Ivan Azarov

Ivan Azarov is the VP of Contracts for Deathless Conflict Solutions, he heads most negotiations with other factions to engage Deathless assets in their mercenary work.

## Physical description

### Eye color

Right: Green, Left: Steel Grey (cybernetic)

## Personality

Although Ivan looks like a grim personnage, he tries to be a pleasure to interact with, always looking to control the discussion towards his own goals, Ivan could be the definition of "Killing them with kindness". Always with a drink close at hand, Ivan never skips on the opportunity to offer some to his customers or friends. He enjoys watching sports events, notably the Psiball league matches (Go Scorpions Go!) as well as the Annual Deathless Conflict Solutions Intramural Mech-fighting Tournament on Koschei, where he watches from his private Deathless lodge in the DVodka Arena. Even though he is a VP, one of the highest positions in The Deathless, Ivan is a very approachable man, seen often in Deathless messes and bars around the sector chatting up lower-ranked operatives and members of the business side of the house.

## Lifestyle

As the VP of Contracts for Deathless Conflict Solutions, Ivan is constantly travelling between the Headquarters on Koschei and Imperial Prime or other locations, preferring to conduct negotiations face to face rather than via delayed communications. When he isn't travelling to and from Koschei, Ivan lives in a high class but minimalist estate in Bunker 2, close to Deathless HQ.

## Backstory

### Birth and childhood

His father, Anton Azarov, was a member of one of those Deathless families who could trace back their lineage all the way up to the Scorpio Legion's survivors, it had become a tradition, similar to the Antonovich family, that a member of the Azarov family would serve in the Deathless as long as they existed. Unfortunately for Anton, he suffered with a birth defect that made him sterile and was an only child. A general in The Deathless at the time, he then used his considerable resources to make a synthetic child based on his gene pool. Effectively desinging a better version of any child a human mother could bear so the Azarov family could continue their tradition of storied service to the Deathless. Anton named the child Ivan and raised him as his own son, informing him of his true nature and purpose at the earliest possible age while still allowing him free will, fearing that any built-in restrictions or obediance would hinder Ivan's capabilities.

### Education

As a general's son Ivan grew up in relative ease and had access to the best schooling Koschei could offer. Finishing the Valedictorian of his class in Bunker 2's prestigious *École de Guerre* with a Degree in Business and Administration he joined The Deathless as an enlisted infantryman soon after.

### Military Service in The Deathless

Ivan joined his first and only unit in the 1st Infantry Battalion "Stonewallers". After his first tour of duty with The Deathless and having performed admirably in it, Ivan was selected to be part of the Deathless Officer's program. Once commissioned, Ivan returned to the Stonewallers, where he spent the rest of his military career, ending up as the Commanding Officer of the unit with his longtime friend Jack "The Wall" Hewlett as the Battalion's Sergeant Major. Throughout his military career he gained a solid reputation as a diplomat-soldier and a heavy drinker, even among the Deathless ranks, gaining the callsign of "DVodka" in that honour. It was during this time that him and Antoine "Artiste" Vigier, a synthetic mechanized infantry officer that defected from the Aquilan Legions met for the first time. Their first meeting at a mess on one of their many operations became the stuff of drinking contest legend, soon after the pair became very close.

### Marriage and Fatherhood

Following a few years of living together Ivan proposed to Antoine, vowing to spend the rest of his life with him. Following the wedding Ivan, a Colonel and commanding officer of the 1st Infantry Battalion "Stonewallers" retired from the military life. He then joined the corporate side of Deathless Conflict Solutions, Ivan joined the contracts department, where he could use his diplomatic skill and ease with languages to the benefit of the corporation. At around the same time, Antoine was approached by the Special Units Division with an offer that he took. In 2176, wanting to honour his father's last wishes to bring a new member of the Azarov family in the fold, Ivan, a sterile synth married to another synth, decided to do as his father did, design a perfect child with a mix of him and his husband. Thus, with their considerable funds the Azarov-Vigier couple contracted House Cygnus to design one of their newer synths to be the perfect heir to their name. Naming him Alexei and raising him as their own son, like Ivan's father had done before him, Ivan hoped he would produce the same results as he had for his father. Alexei proved to be an excellent product of Cygnus gengineering, inheriting both his fathers' warfaring skills, preferring the mechanized dance, much to Ivan's dismay. Alexei also showed to be a bit of a rebel showing problems with following authority at a very early age although he himself seemed to be a "born" leader.

### The Synthetic Contract

When the news of the Contract reached Ivan and Alexei it was already too late. Antoine had been part of the team that seized the board room hostage on that faiteful day. Somehow Antoine made sure that both Ivan and Alexei, synths designed for military proficiency through their gentic base, were spared from the purge. Even going against Ivan's wish of going with him on Thorg. After the Second Burning, Ivan swore to himself that such a thing should never happen again. Following the stepping down of the VP of Contracts at the time, Ivan, the next in the corporate line, ascended to the position. Later during the War against the Artificials, Alexei fled Koschei and his father to become a freelance mercenary, they have reportedly been in contact with each other but their relationship is apparently tense.