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AU: When Are You From?
Pavel Andreievich Chekov was born in Taganrog in the year 1899 to Anna and Andrei. The family relocated to Saint Petersburg (which would become Petrograd in 1914) in 1905, primarily so Andrei could look for work that would put his engineering background to use. Pavel, a bright boy and a diligent study from a very young age, was able to obtain a decent education in spite of his family's low social status.
Anna Chekov died of a heart condition in 1908. Andrei frequently worked twelve-hour days, leaving Pavel largely to his own devices. The child had full access to his father's books and devoted most of his time to supplementing his education.
In 1911, Andrei, through forged connections and a great deal of luck, managed to enroll Pavel in the Imperial Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences after the boy impressed the Academy's leading physicist with his knowledge. Pavel remained a good student and was on track to become a professor of physics himself before he started to show an active interest in Imperial Russia's tumultuous political situation. He found himself caught up in the tumult and aligned himself with the Mensheviks, put off by the extremist Bolsheviks.
When World War I erupted in 1914, Pavel, unlike most Mensheviks, supported Russia's involvement in the war, convinced that it was the duty of the Russian people to defend their country in spite of the incompetence of its leaders. As Russian morale plummeted throughout 1915 and the war placed an even greater strain on resources available to already desperate civilians, Pavel became increasingly disinterested in his studies. The country was dying slowly and studying physics wasn't helping him save her.
Pavel enrolled in the Imperial Russian Army shortly after his sixteenth birthday. His education quickly earned him the rank of praporshchik in the engineering division. There were few benefits to being a commissioned officer; the army was suffering from the same scarcity of food and clothing as most Russian civilians. His position saved him from active combat, but not the continuing demoralization of the army as the war stretched on with no end in sight and bodies piled up along the eastern front. A sense of fatalism descended on the army and, and in 1916, Pavel was just one of a vast number of soldiers to desert the war efforts. It seemed clear that Russia wouldn't survive the current state of affairs unless change took place.
He returned to Petrograd and his father late in 1916; both Chekovs joined the discontented masses, firmly allied with the Mensheviks. Pavel quickly grew disillusioned with the riots and protests, seeing that they were accomplishing little. As 1917 rolled in, he returned to the Academy, convinced that both the war and the riots were futile. When things failed to improve with the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty, the boy gave up on politics altogether and immersed himself in physics. The world of physics, unlike everything else, was in an exciting state of change. Its horizons were limitless. Pavel threw himself into the study of atomic theory and the new and radical field of quantum physics.
***
Background aside, Chekov is still Chekov. He's still a genius, he still has some military experience, and he's still going to be sassy in the right company.
That said, this is a Pavel who has been exposed to far more human ugliness than the one the City is used to. He isn't an idealist. As much as he would like to believe in peace and equality and a society where everyone is fed and clothed, he has grown up in a world where none of that happens. The vast majority of Saint Petersburg's workers (and students) were living in poverty, especially after World War I commenced and inflation made it impossible for a laborer to afford the most basic goods. There are idealists among them, but hopelessness is far more common. This Pavel has given up on hoping that Russia will overcome it's past and present, at least within his lifetime.
He isn't more introspective or philosophical than usual, but his philosophy is fatalistic and most of his insights are disheartening. On the bright side, he's better with words than his normal counterpart. Concentrating on one language instead of trying to collect a number of them has improved his ability to convey abstract ideas with some semblance of eloquence.
Anna Chekov died of a heart condition in 1908. Andrei frequently worked twelve-hour days, leaving Pavel largely to his own devices. The child had full access to his father's books and devoted most of his time to supplementing his education.
In 1911, Andrei, through forged connections and a great deal of luck, managed to enroll Pavel in the Imperial Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences after the boy impressed the Academy's leading physicist with his knowledge. Pavel remained a good student and was on track to become a professor of physics himself before he started to show an active interest in Imperial Russia's tumultuous political situation. He found himself caught up in the tumult and aligned himself with the Mensheviks, put off by the extremist Bolsheviks.
When World War I erupted in 1914, Pavel, unlike most Mensheviks, supported Russia's involvement in the war, convinced that it was the duty of the Russian people to defend their country in spite of the incompetence of its leaders. As Russian morale plummeted throughout 1915 and the war placed an even greater strain on resources available to already desperate civilians, Pavel became increasingly disinterested in his studies. The country was dying slowly and studying physics wasn't helping him save her.
Pavel enrolled in the Imperial Russian Army shortly after his sixteenth birthday. His education quickly earned him the rank of praporshchik in the engineering division. There were few benefits to being a commissioned officer; the army was suffering from the same scarcity of food and clothing as most Russian civilians. His position saved him from active combat, but not the continuing demoralization of the army as the war stretched on with no end in sight and bodies piled up along the eastern front. A sense of fatalism descended on the army and, and in 1916, Pavel was just one of a vast number of soldiers to desert the war efforts. It seemed clear that Russia wouldn't survive the current state of affairs unless change took place.
He returned to Petrograd and his father late in 1916; both Chekovs joined the discontented masses, firmly allied with the Mensheviks. Pavel quickly grew disillusioned with the riots and protests, seeing that they were accomplishing little. As 1917 rolled in, he returned to the Academy, convinced that both the war and the riots were futile. When things failed to improve with the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty, the boy gave up on politics altogether and immersed himself in physics. The world of physics, unlike everything else, was in an exciting state of change. Its horizons were limitless. Pavel threw himself into the study of atomic theory and the new and radical field of quantum physics.
***
Background aside, Chekov is still Chekov. He's still a genius, he still has some military experience, and he's still going to be sassy in the right company.
That said, this is a Pavel who has been exposed to far more human ugliness than the one the City is used to. He isn't an idealist. As much as he would like to believe in peace and equality and a society where everyone is fed and clothed, he has grown up in a world where none of that happens. The vast majority of Saint Petersburg's workers (and students) were living in poverty, especially after World War I commenced and inflation made it impossible for a laborer to afford the most basic goods. There are idealists among them, but hopelessness is far more common. This Pavel has given up on hoping that Russia will overcome it's past and present, at least within his lifetime.
He isn't more introspective or philosophical than usual, but his philosophy is fatalistic and most of his insights are disheartening. On the bright side, he's better with words than his normal counterpart. Concentrating on one language instead of trying to collect a number of them has improved his ability to convey abstract ideas with some semblance of eloquence.