Evgeny Savintsev
Perhaps it is hunger. Perhaps it is the cold. But for just a moment, Evgeny Aleksandrovich Savintsev broke the greatest dictum of the Black League. He considered surrender.
Once the second-in-command to the Glavkoverkh himself, Savintsev was infamous for his special forces brigade Spetsgruppa V, the Black League's final line of defense. Their last assignment, to hold the Fang against an uprising in the Redemptionary Brigades, was supposed to be simple. But with supply lines cut and a nation in chaos, Vorkuta was... lost. For Savintsev, it was a failure greater than any other.
Now, the general and his troops have been stranded in the Northern Urals, cut off from any major cities or supplies. The situation is dire. Food has begun to run thin. Bullets require rationing. Riflemen's trigger fingers are locked by frostbite. Yet when his officers demand he spit out an order, Savintsev can only shout "Attack." No matter how many resources he loses. No matter how many of his men die.
For all their harm, these final orders are not an act of cruelty. They are the instinctual response at the very heart of the Black League. For an entire decade, the commander of Spetsgruppa V was told to never surrender. As his forces rot away, Savintsev can finally see the price.