Accepted! ~Elle

Your Nickname: Aero
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct?: Yes
How did you find us and decide to write with us? Other
If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Demitria Strelnikov
Harper O'Malley
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Taras Strelnikov
Character Birthday & Age: December 22nd, 1965; 46
City & Country of Birth: Arkhangel'sk, Russia
Blood Purity: Pureblood
Alma Mater: Durmstrang

Cover Job (If any): Undecided, he’s “new” in the area

Type of Criminal: “International business”

Allegiances / Loyalties / Political Faction: To whomever he feels deserves it; family;Pure-blooded groups


Have they committed any previous crimes?: Yes


If yes, what were they and were they convicted?: He’s dabbled in various Dark Arts and has managed several international black market trade rings in both the muggle and wizarding worlds. He was never caught for those. What finally did him in was his involvement with Mongolian rebels to overthrow the Russian Ministry. He was also involved briefly with the Death Eaters. He was convicted for life. Through undefined circumstances, he has been released.


What crimes might you commit in the future?  Discuss all possible: He’s looking to reconnect with his various trade rings, especially the infamous British Runespoor trade. Since he’s more mind related, he is very good at spy work and what other trade-leaders would describe as “mind-numbing book work.”  He’d also do whatever it takes to secure his position, whether that’d be theft, murder, blackmail, etc. although in the past, he preferred to leave the dirty work to those below him. Since he’s just out of prison, he doesn’t have the luxury of being at the top anymore though. 


Are you currently under pursuit by the Ministry of Magic?: No

Wand:12 inch Cocobolo; veela hair core; Inflexible with a decorated shaft

Physical Description: Height- 6’2”
Weight- 185 lbs
Skin tone- Medium tan
Eye/Hair Color- Green/dark brown 
Taras Strelnikov is the epitomy of the tall, dark, mysterious stranger that you never see come and you never see leave. He’s exceptionally handsome, due to the overflow of veelas from his mother’s line. His eyes are an ethereal green. His eyes almost seem to glow in his face because of his darker complexion. Because of his veela heritage, he has a younger look, so he prefers to keep some semblance of facial hair on at all times. It helps to keep his rugged ex-prisoner visage as well. He keeps his hair longer, but it is always well groomed. His face is an oval, but is slightly altered by his strong jaw. Unlike many Slavs, his nose isn’t very pronounced.
Taras is the tallest member of his family, standing head and shoulders above his wife and daughter. He is roughly 6’2” and 185 lbs of pure muscle. He isn’t a big man, but he is strong and wiry. He has various scars that cover his arms and back though none of them are very prominent. The most distinct marking he has is the tattoo of a snarling bear in the area under his right collarbone. He also has the image of a skeleton horse trampling a double headed eagle on his left shoulder.
 

Personality Description: Taras Strelnikov is addicted to the hazardous. He craves adrenaline like an alcoholic craves a drink. Speaking of drinks, he wouldn’t turn one down anyway. Even though he could be classified as an adrenaline junkie, Taras manages to keep an extremely calm and collected persona. He never seems to be ruffled or annoyed. The only way you can tell he is irritated is because his gleaming green eyes turn into shards of ice.
Taras is a dangerous man. His magical abilities are roughly average, maybe slightly higher, but mostly because he’s had plenty of practice. He is best at hexes and defensive magic. His skill with a wand is overshadowed by his mind though. His mind is a powerful manipulating tool and he loves it. Playing with people makes him feel like he is the king of the world. He is fairly close to being an evil genius and he knows it. Blackmail is his favourite pastime. He’s also very shadow-like. People don’t see him leave or enter a room, but when he’s there, its usually obvious. The temperature even seems to fall slightly in his presence.   
He doesn’t like getting his hands dirty though. First and foremost, he is the pureblooded heir to the vast Strelnikov fortunes. He’s ridiculously elitist, but only shows it when it benefits him. He has worked with Muggles and non-Purebloods in the past, but doesn’t think of them as much more than House Elves. If they will help him achieve his goals, though, he’s willing to overlook their inferior birth.
Taras Strelnikov has never learned to love. He’s cheated on his wife so many times that he probably doesn’t even remember them all. His two youngest children were products of his various affairs. At the same time, though, Taras is loyal and sometimes grudgingly respectful. He knows that there are others out there who are as smart or smarter than him. To those people, he has a reluctant respect. Once someone receives his trust, they can be sure that he will never betray them. Unless they betray them first. If that is the case, he will make sure to make the lives of those who cross him hell. In this way, he is loyal to his family. He will protect them, but he does not love them… with one exception.   

History: There were many factors that fell into place for Taras to turn out the way he did. The largest one was his mother. Nika Strelnikov nee. Putilova was the ideal Spartan mother. From the time he could walk, Taras was taught the oldest and noblest of all traditions-- come back with your shield, or on it. He didn’t have much choice in anything as Nika was the powerful, domineering Matriarch of the Stone Manor. She ruled her servants with an iron fist and she didn’t spare that fist even when it came to her husband and son. Nika was beautiful, but inside, she was a hag. That was a beauty she passed down to her eldest son, Taras. She had had a second child, Vladmir, but he was Maximus’ problem. She didn’t want to have anything to do with the “runt of the litter.” Vladmir was hardly the runt, bigger and stronger than Taras, but he was the second and Nika didn’t believe in seconds. Of course, none of Nika’s predecessors had either.
That was because the Nika’s line was a very… special line. Every three or four generations, a veela was invariably drawn to that specific pureblooded line. And there was an interesting pattern that developed because of this. Only one child of each generation inherited the trait, always the eldest male or the youngest female, usually in alternating generations. It made their tree look something like this:
Veela           Wizard
          Half-Veela (male)     Witch
                       Quarter Veela(female)       Wizard
                                       Eighth Veela(male)           Full Veela(female)
                                                                Half Veela (Maximus)   Full Veela((Nika))
                                                                                   3/4 Veela ((Taras Strelnikov))
So Taras grew up knowing from his mother that he had a power over others that many others didn’t have. Nika’s teaching finally began to settle in when Taras realized his younger brother, Vlad, was stronger and smarter than him. So he practiced for hours on end, honing his wandwork and learning to control his volatile powers. In school, Taras was not the top of his class, but he could’ve been far lower if it weren’t for his persuasive tactics. He didn’t speak much, preferring to listen to the others around him, but when he spoke, his peers took his words as “great words of wisdom” earning him a loyal following.
Once out of school, Taras took to travelling the world under the wing of his maternal grandparents. His veela grandmother adored him and coddled him relentlessly, but it was under his partially veela grandfather that he blossomed. Dmitry Putilov had been a manager of various black market trade routes and it was he that taught Taras how to control them. So from the time he was eighteen on, the young Taras was the ruthless leader of the international underground. His main circles were in Sweden, China, India, Germany, South Africa, and America. He was never one for dirty work, so he did most of the planning and directing, keeping track of his raw materials and the products produced from them. He was also the spy-master of this foreign underground, always knowing who was who and keeping tabs on all of them. This fit Taras well, as he preferred to keep himself in the dark for as long as possible. If no one knew exactly who he was, no one could stop him.
That same year, his parents set him up with a young pureblooded witch from the Ukraine. He had gone to school with her and knew her well, so didn’t protest the match. After all, if she had pure blood, then she was good enough for him. The only thing that made Taras wary about the match was his knowledge that the girl was headstrong. He saw how his mother ruled his father and he swore he would never let anyone, much less a woman have that much influence over him. Darya and Taras were married the following year. For a while, Taras fancied himself in love with the little, bright eyed Ukranian. Together, they followed Taras’ grandparents around the globe. But Nika’s teachings had been too thorough. He had been taught since birth that love was an illusion. It was only useful if it could help you manipulate the person. It didn’t help that Darya did not approve of her husband’s approach to those who dared question his orders. She didn’t mind the killing or maiming that occurred, but she didn’t think it was right for Taras to let someone else do it. The Ukranian always believed that one should fight their own battles, not let someone else fight it for them.   
Three years later, Darya bore twin boys. Just before Jaska and Luca were born was the last time Taras could honestly say he loved his wife. She had never been physically strong, so the burden of carrying and bearing the boys drained her. Taras had in fact fallen in love with the headstrong Darya, so in the period of time where Darya was recuperating, Nika regained control of her son. By the time Darya was strong again, her husband was long gone. Taras didn’t go home to the stone manor for nearly three years, in which he had another son with a pureblooded Scandinavian witch. He took the son and gave him to Darya to be raised. He was at home more after that, but around the same time, pureblooded groups from all over Eurasia were rising. Also at the same time, both himself and Nika were watching the progress of Jaska. The four year old was showing no signs of carrying on the veela line. Taras wasn’t too worried, thinking that the line may have died with him((as he hadn’t expressed the trait since he was 16)), but Nika knew that there was still a chance…
Then Taras realized that a fiery young muggle serving wench from the Arkhangel’sk docks was carrying his bastard. The moment the child was born and he saw it was a girl, he knew. He knew that this would be his true heir. He wasn’t planning on having anymore children anyway, making her the youngest and a daughter. From the moment she opened her ethereal green eyes, identical to her father’s, she had Taras wrapped around her finger. He decided he would take her and raise her as well. She would know nothing about her soiled her blood and inferior birth.
But Nika didn’t approve. She was fond of the then six year old Jaska. She took Taras’ love for the little girl and crushed it. She “convinced” her son that he needed to stay away from home and devote all of his time to the Mongolian rebels. So for the next seven years, Taras essentially abandoned his family and went around the world gathering supplies for several pureblood groups including the Death Eaters of Britain. But when he did go home, he felt a strange tug at his heart when he saw Strellie sitting and playing the piano. It went ignored. Suddenly, his world turned upside down. All of the pureblooded groups went down with the destruction of Lord Voldemort in Britain. The Mongolian rebels fell within the next two years. His daughter was attacked by crups because she was fraternizing with the muggle servants. She went into a coma. Then about seven months later, he was confronted by the Russian Ministry and was taken to prison for his crimes against the government. His trade routes were never discovered, though.           
 … seven years pass
Then one day, Taras Strelnikov is seen walking down the streets of Wizarding Arkhangel’sk. He walks into a bank, walks out, and disappears.
He reappears in Wizarding London, just another face and another name. He knows that his family is here, just not where or how he will meet them. For now, all he needs to do, is get back into business…


Writing Sample: n/a

Sum up your character in one paragraph: Taras Strelnikov is the tall dark and handsome stranger you never see come or go. He is ruthless, domineering, and powerful. He may not be the strongest villain out there, but he’s one of the smartest. He knows how to work with minds and he’s certainly one of the most heartless. The influence of his mother, Nika, was the driving factor of his cold life and he’ll follow in her footsteps. He loves everything dangerous and is drawn like a bee to honey to the forbidden.