their own. 
=== Intelligentsia ===
In his early twenties, both his parents and a fourth of his siblings were killed in an industrial accident when a coal tram derailed from a bridge and caused a catastrophe at a Mad Mile road-rail crossing. Using his share of the state-issued bereavement payment, he left the workhouse and turned to a career as a member of the intelligentsia. Tamár found moderate success with writing and self-publishing essays on philosophy and economics - one, a treatise on the first inklings of what would later become the idea of Evanikshist communism - made him some decent money to live off, but also got him reported to the Halcyon Jackboots. Undeterred, he tried turning to local politics, standing as an independent candidate in the 242 Halcyian elections, but gained only 139 votes. He retired back to political writings and soon grew incredibly discontent with the conditions of the Halcyian workers. In the 240s, he and several fellow labourers and intelligentsiae set up the Lyvretniks group, also known as the Lionhearts. They were a communist fellowship who eschewed Evanikshist communism. They recruited members, held rallies, evaded the ire of the law, and began carrying out crimes such as sabotage, theft, and creating labour unions (illegal under Fascist Halcyon). Tamerlane's uncle Áþris, now Dean of the faculty of Artifice, began sending regular disguised payments to help fund these communist activities.
During the 240s, a recruit of the Lionhearts named Vertika Verëvkvina Lantsov began to impress Tamerlane with her political theory and writings, which - he might be pressed to admit - were far superior and more eloquent, more satirical and brilliant, yet more easy to understand, than his own. Furthermore, Vertika was a politician of the Evaniks (Workers') party, about as leftist as one could officially be in Fascist Halcyon. The pair worked on numerous projects and grew closer. In early 248 C, the Evaniks won the General Election, and Vertika was appointed as Minister of Peasant Collectives by her Prime Minister, Tahlia Kerenka. To celebrate, Tamerlane and Vertika took a trip to Sedia, where they began dating. 
Later that year in winter, tragedy struck. Tamerlane's uncle, Áþrys, was found via a secret police inquest to have been supplying the communist s with money. By now, the communist gatherings were officially since labelled as potential terrorist activity. Áþrys was arrested and due to be interred in prison, but his fellow Professor, Ralov Abraxas, and his protégé Emryn Shrapnel PhD, attacked the convoy with an electric stun cannon and the trio fled to Adzvolta. With his funding dried up, Tamerlane took a risk which paid off. He began getting Vertika to try to recruit other members of the Evaniks party to the cause. Over the next few years, he managed to recruit PM Tahlia Kerenka, as well as Ministers Vasilya Innëvov and Renya Eleutheria, as well as a host of smaller backers.
== Revolution ==
With the communist Lyvretniks' numbers growing, by 252 conditions had grown dire. The Lyvretniks carried out several small bombings of garrisons and key infrastructure, and disseminated propaganda to further their cause. The powder keg was full, very full. Their big break came in Winter 252. Queen Volterra, absolute monarch of Fascist Halcyon, died of a sudden heart attack, naming her successor as Copper, the Tyro King - not a noble, not one born or trained to rule, but a mercenary currently in Lakay. The interregnum lasted 21 days whilst the King was brought to Halcyon. During this time, tensions bubbled higher. On the day the King arrived in town, there happened to be a hanging of two mages at the Narrows, in the square outside the Shelter-of-Her-Light Cathedral. Huge surging crowds trapped the King's carriage, and they impishly demanded to show themselves at the hanging to ease tensions. Whilst on stage, a hidden mage in the crowd, Yarak of the Burning Hills, set loose a magical fire-flare to try to disrupt the hanging, but it was mistaken as a signal. Tamerlane, concealed in the crowd, threw a pipe bomb with a cord of fireball-necklaces (iconic weapon of the Halcyian terrorist) at the stage, almost killing the King's consort as well as killing or wounding tens of people and guards. The guards, believing this to be an uprising, were given the order to open fire by their captain. Seventy peasants were shot dead, but it was too late. This, the Narrows Massacre, caused the start of the Winter Revolution. 
Alongside his fellow Lyvretnik troops (including Valen, editor of the communist newspaper) and armed with lever rifles, Tamerlane and his revolutionaries stormed the Palace of Mirrors, having paid off the chief of secret police, Zenya Fortalesku, to admit them in and stand down. Tamerlane and the revolutionaries broke in to the throne room, where the King, the Wildecards (their friends), and some Ministers stood. All turned - willingly or by threats - to the communists' side save for the King, obviously. The revolutionaries smuggled the King in a wagon to Gilded Heath (an abandoned mine). There, they roughhoused them, severed their hands off with an axe, then killed them by firing squad. It was a dark deed, but one that had to be done to secure the future of the communist state.
With the King's death, Tamerlane proclaimed himself and his Lyvretniks the Commissars of the new Provisional Vanguard of Communist Halcyon. They led the communists and the workers in a six-week civil war against the loyalists and monarchists, ultimately becoming victorious. After victory, they established the Communist Republic of Halcyon, and Commissar Tamerlane installed himself as Premier of the nation, its de facto mascot and de jure head of state. 
=== Laurels ===
With the nation stabilising, prosperity and surveillance ensued in equal measure thereon. Tamerlane was heralded as a hero and champion of the people, but was always careful to make sure he was regarded as equal, not as greater. In spring 253 C, he and Vertika married in Sedia at the cathedral near where they first began dating. 
 
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