Maxim Rukov - Peacekeeper

Name: Maxim Rukov

Age: 36

Gender: Male

District/Area: District 2

Appearance:

Standing at about 6'2, Maxim is a fairly tall individual and has a somewhat muscular build (but not too muscular, a bit above average), though not necessarily imposing. Having spent much time working in quarries and mines during his youth, Maxim is stronger than the average person, but is not big enough to the point that it damages his speed or agility. His years as a Peacekeeper have also built up his strength, coordination and reflexes considerably, which are above those of a civilian. Basically, he has an athletic build and does not look weak. Neither does he smile often and instead prefers a blank, serious expression.

He possess dark brown hair, white skin, and a considerable amount of facial hair. Typically, Maxim wears a standard Peacekeeper uniform, and sometimes a darker-color variant for special ops. The darker variant consists of field grey clothes and a black vest with various pouches. When not on duty, Maxim wears simple civilian clothes, usually a grey-brown vest over a black dress shirt. On missions he can be seen using different weapons as the situation dictates. Being a soldier, he walks with his chest forward and back straight almost always, a habit that has been drilled into him, and has the overall appearance of being a life-long military man.




Personality:

Having been raised by a family of Capital loyalists, Maxim Rukov is a loyalist who believed that the Capital provided order, peace, and stability. He was raised as a patriot since his early years and remained one even after witnessing what the poorer districts were like. The man was initially proud of becoming a Peacekeeper, believing that he was doing a good service to the public, but was disappointed when he witnessed some abuses of power and corruption. He remains quite loyal to the Capital nonetheless but thought that some changes needed to be made if they were to keep the districts from erupting into a rebellion, making it his goal to rise to a position of power in the military hierarchy so he could implement his ideas.

Since his parents sent him to work and were very busy, they rarely saw each other, and thus Maxim never became very attached to them. So when they died in a mine shaft collapse, he did felt little remorse, if any at all. Since, in a way, their deaths opened up more opportunities, Maxim was even secretly glad they are gone. Since he did not have any other family other than some distant relatives he barely knew, this allowed him to join the Peacekeepers. But, that being said, Maxim is not the emotionless person that he may appear to be. He cares about the public and thought that as a Peacekeeper he was defending and serving them.

Maxim is not a very social person, though, and is generally quiet and reserved. As such, he does not enjoy partaking in regular social interactions with others and prefers to just do his job. The man is very much used to hard work and has a lot of determination, feeling more encouraged to put more effort into something after failing. That, and his physical fitness, allowed him to pass Peacekeeper training and join their ranks. He valued order, fidelity, and organization above all, and thus came to enjoy being a Peacekeeper.

History:

Hailing from District 2, Maxim Rukov was born to a family of stonemasons and bricklayers, the common career paths for people living in that area. Since his early years, his parents have sent him to work in the district's many quarries. Maxim became strong and muscular as a result of toiling in the mines for the Capital. Since their district was also one of the most loyal to their masters in the Capital, it was not surprising that the Rukov family was fanatically loyalist. Maxim was raised to believe that the Capital provided order, stability, and peace to the world, and having never been to any of the poorer districts, he's never had any reason to doubt those claims.

This resulted in the raising of a patriotic and physically strong young man, who believed that the Capital must be defended and obeyed. But he was never really close to his family, who spent all of their time working, as he did. Maxim continued his work in the quarries and mines of District 2 as he moved up in rank, becoming a stonemason himself at the age of 23. However, having seen the recruitment posters around the country for the Peacekeepers, Maxim considered joining them, seeing it as the best way to serve the Capital (and not to mention more exciting than being a stonemason). Maxim has heard about and seen some of the Hunger Games that occurred, but he just believed that it was necessary to enforce order in their society.

An incident took place when he was 26 that would end up deciding the course of his life. His parents were killed in a mining accident, when a shaft collapsing onto them and some other miners. Since he did not speak with them frequently nor had much attachment to them, Maxim was not as affected as the average person would be by the premature death of their parents, but this did change one thing. Since he no longer had any family left (being an only child) other than some distant relatives, he did not have much left to lose, nor was he pressured to continue the Rukov family's tradition of masonry. Maxim realized that this whole incident may have been a blessing in disguise.

So Maxim went ahead and enlisted in the Peacekeepers. He passed the written examinations but excelled the most physically. Due to his work in the mines, yet having a more slender build, Maxim was pretty strong and also possessed some degree of speed and agility. He also proved to be a very good marksman, performing very well in the shooting ranges. Eventually he passed his training and went on to serve in as a Peacekeeper, something that made him very proud. Maxim Rukov served in several tours of duty around the districts, where he witnessed the poverty and state of desperation that much of the populations were in. This did not faze him, however, as a few experiences could not change years of ideological indoctrination.

Maxim ended up serving in several campaigns against rebel groups and the like. He fought well and was rewarded after several years by getting a position in the Capital itself as a security guard, which became the apex of his Peacekeeping career. But over the course of his time in the other districts, Maxim did witness a considerable amount of what he perceived to be unnecessary brutality and corruption from local garrisons. This is a problem that needed to be corrected, in his view, and thus Maxim's goal became rising up through the ranks to a position from where he could start to make important changes.

Codeword: ODAIR



FC: Gary Oldman