Zduhac
Oktober Guard Government Liason
File Name: Miljanov, Djorde
Primary Military Specialty: Administration
Secondary Military Specialty: Infantry
Birthplace: Krasnoyarsk, Russia

In Slavic mythology a Zduhac is a person with supernatural powers, capable of withstanding extreme hardship and charged with the protection of the area they hail from. The Oktober Guard member who has been assigned the codename of Zduhac fits the myth surprisingly well. Djorde lost his parents in a car accident when he was only 3, lacking any extended family he became a ward of the state. In the various orphanages he grew up in, he learned how to achieve his goals by helping others to achieve theirs. He had a knack for getting people to work together even if they didn't agree with or even particularly like each other. Never adopted, he decided to repay the only "parent" he had ever had by serving in the military. While no slouch as a soldier, his abilities were simply naturally suited to the logistical end of things. Plans he devised did much to improve numerous procedures and methods in the army. After the death of much of the original Oktober Guard and the collapse of the Soviet Union shortly thereafter, it was deemed prudent to assign the unit a liason. This way there would be at least one constant between the grunts in the field and the politiburo members who signed the checks no matter who might change on either side. Zduhac was the only one of less than a dozen candidates to accept the position.

"All else aside, the real reason Zduhac got his name was because of his devotion to Russia. Not the government, not the military, the ideals and the people of Russia. Those are what he believes in. Those are what he wants to protect. That's why he took the liason position. Because he knew that we do the dirty work required to keep the people and the ideals alive. And he knew that the guys making the decisions only care about that to a point. He does what he can for us, he does what he has to for them, and in the end, hopefully something good comes of it."

This was a real challenge, one I'm not entirely sure I met. Coming up with a concept and identity for a random assortment of parts is the opposite of how I usually work. I ended up doing a fair amount of sanding and resculpting to try and bridge the gap between the parts I had and the concept I was able to shoehorn in. I don't know that I did either aspect justice, but I'm pretty pleased with the result, and that's what really matters. I cribbed the paint scheme from an anime, and that's what inspired the Oktober Guard affiliation (the goons who had the camo scheme in the anime were from a fictional eastern European country) and while I like the paint, I'm not sure on the background. Ah well, it was an interesting experiment, and one I'd love to try again assuming we manage that level of turnout at a con down the line.