General Winter
aka: General Mud, Great Fatherland, Winter Soldier
General Winter is a curious member of the Soviet pantheon, in that he was sustained first and foremost not by the belief of Russians but rather the belief of Russia's enemies; indeed, some cosmologists believe that, like some of the Yankee Gods, he may be born entirely of horror stories about campaigns laid low by biting Russian cold. His strength has waxed in the transition from Slavic tradition to Soviet tradition, the Soviet belief in his presence as part of the historic inevitability of their victory only bolstering him.
General Winter is usually depicted as an aging, bearded man, often of a size that borders on monstrous. He personifies the agonizing cold that seems to, in the end, topple everyone who has ever turned a conqueror's eye to Russia. He is not a strategist, not a leader, and does not lead the charge out from the Soviet Union. Rodina Mat is the aggressor; General Winter is content to keep that aggression possible by making it impossible for other nations to force her attention inward. If you invade Russia, General Winter will find you, and General Winter will break you.
In the current war, General Winter can be described as Baba Yaga's partner. She hands him all the cold and snow and mud he could ever want, and he marshals it, bolsters it, and leads it to victory in Stalingrad and Leningrad and Kursk. He does not consider the war a personal matter; it would not matter to him if tomorrow the game changed and it was the Yankees invading, with defensive help coming from the Norse. General Winter does not choose his wars; he simply wins them.
Scions of General Winter share their father's tough, defensive nature and his ability to find and break any enemy. In peacetime, they are drawn to counterintelligence and police efforts in spite of the peace, serving in the NKVD or the KGB to root out enemies within Russia. In wartime, however, they can be found just about anywhere. They are generals who perform best under siege, snipers who move through the ice and snow dressed in a near-invisible white, and engineers who make sure their troops can cross ice-damaged bridges and roads -- and make equally sure that their enemies cannot.
Abilities: Fortitude, Stealth, Marksmanship, Survival, Command, Integrity
Associated Powers: Epic Stamina, Epic Perception, Frost, Guardian, War, Earth, Civitas
Rivals: Johnny Appleseed, Columbia, Uncle Sam
Enemies: Ares, Raiden, Thor