Ivan

Information

Player: Thoradin

Character Full Name: Ivan Malakov

Character In-Game Name: Ivan

Nickname(s): The Bear of Alterac

Association(s): Loosely with the Alliance

Race: Human

Class: Martial Artist

Skills and Abilities:

• Hook: In variation of Left or Right, the Hook is a maneuver in which the balled fist strikes the opponent when the arm is at a 90 degree angle.

• Uppercut: The Uppercut is a styled punch aimed at the opponents jaw, striking from below.

• Roundhouse Kick: A full body twist with one leg using the momentum of the twist to hit the opponent in the chest with great force.

• Palm Strike: Intended to knock an opponent down and force the breath out of them, the Palm strike is a maneuver in which the open palm is rocketed at the center of the chest. Best case is being knocked down, worst case is if the strike hits during a heartbeat (can potentially cause death, although this is a million to one).

• Flying Kick: A full sprint-turned-jump-kick, this is meant in the same manner as a Palm Strike, to knock the opponent down with great force. After jumping, his left leg straightens out while the right foot connects at the left thigh to reinforce the kick.

• Pressure Point Mastery: Ivan, through his years of training, has mastered the art of locating and abusing Pressure Points on an enemy. He knows the majority of point locations on humans and High/Blood Elves, and a small handful on Orcs, Trolls, Goblins, Dwarves, and Gnomes. He has begun to learn how to manipulate pressure points on Worgen, Draenei, Night Elves, Tauren, and a few other races. (Note: 98% of these are more for KO's, however there is always the chance that it could muck up and kill a person. These would only be used with OOC consent.)

• Hand-to-Hand Combat Fighter: Over the years, Ivan has gotten into more than a few fights. With or without weapons striking him, his body has toughened. A person with little hand-to-hand experience might harm themselves trying to simply punch his exposed chest. His fists are also extremely tough, as he often compares them to tempered steel.

Age: 48

Sex: Male

Hair: Bald, but he has a black mustache and goatee.

Eyes: Tan

Weight: 225 lbs

Height: 6'5"

Appearance

Usual Garments/Armor: Ivan wears a light set of normal leather armor fashioned from Alterac bear hides. He also sports a reddish headband.

Other: He carries a small bag of holding, however that bag never has much more than a few emergency items like bandages, needle and thread, and alcohol at times.

Personality

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Ivan is a very accepting man, finding friends in any race. He enjoys a good drink with company of any form. However at the same time, Ivan is balanced. He has his hatreds, as anyone, but they are not conventional enemies. Ivan dislikes qualities about himself, seeking to shape his mind and body into the perfect balance of killing machine and peaceful mediator.

Ivan is also an incredibly patient man, allowing very little to penetrate the aura of peace around him. However he wont refrain from harming someone when he is forced into the situation, but he tries at all possibility to not kill someone. He doesn't even like seriously harming someone, regardless of race or even crime.

History

Ivan was born in a small hamlet just to the north east of Alterac City, his home nestled high in the snowy mountains. His father was a lumberjack, helping to supply the local sawmill. His mother was a housekeeper, making sure that everything was cooked, cleaned, and disciplined before her husband returned home. Ivan was the second child, his brother only a few years older than himself. He studied at the schoolhouse in town, preparing himself over the years to fallow his father and brother as a lumberjack.

One year the little mountain town held a small fair, commemorating the end of the year. A time for everyone to show off their achievements, be it woodworking, stone-carving, or what have you. Ivan never had much to show off, his brother and father kept showing off some of the larger trees they would save until just before the fair. Not much really captured Ivan's attention, at least not until he met Him.

Standing, balanced on two toes, over a bed of spikes was a man. As average looking, besides the toughened forearms and whatnot. Ivan stood fascinated with this man, balancing on nothing more than a pen-point over this bed of dangerous iron spikes. After the fair, Ivan looked all over for this man, this balanced warrior.

Eventually, as the fair packed up, Ivan found the man in question. Sitting alone on a stump, his few belongings tucked away in a small bag. He looked serene, even in the chilly snowfall. Ivan talked with him, asking him all manner of questions as to how he could stand so still over that bed of spikes. The man simply smiled and told him, "Practice." The young man was stunned at such an answer. He had to know more, he wanted to be able to stand like that!

The man offered to teach Ivan how to stand like that, as well as many other things. The eager teen hastily agreed, not knowing what was in store for him. He hastily left, abandoning his home and things in favor to learn how to be like this mysterious man.

In a period of fifteen years, Ivan learned nearly all he could. Starting with easy lessons of balance and physical training while he was still young. Eventually his master taught him new techniques, fighting styles, and methods of combat that Ivan could have never dreamed of. His master taught him academics as well; Ivan learned to read and write, mathematics, history, and a plethora of other things he never learned in school. He was growing both physically and mentally, but remained stunted in terms of emotion.

His master was harsh, but fair. Reward was earned, but misdeeds were punished. Ivan found little time to go out and do anything more than his training. Very little time was spent away from his studies. However, he got his awakening when his Master passed away due to fever and injuries he sustained after entering combat with a band of orcs who had gotten lost in the Mountains.

Ivan suddenly found himself all alone in the world. He entombed his mentor under his home and left. He took what supplies he could, including a small pouch his master had always carried. Ivan had always thought it odd how his master could pull forth almost any object of any size from this unassuming bag. He took a peak inside to find that it opened up to a large room, walls similar to the material that the bag was made of. His master had left him a bag of holding and Ivan was very unsure with what to use it for.

Being the modest man that he was, Ivan took only what supplies he needed. Food, fresh water, and a tent. The occasional bottle of vodka, whiskey, or bourbon would find itself there as well, from time to time. Ivan setout on his own, learning what skills he could along the way. By the time he left the Alterac Mountains, the Third War had been over for some time. One particular set of skills he began to learn from an old hermit in the Redridge Mountains: Pressure Points. He taught him the basic locations on humans and high elves, as he had two other students, one elf and the other a man. The three of them practiced their new methods on one another, learning, too, how it felt and eventually how to try and avoid it.

Ivan eventually found a fellow in the wasted world of Outland, a man he found after a great deal of searching. He had heard that this man had the knowledge to eliminate pain, or so it was said. Ivan wanted to know how to gain this superhuman trait. Well the fighter found his way to this man, living in a shack in Nagrand for some twenty years. Ivan spent a good year or two learning from this man the ability to mentally block pain. It isn't easy, he found, to mentally reduce pain. He could still feel every ounce of it, every cut, scrape, bruise. However it gave him a slight edge in battle, being able to continue combat after sustaining a wound that would force another to collapse from the pain.

That being said, Ivan was not immune to pain. He felt it, but reduced it while in combat, while his life was dependent on his skills and abilities. When combat was over, Ivan found, his wounds would hurt normally and in some cases worse than if he just let it overtake him. A simple cut on his arm might make him feel like his hand was cut off. There are drawbacks in all things, Ivan found.

Thus the martial artist continued his travels, seeking out new methods of balance and combat to better himself as a fighter and as a person.