Early Life[]
Ivan Provoyavotskov was born sometime between the ending of the Shadow pact and the Rise of the horde. Based off Ivans best estimate at his current age of 64, this would mean that he was born in the year -25, which would comply to these events.
Ivan was born near what is now known as the Hinterlands, a very secluded area - so secluded in fact it was entirely untouched by the first war. However it had its own conflicts - primarily between Forest Trolls, Humans and Gnolls. The Gnolls were the most aggressive of the races in the conflict however because of this they soon died out as there population began to decline. It would appear that the Pravayaden seemed to have positive relations with -some- Gnollish tribes for a long time (these also happened to be the ones still "prospering" during the Third war)
Due to its proximity to the Dwarven lands the tribes often traded with merchants from there. It proved to be an ideal testing ground for the recent invention of guns; long rifles especially so. In fact Ivans tribe (the Pravayden) were among the first to attach a blade under the muzzle of the rifle.
These tribals proved very useful during the second war for the Alliances. Intially commanders were bewildered by these "Ruffians with iron rods and black powder" and found their tactics to be "ill-noble". However they proved to be excellent at ambushes and proved to be extremely effective counters to the hordes Forest Trolls. Their affinity for speaking both common, low common and quickly picking up local languages they also proved useful as diplomats (providing they had never encountered that race before signing up of course). It is highly like Ivan was involved in the 2nd war as one of these "Auxillaries".
These auxillaries were also notorious looters - however they were swift in these crimes and possessed a strict code of honour (among themselves at least) of loyalty so they rarely effected a commanders advance. It would also be the best explanation of how Ivan began the next stage of his life.
The "Hintergreen jerkins" and the "Brazen Sails"[]
When the second war ended there were a great number of soldiers seeking employment; many of these soldiers turned to banditry (fortunately the vast majority of the auxiliary troops of Ivans kind return to their villages). Ivan saw a profit to be made in this and set up the "Hinter-green caravan guardsmen" using funds accumulated from an unrecorded source that does not appear on any tax registries (most likely loot from the 2nd war). Ivan expected a sizeable number of his own kind to join however much to his suprise most of the recruits came from Gnolls; even further to his surprise this actually made the merchants at Stratholme more confident when it came to hiring his company of troops (whom were equipped with Dwarven long rifles and bayonets). Ivan personally took part in many of these caravan escort missions - firing at his former comrades in arms whilst fighting alongside what made up a large contingent of the mortals enemies of his youth forced him to massively alter his view on the world.
The venture proved so successful he went on to set up a naval escort company - The Brazen Sail, yet again to his surprise a large number of the original recruits were Ogres. He could not think of an explanation for this. This originally led to very large problems when it came to purchasing hardware - the ship not only had to be large enough to allow the Ogres to move, but also to make sure it was hygienic - an old Orc Dreadnaught and expand it. This ship possessed a great 21 acre wide sail; the ship was also capable of moving at a surprising speed when its ogre crews tended to the oars. However he went for 2 months without a professional admiral so he had to command the ship himself. The ship was christened the "Hinterland Titan" or more coloqially known as the "Ogre-naught"
Eventually however, an Ogre by the name of Smugzee sent a letter to Ivan - the hand writing was rough and written in thick black scorch marks but it was legible. Even more impessive was that this ogre was a captain in the 2nd war (fighting for the horde). Ivan was very interested and invited him for an interview. The defining feature of Smugzee was that one head was completely encased in a metal box. It was later found that this was because Smugzee was specifically the visible head; the one doing all the things an Ogre would normally be unable to do whilst the other head (Systmee) controlled allow bodily processes - or at least this was the theory the Ogre and Ivan came up with.
Third war involvement[]
As the third war began the Armies of the Kingdom Lordaeron soon found they couldn't hold off all the attacks - especially when the Scourge rose into a "formal" millitary force. The Lordaeron millitary was reluctant to hire any Green Jackets (It was deemed that Gnolls were untrustworthy) however the "Brazen Sails" were among the first to be hired - The Scourge fleet increased at a terrifying rate - especially as more Loradaeric ships were extremely cramp and ideal breeding grounds for disease. Brazen sail ships however were designed to be clean and hygenic (It was good for the crew and made it attractive to potential customers - presentation meant a great deal to Ivan) and were very resistant to the dreaded curses of the "Scurvy Necromancers".
Ivan was aboard his ships during the majority of the Third war. It was aboard the uneven deck of ship Ivan had finally mastered his aim of a long rifle - capable of hitting the thinning scalp of a Scurvy ridden ghoul captain with mild effort.
In the year 26 the Brazen Sail met its end just off the coast of Qael'Thalas. A vast force of over 100 ships of the Scourge navy met battle with the remaining 20 Ships of the Brazen Sail, of which 11 were in urgent need of repair. The Scourge navy was however a strange conglemation of several ships: Several dozen (former) Human ships, a handful of Elven ship, three Orc Dreadnaughts dating back to the 2nd war and a large number of "Boneyard Ships" made from a mixture of shipwrecks (Dreadnaughts in particular), Metal sheeting, and the bones of very large creatures.
The battle lasted for approximately 18 hours, in which all 20 of the Brazen Sail ships were destroyed and 41 of the of the Scouge ships in a state of which most races would normally consider them beyond repair. The Hinterland titan (AKA: Ogre-naught) was the last to fall - it produced a unprecedented amount of fire power from its ogre served cannons - a single ogre would simply lift the cannon and take aim at an enemy ship before reloading it like a blunderbuss - prizes would be awarded for hitting "tricky" parts of a ship which also happened to be vital things like masts and rudders. Eventually the ship ran out of ammo and was forced to ram its self into the centre of the scourge fleet and force enemy ships to board them. The fight above deck alone lasted an additonal 2 hours.
The number of troops fighing aboard the Hinterland Titan was simply to great a weight for even her to bear. The bulkheads and deck cracked suddenly and catastrophically throwing sharp wooden stakes and iron nails in all directions. Ivan was pulled away from the this by Smugzee whom was killed when Systmee's (his 2nd head) iron case was turned to a molten mess by a Necromancer. Smugzee was unable to control his internal body and died soon after.
Post Third war[]
After this defeat Ivan found his Green Jack company was no longer what it once was - the vast majority of its arms were now in the hands undead under the command of Sylvanas Windrunner on the march to the under city.
As a result of this Ivan Provoyavotskov moved to a "hard to reach" - but quite easy to spot house in Goldshire, where he harvests small crops of parsnips and works as a part time private gunsmith - unfortunatly humans age poorly incomparison to other races so he constantly on the lookout for experimenced mages and alchemists who may give him a potion to as he puts it "kick some so'din youth back into me". It is rumored he is trying to merge his knowledge of guns and his tribes "mastery" of parsnip farming into one... exotic package.