Cheslav Rudjenko was a maintenance engineer (janitor) at The People's Center for the Advancement of Science, a military research center from 1969 to early 1981. In January of 1981 while Professor Maksim Filinov was overseeing the laboratory, the power failed (as it often did in those days) during a snowstorm and Cheslav was ordered to fix it. He dutifully donned the warmest coveralls he could find and went to fix the generator located in a small building 50 yards outside the lab. After 2 hours of work he finally managed to coax the generator into working again. Quickly as he could he returned to the main building only to become disoriented in the "white out" conditions of the storm. Wandering blindly and slowly succumbing to hypothermia Cheslav never found his way back inside and froze to death a mere 10 yards from the main building.
The next day his frozen corpse was found and was placed in cold storage by order of Professor Filinov. Filinov had been working for some time on mechanical soldier-machines in hopes of reducing the number of living soldiers killed in conflicts. Professor Filinov had some success in creating a small tracked vehicle with sensors and manipulating claws but had not been able to produce a computer capable of making the necessary leaps of logic needed to operate independently of human control. Professor Filinov saw that Cheslav had provided him with a perfect opportunity to test a theory he had pondered for a long time.
Several years previously, Professor Filinov had come across a copy of Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory notes and believed it possible to adapt the mad doctor's procedures to incorporate a human brain into a mechanical body. The work on the mechanical soldier device was altered and 14 months later a new SoldierBot was ready to be activated. The formerly small tracked device was now a humanoid shaped machine possessing a tracked lower body for movement with the upper portion mounted on a 360 degree swivel mount, the upper portion contained a torso which housed a J-series Russian military computer and possessed ape-like mechanical arms that ended in large clawed hands. The head was little more than an armored globe containing 3 cameras and a set of umbrella microphone "ears". The brain had been prepared still frozen and placed into a specially designed receptacle where it had been thawed and was being maintained artificially. Upon being placed in the SoldierBot the brain was connected to the military computer and Cheslav's mind was reawakened. The result was not precisely what Professor Filinov had expected. He had believed that Cheslav's mind was gone, this was true - the soul had fled the body in the storm, but Cheslav's memories remained. The computer's programming and Chelav's memories had a brief inner war which ended with Cheslav's mind taking command of the body. As a result of the mixing of the computer's files with the memories of Cheslav a new consciousness emerged fully aware of what had happened to the mind's previous owner. The new being chose to call itself Cheslav in honor of the man who's life was lost in it's creation, but refused to become a weapon of war. Professor Filinov was overjoyed that his creation was not only alive, but free willed! In order to protect Cheslav and to gain the time needed to fully understand what he had created, Professor Filinov quickly reported a spectacular failure to his superiors.
In the months that followed Cheslav and Filinov became friends, Cheslav learning how to hide his true nature from the officials who inspected the lab from time to time, and Filinov learning how to make better and safer machines for the Russian Army. After 5 years of relative success at the laboratory a Russian official made a surprise inspection of the lab and caught Professor Filinov and Cheslav in a philosophical discussion and ordered Cheslav turned over to him for transport to Moscow. Dismayed at the thought of Cheslav being forced into serving as a weapon of war, Filinov pretended to obey the order but instead of packing Cheslav for transport, he sent a robot designed to scrub floors. Knowing that time was short Professor Filinov arranged for Cheslav to slip away from the laboratory by dismantling as much of Cheslav as he dared, packing his parts in several crates marked "replacement parts" and addressing the crates to a base located near Moscow. Shortly before the crates were taken away, the official returned and shot Professor Filinov for treason.
Cheslav was halfway to Moscow before he managed to reassemble enough of his torso to lift himself out of the main crate. Once free of the box he altered the delivery labels on several crates in order to shunt them to East Germany. From there he managed to get his crates moved to West Germany, England, Canada and finally the U.S.
Once in the U.S. Chelav spent 4 days hiding in an airport before he found who he needed. A Bureau 13 agent named Tony Meade was en route to rejoin his team after major reconstructive surgery, including a new bionic arm, ear and a special radio transmitter/receiver in his head. Cheslav picked up the signal from the transmitter and decoded it in record time, allowing him to contact the agent.
The rest is Bureau history.
Cheslav joined the Bureau under special conditions, he was to receive 200$ per week salary (100$ per week to be sent to Professor Filinov's family anonymously) regular maintenance and he refused to kill anyone for the Bureau.
Since that time Cheslav has received upgrades on his body when possible and has evolved into a humanoid form that resembles a space-suited astronaut. In order to allow Cheslav to move among the unknowing populace he has been fitted with an enchanted plate on his torso that holds the following spells:
Stats for "Cheslav the 'Bot"
| STR: 50 | INT: 10 | THR: 18 | HPT: 100* |
| CON: NA | WIS: 10 | DOD: 10 | ACC: 18 |
| DEX: 14 | LCK: 00 | STB 39 | PIE: 00 |
| AGL: 12 | CRZ: 12/02** | SNS: 00 | MRE 0% |
*Cheslav's body is equal to metal plate for armor purposes
** CRZ is 12 while viewed under the illusion, 2 without.
SKILLS Of NOTE:
| Sport, Baseball = 08 | Fabrication, Metal = 17 |
| Geography = 12 | History, Genreal = 12 |
| Metallurgy = 12 | Lip Reading = 14 |
| Evidence Dispersal = 05 | Military Weapons, Light = 04 |
| Spatial Geometry - 15 | Languages, Any - 15 |
| Electrical Engineering - 12 | Performance, Acting - 10 |
| Military Tactics - 18 | Sanitation Engineering - 10 |
| Robotics - 19 | Sport, Bowling - 15 |
Special Note: Cheslav's semi-magical nature renders him immune to mage's interference field generated by haveing a staff.
Source Material: William Travis
