Alyosha/Storyline

Alyosha (Russian: Алёша Alyosha) is a young man who lives in Sretomorozsk. A "hunter" by profession, he is a member of the Rokot, who seek to help improve the lives of Snezhnaya's people.

Profile

Personality

Alyosha is a young man who has a strong sense of justice, dealing with criminals who threaten to exploit innocent people. He enjoys raising dogs, as evidenced by his companion Tugarin and even allowing the Traveler to adopt one of his stock if they ever chose to take one in.^[5] Alyosha is implied to struggle to make ends meet, frequently musing about having income to use for himself when he has to part with large amounts of it for his daily needs and trying to avoid spending more whenever possible.

Appearance

Alyosha uses the medium male model. He has pale skin, freckles, pastel mint green hair, and yellow eyes. Alyosha wears white fur-like headphones. He wears a black shirt, with a blue and white coat over the top, and a red and beige tunic with a white fur collar over that. He has an Electro Vision attached to a small pouch on his right leg.

History

Past

Alyosha was raised in the village of Alatyr. He was raised by his parents to live a simple life until bandits raided the village, where his parents fought with suicidal resolve to protect him. The other villagers, seeing their resolve, also fought the bandits off. However, the attack had caused much damage, and Alyosha's parents were severely injured in the fiasco, with the cost of medicine needed to treat them being far more than they could afford. Taking the rifle that his father had intended to bestow him, Alyosha tracked and killed the bandits before returning to the village.^[6] As the situation had grown worse, some people wanted a way out, and eventually asked him to join their group. Refusing to harm innocents, Alyosha agreed under the condition that they target bandits.^[7]

While the men initially agreed, the situation became worse when Project Stuzha was announced, causing the resources in the already strained town to become even tighter. The men soon betrayed Alyosha, targeting innocent merchants to satiate their greed. Seeing this, Alyosha decided to put them down himself. He left Tugarin with his parents and set out to deal with the situation he had caused, gaining a reputation as a madman that shot at any who came near, though he shook this off as necessary. By the time the Fatui had learned of the chaos and sent a detachment to investigate, Alyosha had already dealt with them and the Fatui wrote it off as a local turf war between bandits.^[8] When he returned, he had become accepted, and a strange man arrived at the village to speak about a commission. Aware of the man's status, Alyosha allowed him to speak and after some consideration, agreed to work with them.^[9]

Aloysha soon joined the Rokot and was brought to Snezhnograd, where he was exposed to Genius Invokation TCG and quickly took a liking to it. One of his friends, Medyntsev, explained his goals to him and Alyosha simply asked what he would do once he achieved it. Medyntsev could not muster a proper response before shifting the topic, stating that when possible, he should go visit Mondstadt and The Cat's Tail. Alyosha agreed with this, and when the time came, hoped he could visit Mondstadt to see the warmth and freedom that he had heard about.^[10] These Rokot connections would also make him acquainted with both Odette and Vodyanitsa, the latter knowing each other when Tugarin recognized her scent during an operation.

Eventually, Alatyr was abandoned, and Alyosha moved to Sretomorozsk, keeping a small home there. He soon learned that a woman from the village had also taken residence there — while beset with dementia, he decided to help her out whenever he was in town.

Present

By the time the Traveler arrives in inner Snezhnaya, Alyosha had to bunker down in Sretomorozsk due to a howling blizzard that was too dangerous for even him to navigate. He had also learned of an energy crisis going on in town, with shipments of Kresnik Kristall being cut short of the official tally. When the train the Traveler discovered crashed in the town's outskirts, Alyosha had already marked them. The Traveler arrived and asked him if there was any lodging, and while there weren't any available, he offered to bring them into his home for warmth, which they were grateful for. Explaining that the shortage might be caused by Shishkin, he asked the Traveler to help him in the investigation, where they discovered he had been stashing kristall away from the populace and informed the local Fatui. Upon confronting him with this evidence, Shishkin attempted to claim that he was sending them to Alatyr, but Alyosha quickly called him out on it, since he had actually lived there and it had been since abandoned. The Fatui, who also found another stash of kristall in the mayor's home, quickly took both into custody. With the situation resolved, Alyosha bought some kristall and headed to the old woman's home to help her with some errands before departing from town with the Traveler, only to realize who he was talking to, having heard of their exploits.

As the train left the village, strange energy started appearing, alarming Alyosha as they were all sent into the Shadow Realm. He quickly explained the phenomenon to the Traveler and that they had to escape quickly or they would be consumed by the shadows. Fortunately, with some help from the Eye of Graeae, the Traveler was able to find some gear and they escaped in time.^[11] Once repairs were made, the train arrived at Snezhnograd, where Alyosha directed them to Podvorye Restaurant for lodging as he searched for his doctor friend, Luneva. After she performed a check-up on Paimon and gave her some medicine, Alyosha left to run some errands, telling them that they should go to Zolnyy if they needed him. While strolling around town, they ran into Odette, and they bought kristall to distribute to the people of Snezhnaya. The following day, he invited them to The Korolevskiy Theater, where they met with Vodyanitsa, who revealed their Rokot ties to them and that the Traveler had been invited to join, which they agreed.^[12]

Learning of some bandits lurking around an abandoned cabin, Alyosha and the Traveler arrived, dealing with the guards that had been stationed outside. Believing that the bandits were hoarding kristall, they were instead surprised to find even more fae inside, with two groups arguing over the treasure within. They eliminated the fae gangs, and while one managed to escape, he waved them off as insignificant. The facility was explored, and instead of finding kristall, they instead found relics related to the Shadow Realm. The escaped fae returned to confront them, threatening to explode the place if he didn't get his items back, but Alyosha managed to distract him with Tugarin and dealt with him accordingly. A final inspection of the area revealed a prototype Kresnik's Torch, and realizing the benefits it gave, Alyosha brought several villagers at risk of freezing from Sretomorozsk over to stay warm there, rewarding the Traveler for their assistance.^[13]

After the incident in Armory Palace, when Odette forced her way inside, Alyosha and Vodyanitsa were given letters explaining Lelek's recent actions and that she would be suspended until further notice.

Trivia

• The name Alyosha is a reference to Alyosha Popovich (Russian: Алёша Попович Alyosha Popovich), a folk hero from Russian folklore.
  • His hunting dog's name is Tugarin—an evil opponent of Alyosha Popovich that can appear as a dragon.
• The rifle Alyosha uses is seemingly based on the Mosin-Nagant (Russian: винтовка Мосина vintovka Mosina), a bolt-action rifle developed by engineer Sergei Mosin in the 1890s, becoming one of the most mass-produced bolt-action rifles in history.

Etymology

• Alyosha (Russian: Алёша) is a diminutive of the name Aleksey, which has Greek origins and means “defender.”

References