Illarion Petrov

**Illarion** **Aleksandrovich Petrov** was a Russian scholar, general, and politician who served as the authoritarian Chancellor of the Russian Commonwealth from 3902 to 3928, ~~when he was overthrown in a coup by Georgy Solovyov.~~

~~Petrov was a noted general of the Decade's War, who secured Russia's independence by 3894 with the help of the Germans to the west. After the war's end, Petrov ran in Russia's first elections to become Chancellor of Russia. He won in a landslide victory, and established socio-economic stability in Russia. His most notable feet was the massive overhaul and expansion of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and the later mass-scale population of Siberia. However, in the February of 3928, Petrov was deposed in a coup carried out by Russian nationalist Georgy Solovyov. He spent the rest of his days in anonymous exile outside of Vostergrad, the Siberian capital he created.~~

~~He remains a famous, iconic figure in Russia, especially in Siberia. He is celebrated there as a hero, however, in European Russia, he is denounced primarily by the German ethnic majority. His polarising legacy is split upon ethnic lines - Russians love him, Germans hate him.~~

## ~~Early Life~~

~~Dutro Petrov was born on the 11th of June, 3854, in St. Petersburg (known to many EGR citizens as Maxio, after noted general Maxius). His parents were both lower-class Russian workers, feeding the EGR's industry with work. He was brought up with practical knowlege for a factory worker - how parts worked, how to assemble them, and heavy lifting. His father noted him as being a strong young boy, but he lacked in one area - social skills. He was a very shy boy in his childhood, rarely talking to the other children of the city, for he lacked the social skills to maintain a good conversation. As he got into his high school years, this manifested itself as bullying. Other children would pick on the meek Petrov, and he simply took it, not knowing what else to do. He suffered ostricization in high school, an experience that traumatised him - but also toughened him. By graduation, he had learned to bury his sorrow and regret, and to ferment it as anger. His hatred for his enemies turned to hatred for the EGR when his parents died in a factory fire in 3966 - and the EGR government did nothing to prevent further incidents. It was around this age that he began to notice things wrong with the world around him. He questioned why Russians had to bow to Cascadians in the streets, were payed less than Cascadians, and received inferior social treatment to Cascadians. Why did Cascadians get to be lawyers, doctors, politicians, actors, while Russians had to be factory workers, waiters, servants, janitors?~~

~~His questions turned him quickly into a protester. He quit his factory job in 3968, and left St. Petersburg. He made his way to Helsinki, where he found a city in protest. Long had the EGR's government considered Helsinki "a place of unrest and anarchy," but when Petrov arrived there, he found a paradise. Most of the city's residents were openly anti-EGR, and EGR supporters and officials were harassed upon entering the city. Petrov was welcomed with open arms, and he found comfort among like-minded people. He enrolled in the Helsinki University, where he learned the Finnish language and took several history and linguistics courses. Through his history lessons, however, he also gained an interest in military. During a course on Napoleon Bonaparte, he became fascinated with the man's military strategy. In his pastime, he'd study the life and strategy of Napoleon. He admired and respected his strategy, working to emulate it in simulations. However, through studying him, he also gained a more monarchist mindset. He believed the best uniting force for a people was a monarch, an Emperor. This monarchist mindset led him to study the old Romanov Empire, the monarchy of Russia destroyed a thousand years ago. His admiration for monarchy was much to the charign of the EGR, who disliked monarchies (despite the fact that several of their puppets, such as Ethiopia, Japan, and Great Britain, had monarchs). However, him being protected by the chaos city of Helsinki, they couldn't get to him. He became a vocal Russian nationalist after he graduated, calling for the union of the Russian people into a single state, or as he called it, "Great Russia." His "Great Russia" concept earned him admiration from the Russian people, who now saw Petrov as a savior of the Russian people. Under Petrov's plan, Russia would be restored to greatness, and he became a popular figure in the Russian independence movement. He returned to St. Petersburg, where he became affiliated with numerous underground militant groups. As leader of the groups, he slowly integrated them into a large network of united Russian nationalist groups called the Tsar System. The Tsar System would only grow in size, much to the dismay of the EGR government. When war finally broke out in 3892, Petrov sprung the whole system forward in total revolt.~~