NationStates

Name: Vladimir Igorowitsh Zakharin
Nickname: The Black Bear of Ore
Age: 53 years
Birth Date: 19.870 IC
Gender: Male
Planet of Origin: Borduavia
Race/Species: Human
Height: 6' 4,8"/1,95 m
Weight: 264,5 lb/120 kg
Physical Description or Image:

Social Class: Not a noble but the fourth son of a wealthy CEO in the Imperial Core. Out in the farthest reaches of the...uh...northern periphery, he has managed to accrue immense wealth after the foundation of his own company, now being considered among the most influential men up in the northern periphery and easily capable of buying himself into the social circles he wants to get into. His influence on Winderzlaf has made him the de-facto ruler of that planet, mostly due to the resident Amban not bothering to stop or even going along with Zakharin's schemes.
Titles: Founder and Chairman of the Periphery Resource Extraction and Development Industries (PREDI), 4th son of the Zakharin Family, Leading Member of the Galactic Commercial Combine in the Northern Fringe Periphery
Occupation: Govern a planet and run a corporate enterprise spanning multiple planetary systems in the northern fringe of the Periphery
Hobbies/Pastimes: Good eating, working out, Sauna and
Talents/Skills: Experienced miner and explorer, ruthless negotiator and businessman, talented gutter fighter and brawler.
Religious Beliefs: Paying light lip service to whatever religion helps him most in his dealings but generally unreligious.
Personality: Ruthless and pragmatic, generally comes across as a bit brash and brutish which he often uses to his advantage. Generally misses the good old days when he was still young and his enterprise hadn't grown so much yet due to the cameraderie and simplicity of that time. Also human purist to the point that he refuses augmentation or advanced medical aid for himself out of fear for tainting his flesh.
Biography: Born as the 4th child of Igor Ivanovitsh Zakharin and Antonia Arkanawka Zakharin, Vladimir's prospects in life were looking pretty good. His parents were running a corporate empire in the Imperial Core spanning a great many systems and worlds and their wealth could've ensured him an especcially long life of absolute luxury for however long he would have wanted it. Of course, as the fourth child, he had absolutely no chance of taking over as Chairman after his father would pass away. A fact that was often rubbed under his nose by his older siblings who'd often mock the, at the time, obese, soft and comparatively dumb child that was Vladimir. Despite his parents sending him to the best schools within reach and hiring private tutors and the like to help with his education.

Constant abuse by his siblings, classmates and virtually everyone around him led to Vladimir developing a certain dislike towards a set life in the Imperial Core in luxury...and under the endless supervision and mockery of those around him. The Imperial Core was tainted and full in his opinion, he would never be able to get rid of his reputation here nor would he be able to do something on his own. Long entrenched institutions and families held everything in a chokehold. Which was why the very young Vladimir begged his father for a small loan of a million Gold Backs and a ride to the Periphery. For small, young, 18 year old Vladimir had a dream. A dream of staking out his own destiny in the outer fringes of the Empire, where services and resources were scarce and required and where he wouldn't get squashed immediately by an established institution. Destiny could still be molded in the fringe! The discussion with his father was long and hard and some choice words were used by both sides but eventually his father relented and let Vladimir go.

Vladimir made it to Winderzlaf, an Omega/Cheti class world at the tender age of 19. It was, just as he had hoped, a fringe world at the very edge of the Periphery and under military authority by some Imperial Amban recently arrived from the Imperial Core as well. Things were...rough around these parts, rougher than the young rich kid was used to. He was shoved, he was mugged and even temporarily forced into the local Imperial Army Detachment where the local Amban, Líszt, took great care in getting this softie he was into proper condition for this harsh world.

After some acclimatization to the new conditions as well as getting rid of the unnecessary fat wobbling on his body, Vladimir was quick to start exploring the planet, often on his own but sometimes in expeditions organized by the local Amban to explore the planet and pass her time. Bits and pieces of his high grade education kept floating back to him and he knew that as a Cheti Class world, Winderzlaf was bound to be rich in minerals...and here on the outer end of the Empire, where everything could and was still growing, ores, materials and anything were of good value, necessary to trade in for advanced tools and materials from the core as well as to feed the growth of the settlements out there.

His great breakthrough came when he was 25 and he found his first, ore vein of rare metals. Over the next few years he was busy mining that vein, exploring its depth as well as selling the ore, building up money while living off the barest minimum, employing other poor sods to work the vein with him. By the time he had reached the age of 30, Vladimir had set up one of the more successful planety mining corporations, at the time still called the Winderzlaf Exploitation Corporation (WEC). Engaging in what could only be described as corporate warfare, with paid gangs and thugs as well as saboteurs, blackmail and bribery he aggressively sought to expand the WEC, striving for a mining monopoly on the resource rich world, something he achieved in his 33 year of life, the Amban finally intervening in the gang wars and siding with the clearly victorious Vladimir, granting him the monopoly for all mining operations on the planet.

From then onward Vladimir's rise started to snowball as the entirety of the planet soon turned dependent on him and his company while he aggressively continued his expansion across the fringe, the company buying up smaller, new corporations on other sparsely settled planets, modernizing and subsidizing the mining efforts there as well as creating several mining stations. Soon enough Vladimir found the Winderzlaf Exploitation Corporation a no longer fitting name, given its expansion far past Winderzlaf. It was thus renamed into the Periphery Resource Extraction and Development Industries (PREDI), though Winderzlaf remained the corporate headquarters and found itself in the more and more vice-like grip of the corporation which was by that point handling most civilian matters on the planet as well as technically policing duty due to having an own security force.

With his own position, his own destiny carved out in the outer Periphery, Vladimir looked back at the Imperial Core once more and realized just how rotten it all had been. Here, during his time on Winderzlaf, in the wild fringe, he had truly experienced life. Hardships and true pride and joy at achievements that were actually his own. He could see the weakness in the Imperial Core and wondered...would the central imperial authority eventually collapse? Would the possibility of multi-pronged wars and revolutions allow the fringe to gain greater autonomy? Would he be able to not only get rich of supplying the core with resources, but also create an own, strong, non-decadent realm on the fringe?

A great deal of very important questions, questions that Vladimir found necessitated an involvement in the politics of the Empire itself which was why he began becoming more active in the Galactic Commercial Combine, trying to create ties with influential governours and both in the fringe and in the core under the guise of seeking out new business opportunities.

If Great House or a leader of a Faction like a SAS, Colony, Et Cetera
Name of Territory: Periphery Resource Extraction and Development Industries (PREDI)
Government: Corporate Dictatorship
Capital World: Winderzlaf
Population: 1,393 billion employees across the fringe
Economy: Specializing in the extraction and refinement of ores and metals.
Culture: Well, kinda varied due to being dependent on the culture of local planets. But generally VERY mining focused. And rough, brash, generally not fond of many words or bs.
Social Structure: At the bottom stand the miners, often easily replaced people, sometimes even criminals recruited to do the hardest tasks and work the mines. Above them come the foremen, generally veteran miners with a great deal of experience and overseeing and guiding the mining efforts down in the shafts and pits. They are also responsible for keeping morale up down in the dark. Of equal rank to the foremen is the office staff, low ranking corporate stooges working tirelessly, pouring over statistics, budgets, orders and whatnot

Standing above these are the corporate security forces, the Exploitation Security Service. Generally well paid and fed and handpicked by the recruiters and absolutely loyal to Vladimir, either due to personal belief or due to the good living conditions he provides them. They are generally required to police the company and enforce its guidelines, suppress revolts by unruly miners, tackle hostile wildlife or criminals and threaten the company's enemies.

Yet above these stand the men generally regarded as explorers and executives. Explorers are extremely well paid and afforded great luxury if they are successful. No surprise given that the company thrives off the discovery and exploitation of ever new resource rich deposits and planets. It also puts great effort into styling these men and women as brave heroes of the frontier, trying to draw more of such people to their cause for the job of explorer is not safe and there is a high wear rate, with many explorers dying in the attempt to find new mineral deposits. The executives on the other hand are generally planetary administrative staff, living in relative luxury and holding high authority within the company.

At the top level is the Chairman, in this case Vladimir Igorowitsh Zakharin. By refusing to put his own company on any kind of stock market, forcing the company to live without outside investment, he has successfully managed to keep power over his company concentrated in his hands. His words are nearly law within the practically dictatorically run company.
Territorial Size:
Reminder that these are not so much settled planets as they are planets with notably company operations on them.

• 7 Cheti Class Worlds
• 3 Omega Class Worlds
• 2 Zeta Class Worlds
• 5 Mining Stations

Military and Security Forces: The Exploitation Security Service (ESS) has approximately 2 million members. These are generally divided into 3 branches.

One being the primary Exploitation General Security Service (EGSS), numbering nearly 1,9 million members and consisting primarily out of former Imperial Army soldiers, it can generally be considered as fairly well equipped though due to its status as corporate security it generally lacks in armaments going beyond heavy infantry armaments and light support vehicles and aircraft. Their training is up to par or even slightly above that of regular Imperial Army forces, leading to a certain arrogance of EGSS members around Imperial Forces whenever it comes to clashes between corporate enforced guidelines and the local law. These EGSS Troopers are generally clad in the shown garbs though there is a large variety of uniforms.

A higher rank of the the ESS is the Exploitation Security Service Winterzlaf Special Division (ESSWSD), numbering around 99.000 members which generally consist of Winterzlaf locals who grew up in an environment mostly dominated by the company and as such show a much greater loyalty to company and chairman than to any other authority. They are generally very well versed in mountain and arctic warfare and tend to know the local geography and population much better than others, making them a considerable foe on the ground. Their training and equipment also generally is on the level of the Imperial Guard, with the ESSWSD even featuring heavier armament and vehicles. Their primary mission is the protection of the vast company headquarters on Winterzlaf. The uniforms of ESSWSD Troopers is generally looking also as shown but does feature a measure of variation, though a much slimmer one than the EGSS Troopers'.

Lastly there's the Exploitation Special Security Service (ESSS), numbering around 1.000 members, generally recruited from the ranks of experienced mercenaries or Imperial Army veterans. They form an elite formation within the ESS and are, much unlike the EGSS and the ESSWSD, used in an almost exclusively offensive manner. Require a rival killed? An installation sabotaged? A pesky journalist eliminated? Look no further than these heartless killers. Their paygrade is way above the average and their equipment is generally considered to be the best the company can afford in its security budget. Their training and experience are considered great boons to them, putting them somewhat above Imperial Guard troops in terms of sheer quality. They do however lack the loyalty or quantity of formations such as the Imperial Guard. They generally also lack heavy weaponry or vehicles, being something more along the line of special forces than hard-striking frontline troops. The ESSS Trooper generally looks as shown, though there's a very high amount of customization allowed to these troops which they fully take advantage of.