MAJOR DEEJ UNIVERSE

Semyon Budyonny (AKA Semyon Budennii, which is an alternate spelling of the name for which we'll refer to him hereafter as) was born in 1883 into a poor peasant family on the Kozyurin farmstead near the town of Bolshaya Orlovka in the Don Cossack region of the southern Russian Empire (now Rostov Oblast). Although he grew up in a Cossack region, Budennii was not a Cossack—his family actually came from Voronezh province. He was of Russian ethnicity. He worked as a farm laborer, shop errand boy, blacksmith's apprentice, and driver of a steam-driven threshing machine, until the autumn of 1903, when he was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army. He became a cavalryman reinforcing the 46th Cossack Regiment during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.

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During World War I, Budennii was the 5th Squadron's non-commissioned troop officer in the Christian IX of Denmark 18th Seversky Dragoon Regiment, Caucasian Cavalry Division on the Western Front. He became famous for his attack on a German supply column near Brzezina, and through a series of other valorous victories and fights, earning him the St. George Cross & Medal, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st class. It was there, however, that Budennii gained more than mere medals.

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In one major drive against the Germans with his Calvary division, Budennii and his troops became the victims of a mustard gas attack...but not just any mustard gas; it was an experimental gas that was instead lobbed at Budennii and his troops.  Loaded with an experimental gas compound simply called X-65, the mustard gas, unwittingly, became a mutagenic.  Most of the troops exposed to the gas died from the gas' normal effects, however, thanks to the mutagenic properties of the gas, some became enhanced or super-powered instead. Some survived and didn't show enhanced effects until their offspring did sometimes generations later.  Budennii, however, became enhanced within two days after the exposure of the gas, making him stronger, faster and loaded with far greater stamina than that of a highly trained Olympic athlete. He spoke of this to no one, yet instead, still showed off his physical prowess at every opportunity. As such, at one point, Budennii boasted he could dance better than any Russian ballerina and insisted on a competition to prove himself. The chosen professional ballerina did amazing pirouettes and leaps, but paled in comparison to Budenni's energetic and exceptionally performed Russian folk dance, the Hopak. Budennii, as such, led by physical example in all he did with his troops as a result of his enhanced capabilities.

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After the Russian Revolution overthrew the Tsarist regime in 1917, Budennii was elected chairman of the regimental committee and deputy chairman of the divisional committee.  The Civil War broke out in 1918, and Budennii organized a Red Cavalry force in the Don region, which eventually became the 1st Cavalry Army. This Army played an important role in winning the Civil War for the Bolsheviks, driving the White General back from Moscow.

 

In 1919, Budennii joined the Bolshevik party and formed close relationships with Joseph Stalin.  In October 1919, Budennii pulled off a spectacular victory when, in the greatest cavalry battle of the civil war. He attacked and defeated the White army corps commanded by Konstantin Mamontov. On 25 October, Budennii was hailed as "a true warrior of the workers and peasants".

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Budennii was considered a courageous and colorful cavalry officer.  His unit was nicknamed the "Red Calvary". Back in those days, he displayed disdain for innovation and a profound ignorance of modern warfare. He was, after all, a Calvary man and cared more about horses than mechanized infantry. His skills in horse breeding were so complete that he even 'created' a particular breed of horse with increased speed and stamina (a horse breed that was also exposed to the X65 mustard gas); the breed was named after him as Budyonny Horse. 

 

In 1935 Budennii was made one of the first five Marshals of the Soviet Union. Stalin eventually executed three of the five marshals in his "Great Purge" of the late 1930s, leaving only Budennii and only one other marshal alive.

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Budennii also became quite the lady's man. He loved the company of women, but despised it when they told him what to do. Most of his wives wound up dead through 'unfortunate circumstances'.  As such, Budennii is believed to have sired quite a few bastard children in his time, as well as several legitimate children, all of which he has stated routinely that he owes them 'nothing' more than the 'same love we have for the state'.

 

Then came World War II.

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Initially the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union, in its own measure, instead, took over lands of nations that Germany didn't necessarily want or need. Lithuania was one such nation that was quickly absorbed into the Soviet Union as a result. One of Budennii's  legitimate sons, a Red Army Lieutenant, was killed by Lithuanian Resistance Fighters two days after his arrival to his post. The Lithuanians slaughtered him without mercy, strewing Budennii's son's body parts and entrails down the Germany-held roads. As a result, Budennii swore that one day, he would invoke a vengeance upon Lithuania for what they did; a vengeance that they'd never forget.

 

In July–September 1941, Budennii was recognized as the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet armed forces of the Southwestern Direction (Southwestern and Southern Fronts). He was also in charge of a new special unit called the "Red Guard".  The Red Guard was a unit of super-powered, as well as highly skilled specialists and combatants. Stalin, focusing on Leninism over individual importance, considered the Red Guard nothing more than a typical military unit, and as such, the unit was to be treated no differently than any other.  Just as the Red Guard was about to be sent on its first major mission, Nazi Germany decided to break their non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union in the most profound way - INVASION.

 

The invasion began as part of Germany's Operation Barbarossa, launched on June 22 by Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union. Operating under strict orders from Stalin (who attempted to micromanage the war in the early stages) to not retreat under any circumstances, Budennii's forces were eventually surrounded during the Battle of Uman and the Battle of Kiev. The disasters which followed the encirclement cost the Soviet Union 1.5 million men killed or taken prisoner. This was one of the largest encirclements in military history. Budennii and the Red Guard fought valiantly and tried their best to rally the troops, but Germany was too swift, too well organized and too modern for the Soviets to form any defense against.  Luckily for Budennii and most of the Red Guard, they retreated before the encirclement, against, Stalin's order, thus allowing the Red Guard to fight another day. The problem was, Stalin was not happy over Budennii's decision.

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In September, it was expected that Stalin would make Budennii a scapegoat. Stalin dismissed Budennii as Commander-in-Chief, Southwestern Direction, and replaced him with another, but rather than order Budennii's execution, Stalin instead secretly placed Budennii directly in charge of the Red Guard wherein the Red Guard would now become Stalin's own 'personal super-powered military body guard unit'.

 

Over the next week, Budennii did all he could to change Stalin's mind about the Red Guard and himself. Knowing that if hepused too hard he may be executed, Budennii argued with Stalin about the Red Guard's role, eventually convincing Stalin to use the Red Guard as a 'blunt' instrument against the Nazis rather than an over-powered security team. Budennii, being a hero of the Russian Revolution, requested to go into the field with the Red Guard and lead them, allowing him to die, should it happen, as a 'hero of the Soviet Union' and not a relic.

 

Stalin agreed with Budennii, however Stalin also wanted to use Budennii in another capacity for his newly created intelligence division. As such, he wanted everyone to believe that Budennii was now a behind-the-scenes General, working out the next auspicious plan to drive the Nazis back out of the Soviet Union, when in reality, Budennii would secretly lead the Red Guard to fight the Axis powers, most notably, Nazi Germany, as well as enact their primary and ultimate plan for the Red Guard: to personally capture Adolph Hitler and bring him before Stalin for proper 'adjudication'. As such, Budenni, as leader of the Red Guard, was now to go by the secretive code-name of "Generalissimus".

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Throughout the rest of World War II, Generalissimus and the Red Guard performed powerful and damaging attacks against the Axis powers, sometimes even working directly with the Allied powers' own super-powered group known as the "Allied Fighters".  The Red Guard's nemesis was a man known named Colonel VonBattenberg AKA Baron Berlin who led Nazi Germany's own super-powered group called "Axis Force". Where the Allied Fighters were well known for their strategic planning, Generalissumus was renown for his hard-hitting, tactical prowess, getting into a situation and stirring up enough trouble to cause resources from other battlefield positions to move to his location, which, in the long run, caused more casualties in the Red Guard, but also allowed other nearby Soviet military units to flank the enemy and defeat them. By war's end, the Red Guard lost over 70% of their total troops and super-powered 'heroes', however, the worst was yet to come for them at the Battle of Berlin; it was about to prove more dangerous that combat itself.

 

Adolph Hitler's bunker was surrounded by Soviet troops and the Red Guard, all of whom fought hard to get to Hilter's bunker. When the Red Guard finally made a valiant push forward and entered the bunker, they found out that Hitler had already committed suicide, with his body burned to prevent the Red Guard from hauling it back as a 'war prize' for Stalin.  As far as Stalin was concerned, Generalissimus and the Red Guard failed in their mission. Stalin was furious over the situation. Once victory in Europe was proclaimed, Stalin ordered Generalissimus and the Red Guard back to his headquarters.  Immediately upon their return, all of the Red Guard were placed under arrest. Weapons and armor were stripped from the Red Guard troops and heroes and all were tossed into dank cells in the headquarters' basement.  

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The Red Guard was sentenced to death by Stalin for their 'inaction' in capturing Hitler. Hours before their execution, Stalin changed his mind  and ordered a stay of execution for each Red Guard member so long as they continued in their role in the "Red Guard", this time, however, being a deterrent against the West's super-powered groups.  Every member of the Red Guard agreed and Budennii, as the Generalissimus once again, was placed in charge of the Red Guard. As such, the Red Guard was revered as Heroes of the Soviet Union, garnering medals, statues, giant murals and fanfare that the Soviet propaganda machine would continue to turn out for decades to come.

 

Over the next few years, from 1945 to the 1960s, the Red Guard went from initially being a secretive force used by the Secretary Generals and Premiers to take out emboldened factions that fought against the communist expansion of the Soviet Union to being considered one of the greatest dangers in the world.  Stoking the fans of Soviet superiority, the Soviet propaganda machine eventually shifted the Red Guard from their air of secrecy to full disclosure of the team's existence, boasting of they power and patriotism. The Red Guard's Cold War exploits are the stories of legend and are still classified from the public even to this day.

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In 1973, Marshal Budennii reassigned himself to a top secret super-trooper formula research project.  In a selfish yet patriotic  scheme (okay, he was dying), Budennii, the Generalissimus, administered the experimental formula  on himself.  He died as a result of the injecting himself with the experimental formula, however, miraculously, he awoke days later empowered with abilities akin to that of the combined strength and stamina of three men.  The KGB kept him listed as 'deceased', however the Generalissimus was instead secretly running the Red Guard in the shadows, assigning the then-current Soviet Guardian II as the new Red Guard leader. assigned back to the Red Guard, leading them from the shadows. This allowed new techniques to be trained to the Red Guard leading to improved battle techniques (no longer "zerging" the enemy per se).

 

Eventually in 1985, Budennii was verified alive by the legendary Major Invader during a dangerous Cold War mission (of which the Major pretty much knew all along that Budennii was still alive and working with the Red Guard, but his CIA bosses believed otherwise).  As such, with mounting internal pressures and failing economic and political foundations throughout the Soviet Union, Budennii was placed 'behind a desk' by his handlers, where he worked at the KGB headquarters as an actual Chief Logistics Officer - a serious demotion and an outright slap-in-the-face to anyone deemed a 'Hero of the Soviet Union'. Budennii was furious over the situation, but knew better than to no support the party line. Instead, Budennii decided it was time to look to the future.

 

Budennii, already unbalanced due to the experimental formula running through his veins, began to believe that the current leadership in the Soviet Union was no longer worthy of his support. Instead, he set a plan of his into action to steal from the current Soviet Union military bases and then, one day, after the current Soviet regime led the nation to ruin, he, as the Generalissimus, would rise up like Stalin and lead the Soviet people to a new future, one that would have the Soviet Union, of course, dominating the world.

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In 1991, The Soviet Union finally fell, as did the remnants of the Red Guard.  With no leadership, funds or support, most of the Red Guard,  its troops and support personnel simply walked off the job, attempting to find work somewhere to help their families survive in the devastating economic downturn that was to come. In 1991, when Secretary General Brezhnev had finally lost control of the Soviet Union and a political rival, Boris Yeltsin, stepped in, Budennii believed it was time to the coupe to occur. Thanks, to Major Invader and the CIA, however, Budennii was duped into believing he had tens of thousands of troops at his disposal, positioned where he needed them to be to perform his well-planned coupe. Instead, Major Invader misdirected everything Budennii planned, even so much as telling the remaining super-powered Red Guard team to 'lock themselves' in nuclear-proof bunkers and told not to come out until they were told the password "democracy'.  When Budennii finally arrived to perform his coupe with a dozen tanks surrounding Boris Yelsin's location, Budennii instead was shot in the head by one of Budennii's own Red Guard expert snipers, killing Budennii and ending the coupe once and for all.

 

Budennii, however, didn't die that day.

 

As before, after a day or so of being 'dead', the experimental formula 'resurrected' Budennii once more, this time, minutes before being cast into the fires of a funeral crematorium.  Much to his chagrin, the bullet that 'killed him' was still lodged in his brain, however, the wound had closed up around it, making it impossible to extract it without having the world's greatest brain surgeon available, and that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Thus, with the bullet still in his head (adding more strikes against Budennii's mental acuity), Budennii quickly discovered how his coupe was foiled and that Major Invader was the cause of said foiling. Budennii was furious over the traitors that deceived him and Mother Russia as well. Although still in 'jailed', he was transferred to one of the darkest, most reclusive gulags in Siberia - a place where political prisoners are sent to die.  He was interrogated daily, beaten daily, but didn't say a work to anyone of the 'pathetic band of Russian Federation traitors'. Eventually, a band of un-arrested Red Guard troops and heroes performed a massive jailbreak, extracting the Generalissimus and several dozen other incarcerated "Soviets" and "Red Guard" troops and heroes confined there.  They even added a few dozen more to their ranks with fellow prisoners from inside the gulag helping the Red Guard with the jail break.  They all got away and made their way to any of the several different safe houses they had.  With that, Budennii put another plan into action - Operation: Soviet Guard.

 

Operation: Soviet Guard was a contingency plan to be used if the coupe failed. Generally, the plan was designed to finally set into motion the plan to steal every single military asset, weapon, airplane, ship, and living member of the Red Guard and instead use these stolen assets to arm a new militarized 'revolutionary guard' that would instead rise up and replace the Soviet Union's leadership, this time, without any chance for subterfuge or political shenanigans. From his time working in Logistics, Budennii knew EVERY single warehouse, secret storage facility, secret weapon and of course every piece of information the KGB had on everyone else. As such, under the veil of anonymity, he sent out requisitions for vehicles, planes, trains, etc., to haul tens of thousands of weapons and military equipment to, of all places, Greenland.  As this was happening, he went about and found his other fellow imprisoned Red Guard troops, heroes and even family members and broke them out of their prisons. Sadly, some of those imprisoned were virtually at death's door from starvation when Budennii found them.  They all traveled to Greenland to an old hidden and abandoned KGB underground base and began to plot the takeover of the corrupt new Russian 'Federation' that had since replaced the once mighty Soviet Union.

 

Over the rest of the 1990s, Budennii AKA the Generalissimus had his new Red Guard conduct covert operations to obtain classified information from the West, the Russian Federation, manufacturers, science labs, and most importantly, nuclear weapon site information. After years of training, the new Red Guard was ready to perform a massive, multi-faceted assault on the world, taking control of their nuclear weapons and using them to demand his ascendancy as the new ruler of a new Russian Soviet Union. With mere days before the Generalissimus' D-Day, the Soltan Star Empire invaded Earth.

 

Although the Soltans didn't immediately attack the Red Guard's Greenland base, eventually, the Soltans detected the group's resident witch, Mystyck, and honed in and attacked the base over a series of months. Using every resource they had, the Red Guard fought like warriors born, setting story to song with amazing heroics and sacrifices made by the Red Guard's troops and super-powered heroes. By the Soltan invasion's end, 90% of the Red Guard's troops were slaughtered, but not before they took out 75% of the 2 divisions that the Soltans threw at them. Some of the surviving Red Guard troops and heroes were forced to work for the Soltans as slaves in their captivity during the invasion.  Eventually, the combined forces of Earth's militaries, super-heroes and populace rose up and defeated the Soltans, sending them back to outer space and to the far side of Mars, where to this day, they have congregated to 'lick their wounds'. The remnants of the previously enslaved Red Guard were abandoned in the wake of the Soltan retreat, and as such, left and went back to the only place they called home - Russia.

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It didn't take long before Russian authorities discovered those from the 'rebel' Red Guard that had returned home. They were promptly thrown into prison (again for some) and placed into forced labor camps to aid in the rebuilding of Russian buildings and structures laid to waste as a result of the Soltan Invasion. Within months, the Generalissimus swept through the poorly secured prisons and broke out his followers, all the while, gaining thousands of new followers who'd 'had it' with the Russian government and its unending austerity and crippling poverty.

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Once again, Generalissimus forged documents and papers to once again steal weapons (this time, from all over Europe) and have them transported to Greenland.  Once back in Greenland, Generalissimus gave a rousing speech to his thousands of new workers and troops, promising them that in less than five years, their new Soviet order, of which they were all now part of, would see the super powers of the world suffer and cower against the order's new super-powered 'Soviet Guard' and thousands of their new Red Guard Troops, named in honor of those before them, as the 'Red Guard'.  With that, the Generalissimus rebuilt his base, his supplies, and his weapons and retrained his new army for that which was ordained to happen in 2005.

 

In 2010, the Generalissimus ordered his Soviet Guard and Red Guard to invade the ex-Soviet (now independent) Baltic nation of Lithuania.

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The Soviet Guard and Red Guard together decimated most of the Lithuanian armed forces. Generalissimus kept Lithuania's allies at bay by rounding up thousands of Lithuanian children and taking them to secret locations, all with remotely detonated packet bombs designed to blow up the children at the push of a button.  The world was in a state of shock over the situation.  Generalissimus enjoyed the position of power he and his forces placed against the world's nations, however, his goal wasn't just to taunt them,  but instead, for a different thing entirely: nuclear torpedoes.

 

Generalissimus knew of several tactical submarine-launched nuclear torpedoes that had been buried in an old Vilnius submarine pen the Soviets previously used during the Cold War. At the end of the Cold War, rather than hand-over the nuclear torpedoes, a band of defecting Soviet submariners instead 'buried' the nuclear torpedoes so no one would get to them or knew what happened to them. To that end, Generalissimus ordered the enslavement of thousands of Lithuanian civilians and prisoners, making them dig for the nuclear torpedoes, most with their bare hands. Enslaved workers died by the dozens each day, with new civilians brought in to replace each one that died.  It was a true nightmare made real; a nightmare that Generalissimus wanted the rest of the world to know how it felt to be enslaved...just as he and his men and women were enslaved during the Soltan Invasion.

 

Amidst all of this, a band of Lithuanian resistance fighters conducted guerrilla warfare against Generalissimus' forces, making unprecedented victories against the Soviet Guard and the Red Guard troops. Generalissimus  was so furious over the attacks that he started making mistakes; mistakes believed to be the short-circuiting of his brain with the bullet lodged in his head. These mistakes led the resistance fighters to the location of the kidnapped children wherein the packet bombs were all disarmed, preventing not a single child to die during the Invasion of Lithuania. The man who led the resistance fighters would eventually be known as the famous Lithuanian super-hero known as "Captain Lithuania".  In the end, Captain Lithuania and his forces proved victorious against Generalissimus and his forces. The Soviet and Red Guard, combined, lost 70% of their troops. Generalissimus, however, got away with the two nuclear torpedoes.  He was able to take the few surviving Soviet Guard superheroes (whether alive or dead) as well as about 40 Red Guard troops and load the nuclear torpedoes on the sub before they finally retreated on said sub undetected.

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For the next several years, the Generalissimus once again slowly built-up his forces and weapons, including the numbers of troops and personnel in this new Greenland-based Soviet location. In that same time, he also employed dozens of spies and recruiters to aid him in rebuilding his army. Luckily for Generalissimus, thousands of new recruits flocked to his door after they saw the world brought to its knees by the Soviet and Red Guard in Lithuania. As such, the ranks continue to swell to this day, bringing in mostly disillusioned youth looking for adventure, camaraderie and a life filled with visions of socialist grandeur.  Even to this day, Generalissimus has expanded to new secret bases in the United States, Europe and of course Russia to house the expansive number of new recruits that want to be part of a 'new socialist world order'.

 

Today, the Generalssimus still leads the Red (now Soviet) Guard. Anyone who was part of the old Red Guard and wanted to return were allowed to do so, so long as they swore loyalty to the Soviet Union and Generalissimus as part of the new Soviet leadership otherwise now known as the Soviet Guard. Troops in the Soviet Guard and are now simply referred to as 'Soviet Guard Troopers'; the super-powered heroes are the 'Soviet Guard'; all others are considered 'Soviet Citizens'. The Soviet Guard's goals and focus is still the same: destroy the West, obliterate the current corrupt Russian Federation leadership and take over all the lands that were once the Soviet Union and rule them, and the world, with 'Generalissimus' leading the way - all for the glory of Mother Russia and the Proletariat.

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To add to this, Budennii's mind is a steel trap; he remembers anything and everything.  Even though he has an aversion to modern technology and computers, he is still mindful of their place in warfare.  He emanates leadership and confidence and is notorious for his 'push ahead' tactics and strategies; his faults usually lie in the powerful people he surrounds himself with, who usually are more cruel and immoral that he is.  He is truly a master manipulator but does truly care for his 'flock' of Soviet people. 

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