Artyom Novikov

Senior Lieutenant Artyom Novikov, c. 1943

### Battles/Wars

Battle of Moscow, Battle of Rzhev, Battle of Kursk, Operation Bagration, Liberation of Belarus, Battle of Berlin.

### Awards

Hero of the Soviet Union (Twice Awarded, 1942, 1945)Order of Lenin

## Personal Life

### Height

160cm (5'3)

> "You don't understand. You'll never understand. I fucking cared for you, and this is how you pay me back?!"
>
>
> * Artyom to Ekaterina
>

## Profile

Artyom is a young tank officer, serving in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. The son of an affluent general, he enjoyed a lot of his life living "more equal" than everyone else. He is a tank ace, having at least 22 tanks to his name by the start of "Night of the Patriots." Despite what negative things people say about him, and how he's simply using his status to inflate his numbers, he is an honest guy, and never really tries to lie about anything he does.

He is the commander of a platoon of T-34-76s.

## Appearance

With dark brown hair, and grey-blue eyes, he's not really far from the average Russian. Prior to finishing his officer courses in 1939, Artyom had very short hair, to which now he's grown out due to the lack of time to fix his own looks. He eventually shaves off the sides and starts to slick back his hair by the end of 1943. He has a clean shaven face, and is often seen wearing glasses outside of combat.

Clothing wise, he is usually seen in the regular tank officer's uniform. That piece consists of a black tankist's leather jacket, a brown peaked cap with red piping, as well as several parts of the regular uniform. Outside of the tank, he wears the tunic-pants-peaked cap combo, especially in situations where he has to talk to someone important.

## Personality

He just wants life to get over with. Artyom is a very average person. He is sometimes cocky, letting things get to his head, but most of the time, he's actually pretty chill. He is often understanding of his subordinates, and refuses to let them call him "Sir" or "Comrade" or- whatever those unimportant titles are. He also refuses salutes from most people.

It seems he has a negative attitude towards the Infantry. He, however, finds interest in a woman, who just happens to be... in the infantry... His attitude seems to change overtime as he realises how important having people on the ground is.

## Background

Artyom Antonovich Novikov was born to his mother, a local baker, Mirtel Kask, and his father, Anton Nikolaevich Novikov, an ex-Russian Imperial Army officer, garrisoned in the Locality of Sillamäe, which is now known as Ida-Viru county, in Northeastern Estonia. Artyom had a twin brother named Aimo, who was born a mere 20 minutes before him.

The two were one of the newest citizens of the Republic of Estonia, as the nation declared independence earlier the same day, February 24th, 1918. The two Novikov Twins were registered into the national citizenship system on February 27th, at appx. 15h00, in the City of Narva.

During the time of their infanthood, Artyom and Aimo had lived with their mother as their father had been sent back to the now-USSR to combat the Bolsheviks and counter the revolution against the Communists. For the most part, his mother raised him, with the help of her parents and her siblings. Artyom and Aimo’s grandparents were not the most kind to him, as he stated in an interview in 1947. He was often shunned for being half Russian, as his family were quite the Estonian nationalists. Unsurprisingly, many of Artyom’s cousins went on to become Forest Brothers and Counter Revolutionaries against the Soviets and the Bolsheviks.

As he and his brother grew through their infancy, they mostly spoke Estonian at home, and didn’t make the effort of learning Russian until they were older, as it was simply not needed. In 1923, his father returned to Estonia to bring back their family to the USSR. His mother’s family bickered with Boris as he claimed the right to let his wife choose to come with him or not. Ultimately, he convinced them to let his wife and children immigrate to the USSR, and ended up moving to Leningrad. Both him and his brother gained citizenship to the RSFSR in accordance with their father’s citizenship.

### Primary School

On June 24th, 1923, the Novikov Twins gained another sibling just as they made their way into grammar school. Their mother survived giving birth to the new child, but later died due to contracting influenza. Their father was left alone to raise three children, Aimo, Artyom, and finally, the youngest, whom they had named Nina. According to Artyom, he had little to no memory of what happened after his mother died. All that he knows is that his father would come home with a foul emotion. Though he would never unleash his anger on his children, it was well obvious in the way that he acted.

Artyom and his brother started attending an unnamed grammar school in Leningrad as they turned 6. According to an interview conducted by political officer Dmitry Volkov in June of 1945, shortly after the Battle of Berlin, this is around the time that he started only going by his father’s last name after encountering harassment from his peers. This is found to be a common theme throughout his childhood, being treated differently by other children due to his origins. His brother had encountered the same problem, though to a lesser extent.

Despite the problems of being of shorter stature than others, Artyom went on to push through his classes. He did quite well at first, being proclaimed as “Gifted, well skilled,” as well as a variety of other compliments that he refused to list in several interviews. Artyom stated that if he understood what that meant at the time, he would have put more effort into his early education. He stated that despite what they told him, he still went on to reject his education, becoming careless and spending less time doing schoolwork and more time into his own interests. Stated in an interview in 1952, Artyom had trouble paying attention to subjects that he didn’t find interest in, namely mathematics and sciences, which to this day, he regrets.

Artyom went on to graduate near the middle of his class, compared to his brother, who graduated at the very top. This did not phase him, as he didn’t expect to ever achieve the level that his brother did. It was simply not for him. Artyom stated that when he was little, he didn’t “...like attention, not compared to the amount I get today.” (Artyom A. Novikov, Pravda Newspaper Interview, December 7th, 1945.)

It was around this time that Artyom started to pick up hobbies, some of which he ended up using later in life. Artyom was known for being quite the ice skater, though not as good as his brother, being fast, small, and having great balance thanks to his size. Artyom played in local hockey just until he turned 17, when he started to shift his interests more to his career ahead. Artyom also played the accordion, taught by his father, as per the “Novikov Family Tradition.” (Aimo. K Novikov, Pravda Newspaper Interview, November 11th, 1945.)

In his hockey career, Artyom usually played at the regional level. Artyom retold in an interview in 1952 that he regarded sport as a way of discipline, well needed in order to be a healthy and fit soldier. He then went on to send his regards to his old coach, Jüri Galkin.

### Secondary School

In 1927, Artyom entered his secondary education at a 7 year school, planning to take up a trade in mechanics afterwards. Throughout his secondary education, he started to take things more seriously, watching as his brother was sent to a 9 year school, and his sister about to go into kindergarten. From 10-16, Artyom spent a lot of time studying, and over time, started to rise through his school’s ranks. It was around this time that Artyom had been recruited into the “Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization,” informally starting his life as part of the Communist Party. When he turned 15, he made the transfer to the Komsomol, eventually joining his brother again.

At 16 years old, he was offered a chance to attend a 9 year school, which he eventually took up. Artyom went on to do well in his classes, and graduated with honors. According to several of his classmates, there was a reason behind his success. Artyom apparently suffered from pressure as he felt the need to be less than his brother, being the second born, so he could “let Aimo shine.” (Artyom A. Novikov, Pravda Newspaper Interview, February 24th, 1946)

### Commissioning School

Artyom entered a commissioning school following his graduation from 9 year school. He relocated from Leningrad to Gorky Tank School (which would later be moved to Kharkov in 1938) in order to pursue a commission by the Red Army as a tank officer. At this time, Artyom was contemplating joining the Red Cavalry instead, but as offers started to come in, he settled for the Tank Corps instead. Artyom studied under the guidance of headmaster Gavril Arkhipov, then later Mikhail Vyazemsky, and finally Nikolai Pukhov by the time of his graduation.

Artyom describes his time at Gorky as difficult, to which the professors were hard on the cadets, but with good reason. These cadets would go on to become Russia’s next officers, and would go on to serve the Red Army during WWII. He gave a quote though, which helped him persevere through the pain and suffering in order to graduate top of his class.

> *"If you cannot handle the pressure, it will crumble you."*
>
>

### The Great Patriotic War

Artyom was sent to Finland during the Winter War, though his unit was quickly retrieved from the front in order to...

**And I've become tired. I will continue writing this later.**

## Relationships

### Serzhant Kostya Messerschmitt

Artyom is close with Konstantin. Konstantin was put in Artyom's unit as a tank commander after the death of his 2IC. During that time, Artyom grieved his fallen comrade, and despite knowing Konstantin's background, still accepted him as the replacement. Konstantin would help Artyom regularly, often trying to get to know the Russian language better through his commander.

Kostya and Artyom would become best friends throughout the war, with Konstantin eventually marrying Artyom's sister, Nina.

### Serzhant Ekaterina Vasilevskaya

Though initially aggressive towards Ekaterina, Artyom slowly started to develop feelings for her, following the little feud they had in the tavern. He considers her to be one of the closest women he's ever met before, though Ekaterina might not feel the same. His love for her can be described more as obsession. He is fully aware of this, but neither side has done anything to address it.

Artyom and Ekaterina would get married in 1945, and have their first child in 1947.

## Trivia

* Artyom is the oldest of the NotP characters, both in creation and in birth date. He is 29 years old by February 1945. He was created in 2018.
* His favourite food is solyanka.
* He tries to speak Estonian as often as possible. After all, it is his native language.
* He was registered as Artjom Novikoff in various censuses.
* Artyom has a cat named Rukkilill.
* He was originally a Hetalia Axis Power OC. We do not question the Tyomification of Estonia.
* He denied 2 promotions. Had he not, he would of been a lieutenant colonel by 1945.

## Gallery

Artyom and EkaterinaAnother fullbody of ArtyomA placeholder sketch of ArtyomArtyom with his hands upSecondary fullbody of Artyommini tyomartyom with flowers