[b]Name:[/b] Porfiry Semyonovich Istomin

[b]Alias:[/b] Smoke

[b]Nationality:[/b] Ukrainian

[b]Age:[/b] 46

[b]Gender:[/b] Male

[b]Physique/Appearance/Clothing:[/b] Porfiry is a thin, lanky and wiry man of average height with a head that looks like a pear put upside down. His brown hair is mostly balding, the canyon of recession going through his hair somewhat hidden by the unkemptness of his hair and some defiant tufts still clinging to his scalp above his slightly wrinkled forehead. His hair also has streaks of grey going through it, which was one of the reasons for his alias. The recession has made his large forehead look even larger, and this, combined with his shrunken cheeks and eyes-wide-open expression, has given him a mad scientist look. His clothing consists of a grey militarized radiation suit based off the [url=http://www.inspired-training.com/escsuitme4.jpg]GK-2 drysuit [/url]of Soviet make with integrated padding in form of quilts to give protection from gunfire gifted to him by Ecologists.

[b]Spoken Languages:[/b] Porfiry can speak Russian and Ukrainian to an expert degree and has a fair grasp of English.

[b]Faction:[/b] Porfiry, while technically a Loner, has very close ties with Ecologists thanks to having worked under contract for their expeditions and the fact he has befriended many thanks to his above-average knowledge of matters ordinary stalkers wouldn't know much about such as philosophy and music. He is also liked somewhat by stalkers of Freedom thanks to the fact that he solved a conflict between a Duty squad serving as escort to Ecologist field scientists and a bunch of Freedom members caught unaware.

[b]Personality:[/b] Porfiry is quite an interesting character with an ever-changing, unstable demeanor - it's hard to predict how he'll react to a situation, being as forgiving as Jesus in one minute and then going medieval in the next. This is not to say that he's crazy or distracting, however, as he has the self control to keep his opinions to himself. Still, he can be easily prejudiced, and his opinions about people stay the way the moment he gets them indefinitely, so he can be incredibly grudgeful or be ridiculously pissed off at a passing gesture that happened weeks ago. Nonetheless, his actions are guided by reason compared to anything else and he knows how to keep his emotions in check, nearly unable to act out of impulse (though when he does, expect shit to hit the fan). All in all, he's quite a nice fellow to have around, and a reliable one too, so long as he's treated nicely.

[b]History:[/b] Porfiry was born to a rather wealthy family, with his parents both in the filming industry. Being the younger one of two brothers, Porfiry was quite introverted thanks to an overbearing mother, a somewhat high intelligence and his rather shy demeanor. Suffering from constant insulting and beating by his brother and his inability to find good friends in school thanks to putting things bluntly in a way that usually ended up insulting people, Porfiry soon grew to be a bitter sociopath in the making, spending most of his time reading. This life went on for quite a while and Porfiry soon ended up becoming an unemployed, quiet man whose presence was barely known by anyone else than his family and the readers of a magazine that he wrote essays to on an irregular basis. His writings eventually reached the members of an University and he was hired as a teacher, though he soon quit the position thanks to his lack of confidence and condescending behavior towards most of the students causing complaints.

His life changed after a rather absurd action taken by him, in that he murdered his brother with a hammer for no discernible reason but past grudges. After the murder, he wrote one last essay on his opinions about evil and nature of man, and packed up to move to the newly-created Zone to escape authorities, fearing jail. Most of his days in the Cordon were no different than most of his days in his home, except that most of the conditions were much worse. After spending days listening to other Loners' stories (most of them outright lies or exaggerated experiences) and eating canned food, he eventually gathered the mental courage to travel from the Cordon. Following a group of cocky stalkers, he ended up being the sole survivor in a Mexican standoff that occurred in the group after an argument on sharing loot by simply hiding and not taking part in the seconds-long shootout. Realizing that he was the only one of the group to live, Porfiry took all things of use and value and kept walking on solo to Rostok, somehow surviving the journey. There he befriended the more experienced stalkers thanks to his reasonable attitude (and being able to shut up Smartass by defeating him in an argument), and after exchanging the wares he got from the dead loners for vital equipment, he ended up being part of a Duty relief mission to Yantar (mostly thanks to the leader of the squad, who seemed to enjoy Porfiry's company).

Unfortunately, during the rather perilous journey, the squad leader was killed by stray gunfire from zombified stalkers, and Porfiry was left alone with military wannabes. Conflict erupted quickly after Porfiry stoopped the Duty members from starting a shootout with Mercenaries. He soon parted ways with them near Yantar when one of them nearly shot him for his comment on their pretentiousness. This filled him with emnity against most Dutyers, with outright hostility prevented only by the fact that the more experienced Dutyers wouldn't take it kindly if he were killed. He settled down at Yantar, working for the Ecologists as protection. The Ecologists eventually took him as one of their own thanks to his friendly demeanor and knowledge of more intellectual matters, and the fact that he saved a wounded scientist from a Blowout by carrying him to the Mobile Base. However, after a fruitless expedition in which the group came upon a bunch of Freedom members and Porfiry kept the trigger-happy Dutyers from mowing them down, he was advised by the Ecologists to cut off contact as new Duty members were getting nervous about him. Understanding their point, he agreed, and his profitable relationship with the Ecologists ended. Since then, he's been spending most of his time doing absolutely nothing, which is probably why he's been alive for so long in the Zone.

[b]Reputation:[/b] Porfiry is well-respected amongst most of the factions' experienced members thanks to his demeanor, and these connections have kept him from getting killed by human factors in the Zone. The only exception to this is amongst the Freedom high command, where he's suspected to be a Duty spy after learning that the Duty high command had ordered their stalkers to not harm him. Instead, it's the lower ranking members of Freedom that respect Porfiry. Overall, it can be said that either people like Porfiry immensely or dislike him heavily. Unfortunately for Porfiry, the changing Zone has claimed many of the old-timers, and he has lost most of his friends. Most of the replacements have been cocky people whom Porfiry is at odds with, and this means that he doesn't have much connections left. 

[b]Weapons/Ammo:[/b] Porfiry is armed with a SVU-A rifle, loaded with 20 round magazines. However, the rifle lacks a scope. His backup weapon is a standard Browning Hi-Power pistol. He also has a combat knife holstered on his right shoulder. His magazines are kept in a chest rig.

[b]Gear:[/b] Aside from the essentials such as a PDA, a flashlight and an anomaly detector, Porfiry's backpack is mostly filled with canned meat and beans. Alongside the food, he has a few regular-issue medkits in it. The remaining space is filled by two ammo boxes of 7.62x54. He also has a few bottles of water in the bag. He does not carry a sleeping bag, finding the interior of his suit cozy enough.

[b]Skills/Abilities:[/b] 
-Level headed person. It's hard to rouse him.
-Despite his bulky suit, he runs quite fast.
-Pretty patient. Can wait for days.
-Can stay awake for long.
-Has extensive theoretical knowledge of the Zone.
-Smarts. He knows how to react.
-Has some connections left amongst the factions.
-Is immensely reliable once you get on his good side.

[b]Weaknesses:[/b]
-Most of the new stalkers hate him thanks to his [s]condescending[/s]honest attitude.
-If he loses his shit, it's hard to get him back to his senses.
-Holds grudges for an incredibly long time.
-Takes him a while to aim correctly. Even then, he's not the best shooter.