Mertvaya Ruka

Mertvaya Ruka

Mertvaya Ruka
Also Known As: Система Периметр or Perimeter System
Drawn By:	NejinOniwa; other OSC artists
OS Personified:	Mertvaya Ruka
OS Developer:	Strategic Rocket Forces of the CCCP/Soviet, later Russian Federation, Army(DEC)
First Released:	Unknown, early 1980's - canon estimate mid-1984
Latest Stable Release:	Unknown

Technical details

Mertvaya Ruka is the popular name for the Perimeter System fail-deadly nuclear retaliation network reportedly used by the late Soviet and current Russian army. While not much is known about the details of the computer system itself, its purpose and detailed function has been covered in western media. While authorities are silent on the subject, most aware of its existence are in agreement that it is still operational and maintained by the SRF.

Character details

Mertvaya Ruka (or just Ruka, as she commonly refers to herself) is a very tall (180cm) strikingly pale woman, with a short-cut and wavy mane of platina blonde hair. She has intensely blue, sharply staring big eyes, which - along with her seemingly permanent eye bags - tend to give her an unnerving, madness-ridden expression. She commonly dresses in the dark green suits of the Russian Army uniform, bearing the SRF's emblems; her uniform is specially decorated with the crossed arrows on the collar, taking the place of the usual laurels decorating higher officers' gear. She also bears a sword-and-shield necklace, completing the SRF emblem with the arrows on her collar; in addition, she quite commonly dons a very heavy (and fluffy) bearskin coat, whether or not the climate craves for it.

When in enemy territory or in other situations that call for secrecy (which, quite honestly, are most of them), Ruka poses as a nuclear power plant operator OS, Реактор универсальной компьютера альфа, and dresses in plain gray or black suits with the arrow-crosses embroidered on the collars. She has also been known to alter the physical appearance of one of her hands at times, to make it look distorted and oversized - as though affected with some severe mutation as the result of radiation poisoning - normally, however, her hands are very small, and she has some amount of complex about this. She is not overly well-endowed, but well into the middle ranges of it; she normally conceals this with tight wrappings, however, making her appear nearly flat-chested.

Ruka is analytical and cool-headed - unlike what one could think of someone in her position. She is extremely reclusive, and mere knowledge of her existence is rare among those not directly involved. This is only partly due to her reclusiveness, however - in her almost 3 decades of life she has spent only months in actual operation, remaining dormant in hibernation for the rest. Due to this, her view of the outside world is jarred with outdated information and jaded perspectives, which heightens her reclusiveness to levels close to paranoia. She is very trusting and fiercely loyal to her operators; she doesn't care much for the brass, however, and cares more for the character of people. She is insightful and attentive, but her complete inaptness and lack of social experience gives her precious little to work with on that arena.

In addition, her being raised in an environment composed solely of males, she has a strong complex about gender; she despises many elements typically concerned as "female" - skirts and such fashion, for example - and considers her own physical "disproportion" - that is, her small hands and her chest - severe embarrassments, for which she usually hides them at most times.

History and background

Created in extreme secrecy during the heights of the Cold War, Ruka was trained and taught by specialists in the military - this gave her a good understanding of the world of that time, and some events, like the Chernobyl catastrophe, caused her quite some excitement. However, after her promising start, the time she spent awake started decreasing year by year; at the fall of the Soviet Union, she was awakened for the first time in more than 2 years. Awakened to the turbulence of the newly shattered union, she spent some time awake to be reintroduced to the new Kremlin and the world they resided in; quickly afterward, however, it was straight back to the same situation of year-long hibernation only interrupted by crucial updates or testing. After having been checked once in '99, for the millenium bug, and updated with new systems in '01, she was in hibernation for almost a full decade before being waked up in late August '10, due to the chamber housing her systems being scheduled for an extensive update and modification. She was last confirmed seen in Saint Petersburg a day after her activation - for the record, the first ever sighting of her outside her bunker complex - her present location is unknown, but she is thought to be on an undercover mission in the west.

Magic, Powers and Abilities

Sorcery level: 3/10 (simple) Sorcery type: Koldovstvo (Closed, Unique) Sorcery power: Undetermined, above 5/10 Known magic: "Launch" - Single target, produces immensely real 5-sense illusions of nuclear apocalypse and destruction. Initiates launch protocol if connected to Perimeter System network. Additional powers: "Aftermath" - Creates the effects of a nuclear winter locally or on a target, lowering temperatures very swiftly and heightening radiation levels severely. Further nature of this power is unknown. Physical abilities: Known to be a trained marksman. Has incredibly sensitive tactile senses, and can use them as vibration sensors at some range.