Ilya Grishenko

Concept: Art Mafioski “The Cleaner”

AKA:None 

Desc: Buzz-cut hair and icy blue eyes. A storm of ink in the Bratva style stretched over a lean muscular body.  Strong jaw and largely silent demeanor. Late30’s-early 40’s. He has one of those chiseled faces that will make it look as if he's in his late 30's until he's well into his 60's. He’s not overly confident of his English, so he’s doubly quiet. His fellow "Mafioski" tend to go in for flashy ill-fitting suits and gauche jewelry that even a car salesman would blanch at.  On those rare occasions when he doesn't have on his studio overalls, he wears a suit that fits and little to no jewelry.

History:  Ilya’s father was an engineer. Ilya grew up wanting to learn a trade and he learned as much as he could at his father’s knee.  Kolya, his father taught him as much as he could before he got sick.  Ilya might have gone to school, had it not been for that.  

    As it was, Ilya ended up enlisting in the army and being slotted into their nearest equivalent of the army corp of engineers.  And that probably would have been okay, as the red army wasn’t exactly fighting a lot of wars at the time.

And then Afghanistan happened. Which, as Ilya could have told you, was going to be a disaster. Only an engineer could have known that the soviet army’s machinery was in so woeful shape that the Afghanis would be able to cripple and kill soviet tanks with hand axes. (Which they did.)  In Afghanistan, Ilya saw a lot of truly horrible things.

And in Afghanistan, Ilya DID some truly horrible things.

He came home. and without much in the way of direction, fell in with some army buddies and got involved with the Bratva. Occasionally things needed fixing, and it WAS something that Ilya was good at.

The higher ups in the Bratva liked Ilya. He was good at taking orders. He wasn’t ambitious. He wasn’t greedy and he never mouthed off.  If there was anything that concerned them, it was that he generally wanted to be left alone.

He spent a lot of time alone, whenever he could. He found himself doing something he couldn’t really explain or articulate to the others. He started doing art. Metal-working mostly, with the occasional foray into sculpting. It soothed him and allowed him to express certain things that words couldn't.

It wasn’t until he presented his Pakhan with a sculpted iron wolf about the size of a skull, that they began to realize that maybe Ilya had hidden depths.

Ilya’s just a soldier but a valued one. He still earns money from the Bratva by dint of the fact that they use him to fix problems and get rid of bodies. He makes art in his own time, and as a bit of a side hustle is essentially the Art Mafia in this place.  Don’t kid yourself. Politics in art can get ugly. and at times can get violent.  There ARE people who are willing to pay to have a rivals hand broken, or put out an eye. There ARE people who are willing to pay to burn down a gallery or take a razor to a real painting in order to prop up a forgery. That sort of thing happens.  Ilya would rather not have to do such things...But many times, he doesn’t get to choose.

Attitude: “I do what I have to.”

Skills: Ilya is craft savvy with multiple specialties. He also has a nice dollop of science dots mostly geared towards chemistry. His socials aren’t great and the only thing he’s actually good at is intimidation.   As a former soldier, he’s been in fights, and he’s got a dot or three in melee, weaponry, and firearms. It should be mentioned that Ilya is a serious physical specimen. His strength,dexterity, and stamina are non-trivial. 

Gear: On his person, he doesn’t carry much. He has a garden variety Glock and a Karambit knife that has seen plenty of use. He hates cell phones. But he does carry a digital camera. Occasionally, he sees things he wants to take pictures of.  And occasionally, he needs to take pictures to prove that something has been done. He carries a fat wad of cash. Because he’s found that money talks in America.  He also has a large black step van. It’s been pressed into use for body removal on more than one occasion. It houses a black metal cabinet full of various chemicals, and a large drum of sulfuric acid.

Home: Ilya has an upscale loft in the seedy but artistic side of town.  It doubles as his workshop/studio. It has a freight elevator and that’s where Ilya keep the motorcycle he’s been working on for the last six months. He’s having to machine certain parts by hand because they no longer exist. Otherwise, he’d be driving that thing.

Circle: Kind of depressing. Doesn’t really have the tools to be able to market himself in the art world, even though his work has a rough brilliance. A number of his old friends from the army are all dead now. Some got killed, some got greedy and then, got killed.  Most of his fellow Bratva don’t really get him all that well, and he hasn’t had sex with a woman in years, who wasn’t a whore.  

Story Uses:

“I like your work...but someone does not.”

If your PC is an artist and has garnered some envy, If your rival has the money, Ilya may come around and bring trouble with him.

“I won’t forget this kindness. It is rare.”

Ilya has seen a lot and done some bad things, but he may not be unsalvageable.  The right friend or even, the right woman could turn him around.  This, of course, would be an UTTER disaster for him as the Bratva probably won’t want to let him go.

Connections:

*Occasionally, Ilya has need of a machine shop with more resources than he already possesses or he has need of some bit of technical expertise that he himself does not have time to do. He has become aware of Axle's shop and has met Darla Grumman. Darla is so unlike any other woman he's ever met that he is a little fascinated with her and oddly, they've become friends. Darla has NO knowledge of his criminal business and while his Ink tells the story, she's not exactly up on that stuff.

* Lillian Penobscot owns an Art Gallery. Ilya has leaned on her in order to get his work shown. Of course, In exchange He burned down the Bergman Gallery, So it's kind of worked to her advantage. Lil thinks that maybe she wants to bring him a little bit more into her orbit. Might come in handy to have a man like him in her corner. Not recognizing that maybe her corner would not really belong to her much longer.

* Has met Captain Roy Gunderson in passing during certain things. Captain Gunderson will smuggle for anyone really, but the organized crime clients tend to be the most reliable. Well...SOME of them.