Yuri started life from humble beginnings. Her parents Yael & Johana Kremen are bakers. They are very respected members of the Issian community and their goods are locally famous. Yuri grew tired of the baker’s life and found her temper to be an issue in the customer service side of the family business. At 19, Yuri left the life of yeast & bread to become an apprentice for a local blacksmith named Zhelezo. It was there that she was introduced to the world of arena fighting. Yuri grew up hearing the stories of fighters battling each other in front of massive crowds drawn from all over the lands, yet she had never seen a fight herself. Of course there were no female fighters, as it was strictly forbidden. Yuri began training in secret with Zhelezo, who happened to be a retired fighter.

A year later Yuri naively thought she was ready to fight in the arena, so she stole a helmet that concealed her face from Zhelezo’s shop and headed off to start a most daring chapter in her life. At 6’ 3” tall, Yuri had no problem blending in with the male fighters with her helmet and breastplate. In her first fight Yuri became a frozen deer that has seen the hunter. Her opponent toppled her and gave her a most brutal beating. There in that fight Yuri thought death near. Then, as if the gods had touched her arm, Yuri grabbed her axe and with the might of all the gods beheaded the almost victor. The crowds cheered with a roar Yuri never heard before in the arena.
For the next 15 years, Yuri became the best fighter in the arena, earning her the name Yuri ‘The Beheader’. One fateful day prior to a fight, Yuri was ganged up on in the area stables. There, she was held down and her many enemies watched as the leader of their group – Chernaya Dusha – lifted the helmet off Yuri’s head and discovered that ‘The Beheader’ was a woman. Yuri was taken to the center of the arena, sans helmet, and where she once heard cheers, she was booed. At that very moment Yuri knew her career had come to an end.
That night, covered in mud and rotten food thrown at her, Yuri went to Zhelezo’s home. There they implemented Operatsiya Sumerki; a plan thought of long ago in the event of the revelation of Yuri’s true identity. At the break of dawn the following day Yuri left Brevoy. Before her departure, Zhelezo gifted to Yuri a battle axe. Black steel blades, the strongest oak handle surrounded by aged leather in a lattice pattern. On the axe blade, a beheaded dragon is engraved with the words “Bor’ba mudro”, which means “Fight Wisely”.
For the next five years Yuri traveled the lands, finding jobs as a guard to wealthy traveling merchants and occasionally partaking in fights for money. It was in the fifth year that Yuri became homesick. She missed her friends like Zhelezo, the beautiful scenery and although she would never admit aloud, she missed her parents. So she traveled back to Brevoy and spent some time with her parents and Zhelezo.
After several weeks, she itched for action once again. Passing the town news board, she saw an opportunity to win back the respect of the people of Brevoy. It was a job to survey uncharted lands. It was a chance to bring back something good to the people of Brevoy and fight their foes. It was a chance to be the admired champion once again.