Atvar

From Turtledove

Atvar commanded the Race's Conquest Fleet in its campaign against Tosev 3.

Early in life, Atvar took his career aptitude test and was given the options of pursuing a career in architecture or the military. He chose the latter believing it would be more exciting, and was named Fleetlord shortly before the Conquest Fleet began its journey to Tosev 3. He had a symbolic audience with the Emperor in Preffilo before he left.

Like the rest of the Race, he assumed that, on his arrival on Tosev 3 in the twentieth century, he would be confronted with twelfth century technology. Upon detecting radio transmissions on the Conquest Fleet's initial approach to the planet, Atvar considered suspending the conquest and awaiting further orders after informing the Emperor of the changed situation, but, fearing that the "Tosevites" would be able to defeat him by that point, he decided to push ahead as planned.

Throughout the war with the major Earth powers, Atvar continually ran up against the now-invalid assumptions of his culture's common wisdom on dealing with "inferior" species. Eventually he managed to adapt to the changed situation, but his military leadership was marked with a slowness to escalate the war that gave the Tosevites the opportunity to adapt to what could have been an overwhelming attack--though he eventually adopted severe tactics, including nuclear offensive strikes on non-nuclear capable nations such as Australia. Atvar was also frequently frustrated by the many culture shocks the Race suffered on Tosev 3, including ginger and the political systems of Earth's not-empires. During the war, Atvar narrowly avoided being relieved of duty by his shiplords, in an impeachment campaign led by Straha.

Following the significant losses at the Battle of Chicago, the Race mutiny in Siberia, and later the Russian nuclear attack in Saratov, Atvar became the first member of the Race to deal with foreign leaders as equals in a hundred thousand of Home's years when he met with representatives of the United States, the Soviet Union, Germany, Britain and Japan at Cairo. In the historic agreement known as the Peace of Cairo, he agreed to let these nations and certain small nations within their spheres of influence survive; the rest of Tosev 3 would be ruled by the Race and administered by him until the Colonization Fleet arrived in 1962. Atvar haughtily believed that the Race had the time and opportunity to completely conquer Tosev 3. But this presumption was dashed when the Tosev nations quickly developed technologies equivalent to the Race's.

For the next twenty years an uneasy truce prevailed on Tosev 3. When the Colonization Fleet arrived, Atvar constantly feuded with his fellow Fleetlord, Reffet, who, like Atvar when he first arrived, found it difficult to adapt to the shocking situation.

Atvar continued to co-administer the Race's holdings competently, and led the Conquest Fleet to a decisive defeat of Germany. Prior to the Race's war with Germany, Atvar was exposed to ginger in Australia when the Soviet Union launched a missile containing ginger and detonating it over the subcontinent. He refused to become addicted, however. He also punished the United States when he discovered that President Earl Warren had ordered a sneak attack on the Colonization Fleet when it first entered orbit. He gave Warren two options: allow the Race to destroy an American city or discontinue its space program. To Atvar's surprise and disappointment, Warren allowed the destruction of Indianapolis.

Nonetheless, Atvar was recalled to Home in 1973, where he found himself in "bad odor" with the imperial government; he found he had become something of a scapegoat for the Race's many difficulties on Tosev 3. Bitter and unapologetic, Atvar published his memoirs under the title I Told You So.

When word reached Home that an American starship, the Admiral Peary, was en route to Home, Emperor Risson asked Atvar to enter into his third period of cold sleep so he would be available to take part in Home's diplomatic contingent to deal with the American ambassador (who wound up being his old acquaintance, Sam Yeager). Along with Ttomalss and Kassquit, Atvar made a good faith effort to negotiate with the Tosevites, even arranging an audience with the Emperor for Yeager. However, he was hampered by his people's continued reluctance to deal with sovereign aliens as equals, and an interstellar war seemed inevitable.

This was averted by the arrival of the Tosevite FTL ship Commodore Perry, a clear showing that humans had eclipsed the Race in terms of technological advancement. Atvar convinced the Emperor not to attempt to destroy Earth before the humans wound up even farther in the lead. He returned to Tosev 3 on the Commodore Perry as an observer for the Emperor to confirm that the Perry could indeed fly faster than light. This indeed to be a fact which completely cause Atvar into disenchantment with his species' ideology and superiority. After returning to Home he is greeted by Straha, which Atvar acidly admits to him that he had been (probably) right all along in calling for aggressive tactics against the Tosevite not-empires. This did nothing to change their dislike for each other, however.

[edit] Atvar the Conqueror

Atvar had fully expected to become Atvar the Conqueror when he set out for Tosev 3. The title was not awarded to him because of his failure to conquer the entire planet. However, he did add significant territory to the Race's Empire, including the following not-empires:

See: Race Colonies on Tosev 3

Thanks to Atvar, the banners of those not-empires were raised in the Emperor's Palace in Preffilo. Atvar was the first male to add banners to the palace since Hisstan the Conqueror conquered Halless 1.

[edit] Personality and skills

A capable leader in a difficult situation, Atvar was respected by humans but generally underestimated and scapegoated by his own people. Atvar showed an admirable amount of flexibility for a member of the Race, despite his tendency to nostalgia--as evidenced by his frequent viewings throughout his career of the obsolete hologram of a knight which he had originally expected to find as his most dangerous Tosevite military opponent. Also, despite his wartime experiences, Atvar continued to carry a naive mindset (a common chauvinistic sense among the Race) subsequent to the invasion. These includes: disbelieving the British's implicit warning of using poison gas, dismissive of the concept of democracy ("snoutcounting") which Atvar was dismayed and confused on Cordell Hull's ascendancy as a president, and un-acknowledging regicide and the concepts of treachery as a part of human nature. And at times Atvar often regretted for taking his role as fleetlord and should have become a simple architect "to build buildings" instead. Throughout the course of the invasion Atvar became more despaired after the humans started to detonate more nuclear bombs despite giving them "warnings" by nuking their cities. Atvar finally lost his composure when a portion of Race forces in Siberia committed mutiny, an act which have never happen for millenia.

Political offices
Preceded by A Period of Vacancy Following Hisstan the Conqueror	Fleetlord of the Conquest Fleet 1932-1973	Succeeded by Kirel