Ilya's father sailed on a trading voyage and took Ilya and his mother along. A weeklong storm drove the
ship Southward until it ran aground on the shores of the Kingdom of Poland. The ship broke up and only
Ilya and his mother made it to shore safely. They wandered inland for several days until they were found
by a caravan heading for the Black Sea. They traveled with the caravan for weeks.
Cossacks attacked the caravan and all of those not killed were carried off as captives. The Attman
of the band took a liking to Ilya's mother and kept them around. Ilya was raised by the Cossacks. He
learned to ride and fight. At the age of 19 his mother died. With no family ties to restrain him, he
hired on as a guard for a caravan going to the Far East.
Ilya stayed with the caravan all the way to China. When the caravan arrived in China Ilya became
sick with a local fever. The caravan moved on without him. He was left in the care of a missionary.
With nowhere else to go after he recovered, Ilya stayed with the missionary learning to read and write,
also during that time he learned from one of the missionary’s followers the trade of a military
engineer.
After 4 years Ilya left China to see the world. His travels took him to Japan where he remained
until all foreigners were expelled from that country. Ilya caught a ship sailing to Spain. He passed
through India and the Middle East on the way. He didn't much like Spain and moved on, traveling over
the Pyrennes to France. France was not to his liking either and he headed East, settling in Germany. He
currently makes his living selling his skills as a military engineer.