Aleksei Courtanvoux
History
Many considered Marquis Martin Courtanvoux de Nevers' choice of wife to be an odd one. The porte sorcerer, known by many at court to be an ambitious social climber with more than his share of plots and schemes, confused friends and rivals when, rather than selecting a prominent Montaigne or Vodacce woman as his wife, he travelled to the backward lands of Ussura to secure a political union with Boyarynya Zoya Alekseeva Galipova. Through his use of Porte magic the man was rarely away from Charouse for more than a week at a time in order to assure that he could play the games of intrigue, all while his wife and children remained far from l'Emperor's court. That changed with the birth of his son.
Aleksei was Martin's first son and only heir- his wife had given him three daughters who he has since married off fairly well. While he was willing to accede to Zoya's demand that his children be raised in Ussuran culture for at least their early childhood when only women were involved, he refused to deny his heir his birthright as a Montaigne nobleman. The entire family moved to Montaigne a year after Aleksei was born.
Martin played an active, perhaps even domineering, role in his son's upbringing. From the moment he learned to speak he has been tutored in languages and culture. At 10 he received private tutelage in the arts of war from several generals and captains who owed debts to Martin. Arms instructors taught him various weapons and field-craft. Tutors instructed him on mathematics and philosophy. All the while his progress was measured and found wanting by Martin on his occasional visits to the family estate.
This slapdash education provided Aleksei with a broad but not particularly deep understanding of the subject matters he was taught. His natural intelligence allowed him to grasp fundamentals quickly but with only a superficial education on each topic he was rarely able to develop his understanding of the intricacies.
By the age of 13 Martin had come to spend considerably more time with the young Aleksei, now taking it upon himself to teach his son the intricacies of etiquette and proper courtly behavior. Aleksei seemed to excel in seeing the intricate patterns of social rivalries and friendships that developed at court, and perhaps he would have eventually developed that skill into a formidable political asset.
But close to Aleksei's 14th birthday he was struck by the White Plague during a brief and sudden outbreak. After many long weeks of recovery Aleksei pulled through, but not without scars. Aleksei was left frail and weak by the toll the disease played on his body.
A strange side effect of the white plague was that it caused Aleksei's eyes to change from the deep blue of his father to the emerald green of his mother. Doctors were baffled by this change, as it was surely not common among the rare few who survived the plague, but it seemed to have special meaning to Zoya, who took this as an omen that she ought to spend more time teaching her son of his Ussuran roots.
A weak, frail, timid heir is worse than no heir at all thought Martin, and his disappointment in his son only grew. In an effort to make something useful out of him Martin demanded that Aleksei study at the Great University University or the Levesque War College in order to perhaps gain some use as a bureaucrat. The boy enrolled in both with his father's help, and while he nominally remains enrolled in both he has "taken some time off" to visit Paix, near his family lands. His father arranged for the boy to learn Valroux from a master. But his progress is slow.
Aleksei realizes he's a disappointment to his father (and by extension his family) and he isn't sure what he can do to change that. But he's willing to do anything he can to show his father that he's good enough.
Family
Boyarynya Zoya Alekseeva Galipova is a Molhyna noble woman who in her youth possessed a harsh beauty born of a harsh land. She was sent to Rurik by her father in the hopes of catching the eye of a powerful (and wealthy) nobleman as her family lands provided exactly as much as needed, but never as much as desired. It was there where she met, was courted by, and eventually married Marquis Martin. The marriage provided her father with considerable political contacts in foreign lands but he could not understand why his daughter was worth so much to a Montaigne nobleman. There's a saying about gift horses, however...
The Boyarynya herself is a woman of practicality and faith, and adheres to many of the traditions of her people even in Montaigne. This makes her something of an oddity and political liability to her husband were she ever interested in entering public life. Thankfully for the Marquis Lady Zoya has spent much of her time in Montaigne on the family lands near Paix, staying engaged with her studies and occasionally traveling the family holdings.
Aleksei's three older sisters, Caterina, 25, Michelle, 23, and Caroline, 20, are all married to various Montaigne nobleman.
GM Stuff
Aleksei has the Background "Obligation 4". He has the Foul Weather Jack advantage.