Nikolai Gogol

The Illustrated Chronicle is an illustrated collection that describes the events of Russian and foreign history from the Creation of the World to the mid-16th century.
The Book of Degrees is a chronicle work that presented Russian history from Vladimir the Saint to Ivan IV as the process of the Russian people's ascent up the steps (degrees) of the historical ladder.
The tented roof style is an architectural style that emerged and spread in Russia in the 16th century. Churches in this style had no internal supporting pillars, and the entire weight of the building rested on the foundation.
"Domostroy" - instructions on housekeeping, raising children, and observing religious norms and rituals in the family.
"Chronograph" is a collection of entertaining and instructive essays on world history, in which Russian history is considered as part of world history.

The Zemsky Sobor was an estate-representative body under the Tsar, consisting of elected representatives of various strata of the population, convened to decide the most important state affairs.
The Select Council was a circle of close associates of Tsar Ivan IV, the unofficial government of the Russian state in the late 1540s–1550s.
Orders (order system) were central government bodies in Russia from the 16th to the beginning of the 18th century.
The oprichnina was a special state territory with an army and state apparatus, which, unlike the Zemshchina, constituted the “personal inheritance” of Ivan IV.
Localism is a system of distributing positions in military, administrative and court service, taking into account the origin (nobility) and official position of ancestors.
Pososhnye taxation was a direct tax that was levied in the 16th and 17th centuries based on the area of ​​arable land. The size of a land parcel—a "sokha"—was established by the Code of Laws of 1550.
Guests were the most privileged part of the merchant class, whose representatives had the right to conduct international trade.
Gostiny Dvors are complexes of trading, warehouse and residential premises created in cities for wholesale trade of foreign or generally visiting merchants - guests.
Estates are large groups of people whose position in society, duties and rights were passed on by inheritance.
Service people—military personnel and officials in the Muscovite state who served in the state from the age of 15—did not pay taxes.
The taxpayers were the classes that paid taxes to the sovereign's treasury and performed various duties for the sovereign (billing, water, construction, etc.).
Black-soil peasants were personally free peasants who lived on communal (sovereign) lands and paid taxes to the state.
Palace peasants were assigned directly to the sovereign's palace; their payments and work went towards the needs of the monarch and members of his family.
Private peasants lived on estates or manors, under the authority of a landowner and paying rent to him and duties to the state.

Protecting the state from external enemies. Military leadership—princes took command of the army. Providing the army with weapons and horses.
Diplomatic activity is necessary to reach a compromise with an adversary or to sign agreements.
The implementation of the princely court - a court that the prince could administer himself or appoint judges.
Making decisions on a criminal case, announcing the verdict.
Appointment of local administration - the prince appointed regional governors, who were called posadniks and, together with him, exercised administrative and judicial power.
Collecting tribute from the subject population—the main methods of collection were the "polyudye" and the "povoz." The prince or his representatives traveled throughout the subject territories to collect taxes in kind (mostly furs) and in cash.
Management of the state economy
The prince was assisted in pardoning the criminal by a number of officials.
Law-making function: the prince created judicial statutes or charters.
Providing churches with Russian clergy and the necessary liturgical texts, introducing a division of powers between the princely and ecclesiastical spheres on the Byzantine model, and sustainable development of interaction between church and state bodies in the judicial sphere.
In pagan times, princes acted as initiators and organizers of pagan cults and rituals.
Basically, the prince is supported in everything (or rather, almost everything is done for him) by his advisor, Sigma.

Music
Performances by skomorokhs—artists who entertained princes, singing and dancing, and playing folk instruments (gusli, gudki, dudka, bagpipes, tambourines, and domras). In the 16th century, skomorokhs were brought from Novgorod to Moscow for the "royal amusement."
The singer-storyteller's performances—he composed and sang songs and epics about the military exploits of the prince and his retinue. He accompanied himself on the gusli.
The development of church music—with the adoption of Christianity, church music began to develop, becoming an integral part of church ritual. In the 16th century, measures were taken to regulate church singing.

He doesn't have many pastimes. He enjoys horseback riding and archery. In 16th-century Russia, princes could entertain themselves in a variety of ways, including hunting, feasts, games, and music.
Hunting
Falconry. Considered the exclusive right of state officials, falcons, gyrfalcons, and hawks were used for hunting. Special falconers trained "well-bred" gyrfalcons, falcons, or hawks to catch small animals and wild birds.
Hound hunting. Horses, hounds, and greyhounds were used for hunting. Princely hound hunting utilized not only the local greyhound breed but also the highly prized oriental greyhound.
Hunting for wild ungulates—roe deer, elk, saiga, and red deer—was common. Large numbers of birds, including swans, were caught with nets.
How Sigismund von Herberstein's notes revealed the Muscovite state to Europe. About real events.
Feasts
Feasts were held to mark important state events or religious holidays. Representatives of various classes gathered at these feasts: princes, clergy, and even peasants, as well as foreign guests.
Feast rituals. Preparations for the feast were made in advance, with a feast list compiled, indicating the names of those responsible for organizing it, the names of the guests and their places at the table, the menu, and the order in which food and drink would be served.
Duration of feasts - usually a feast lasted from 6 to 8 hours, but there were also exceptional feasts that stretched for several days. Games
Chess - there were masters at court who made new chess sets and repaired old ones.
Biryulki were carved figures piled on the table. Players used a special hook to take turns removing one biryulki from the pile, being careful not to disturb the neighboring ones.
Tavlei is a board game that represented military strategy: a prince and his retinue had to escape from an enemy encirclement twice their size. The game pieces symbolized the opposing warriors.

The princes' costume included caftans, shirts, boots and headdresses.
Caftans
For the nobility, caftans were made from lightweight silk, brocade, or satin, often trimmed with fur along the edges. Along the trim, gold or silver lace was sewn onto the hems, cuffs, and hem.
The decoration included plaques and stones covering the shoulder pads, breastplate and hem of the caftan, as well as ornaments embroidered in the form of heart-shaped figures.
A turn-down necklace, embroidered with gold and studded with pearls, was attached to the princely caftans.
Shirts
Princes wore silk shirts. The shirts usually had a slit—at the neck, in the front, or on the side.
Over their shirts, the princes wore sleeves decorated with precious stones and metals, made of expensive fabric.
The prince's belt, the gashnik, was worn over the outer shirt and was also richly decorated with jewelry, ornaments, and bright embroidery, mostly in red and gold.
Boots
An essential part of princely attire were colorful boots, often embroidered with pearls and plaques. The technique of dyeing leather footwear in various colors—green, yellow, red—was known in Rus' since ancient times.
A distinctive feature of "hard" boots was a rigid, upturned toe cap sewn to the vamp. To prevent deep creases from forming on the instep of such boots, the vamp was embossed transversely.
Headwear
On short-cropped heads, women usually wore tafyas—round caps that tightly covered the crown or crown of the head. At home, tafyas were worn without any special embellishments, but on special occasions, they were lavishly embellished with gold embroidery and adorned with large pearls and precious stones.
Hats were worn over the tafya: for the common people, they were made of felt, poyark, or sukmanina; for the wealthy, they were made of fine cloth and velvet. Besides klobuk-style hats, treukhs, murmolkas, and gorlatin hats were also worn.

He stubbornly refuses to wear warm clothes in winter because “free people don’t need warm clothes,” and then he gets cold and sick.
He spins like a dzyga in his sleep, constantly changing his position, and sometimes laughing in his sleep.
Sometimes he comes to someone to complain about how boring everyone is.
He lives in a palace, it's simply enormous. And he has a huge number of servants. He has enormous chambers with a large canopy bed.
Everything happens at the time of the 1520s, that is, the 16th century.
Claustrophobic, brontophobic. During a thunderstorm, he hides under the covers and doesn't come out until it's over.
The prince handles the power given to him over an entire huge state rather carelessly, blaming everything on his servants, mainly on his advisor.

He keeps everything to himself, even though he should be telling someone. Because he keeps all his thoughts and feelings bottled up, he suffers terribly. And he simply can't close himself off anymore and can unload all his worries on someone else.
He tries to gain everyone's attention with his behavior, and wants to be remembered for it in the history of Rus'.
He's constantly smiling and feigning confidence; all his feelings seem artificial and exaggerated. Nevertheless, he's a very empathetic person. Despite this, he genuinely tries to be more empathetic, although he can personally drive people to extremes with his behavior, both unconsciously and consciously, simply by observing their reaction. Tears, screams, or whatever. It's impossible to have a heart-to-heart talk with him; he always turns everything into a joke, both other people's problems and his own.
Schizophrenia. Symptoms include poor memory and a strange sensitivity to situations and people, as if living in a completely different world. They perceive everything differently, have strange logical thinking, and construct false chains of logic in their thoughts, which they sincerely believe. Delusions. A strange, unhealthy obsession with biology and the internal structure of living things. Obsessive thoughts. Voices and strange images—that is, hallucinations. Sometimes, hallucinations of smells and strange sensations on the skin also occur. Sharp mood swings without apparent cause, yet a smile is always on the face.
He is constantly looking for something to do because being alone with his thoughts is hell for a guy.

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol
Age: 26 years
Height: 187 cm
Weight: 84 kg
Prince of Moscow and all Rus'. A man with short, snow-white hair and a single, long strand at the back of his head that reaches his waist, which he always wears in a braid. Heterochromia, his left eye blue and his right green. His left eye has a light, cross-shaped pupil, and a vertical scar running along it. He covers this eye with a richly embroidered bandage. He has long, snow-white eyelashes and ample thighs.
Totally nuts, the kind of buffoon who absolutely everyone who knows anything about him laughs at. He constantly spouts nonsense, it's not even funny, and generally believes himself to be both childish and maniacal, but in public, he certainly behaves as rationally as possible. He's like the kid in the horror movie who ends up killing everyone by the end and disappearing.
A terrifying sadist, a lover of violence, and a skilled manipulator. All his emotions seem unreal and artificial, as if he were at a play for small children, trying to entertain them. He constantly behaves like a clown.
A passion for freedom. He believes that death is liberation. He longs to be free, but constantly closes himself off within his soul. He is stubborn, artistic, and a good liar. He believes that by following laws and rules, he deprives himself of freedom, which he dislikes. He does not show true emotions.
Traumatized childhood.
Loves starry nights.
It's always cold, but
He's ashamed to admit it, because no one knows about it. He needs warmth and understanding, but he's terribly ashamed of it and considers it a violation of his freedom.
He loves it when people look at his head.
He's juggling a bunch of identities, trying to find his true self. He hides behind a mask of clown, although deep down he's unhappy. He does this unconsciously, out of habit. He's ashamed to admit it and won't tell anyone.
Erotophobe. If he falls in love with someone, he will try to deny it, reject it, be afraid, and be ashamed of his feelings.