Ilyana Makarov

This is a Modernstomia character.

Sortavala, Russia.

I cannot recall anything before that day, the day of my third birthday.  We were still a family, then, in that warm cottage we called home.  Father, with an axe slung over his shoulder as he trundled off to the treeline to fetch another load of wood.  Mother, tirelessly correcting my feeble attempts at assisting with dinner.  She pleaded with him to take what I now know was the family revolver with him, but he laughed it off in a familiar, hearty manner.  A young man, perhaps my brother, messing with Ivan, the family dog.  I miss that dog.

Then the screaming started.  Ivan came running back inside, and I clung to him with every last ounce of my chubby fingers. Mother ran outside, but Ivan didn't follow.  I was alone.

Nearly 8 hours later, the men came.  They say it there was a bear, but Father wasn't ever coming back.  Mother was stuck in the hospital, so I was to go with them.  It took them half an hour to convince me to let go of Ivan, and then only after promising he could come with us.  He did, but he didn't last long.  I think Father broke his heart too. The rest is a bit of a blur.  Mother Russia raised me, despite the difficulties.  I survived.  Can't complain too much about that.

## Training, Winter 2015

Me in the MVD

I started working for the MVD, what you might know as the Ministry of the Interior when I was 16.  Labor laws weren't quite such a big deal in the Motherland, and I needed the money.  I worked my way up, and by the time I was 18 I was something between a secretary and a courier.  That's when I found the message that gave me my ticket on the road that led me here.

It wasn't much of a message, but I changed my life.  It was proof.  Proof of Russian efforts to destabilize regimes around the globe for the glory of the Motherland.  I wasn't supposed to read it, but I was curious, and so I peeked. That earned me a transfer to one of those same 'destabilization teams' in order to keep everything quiet.  I didn't mind.  I'd had a knack for running the office (by pretending my directions came from the boss, of course), and it was a lot more important than paperwork.

I'll spare you the details of the next several years, in part because I won't betray my country, and in part because some of those memories are personal.  Suffice it to say the following:  Over the next several years, I led insurgents in Ukraine, Syria, Beijing, Saudia Arabia, and Afghanistan.  I radical organizations take credit for the work we'd done--all for the greater good of the Russian people.  I lived. I laughed. I cried.  I loved.  Yet eventually it all came to an end.

I don't blame the SEAL team that put an end to those days.  I just wish I'd seen it coming.  Perhaps I could have spared a few of them their fate.  Elena, who's glasses would get so fogged in cold weather she could hardly see, and Vladimir, who's headstrong attitude accomplished much yet always brought trouble.  I miss you all.  Yet as always, I'm the one who survived.

I'd heard rumors of things in NYC after that.  The Underdark can contain all kinds of strange info, you know?  It was a lot easier to reach than I'd thought--it turned out that while the Americans knew of groups like mine, they didn't have our identities.  So I was able to settle into life as a barmaid--hah! Me?  A barmaid?  I can't believe it either--and life moves on.  From here, however, it's anyone's guess.

## New York City

### June 2019

Since arriving in NYC, Ilyana has undergone several contracts on the Underdark to become a "Leyline Hunter." While she's not entirely sure what that means, she can say with confidence that it involves a lot of looking for strange magic rocks, protecting schoolchildren from mundane and magical groups attacking them, and having an obnoxious man known as Red Eyes teleport anyone of importance away before they can get caught.

Towards the end of June, she went on a mission to rescue a group of children from the School who were under assault by Section 13.  Over the course of a few short hours, a trail of dead cops, and hijacking an explosive van, they managed to rescue the last few survivors.  Ilyana took the girl (who possessed some degree of healing magic) back to her apartment, to hide out until it was safe. She's not sure if it's satisfactory as a safehouse, but the girl is welcome to stay as long as she needs.

## Appearance

   Ilyana is taller than the average woman, but still incredibly light. She stands with a relaxed confidence born from the experiences of a lifetime spent struggling to survive.  While she doesn't possess the kind of otherworldy beauty she's noticed all around New York City, she compensates through an ordinary sort of charm and the exuberance of confidence.

Most of the time, she can be found dressed rather modestly, preferring simply white shirts over black skirts for business attire.  Her long air is rarely permitted to hang freely, instead sually bunched up in a pony-tail for convenience.  Only when she truly feels comfortable and in good company will she let it down.
When she's in a casual mood, she'll throw on a canvas jacket over her shirt, while also replacing the skirt with a pair of long pants.  In her mind, the movement more than replaces any losses in appearance. For a typical mission, this is the style of outfit she can be found in--for getting tripped up by a skirt in a critical moment would be the last mistake she ever made.  She also carries around a distinctive black ballistic mask with a white stripe layered vertically over the left eye. She only dons it during a mission, however, when it is of the utmost importance that she conceal her identity, especially with the numerous threats running the streets of NYC who possess significant technological capabilities.

## Personality

Ilyana typically falls on the quiet end of the spectrum, preferring to remain cautious and reserved to letting everything flow out of her. She's extraordinarily confident in her decisions, however, and refuses to regret any of her decisions even when they later turn out to have been wrong. Her professionalism has proven a significant aid in the field, where the extra thought can make the difference between running headlong into an ambush and triggering one of your own. However, it does make it incredibly hard for her to actually express her emotions, as she layers individual truths on top of each other in a thick layer. Usually, people will break through a few, but very few have ever penetrated to the core.

When she is comfortable, however, she is very outgoing. She taps into this side of her often when the need to socialize comes up, but it's just as likely to be a facade than genuine--at least until she gets to know you. While she'd never admit it to anyone, she often finds herself feeling lonely, and despite the great care she takes to hide such feelings they can never be buried far beneath the surface.

On the job, she has very little patience for what she sees as excessive nonsense or irrational behavior. She'll suffer through it, but as a rather judgmental person she finds herself critiquing what people fail to do almost as much as the things they actually do. Furthermore, while she's usually only in things for herself, there are two things that will draw her to supporting others: her friends and comrades, and small children.

## Friends

Alyssa Vancouver - A mischivious girl Ilyana met on one of her early Leyline Hunting missions.  The girl seemed incredibly outgoing, very meticulous, and mysteriously happy.  Ilyana suspects that she's hiding something beneath the carefree exterior, but there's no denying that she's one of the best she's met so far.  She might prove to be significant competition in the future, but the two also seem well on their way towards becoming good friends.

Anri - A young girl Ilyana met on her first Underdark contract in New York. If she's being completely honest, she doesn't trust her in the slightest.  She's too wild and gung-ho in her opinion to be considered reliable, and yet she still gets results.  Ilyana admires that, and her ability to work as part of a team when the going gets rough, but she hesitates to call her a friend just yet.

Section Lieutenant - Another 'not-quite-a-friend', the young Section lieutenant she met while scoping out a warehouse containing plenty of Nightmares (including a mysterious scythe user) caught her attention.  He'd gone beyond orders looking for a girl, and even though he hadn't found her, she admires his dedication.  Secretly, she wants someone like that one day.  She slipped him the cell # for a burner phone before they had to flee the scene. Only time will tell if she regrets that decision.

## Enemies

The Nightmares - A magical terrorist organization operating in the shadows of NYC.  Ilyana despises them and everything they stand for, and looks forward to taking them down a peg or two with good old-fashioned blood, sweat, and lead.

## Additional Info

Section 13 - While Ilyana has come into conflict with Section 13 on numerous occaisons, she doesn't actually blame them for what they are trying to do.  Everything she's seen of magic has demonstrated that it is (mostly) unstable, and it's wielders are to be pitied.  Between Sid Bangarand's nonsense and the madness of the Nightmares, she's no longer certain that they are actually the bad guys.  However, she still holds out hope for the children of the School.  Perhaps they can be taught in such a manner that their magic proves more worthy than what she's seen so far.

Sid Bangarang - A druggie, but also some kind of magician.  His help has been useful on a couple occaisons, but he's a struggle to be around with the chaos inflicted by his magic.  If he wasn't always doped up on something, perhaps he'd be a nice guy.