Lord Nikolai Carti

Nikolai Carti is one of the primary antagonists in the Lord Eater series, being that he became the Lord of the nepotistic authoritarian government of Bawskee. As Lord, Nikolai was the respected Commander-in-Chief of the State Military.

Appearance
Nikolai was tall and lean in appearance; he had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. He had a scar below his left eye, covering from his ear to just before his nose. The reason for this scar is unknown.

Nikolai was usually dressed in a midnight blue tuxedo, with a white shirt and black boots. He was often seen with a cigarette between his lips, even if it’s raining or there’s clearly a ‘No Smoking’ sign where he was sat, standing or walking through. Nikolai’s constant smoking was a homage to Spike Spiegel, as Spike smokes cigarettes that are usually in very poor condition, similar to Nikolai.

Personality
Nikolai was a slothful, nonchalant, indifferent, and lazy character, which is bizarre, especially considering he was one of the most strict Lords of Bawskee. He passed the vast majority of his time in Fort Bawskee lounging, watching TV, or sleeping. He was a hardened smoker, shown with a cigarette in his mouth in practically every shot. Although he rarely acknowledged it, Nikolai has very little patience. He repeatedly stated that he hates animals, children, women with attitude, and poor people. Nikolai was rarely seen excited about something and, even less frequently, said he likes something.

He usually behaved phlegmatically and walked slouching almost as if he was sleepwalking. Because of his past contributions to war, Nikolai didn’t show the slightest fear in the possibility of being killed, often acting as if to challenge death. However, in his finest moments with Zed, he admits to not wanting to die because of “the hate to.”

Although people often talk about Lords in an almost stoic sense, his image was far from the idea of one and, on the contrary, had characteristics typical of an antihero. He never acted to protect anyone, but only for interest, so he often had to be persuaded to commit himself to a hunt he considered only a little exciting, had a rather sharp and cynical sense of humor, when he engaged in combat, he threw himself head first into action, regardless of damage caused to people and buildings. However, he did show some moral scruples of having to kill other people.

Nikolai’s personality led many members of the Bawskee government, as well as its citizens, to scrutinize his jurisdiction, and even led to his demise.

Nikolai was infatuated with women and many situations arose in which women claimed they gave birth to a child of his. One of these children was Jordan Woods, who befriended Zed, Knox, and Yuki in the Barracks and eventually helped them to overcome his father.

Background
Nikolai was the son of Jacques Carter III, a Lord known for being even more brutal than his son. His father established Bawskee’s strict isolationist policies and continued the line of nepotism rather than moral integrity. Nikolai himself followed in his father’s footsteps, though to not as large an extent, and simply continued his father’s work to transform Bawskee into a totalitarian state.

Not much is known about his upbringing, other than that he began training at around the same time Knox did and developed his abilities in Kotsu at a faster speed.

Shortly after the First Coup, Nikolai fought his father under the premise that if he was able to steal his father’s Keiyaku, it would become his own and he would become Lord. He won and earned the title, and reigned as Lord for around 12 years until his death.

Abilities & Powers
Nikolai had the greatest authority in the Bawskee government due to his status as the Lord. He was revered as one of the most powerful Kotsu users in the world. Although most of Nikolai’s cabinet were killed in a previous coup, he came out unscathed and almost single handedly ended the coup. While fighting Fort Godsent’s S-Tiers, Nikolai remarked that he was warming up, possibly suggesting that he wasn’t putting in much effort.

Keiyaku
Nikolai’s Keiyaku is a state-issued 115 cm steel sabre, with the letters JC engraved in gold on the handle. Nikolai fought his father to earn the sabre. He is inhumanly skilled with it, able to slice through bullets and fight off 21 former Cheka soldiers with ease. Nikolai’s fighting style reflects his personality, as he always lets his opponent make the first move and bases his moves off of that.

Kotsu
Nikolai’s Kotsu divination is entirely Ugoku, and as such is one of the few characters whose Kotsu division is entirely one type. His family is Elitist, meaning they are all also entirely or nearly entirely Ugoku users, and because of this Nikolai is regarded as one of the greatest Kotsu users ever and presumably the greatest Ugoku user ever. He was able to master nearly every previously made Ugoku technique before the age of 13, and by the age of 20 could teleport his Keiyaku 5 kilometres away from him.

Goals/Motivation
Nikolai was originally motivated to continue the Carti bloodline out of fear from his father, but after surpassing him in combat ability quickly began to lose sight of his goal. He continued in his father's goal to create the "Perfect Being", a Keiyaku user evenly divided among all four types, and achieved it; however he continued this plan out of personal interest and not for power. Eventually he considered retiring as Lord, but stayed as he figured he would go insane from boredom if he retired.

Quotes
"I thought I said it was a 1v1, Zed. If your little buddies keep shooting at me, I'm not gonna let you be Lord, y'know."

"I don't want to be Lord anymore, so I'll offer you a deal. I'll let you be Lord, if you let me finish a little project I've been working on"

"It's not that I care what the people think about me. I don't. It's just not fun dicking around as much as it was before"