STALKER Character

Name: Ishmael Akinyemi
Nickname: Iewu
Nationality: African (Location unknown, thought to be some part of South Africa)

INFORMATION FOR THE ZONE:
Faction: None, Loner.
Nickname: "Black Eyes" (roughly 'Chorniyi Glassi', named after a famous Russian Red Army orchestra)
Rank: None, Rookie.
Rep: Unknown, Neutral.

-----"Before the zone" Background;
Ishmael was born a tribal, his name "Iewu" means "Death" in Swahili, this is for his interest in "life that is no longer alive". then adopted by a European family and went to live in Scotland with them.
In there, while forgetting his native language, he learned English.
From school to the university, he was bullied simply for being an African and the adopted son of a white Scottish family.
In the university, he met a courageous young Russian boy named Anton, as well as an incredibly stoic and tall senior named Andrei, he helped him fight off the bullies.

Growing up as a tribal in the desperate but beautiful land that is Africa, it actually took very little for Ishmael to get adapt to the tough step-family and the "tough" environment that is school.
Ishmael, despite being smart and wise, was never able to finish the University, because of his lack of interest.
Ishmael was more interested in exploring "forgotten lands". And when Andrei mentioned about Chernobyl, Ishmael got absolutely intrigued.

Years pass, Ishmael and his best friends get old, worse yet Anton and Andrei had to go back to Russia, for they were temporal students. Their family ties to a noble British family were not forever.

Ishmael spend his life doing what nearly everybody does; Get a job, get a house, get a girlfriend...And lose it all in the end.
Working as a mechanic, an economic crisis made him lose his job.
The little money he was earning was not enough for him to keep his house.
Amanda Nikolova, the girlfriend, also a British-Russian half-cousin of Anton, saddened at the fact that she thought she might be a big burden for Ishmael, selfishly left him for his very own good to live with her family in Nottinghamshire, then back to Leningrad.

Ishmael was devastated, with many desires to simply commit suicide for he hated this kind of life anyway, he simply wanted constant adventures, he kept moving on, for if nobody else will help him, he'll do so himself.
A nice old lady allowed him to stay at her house as long as he kept working. Life was 'balanced' for him at that time, at least.

And yet by some lucky streak, Ishmael, who was a very close best friend of Anton and Andrei, had the courtesy of their friends to invite him to Russia.
Ishmael was absolutely pleased and decided to go to Russia right away, for he had nothing to do in Britain and he lost his ties to his step-family.

Andrei, out of fear Russia may be too xenophobic, planned ideas to make sure Ishmael was not threatened for his dark skin.
Dressed purely in black, covering it all, he easily faked medical notes (for Anton is a doctor himself) to make sure everybody got fooled at the fact that Ishmael had health issues regarding being exposed to the sun, the cold and the snow.

Ishmael was confident enough that the Russian people will be a nice people to be with, even if you are African. Yet he took Andrei's suggestion.

Some months pass, Ishmael learns Russian quite well enough to speak it near-fluently (Remember, he's smart and loves learning languages) and realizes nobody minds him being a dark-skin, even somewhat enjoying his company, Ishmael decides to stop being 'disguised'.

A snowy time, enjoying a chat at the cafe with his ol' best friends, a man came in and started emitting racial slurs as well as many other unpleasant sentences at him.
Ishmael, intolerant at the needless rudeness of this man, beat him up. Breaking his nose and his arm, the man vowed revenge and will not stop to get it, even in death.
But what nobody knew is that...This man was the son of an incredibly powerful Ukranian Mafia boss.

Some time in Russia...Ishmael, who now lives in a very secluded place, wakes up with news from Anton's neighbours that his friends Anton and Andrei disappeared, with many signs of a violent fight.
They were presumed death.
Furthermore, Ishmael had realized that his long-lost love, Amanda Nikolova, has been kidnapped.

A mail from "His dear friend", with the cut ring finger of a lady, he thought it to be of Amanda.
Ishmael knew nothing but wrath, yet remained cool about it.

The corrupt militsia decided to take a hit on Ishmael. This he knew and hastily escaped, thanks to the skills he gained during his past life.

Getting information regarding this Ukranian Mafia, he had realized that they all now could be residing in The Zone.
With only one information, which is not even guaranteed, Ishmael took all risks.
Into the zone he went, with revenge as his goal...But his desire to live kept him from being absolutely focused on revenge.
If he had to explore, if it was worth exploring, he will do so.

With doubt that his friends are dead, he set to find them.
With hope that his love was still alive, he set to find them.
All alone in a pessimist world, what will you lose, when you have nothing and nobody anymore?
"I'm coming for you, Amanda.
And with me, I will bring Death."

----"Into the Zone" Background;
Ishmael had no time to prepare, he took a Makarov from an officer he had knocked down and stole some medical equipment from a military checkpoint he was lucky to sneak by.
Wearing only a black jacket and military pants, his favourite attire, he went in the zone pretty much unprepared.

It may be best he gets another uniform as soon as possible before he gets anywhere, for the Stalkers are rather superstitious about "Black Jackets", bandits tend to wear them after all.

Even with another uniform, the stalkers may still be superstitious; rumour of a monstrous supernatural entity was spread by the Bandits, of a "Black Eyes".
He appears only at night, you will never see him, only feel him, staring at you with those deadly black eyes. And after that, your fate worse than death will come; he will dominate your mind to make you go absolutely insane and feel only pain, as if you died and you are now in Hell, forever there to suffer. Only a bullet to the head will save you.

A legend made by the bandits, spread to many stalkers around The Zone.
The Ukranian Mafia had hopes he'd come here so he could die from The Zone, for Ishmael was a very sneaky and hard-to-find person.

The Legend of the Black Eyes is taken out of lyrics from the Red Army Choir's "Black Eyes", it goes like this;
"Dark eyes, burning eyes.
Passionate and burning eyes.
Truly, I saw you at a sinister hour.
They implore me to go to faraway lands.
Where death reigns, where suffering reigns.
I would have lived my life smiling.
You have ruined me, Dark Eyes."

True or not, it is up to each stalker's beliefs.

---EXTRA INFORMATION:
Ishmael was meant to be a very unique character.
The Zone has no dark-skins at all, there's a good reason why, but still, at least ONE African could exist and he'd be an incredibly rare person to see.
We already have The Doctor, who is legendary.
Ishmael is already a legend, made by the bandits, just so the superstitious Stalkers get so afraid they start shooting at him wildly, especially at night. But this "Legend" status of his is more negative than positive.

Ishmael is the kind of character you don't want to be if you want to enjoy The Zone.
Although, if you love how incredibly harsh The Zone is, this ought to be your character.

Ishmael has a lot of "street/urban life" and "wildlands life" experience, so he can easily navigate in places fit for those, like Pripyat, Red Forest, the Swamps and so on.
Ishmael has never killed anybody, but he is not afraid to do so (He almost killed that Mafioso's son, after all). He has no experience in military training, but has a bit of gun usage thanks to Anton & Andrei teaching him so.
His communication skill should not be a problem, he's good with languages, phonetics and already learned a good amount of Russian thanks to staying in Russia and help from Andrei & Anton.