Melancholy, the Bandit

[Lent23]

Pre-Zone Life

     Melancholy was from the very early stages of his life destined to be a Stalker. He grew up in a poor half-family in Moscow, Russia by the name of Pavel Morozov. Life in a destitute ghetto made him realize just what life had in store for him. He was born in 1986 to mother Adriana and a father he never knew. He had two brothers, Mikhail (6 years older) and Nicholas (4 years older), with one sister, Natalya (3 years older). In their family, they had to struggle to survive. The Moroz family was very close due to their hopes being the only thing that was ever actually keeping them together and alive. He was always looking up to his two older brothers, attempting to keep up with them as they beg, borrowed, and stole their way through their life.

     By 2002, Pavel was counting on his petty thievery skills, seamlessly sliding through the city, slipping wallets out of back pockets, nabbing items from stores with adeptness, and finding himself with a very questionable crowd. He was too old at this point to play off the cuteness card, having reached the age of sixteen. Him and his group of misfits came to be generally known as troublemakers around Moscow, and the police force began to keep an eye on them. The grouping with these other criminals marked the escalation of crime that was going to be committed. Eventually, he was led to an armed robbery of a convenience store. Unluckily for them, there was a mole within their operation who turned them in before the job started, and the majority of the gang got jail time.

Early Zone Life

     By 2010, Pavel, Mikhail and Nicholas broke from their prison and fled into the Exclusion Zone. Pavel began work repairing weapons for Stalkers for weapons, a trait that he had learned from his experience prior to being thrown in prison, though it was mostly pistols that he had worked with before. Mikhail and Nicholas stayed with Pavel and became part of a bigger picture, involving themselves in Stalker politics. Eventually, Mikhail got a job as a runner, going back and forth, in and out of the Zone, relaying information back and forth, while Nicholas stayed with Pavel and continued working as a Stalker in the small camp. Eventually, Nicholas went back home to see the trio's mother and sister, getting a job with a large smuggling corporation, occasionally helping out Mikhail by tossing a bit of contraband his way.

     Alone but not forgotten by his brothers, Pavel decided to go by the alias Melancholy, due to his sad life thus far. He kept contact with Mikhail and Nicholas, the former of which delivered some equipment that the latter of which smuggled from his own operation. It was a dangerous thing to do, but they took the chance. Mikhail sold weapons inside of the Zone to some people, while delivering some low supplies such as medical supplies or food to his brother directly. Eventually, the three brothers began to make some good money, and sent a lot of it back to their mother, who had raised them and they had suspected had became ill in the recent days.

The Skulls

     Melancholy eventually came across a man named Hyena. This man was the semi-new leader of a group of bandits known as 'The Skulls.' After roughing Melancholy up a bit, he offered the man a job helping the group due to his supposed connections with his brothers. Melancholy took the chance to be in the protection of a group of Stalkers, bandits or not he didn't care, and decided to bunker down and sell some items there. Due to his usefulness as both a technician and a small time trader, he became very useful for the other members, who had him clean their weapons and make sure they had food, for a right price.