Ivan Yatuow

**Ivan Yatuow** is the main protagonist and playable character in *Schastye*.

## Backstory

### Meeting Ryibkin

Ivan was married for six years to a woman named Anna Matveevna and had two sons named Misha and Andrei. He lived in the Russian city of Nizhnevartovsk and worked as a car mechanic. Ivan and Anna divorced in the year 2000, four years before the events of *Schastye* took place. Afterwards, Anna did anything she could to make any visitations that Ivan had with Misha and Andrei more difficult, before moving to Neftejugansk, severing all contact Ivan had with his sons. Ivan found not being able to see his sons very difficult, and he ended up spending all his money on vodka, and lost his job due to cuts at his workplace. This caused him to move back in with his mother, since he was no longer able to pay rent. Ivan would often sit on a bench outside their apartment building and drink vodka, observing and making acquaintance with the many odd characters that wandered by each day.

One of these characters was Fedor I. Ryibkin. Ivan described him as standing out from the rest, being someone very charismatic and inspirational despite his appearance, that others wanted to follow and listen to. In the winter of 2003, Ivan, Ryibkin, and their other friends were wandering around the streets of Nizhnevartovsk one evening. Two of them were being loud, having their "usual fun", with Ryibkin following closely behind them. Ivan was hit by a sudden wave of melancholy and sat on a tire sticking out of the ground. From here, he fell asleep and began to have a dream.

In the dream, Ivan was in a forest, which contained white trees (which he knew somehow must have been Sycamores) that emitted strange electrical crackles, and, faintly, music that Ivan had decided was not of human origin. He wandered around this forest for hours or maybe even days, before eventually reaching its edge, with only darkness lying ahead of him. He walked past the edge and fell off the edge of the world, falling down at an unnaturally slow rate. He looked up at the underside of the Forest to see a huge, insect-like creature, which is revealed later to be The Emperor, known as the Nameless God in *Schastye*.

Ivan then woke up in an unfamiliar room. This is the same room that the events of *Schastye* later take place in. He exited the room to find a small home library and Ryibkin frying eggs in a kitchen; he had taken Ivan to his apartment. Also in the library was a pedestal upon which sat a statuette that depicted the Emperor. Ivan asked where the restroom was and Ryibkin pointed to it without a word. As Ivan used the toilet, he wondered to himself why Ryibkin had taken him there, despite Ivan having his keys on his person; his thoughts drifted towards some sort of romantic implications. He dismissed these thoughts and returned to the kitchen.

He and Ryibkin talked, with the latter telling about his job and his past divorce. He then showed Ivan his library, which contained numerous strange and eclectic books. Most of it, however, was dedicated to the volumes written by Marcel Griaule about his study of the Dogon people and their mythology. Ryibkin explained Griaule's research to Ivan, describing the Nameless God and its connections to Teth Mushrooms. This topic seemed to interest Ivan, and he asked again about the statuette. Instead of answering him, Ryibkin took him back to the room he awoke in and took out some Teth mushrooms from a drawer and offered Ivan to take one.

### Rituals with Ryibkin

After this point, Ivan had almost completely kicked his drinking habit and got a new job. He also began spending an extensive amount of time at Ryibkin's apartment in order to conduct so-called experiments with the Teth mushrooms and meditation. The pair read the extensive notes Marcel Griaule kept about the Dogon rituals to use Teth mushrooms in order to communicate with the Emperor. Ivan was motivated by some sort of existential drive, wanting to meet the Emperor so he could commune with a being that was not made of the same sort of material that his dreary universe was composed of. Ryibkin on the other hand, was motivated by scientific interest.

Preparations for this meeting included intense meditation sessions and taking four grams of mushrooms, then constructing a vehicle in their minds so that they could travel to the Forest. The men decided to construct a GAZ-24-02 "Volga" car, since it was something they were both familiar with. If either of them messed up during the process of constructing the car, it would entirely dissipate and they would have to start from the beginning. Eventually they succeeded, and they entered the car and began driving away, with Ryibkin in the driver's seat. The living room they were once in broke down as they drove, and soon they encountered a vast landscape composed of colorful fractal shapes and shifted constantly.

Eventually, they arrived in the Forest and exited the car. The Emperor was waiting for them in the center of the Forest, and Ivan described him as appearing much more terrifying than the statuette could depict. Ryibkin moved to kneel before the Emperor, but Ivan was unable to do so, as he lacked a body. Then, something strange began happening to Ryibkin as his face "looked just like the sound of a blue car horn" and his body contorted into a long, spindle like shape with the focus of the Emperor causing a halo of golden light to form around Ryibkin's head. The light then intensified into an infinitely bright point, after which there was a loud snap and Ryibkin disappeared.

Afterwards, Ivan and the Emperor shared a conversation, but not in the literal sense of it; rather, they both existed only as the World's essence, on a ribbon that comprised existence and simultaneously did not exist itself. The only thing keeping Ivan from being completely eroded by this was an overwhelming wish for everyone to share the "godly blessedness" that he was experiencing in that moment. The Emperor replied back to Ivan with Ryibkin's voice, telling him about the Prophecy. The Prophecy was a set of words which, when read by any person regardless of background, will enlighten them in the way that Ivan had been, by activating the right neuron pathways in the right order. This would eventually cause them to vanish, and Ivan would also vanish as soon as he finished writing down this set of words. He memorized the words of the Prophecy that the Emperor dictated to him and became determined to spread it to anyone he could.

Ivan came to his senses, finding himself in Ryibkin's living room. Ryibkin was unconscious on the floor, with his nose bleeding. Ivan was overcome with an intense headache, but ignored the pain and quickly re-entered the room where he had first woken up.

## Plot

*Schastye's* gameplay begins moments after Ivan's backstory section ended. Ivan, now back inside the room where he first awoke, closes the door behind him and turns on the computer. He sits down at the desk and begins writing the words of the Prophecy the Emperor had described to him, and in doing so explained his life and the moments that led up until that moment. Near the end of the document, he says his farewells to Ryibkin and his sons, and begins typing the last sentence of the Prophecy. Before he can type the last word, the game cuts to the credits, seemingly proving Ivan and the Emperor correct in that he would vanish.

Alternatively, the player can choose to have Ivan exit the room before finishing the story. This results in an achievement called "Good Ending".

## Trivia

* The very first instance of Ivan's surname in *Schastye* is spelt as "Yautow". All others are spelt as "Yatuow". Considering Yatuow has more prevalence, this is the spelling used in the wiki.
	+ His surname is completely different in the German and Russian versions of the game, where it is "Dyhkov" instead.