Yuri (character)

"The human brain is a Pandora's Box of electrical charges which we can only begin to understand. Most brains are but receivers; however, some more advanced are sending and receiving charges as they choose."

- Yuri

Yuri was a powerful psychic that was once Premier Romanov's chief advisor and later turned against the world in a bid to take it over with his army of genetically altered humans and beasts. Most likely, he, not Romanov, was the true ruler of the USSR in the 1970s.

His appearance bears an uncanny resemblance to Vladimir Lenin, with a bald head and goatee. On his forehead are tattooed three Hebrew letters "resh", "vav", and "yod", and an odd machine is surgically implanted into his skull, possibly some sort of psionic amplifier for his powers.

Professor Albert Einstein referred to Yuri as, "hostis humani generis", Latin for "the enemy of mankind".

History
Much of Yuri's history remains unknown. It is known that he has roots in Transylvania, Romania, where he has a family castle.

Great World War II
""I have seen this already.""

- Yuri

According to Soviet records, Yuri was one of a group of telepaths gathered by Joseph Stalin. During this time, Yuri developed his telepathic powers. However, the USSR eventually lost the Second World War, and Yuri and his fellow telepaths were never deployed in battle.

Following the war, Yuri joined Premier Romanov, who he helped rearm the USSR, developing psychic technology and forming the backbone of the Psychic Corps. Yuri helped the Empire of the Rising Sun to developed their psychic corps, once the timelines were changed by Cherdenko, Yuriko, seems to be named in his honour.

Great World War III
""We fight a life or death struggle against the powers of capitalism. Only complete faith in Yuri can protect you. Only total compliance will save the lives of you and your family. Empty your mind, and submit to my will. The less you know, the better off you will be. I am Yuri. Obey me.""

- Yuri

Yuri played a key part in both the preparation and execution of the Soviet invasion of the USA, using his mind-control technology to prevent nuclear retaliation, and later to turn the American population into mindless slaves via giant Psychic Beacons.

During the war, little was seen of Yuri from the Allied side, although the Allied commanders knew that he was a key advisor to Romanov, and few ventured to guess that his influence on Romanov was more than just that of an advisor. As Moscow fell, he disappeared for a time.

Although Yuri himself did not join combat during the Great World War III in any of the campaigns, there existed a number of units bearing his name. These 'Yuris' were in all respects equivalent to psi-corps troopers. One theory of the nomenclature here was that Yuri wished to spread disinformation as to his true whereabouts in preparation for his worldwide psychic attack.

Psychic Dominator Disaster
""Why should I be content to lead one nation, when I can control the whole world, Mr President?""

- Yuri

""You can't threaten us. We are the most powerful nation on earth. We did win the war, you know.""

- Michael Dugan

""Did you, indeed? I think not.""

- Yuri

During the Psychic Dominator Disaster, Yuri had stolen Soviet cloning technology; using it to create a number of clones. However, to protect himself from any clone plotting against him, Yuri engineered his clones to have inferior psychic abilities. Yuri himself was seen on the battlefield once or twice; he stood upon a hovering platform which rendered him immune to being trampled, and allowed him to cross over water. His powers were so well developed that he could mind control entire enemy structures, through the personnel within.

After the Allies had finally defeated Romanov's forces through a surprise Chronosphere invasion of Moscow, Yuri resurfaced. However, he had abandoned his former employers, and revealed that during the war, he had raised an army of his own and a planned to take over the world with mind-controlling Psychic Dominators in specific points all over the world. Yuri personally contacted President Dugan to gloat over this plan. Dugan originally tried to dissuade Yuri with an amnesty offer and leadership of Russia, however, Yuri preferred the entire world to one country. At that point, Dugan ordered an air strike, failing to destroy the Dominator in San Francisco, but damaging a nuclear power plant generating energy for it, allowing some Allied and Soviet command centers to avoid falling under Yuri's control. However, an overwhelming majority of humanity succumbed to Yuri's dominance permanently. The Allies and Soviets took up arms against Yuri, using the Allied-built time machine to travel back in time and stop Yuri from carrying out his plan.

Downfall
""I am YURI! You will OBEY!""

- Yuri

""Now you behave, or there will be no dessert tonight!""

- Prison guard

After his final defeat in Antarctica, in the Allied account Yuri was captured and put into a Psychic Isolation Chamber, which was used to strip him of his mind control abilities. As General Carville put it best: "He won't be able to mind control a fly.". He possibly stayed in his chamber for the rest of his life, under guard of Allied soldiers. The Soviet account says that he stole the time machine and attempted to remove his enemies from existence, but was foiled when Lt. Zofia used the Time Machine's command codes to overload and use all of it's power which, in turn, sent Yuri into the Cretaceous period just to be eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Following Yuri's capture, all researches regarding Mind control and other Yuri's technologies were destroyed by the Allies to prevent further use of these malicious technologies. After the Fourth World War time travel and the assassination of Albert Einstein, it is unknown what happened to Yuri. Considering that the Psychic Isolation Chamber in which he was imprisoned was constructed by Einstein, it is possible that this man is now no longer imprisoned, although he may be imprisoned in a Cryoprison, which has a similar role to the Psychic Isolation Chamber. During the Fourth World War, it was confirmed that the Empire of the Rising Sun did experiments with Mind control technology, although it was never used in the war itself but only in the experiments regarding the Shiro Sanitarium. Was it based off stolen technology from Yuri, or was Yuri himself working there ? , Since yuriko bears yuri's name, it could be possible that the latter seems to be true.

Yuri Prime
"There is only one true Yuri."

- Yuri Prime, announcing his arrival

Yuri himself appears in game as Yuri Prime where he fills the role as the Yuri hero, much like Tanya or Boris. He is a much more powerful version of the Yuri Clone in that he can mind control enemy units but can also cross water thanks to his floating platform and mind control enemy structures as well. However, he is just as helpless against Attack Dogs, air units and robotic units as his cloned versions.

Military Strength
"Yuri" sometimes refers to the army under Yuri's command rather than the man himself. Yuri was the leader of a very versatile and efficient army. Yuri and his mad scientists conducted secret researches which resulted in great scientific advances, which Yuri exploited to the full. Yuri relied on mind-control, cloning, advanced magnetic weapons, and laser technology, as well as speed, maneuverability and flexibility to bring him victory on the battlefield.



Yuri is most notorious for his mind-control and brainwashing abilities. His secret army used many psychic units like the Yuri Clone, the Mastermind and the Psychic Tower. Yuri commanders would use these to turn enemy units against each other. If powerful units were captured, then they would fight for the Yuri player to help defend his base. Captured units could also be sent into a Grinder for a little extra cash, supplementing the income from Yuri's Slave Miners. Slave Miner refineries, unlike Allied or Soviet Ore Refineries, can freely move around the battlefield to mine any available ore. This can significantly save time in transporting ore back to the refinery, and eliminates the need to build extra refineries in far away mining locations.



Yuri's infantry are, shall we say, "special". Yuri's Initiates are more powerful than either the Allied G.I. or the Soviet Conscript, being able to start fires with only their minds. They were very effective against infantry and quite effective against structures and, if in big numbers or garrisoned in a building, against tanks. The Brute was Yuri's tank hunter. It was a huge mutant who could smash almost anything with his powerful fists. They were specially designed to take over enemy tanks because their weapons were almost useless against Brutes. The Virus was Yuri's sniper unit. Much like the British Sniper it could kill infantry from a great range. Even if the Sniper had greater attack range, the Virus was armed with some deadly toxins that could quickly kill infantry near the infected target.

His main battle tank was the Lasher tank. Even though it wasn't as strong as heavier tanks such as the Rhino, it was very fast and could easily outrange the grizzly tank. When stationed in a tank bunker, it was heavily defended and this made it a very efficient defense. His Gattling Tanks were very fast and could easily kill infantry and shoot down aircrafts. Once their guns were fully charged, they would do heavy damage even to Kirov Airships and some light tanks. These two vehicles comprised the bulk of Yuri's armored divisions and allow Yuri's forces to conduct very fast offensives. They are supported by various high-tech units including the Magnetron, which is only useful against vehicles and allow Yuri commanders to drag enemy vehicles towards Yuri Clones or Masterminds. Chaos Drones can spread terror and panic among enemy forces while Yuri's armored divisions go in for the kill.



Yuri did not use fixed-wing aircraft like the Allied Harrier and the Soviet MiG, however, he had the Floating Disc, a powerful floating disk (resembling a stereotypical UFO) that could destroy infantry and vehicles with its laser. Also, if it went near a Power Plant or a Refinery (or even a Slave Miner, should it be deployed,) it was able either to drain the power produced by the Power Plant in question, or steal enemy's cash. The Boomer Submarine was Yuri's only, all-purpose naval unit. It was a very big sub, a lot stronger than the Soviet Typhoon, that was also able to use rockets against ground targets, much like the Soviet Dreadnought.

Yuri also have two superweapons, the Genetic Mutator and the Psychic Dominator. The first one was able to turn the infantry of a specified area into loyal Brutes, the second one was able to mind control some units in a specified area anywhere on the map, and cause widespread destruction to neighboring buildings.

Behind the Scenes
Yuriko Omega of the Empire of the Rising Sun is, basically and essentially, a female, destructive version of the subject, namely his Prime and Clone types. The 'ko' suffix at the end of her name is a traditional addition that basically means 'Daughter of' Essentially this makes Yuriko's name mean 'Daughter of Yuri'. In a recent live chat with the dev team however, the developers stated that: "The only relation Yuriko has to Yuri is 'in spirit'. And that they share four letters."

Yuri's army is considered the most difficult to use, but is considered to be overpowered when used correctly, causing it to be banned from most online matches

Yuri was played by Udo Kier.