The Head of the Siberian Facility, constantly training SVR agents, it is whispered even in his sleep.
Stepan has the highest confirmed kill count of any agent in SVR or KGB history, and has personally executed, on foreign soil, seven condemned traitors, one at an Austrian Embassy ball in London. He has killed an impertinent potential agent with a single backhanded slap to the head, and is known for his utterly unrelenting search for physical perfection, in himself and those he trains.
He once famously flipped over a Zil Limousine which was attempting to run him down, using a metal sheet he grabbed from the side of a building. He has been subjected to enough drugs to kill Keith Richards, but keeps on ticking. There are stories in practically every agency about this incarnation of the "Russian Bear", including the time he stopped a charging, 500-pound sumotori cold with a standing dropkick, then hoisted him into the air, and used him as a bowling ball against four armed guards. His official record contains not a single failed mission, although as with everything else about this man, there are a near never-ending range of rumours.
He has finally reached the stage in life where he's contemplating having a family of his own, which, to him, would necessitate retirement from his chose line of work.
Quotes:- "I train every day of my life as they (his critics) have never trained a day in theirs."
"The loser is usually the one who is ready to lose.
Fight, overcome difficulties, control your emotions – and you will win."
From a sparring partner - "I was doing everything humanly possible to prevent him from lifting me off the mat. I weighed 265 pounds. I was in good shape. I was scared -- intense fear. I don't like flying through the air like that. I kept thinking, 'Don't get hurt. Don't get hurt.' With him, it's almost a victory if you don't get thrown."
Physique[]
Stefan is 1.93 m and 136 kg, almost all of it (6.6% body fat) toned muscle. He still runs, irrespective of the weather, a minimum 12k every morning, and every evening he has a 3k run - carrying a 150 kg log. He has brown eyes, and light brown hair, which he usually shaves off.
Personality[]
Stefan maintains, at great cost and with unending effort, the black-and-white worldview his own training inculcated, allowing doubt no foothold or purchase in his existence. In his own estimation, whatever he does was what had to be done, no more nor less. Internally, though never acknowledged, he dislikes taking life, considering it wasteful. He has never knowingly broken his word in a situation where the potential outcomes did not require him to do so in some manner. In the past three years or so, he has begun, in the private moments he never previously permitted himself, to contemplate the possibility of a personal relationship, and even a family. However, all interpersonal instincts have atrophied with disuse and he is currently, though purely internally, uncertain as to his own sexual preferences, and unsure what he would wish in a partner.
He permits no disrespect, irrespective of position and power, with two surprising exceptions - Joe Fixit and Oz, the only people known to use nicknames with him and walk away. Both men have, however, been ... instrumental in his unblemished record, and since they're not SVR, perhaps that is the explanation.
Quirks[]
Stepan almost never looks head-on into a mirror, preferring to angle his head one way or another.
He is surprising affable and hospitable, when the mood (as host or guest) takes him.
He would never attack or betray (in that context) a person he had welcomed into his house as a guest.
He prefers sake (nihonshu) to any other form of alcohol, vodka included.
As one would expect from a top field agent, he is fluent in a number of languages, including English, Japanese, Spanish and German.
When not on a mission, he tends to always use a handkerchief to turn door handles.
