bespectacledsnake | Application for Hadriel

PLAYER
Player name: Bee
Contact: LittleIrishBee @ Plurk
Characters currently in-game: Dr. Lee Rosen (Alphas) , Delmar (Maladies) , Whistler (Sneakers)

CHARACTER
Character Name: Semiyon Kleiman
Character Age: 70
Canon: McMafia
Canon Point: Season 1, Episode 5

History:

Semiyon is a Russo-Israeli businessman and politician. Born in Russia in 1948, Semiyon began life as a "nobody", at least according to Dimitri Godman. However, despite his humble origins, Semiyon proved to be quick-witted, shrewd, adaptable, and ruthless. Earning the nickname 'a snake with glasses', Semiyon began climbing the ranks, making his early fortune in the heavily corrupt aluminum shipping trade and establishing connections with the mafia families, the foreign cartels, the money-launderers, etc. Over time Semiyon gathered an arsenal of 'mutually-beneficial friendships' in the world of business, both legal and illegal. However when Vadim Klayagin pushed out the Godman family in a hostile take-over of their family business, Semiyon also took a significant financial and political hit and was forced to flee Russia, seeking safety and better prospects in Israel.

Once in Israel, Semiyon established himself as a powerful if not eccentric politician and businessman. He began making a new fortune in nightclubs and casinos through which he could move contraband goods and illegal funds for the more criminal elements of his social circles.

By the start of the series Semiyon is happily ensconced in Israel, well-respected there and extremely wealthy. However he is restless. His hopes of opening a floating casino in Eilat keep getting frustrated by political redtape and in addition to this, Semiyon still has an axe to grind where Vadim Klayagin is concerned. He wants to make life difficult for Vadim, to meticulously thwart his business interests in Mumbai and Prague and to cut off his lucrative drug and contraband trades. His friend, Boris Godman, is less patient. Still deeply bitter due to his family's exile from their home country, Boris insists they must act now and assassinate Vadim. Semiyon refuses, urging patience. However Boris attempts the assassination anyway and in turn ends up being murdered by Vadim's associates.

In the wake of Boris' murder, the hedge fund run by Alex Godman, Boris' nephew, takes a near-fatal blow due to the negative press and what the public views as unsavory connections to Russian mafia money. To make matters worse, Vadim is convinced that Dimitri Godman, Boris' brother and Alex's father, must have been an active participant in the plot against his life. As such, the Godman family now finds itself the primary target of Vadim Klayagin. Desperate to save his fund and to protect his family, Alex turns to Semiyon for help. Semiyon agrees to invest a large sum in Alex's company if, in return for his investment, Alex agrees to move his funds for him through a chain of llegal and untraceable accounts around the world, thus safeguarding his underworld business interests and enabling him to begin his machinations destroying Vadim's criminal empire and claiming its carcass for his own.

Personality:

Perhaps unexpectedly for a mobster, Semiyon is disarmingly charming, marked by good manners and a playful sense of humor. He speaks with a heavy accent that is a vague mix of Russian and Israeli and for the most part he appears to be all smiles and twinkling eyes. However there are cracks in his friendly airs that betray a sharp edge waiting beneath those round glasses and fine clothes. Semiyon's gaze misses nothing, eyes always on the look out for a weak point and now and again his jokes come with an unsettling feeling that something sinister has just been implicated but in so subtle a manner that it is impossible to pin him to any specifics. Because first and foremost Semiyon is smart and those smarts are tightly bound to a need for self-preservation. Unlike Boris and Vadim who use heavy handed and bloody tactics as their go to, Semiyon prefers the long game. He wants to whittle away at the foundations beneath his opponents feet until one day they look down and their is nothing left supporting them and in the meantime Semiyon will have added their riches to his own comfortable nest.

It is also important to note that Semiyon, by his own admission, is 'old school'. He is the 'noble criminal' as it were, the mobster with principles. While he is happy to launder money and run contraband, he seems to draw a line at excessive violence. Semiyon staunchly refuses to work with the cartels out of Mexico and Central America and when Alex pushes him on this issue, frustrated that Semiyon will not utilize the cartels as a weapon against Vadim, Semiyon explains, "they dress like bankers, they speak a dozen languages, they eat in the finest restaurants, but underneath all that sophistication there is an open grave in the Mexican desert with 50 headless corpses inside," and states, "the difference is that I will not bury you if you let me down."

These 'old school' principles also play out in Semiyon's private life. In episode 5 it is revealed that Semiyon is a closeted homosexual. A friend of Semiyon's explains that in the 90s when Semiyon arrived in Israel it would have been easy for him to come out but that he had simply felt too old-fashioned to do so. It is further revealed that Semiyon has been having a loving relationship with a much younger man, a photographer he met at his friend's art gallery, and Semiyon himself confesses that he is 'just a sentimental old man who fell in love.'

However, as stated by Karel Benes, one of Semiyon's biggest weaknesses is 'overlooking stupid'. Semiyon paved his way with his intellect and his sharp perception and he is used to dealing with men who similarly clawed out their empires through sheer willpower and wit, so when he encounters someone who is non-intellectual and who relies on brawn rather than brain, Semiyon is out of his depths. This can be seen in his conflict with Jan Reznik. When his wiles and his smooth talking fails to win over the slow-witted and brutish Reznik, Semiyon loses his temper, demanding to go home because he has 'nothing more to say' to this man.

Inventory: Semiyon will be arriving from his home with just the clothes on his back and his house-arrested ankle bracelet.

Abilities: Semiyon is human with no supernatural abilities. However he is fluent in a handful of languages including Russian, English, Hebrew, French, and Spanish.

Flaws:
Semiyon has many flaws including his disregard for the legal system and his willingness to profit by criminal means, even at the expense of innocents. This can be seen in his active participation in kidnap and in blackmail and is also implied in his history as part of the corrupt aluminum trade in Russia. Furthermore, Semiyon, despite his aversion to heavy handed violence, is still prone to lashing out when injured or insulted. this is evidenced in his plotting against Vadim and his sense of relief when it is revealed that Reznik has been found dead.

SAMPLES
Action Log Sample:

Surely this must be a fever dream. The bi-product of his highly public, wholly humiliating, and agonizingly personal defeat at the hands of some unseen enemy. In the days since he'd been placed under house arrest he'd turned to finding what small comfort from heartache could be found in the bottom of a wine glass.

Surely that must be the source of this nightmare.

Except that, unlike in a nightmare where the body feels ethereal and disconnected, he feels solidly of his own flesh and breath. And he feels frail. So much so that when he sees the horrific creature barreling at him, it is all he can do to wobble pathetically away and drop into the dust and dirt. His mouth hangs agape and his eyes blink owlishly behind his now fogged glasses. After a moment he kicks a heel into the dirt and tries to push himself further away from the human-shaped monstrosity that stalks nearby. It is not even partly successful, the heavy ankle bracelet still secured to his his leg forcing his leg to twist in a painful angle and making him whimper in hurt and frustration.

Seemingly out of options, his nimble fingers claw through the sand for anything hard. And finding a decent sized rock he hefts it with his full force at the cursed thing's head. He doesn't expect it will do him much good, but Semiyon Kleiman refuses to meet his end without a struggle.