~•Nikolai Lantsov•~

He's damnably handsome. Brave in battle, smart as a whip. An excellent dancer, oh, and an even better shot.

Early Life

Nikolai grew up at court and craved attention. He was surrounded by an army of nannies and was a constant trouble maker. Nannies, tutors, servants, and even his mother tried to get him to keep still but none of their methods worked. Nikolai favored Vasily's attention the most and tried to emulate his brother in every way to garner a smile or a praise. However, Vasily paid little attention to his younger brother, so Nikolai continued to misbehave.

At age nine, Nikolai was pranking Tutor Mitkin regularly. Because Nikolai could not be punished directly, Dominik was brought to class to use as a punishment device. In the first class with Dominik, Nikolai placed a mouse under Mitkin's hat to scare him. When Mitkin lifted his hat to find the mouse beneath it, he lashed Dominik's forearms and hands ten times. Mitkin explained that this punishment method would continue every time Nikolai misbehaved. The next day, Nikolai apologized to Dominik and pledged to do better. From then on, he was well behaved.

Dominik and Nikolai's friendship grew as they studied together into adolescence. At the age of twelve, Nikolai began sneaking out to the countryside where he helped out on Dominik's family farm. Nikolai also learned realities of Dominik's position as a commoner with a special position at the Grand Palace. At the age of fifteen, Nikolai was caught by Vasily coming back from the countryside. Dominik was barred from the palace and lost his stipend from the palace. Nikolai worked hard to provide for Dominik and his family by using his privileges as prince.

At sixteen, Nikolai and Dominik enlisted in the First Army together as infantry. They ended up in the 22nd Regiment, where Nikolai took his first bullet. During the Halmhend campaign, Dominik was shot. Nikolai was beside him on the battlefield where he died. During this campaign, Nikolai learned about the Spinning Wheel. After the Battle of Halmhend, he visited and infirmary to talk to the wounded. That is where he spoke to Isaak Andreyev and advised him to make use of his talent for languages. Before the end of his service, Nikolai earned his final rank of Major.

When his service ended, he left Ravka in order to apprentice with a shipwright, a civil engineer, and a gunsmith, excelling in all professions. This led him to begin his life as Sturmhond, the privateer. Although Nikolai had been away from court for almost seven years, he couldn't take the risk that the Darkling or one of his Grisha might recognize him, and so he had Tolya Yul-Bataar, a member of his ship, tailor his face. Nikolai took on the name Sturmhond (which was given to him by feeding a captain's fingers to his dog) because he quickly realized that on the sea, a prince would be more valuable as a hostage than a captain. He, therefore, concealed his real identity from all but his most trusted crew members- Tolya, Tamar Kir-Bataar, Privyet, and a few of the Etherealki, presumably the ones who were on the Hummingbird.

He found that as Sturmhond, he was able to amass resources and mount offenses that were not possible for the Ravkan navy and that he had done more to support Ravka's war effort as a privateer than he ever had as a soldier or a prince. However, leading this life had meant that he was at sea when the Darkling made his attempt on the throne, and now his father, King Alexander III's health was failing.

Siege and Storm

Nikolai is first introduced as an infamous privateer known as Sturmhond, a young captain commanding his own personal fleet of ships which he uses to aid the war effort of his native Ravka. He and his crew have been hired by the Darkling to transport him and a group of his Grisha through the icy seas in their hunt for a supposedly mythical dragon. Rusalye, which the Darkling believed to be real.