Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich is the ruler of the Muscovite Tsardom. He is the initial owner of Moscow, its lord's hall guarded by unrecruitable Tsar Bodyguards only if he himself owns the town. He has a unique retinue of Noble Guards and Gentry Cavalrymen and is the only NPC to wear the Cap of Monomakh and the Tsar Dress.
He is based on a real person who ruled Russia from 1645-1676.
His real name was Alexey Mikhailovich (Алексей Михайлович), often known as "Alexis of Russia" in English. He was a member of the House of Romanov - Alexey's father was the first Romanov Tsar - and thus a distant ancestor to Nikolai (Nicholas) II, the last Russian Emperor.
He died at the age of 46 on January 29, 1676 - on the eve of his death, the Muscovite Tsardom spanned almost 8.1 million square kilometers. He gained the nickname "the Quietest" (Russian: Тишайший - "Tishayshiy") during his reign, which saw the army reformed into New Order regiments, several wars against Poland, Sweden, and Safavid Persia, numerous rebellions such as Stenka Razin's, the introduction of new legal codes, and a schism within the Russian Orthodox Church.
Alexey's mentor, Boyar Boris Morozov, was a shrewd and sensible guardian enlightened to see the needs of his country and was open to Western ideas. However, Morozov was very unpopular and, in May of 1648, the people of Moscow rose against both Boyar Morozov and Tsar Alexey in the so-called Salt Rebellion. The young Tsar was compelled to dismiss them and exiled his own mentor.
Alexey's first wife bore him thirteen children in their twenty-one-year marriage but he remarried after she died three weeks after her thirteenth childbirth. His second wife bore him three children, the most famous of these being their eldest son - future Tsar and later Emperor Pyotr (Peter) I.
