#tyrant virus

Note: Because I'm focusing on pre-Tyrant Tyrants, I'm just going to talk about his unaltered form here. His altered form will come later, when I start getting into pathogenic genealogy.

Colonel Sergei Vladimir was born in the Ukraine during the mid to late 50s. I won't detail a lot of his younger backstory because it's...a lot, but some traumatic experiences in his youth gave him deep-seated masochism and a love of Joseph Stalin. While skinny and weak in his youth, in adulthood he would grow into an absolute behemoth of a man. He would join the Soviet army, and rise to the rank of a Spetsnaz colonel.

In the waning days of the Soviet Union he would take part in a human cloning experiment, where it would be discovered that he had a unique affinity for biological experimentation. Soviet scientists would produce ten clones of him, artificially aged, who he would adopt as his own sons, train, and lead into battle in Afghanistan.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, he would become Ozwell Spencer's most loyal retainer and volunteer for further experimentation. He sacrificed his clones to the Tyrant project, but considering they were basically him, they probably went willingly. Though not all Tyrants are his clones, his clones were instrumental in making the production model Tyrants a possibility.

Now, there is absolutely no evidence that Vladimir had any sort of virus in him as of 1998. He relied mostly on his personal tyrant, Ivan, in order to carry out his work, such as transporting the TALOS project or fighting off threats like Cerberus dogs and even Albert Wesker himself. However, there is no appreciable difference in stature between him and Ivan. He also seems to not feel pain and his wounds close up very quick, as he is constantly engaging in acts of minor self-harm. There's also his pale skin and white hair, which is typical of Tyrants who do not go completely bald.

In my opinion his massive stature, unusual strength, receptiveness to biological experimentation, and resistance to physical harm are close enough to a Tyrant that we can assume he is expressing some of the same genes. His remarkable intelligence is also a trait that the legendary Progenitors had, but is rarely expressed in modern Tyrants (probably intentionally). In short, Sergei Vladimir is as close to a Tyrant as an unaugmented human can get, and some of the most compelling evidence to my theory that Tyrant-like transformations are a trait that just exists in the human genome.

The Ivans were special t-103 models that were obedient to Sergei Vladimir. It's unknown where they came from or what sort of virus was used in their creation, but given their enhanced abilities and loyalty to Vladimir, it's likely they're survivors of his original clone unit. In regards to abilities, they're able to almost keep up with even the enhanced Albert Wesker, sprinting fast enough to catch up with him and even making incredible vertical leaps. The degree of athleticism shown by the Ivans is unparalleled among true Tyrants.

Next, I'll continue the pre-Tyrant Tyrants by talking about the undisputed queen.