Nikita I
Nikita I (born Nikita Alexandrovich, Никита Александрович Романов) is a member of the Russian imperial family and claimant to the throne of Russia.
In-Game Biography
Nikita Alexandrovich Romanov, uncle of Mikhail II and enthroned as Nikita I, Tsar of all the Russias, is a puppet.
He knows this. His ministers know it. His generals, who hold his strings tightly, most certainly know it.
And yet, he is content. Born in the waning days of the old Empire, he well remembers, as a young man, only narrowly escaping the fate of many of his relatives. Initially settling in Paris, he continued his education at Oxford, married and had children, and continued his life as best as he was able. But he never forgot the land that he considered his family's birthright, and during the 1920s and 1930s was very active in émigré monarchist circles. During the Second World War, he initially watched the collapse of the Soviet Union with glee, but the establishment of the Reichskommissariats and the brutal infighting amongst the Russian statelets that followed, he was sure that monarchism in Russia was dead and gone.
But then he received an invitation to Chita. He had heard that his nephew, Mikhail, had been installed as 'Tsar' by a clique of old White Army officers, and hoping for a political appointment he accepted, flying himself and his family to the frigid Siberian city. There he found two things: disappointment, and a 'friend' in Boris Shepunov, the most powerful member of the clique following the old Ataman's death. All of that changed, however, when Mikhail overplayed his hand. Nikita does not know the specifics, but he knows that Mikhail is gone for good, exiled back to Australia, and that Shepunov selected him to be the Army's figurehead Tsar.
In truth, Nikita would like to have power. But he saw what happened to Mikhail, and if signing whatever Shepunov and the military put in front of him allows him to re-establish even illusory Romanov control over Russia, then he is content to do so.
Involvement
If Chita unifies the eastern half of Russia and Tsar Mikhail II fails to outmanoeuvre Prime Minister Boris Shepunov and is sent back to Australia, the latter crowns Nikita Alexandrovich the new Tsar in his place.
Quote upon unification
"Russia has only two allies; the army and the navy."
—Alexander III