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*Steam Name: MelonHeadzzz
*Steam ID: STEAM_0:1:128800129
*Discord Name & ID: MelonHeadzzz#8446
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*Character Name: Zhenya Luong
*Character Role: Combine Civil Administration; Bureau Commissariat
*Brief summary of the character: Zhenya Luong is a cog with a complex, and he knows it. He is a man of perfection, of pride in his work, and is in need of stability. That’s why he joined up with the Combine in the first place, he wanted more than to be a desk jockey. He wanted recognition. Only now, does Zhenya see the horrors of what he has been through. After the recent destruction of the neighboring District 9, Zhenya has been thrust into the politics of another district, grasping at straws trying to find that stability again, to show the Combine that he still has a reason to be kept alive - as a Bureau Commissariat, he will fix how people feel about the Combine, and ergo, will fix how the Combine feel about him. Zhenya
is a cog, and God damn it, he will be the best cog the Combine has ever seen.
*Why do you want to play this character?: What City 51 needs right now is stability. But, stability in its government is something that has become hard to come by, all thanks to the lack of stability in its people. Its people are impoverished and abused, and they
know it… but, they shouldn’t. That is where Zhenya comes in, to bring the Combine the stability it doesn’t know it needs, through propaganda. I hope to have Zhenya serve as the propaganda arm of City 51’s rebuilding, as farms are repaired, buildings are cleared of rubble, and City 51 becomes easier to live in. I also want Zhenya to serve as part of this reconstruction, more directly. Zhenya is a man of ambition, and as a Commissariat, he would gladly do whatever he needs to to make the city better, including making deals with unsavory characters, which would lead to interesting interactions and development of the story.
Full Backstory:
ZHENYA LUONG
The Gilded Gear
“WE WILL STAND!”
Painted across a poster of black and orange, with fists raised to the sky, a poster rested on his desk. Zhenya didn’t feel right about it; something felt out of place. A puzzle piece, only slightly shifted to where it shouldn’t be – it wasn’t at its full potential. It wasn’t perfect. Zhenya leaned forward, staring at the desk with his hands placed on his forehead. This was the first of many of these Bureau rollouts; he had to get this right, or else City 51 would feel more demoralized than ever.
From District 9, one of the recently lost districts, Zhenya Luong is the new Bureau Commissariat for the Bureau of Enlightenment, a charismatic soul with an eye for what the people want and appreciate. Zhenya has witnessed the reconstruction of City 51 since his arrival. He watched as the bones of the skeleton, Beijing’s infrastructure, came together again, but what refused to be restored was its innards, its people. Still discouraged, as if their life is without purpose, Zhenya is the key to bringing the people back into the fold, and will fight with a neurosurgeon’s precision to ensure that every scrap of Enlightenment is put into place.
But what drove Zhenya down this path? What would convince him to turn on his species, to look to the Invader for guidance? The truth is, and always will be, power.
Zhenya was the only child to the Luong name, and so a tremendous weight was placed on his shoulders; he was told time and time again to ensure the family would be carried into prosperity. Throughout his young life, Zhenya felt if every minute of every day was not carried out with perfection, there would be consequences. And, unfortunately, this mindset carried into adulthood.
He witnessed the brunt of economic expansion under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, and unlike his peasant family before him, Zhenya Luong would join a modern, urban workforce in the gilded city of Beijing. His parents were proud, oh so very proud, but things were not what he had hoped for. Life in an office was not perfect, there were twists and turns, unexpected developments, crises beyond compare, and even then, Zhenya felt as if nothing he did at that office meant anything. When the Portal Storms erupted and his small electronics company was bought into a shaky megacorporation, Zhenya was absorbed into a business under siege by disrupted supply chains brought about by disruptive workers, tired of working in impossible conditions. It was Zhenya’s job to fix it.
For years, Zhenya fought with the workers who resisted his publicity stunts and cries for the workers to settle; the more he pushed, the more they pushed back. The longer these workers remained unrestrained, the shakier this podium of power became beneath him. Zhenya did something drastic, and not only used a local Beijing garrison, but bribed them, making a deal with their local officer and convincing them to sweep in, disrupt the workers, and force them back into service. Military intervention into worker matters was massive news, something that Zhenya exploited throughout the company – stepping out of line doesn’t just upset the company, it upsets CHINA. They stopped after that.
But when the Portal Storms subsided and the Combine spilled through its gates, things grew more bleak. Those who surrounded him felt frightened, and that fear led to anger, and when tempered, grew to resistance. But Zhenya would not be one of those men, those who sought freedom under a power far above their own… Zhenya did not want to live in the muck, to subsist off of scraps, it would be unbecoming of him, and would no doubt disrespect his ancestors. No, he had come so close, he had just been through a hurricane of issues, and he was not about to dash it away.
Zhenya took to the chaotic streets of what would become District 9, speaking out in support of the Combine, and people quickly listened. Most notably, the Civil Protectors listened. Up the ladder did his words ascend, and soon, so did his reputation with his old company. Scooped up from the streets of Beijing, he was taken to the District 9 Nexus, placed in a tailored suit, and put to work in the glittering Bureau of Enlightenment. For years, he toiled, seeking perfection in every aspect, relishing the stability and the benefits he was given. He ate well, he did what he had grown to love, and he felt that his superiors were happy. The people were happy, and he would cherish that.
...until the agitators emerged. And those agitators grew to rioters. And those rioters grew to revolutionaries. District 9, in only 4 years, was in complete chaos, and Zhenya could see the writing on the wall. Placed on a train, escorted by the Overwatch Transhuman Arm, Zhenya was evacuated from the collapsing District 9, inbound to the center of City 51 to fix another problem – but, his pride was stung.
He feels as if his job is at that precipice it was before, that his stability and safety is under siege. He sees flaws in every part of his work, and feels as if nothing will meet up to the standards he pursues. Zhenya Luong is grasping at straws, trying to find a peaceable solution, but one never knows when the dam will break, and Zhenya will start to act unsavory. He is no stranger to backroom deals, and if his home city is on the line, he may very well have to. He would do anything to keep the Combine in his corner – he is a cog, he knows he is a cog, and he will prove that he is a damn good one.
