Born in the United States while on a family vacation, Ivan was never able to truly meet his parents. Paperwork issues interceded and his parents home country of Ukraine refused his entry into the country as they had no record of his birth. His parents were forced to return as their lack of English led to them believing he would be returned at the airport. Stripped from his family he jump from foster home to foster home. He learned to survive selling old electronic hardware he would find on the street and repair, making a few dollars here and there. After turning 18 he was faced with a choice, being kicked from the foster system with no adopted parents and little prospects, Ivan joined the US Army. Trained as an all-source intelligence analyst, though he rarely talks about his time in the army, he left after several renewed contracts to found a small OSINT firm.

After several years developing clients, including large corporations and government interests, Ivan was approached to develop a similar group to investigate AVM-FLA-21NS. Handing off their firm to their trusted employees, Ivan left the US and arrived in Nyheim shortly before things went to shit.