Tyler Radikov

Tyler Radikov, also known as the Russian, was a member of the Church of Unitology who acted as the handler for the new inductee Karrie Norton, codenamed Vandal, during the sabotage of Titan Station's Government Sector. Through her he carried out the work that spread the Necromorph infection across the station while keeping her convinced she was repairing it.

The sabotage of Titan Station#

Little was known of Tyler Radikov's life beyond that he was born on Mars and thought little of its living conditions. He and Daina Le Guin were among the Unitologists who carried out the sabotage of the Government Sector and fed false information to the recent inductee Karrie Norton, who operated under the codename Vandal. Posing as her support, Tyler led her through tasks she did not realize were spreading the Necromorph infection across the station's sectors, among them sabotaging power boxes to cut communications and unlocking the doors between sectors.

Tyler promised to walk Vandal through her mission every step of the way before he was apparently cut off when she boarded the tram to the Crossover Tube. After she realized the Church had used her to unleash the Necromorphs, Tyler regained contact in time to claim that he knew nothing of the Church's plans and wished to help her escape, and Vandal, convinced, accepted his help.

Methods and manner#

Where Tyler was during the outbreak was never clear, though he took credit for leaving supplies in Vandal's path and appeared to have met some Necromorphs himself, since he offered her advice during her fights. When she faced her first Brute, he told her he had already encountered one and described its front armor, telling her to aim for the weak spot on its back. He did not seem affected by the dementia the Site 12 Marker brought on to the degree Vandal was, dismissing her symptoms as hysteria and pressing her to focus on the mission.

Tyler carried a blunt sense of humor. While unlocking a door blocking her objectives, he told Vandal she would have to take a long alternate route, describing the distance in detail, only to admit he was screwing with her before opening the door. At one point he mused that he too should have a nickname like Vandal's and settled on the Russian, to which she replied that she thought he was crazy, but in a good way. He was the only one who knew her real name.

Final betrayal#

Tyler worked against the efforts of Director Hans Tiedemann to help Vandal repair the station, altering the coordinates on her locator to keep her on course for sabotage whenever Tiedemann tried to redirect her. He betrayed her a final time by telling her that cutting power to the station's doors would trigger the emergency quarantines and seal the sectors, when in fact the doors were jammed open, loosing the Necromorphs on the Public Sector. He congratulated her, told her she would be remembered, and reminded her this was the life beyond death they had all been promised. After her struggle with the Necromorph that overheated the reactor core, Tyler reported the sabotage of Titan Station a success and said he was coming home.