Koschei the Red

**Koschei the Red** (Modern Bujanski: **Kōščei Krāsnijon**; Late Sarmelonid: **Koštæjoz Krāsjonzo**) was a warlord that lived at the latter part of the Sarmelonid Empire's demise.

## Appearance

As an ethnic Slav, he had red hair, green eyes, and peach skin. He usually wore Sarmelonid robes, mostly in red and gold silk with a golden helmet-crown studded with spinels and emeralds. His red hair and beard, or his fiery temper, was the source of his name, "the Red". Instead of gryphons as other Sarmelonid rulers wore on the cloaks of their robes, his cloak had two wolves.

As the ruler of an independent Bujan, he also wore Slavic-style robes.

## History

### Beginnings

Koschei was born to King Krasnoi III Krasnijonov, one of the leaders of the rebel nation of Movaria at the western side of the Sarmelonid Empire. His people were brought to western Vozolaz as slaves and prisoners of war during Emperor Maudolinnir's attempts to conquer the Western Hemisphere.

His people were a mixture of Darroskei, Pogimmelian, and other Slavic peoples, while his family was of Darroskei origin. Every son and daughter in that noble line was taught about the crimes of their former homeland, to instruct them to avoid such attitudes and actions to honour Almighty Perun.

As a young boy, Koschei was interested in history. He was very interested in the histories of the Sarmelonid and Darroskei tyrants, noticing that the Sarmelonid realm to the east of his home was becoming more dysfunctional. He wrote a guide to avoid the mistakes of both countries, forming a civics club.

Under the reign of Emperor Ratirminoz, the Sarmelonid Empire became more weaker, as troops were sent to distant star systems and the economy was spent on his immortality elixir project. As his brothers competed for his father's throne, Koschei built his own army to claim some empty land in Vilon for himself.

### Founder of Bujan

With the Sarmelonid Empire in chaos, his army sailed west to Vilon, where he aided many local revolts. One of the revolutionaries' leaders gifted him a white wolf puppy, which grew into a great wolf that he used to ride. He, his army, and his great wolf steed sailed to Freyrgard, as the revolutionaries claimed that the Emperor of Freyrgard had a greater reward for him.

He was given more men and supplies to seize control of Ersoviant Island, which is used as one of the facilities for Ratirminoz's immortality elixir. In one of the most renowned of his battles, Koschei rode on his great wolf, bursting through volleys of plasma and crushing rows of guards to pillage an elixir factory for himself.

Within three days Koschei took control of the island and set up his own kingdom, Bujan, giving Freyrgard's king samples of the elixir and the chemicals to create more gallons of the elixir. As a result of the elixir being spread to the kingdom and then modified to a condensed form, the Freyrgardian people of his day enjoyed longer lifespans and heightened senses that helped them avoid danger, making them a race of superhumans.

To the surprise of the Bujanski, the Wonao natives welcomed the Bujanski, because the natives used them to expel the Sarmelonid tyrants. Grateful for their assistance, Koschei signed a pact with all the leaders of the Wonao people, resulting in his nation of Bujan becoming an elective monarchy. One of the conditions for the Slavs to continue being citizens of their new home was to accept the authority of the local kings, which they unanimously agreed.

Koschei, their leader and saviour, was chosen as their representative king, the newest member of the Wonaos' age-old elective monarchy. To celebrate his help in restoring Bujan's independence by "founding" it as a sovereign state, the native kings elected him as the first high monarch of their reborn nation. Some of the Slavs thought that they were being tricked by the natives into being ruled by them, when actually the two Wonao and Slavic peoples ruled Bujan together. Neither one would oppress the other, but both races became the masters of Bujan, as viceroys of all of their Gods. Whether the current King will be a Slav or a Wonao will not matter, so long as both peoples swore loyalty to Bujan.

Koschei's first cities were Lidongrad and Koscheigrad: Lidongrad was the former governor's mansion rebuilt as his personal palace, and Koscheigrad functioned as the capital of his new kingdom. His warriors also battled the Kyrvotin Invasion and plundered the aliens' technology.

Thirty-three men were his bodyguards, his greatest champions. They are known in history as the Wolf Guard, after the personal flag of their king and leader. Some were Vilonians; one was a Vozonid; three were Norse; and seven were aborigine Wonaos.

Some of them guided his son, Rumo, as he grew up and took his father's place as the second King of Bujan. One of them was a Norseman known as Sigurd Larufloy. They gave him suggestions to ensure that he and his immortalised people will never repeat the Sarmelonids' errors. The Wolf Guard's members all had their own wives and children, who became the ancestors of some of the noble houses of Bujan.

The Slavs of Bujan requested him to hold a poll for a new Eosome-language name for themselves, and Koschei agreed. Eventually, of the many names suggested, one name became popular enough to win the poll, "Kagaruro", meaning "the loyal ones". It was originally a misspelling of "Kagakuro" ("cheaters, traitors") that became into a joke, until many Slavs adopted it as a symbol to prove that they were loyal to the elective monarchy and their Wonao fellow-citizens.

### Decline

Koschei also took control of several islands to the northeast and built another facility. After applying his improved elixir, his body began to decay and his mind was damaged, driving him to insanity. Like Ratirminoz before him, he wanted to prolong his life to guide his people, even after he will have left the throne to a new house. But the elixir became addictive, causing him to overdose and harm his own health. His great wolf died of grief when she missed her owner.

Noticing his madness and unstable physical condition, the other Wonao kings, and many Bujanid people denounced their monarch and exiled him to his facility, somewhere in the present-day Wannaenid Empire. In his laboratory, the kings copied his memories and knowledge in chips, which were transmitted into digital archives to preserve his wisdom from being consumed by his insanity.

They crowned his son, Rumo, as the next king. Rumo joined the native kings in arresting and expelling his father, angered by Koschei's refusal to abdicate and insistence on his insane proposed laws.

He was eventually imprisoned by his grandson, who made Bujan into an empire like the Sarmelonids. When Solintoz became Emperor of Bujan, he ordered the destruction of his grandfather's laboratory. Solintoz cursed his grandfather for shaming his country and becoming like Ratirminoz, the very tyrant whom he fought against.

Solintoz ordered several robots to restrain his mad grandfather. One of the robots was to destroy a chip containing his memories, as a test to see if he can save himself by fleeing the demolition of his now-empty laboratory. The former king angrily beat up the robot, so the scientists who were brought outside blew up the laboratory. One of them recorded a video of Koschei, looking back at his camera as the roof crushed the former king to death.

Koschei was given a simple funeral, where eight priests in black robes brought his broken body to the pyre. Before they lit his body on fire, the priests condemned his wasteful, shameful deeds that dishonoured his lost wisdom.

## Legacy

### Shame

Although he is still recognised as the founder of Bujan, modern Bujanski gave him the same contempt as Vozonids did to King Wozondo. In spite of the two monarchs being founders, both of them were seen as the shame of their peoples and civilisations for their corrupt behaviour.

No festivals or ceremonies were ever done to honour Koschei the Red, and his only shrine was a simple grave, never a tapestry or even a grand monument. All of his symbols are no longer in honour of him, but for the nation as a whole.

### Rage

However, the only things that the Bujanski and their Wonao fellows praised about Koschei were his code of laws and his early reign. The followers of Koschei abided by his code, to prevent themselves from becoming like various warmongers and tyrants in history to rise above their Sarmelonid oppressors.

This also made them hate Darros for its imperialistic society and culture, denouncing their former homeland for a war that it waged against the other Slavic nations to build its empire. The Bujanids also did not want to end up like the Darroskei, who were condemned across the world for their widespread hypocrisy to justify their invasions. They were also disgusted as the Darroskei's comments were shown to them as examples of the empire's society.

### The False Motherland

The Darroskei empire after the Kyrvotin apocalypse was a hypermilitarist society. Under its emperors, its people were more obsessed with parading, forming abusive households, raising miserable children as fanatics, and killing and dying in wars.

Such a great waste of life angered and saddened the Bujanids, who denounced this as "orcness", a great degradation of the humanity they wanted to be. Those practices were the very things Koschei warned about in his observations and laws.

That, and the similar worship of death celebrated in Tyrskan society, is why the Bujanski of later eras abhor and hate militarism in spite of having a strong military. They curse Darros as "a mother who throws her children to Hell", and henceforth refused to have any diplomatic relations with that civilisation and its states.

The Wonaos and some of the successors of Sarmelon also helped the Bujanids forge a new identity, to free themselves from any ties with Darros. This was also why the Bujanids became more Vozonid.

### Realignment

After they defeated Vozonid nobles at the planet of Luril, the Bujanids made a vow to renounce Darros, and declared war on everything Darroskei. Whatever Sarmelonid technology left in Bujan was used to destroy the imperial expeditions, and provide the victims with immense weaponry to finish the imperials off.

The other Slavic states happily welcomed the Bujanids as their new brothers, for purifying themselves from the taint of Darros by stopping and killing war criminals. Particularly, the Bujanids sought to learn from Rukania in order to integrate themselves to the wider world, instead of the crumbling Darroskei empire's alliance. Later, the Bujanids defeated a great invasion force from the False Motherland, celebrating it as their final separation from Darros and their integration into the global community, as a willing, independent nation.

For helping his people redeem themselves to the world, the only monuments to Koschei that were permitted consisted only of sculptures of hands or books, representing his laws that influenced early Bujanski society. Some Wonaos even compared him to a lesser heir of Motakol, close enough to follow their ancient hero-king's path had he not fallen to corruption.

### The New Motherland

The Wonao people claimed that they used him and his Bujanski people to expel the Sarmelonids, and rule their island nation together with their arrivals. For the Bujanski Slavs, they instead saw this as part of another plan: to create a new home where they were to unlearn and end the wickedness of their ancestors, by following the harmony of their Wonao compatriots.

Ultimately, Koschei was part of the natives' plan to reclaim their homeland, and the Pact of Koschei ensured that they would end up being the co-rulers of the island. This became the Lunar Throne, a system where Wonao kings succeeded their Slavic predecessors under an elective monarchy, ensuring that the Wonao continued to rule their own homeland.

Koschei's dynasty was an elective dynasty under the Pact of Koschei. So after Solintoz died, his grandson ruled for only one day when he was reminded that his dynasty's term on the throne had just ended. In his devotion to Perun, he sacrificed his own authority by burning his wooden throne as an offering, and passed the crown to a prince elected by the natives. He lived under the new King as a loyal subject and a commoner, but also spent the rest of his life as one of the greatest novelists in the whole nation.

The next dynasty after the indigenous dynasty was a Slavic dynasty again. Like the first native king, the first ruler of that Slavic dynasty was also elected by the people.

In the next four centuries, the four dynasties that followed his house were another native dynasty, then Vozonid, then Slavic, and then a descendant of the Namiri from Pinoguni, and so on for thousands of years. All of the houses' first rulers were elected on the basis of how capable they were to their own people, rather than their charisma, prestige, or popularity.

## Children of Sarmelon

### Laboratory

The islands northeast of Bujan became the Wannaenid Empire, using Koschei's ancient laboratories to alter themselves into a technological empire of warlike immortals. The Wannaenid Imperial Palace was at the very site of his death, and it was also the site of its modern capital city.

### Founding Father

Though Koschei was shamed for his madness, he set the stage for a long age of harmony and coexistence between his Slavs, the indigenous Wonaos, and the rest of Jerde's countries. Eventually the Wonaos and even the Vozonids regarded the Bujanski Slavs as if they were strange but loyal little brothers, among the most faithful successors of Sarmelon.

The Bujanski, Drevobojanse, and Ljetoslouna, descendants of the Bujanids, were among the most fervent allies of the Wonao nations. Members of these Slavic peoples who defended the five lands south of Bujan were hailed as "completing Koschei's work"; while the Bujanski who returned to free their homeland were praised as "purifying Koschei's accomplishments".

### Two Faces

The Wonao nations gave them the honour of leading the liberation of Bujan, ending Wannaenid rule over the island. Later, the struggle to stop the mass killings of Black July were also compared to the two sides of Koschei, with the Wonaos supporting those who stopped the killings as a continuation of his good legacy against his madness.

Although they never honoured Koschei in person, the people of modern Bujan instead carried many of his beliefs into modern times, venerating justice and diplomacy over supremacy and dominance.

## Trivia

### Inspirations and influences

* Koschei the Red was inspired by Koschei the Deathless (Коще́й Бессме́ртный), a character from Russian folklore.
	+ In 2023, Koschei was also influenced by the author's observations of militarism in Russia during its invasion of Ukraine. The king's laws to avoid Darroskei imperialism were inspired by the author's desire to avoid the extremist attitudes in Russian society and supporters of the war.
	+ To some extent, the Bujanid war of independence from Darros was also inspired by local Russians who resisted or fought against Putin on behalf of Ukraine, to stop his invasion.
	+ It was also inspired by people referring Russians as "orcs", and seeing how would one seek to reconcile with society. The Bujanids saw that their Darroskei relatives were hated everywhere for being related to the war criminals, they sided with the victims and waged war against Darros on behalf of the victims. They did so to avoid being treated in the same manner.
	+ Unlike the Russian resistance, the Bujanids went as far as completely renounce their ties with their former homeland to secede and create their own nation. So they are more like the United States, ironically represented by their later enemies, the Maeranoi.
	+ The flags of Bujan before Sarmelonid conquest and in modern times were blue and white. They somewhat resemble the white blue flags used by anti-Putin protestors, although the Bujanski flag existed years before the protest flag.

* In the original folktale, Koschei's life was kept in a needle. When its boxes were opened and the needle was destroyed, Koschei crumbled to dust and died.
	+ In the Rabydosverse, the "needle" was a chip containing his memories, which were copied elsewhere in digital archives. Years after Koschei's exile, his grandson, Solintoz, went to him in his laboratory, and used a robot to crush the chip. The angry, elderly king tried to beat up the robot, and was crushed to death by the collapsing laboratory.
* Bujan, the kingdom founded by Koschei, was inspired by a mixture of Slavic folklore and science fiction, mixing two folktales together (Tsar Saltan and Koschei the Deathless). Bujan itself was named after the fairytale island of Buyan.
* Lidongrad is based on Ledenets (Ле́денец), a city on the mythical island of Buyan.
* The thirty-three Knights of Koschei were based on the thirty-three bogatyrs (тридцать три богатыря; knights, heroes, paladins) from the Tsar Saltan story and the Knights of King Arthur.
* Koschei the Deathless was also the partial inspiration for the Zetrosian Empire, which in turn was inspired by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the Russian nationalists' usage of "8" as a symbol to justify their invasion (the number of years when the Donbas pro-Russia terrorists waged war against Ukraine).
	+ The author twisted it into another idea, where the Zvestarid Kingdom was threatened by a civil war waged by terrorists who wanted to annex the island into the rule of a Terran emperor.
	+ 8 became a symbol of that Terran empire, representing immortality. In turn, he based the immortal Terrans on Koschei the Deathless, in their eternal youth, rage, and obsession with power.
	+ Unlike Koschei, the Terrans remained ever-youthful, but the same serums that made them immortal also drove them to greater rage, arrogance, and recklessness, making them more brutal due to the influence of their serums and militaristic society.

### Miscellaneous

* The wolf was the emblem of the Krasnijonov royal family. It represented shame for the sins of the Darroskei nation, but also exile, departure, and repentance, as the wolf was seen as a dangerous animal.
	+ Wolf heraldry survives in modern Ashostrana, representing its ties with the mighty Kingdom of Bujan. In fact some of the westernmost settlements were given to the modern Bujanski state as Princetowns, where blue Bujanski flags were raised outside Bujan and Rukania for the first time.