"I am neither fire, water, air nor earth. I am all, at once. I weave them in succession, drawing pattern from chaos, beauty from entropy."
Having been raised in the Ossan District of Divinity's Reach - Ilyas was always aware of his Elonian roots. His family, as he was told, had very early on immigrated from the Kournan countryside, prosecuted for their support of the Sunspears and attempted rescue of the doomed Veldrunner Centaurs.
He grew up on storied past of his ancestors: stories which were like precious heirlooms his elders passed onto him with great pride. They told him of the great tribe his family belonged to in Turai's Procession. They also told him of the great relations his tribe kept with the peaceful and greatly spiritual centaurs. Under the leadership of his great-great grandfather Chieftain Sende, his tribe extended their military protection to the Veldrunners and in return, the centaurs taught them how to find a deeper connection to the magic in the earth and trees, in the water and in the air. The stories also recounted the tyranny of Palawa Joko, the trials and tribulations members of his tribe underwent to support the Sunspears during Joko's most violent prosecutions and the risks his tribe took to continue to grant safety and protection to the centaurs.
Whereas Palawa Joko's takeover of Vabbi was sudden, his corruption of Kourna was far slower. Unable to locate the Sunspear hub of command, he instead employed a scorched earth policy to destroy the free peoples of Kourna, human and centaur alike. Long and hard Ilyas's ancestors fought to protect their lands and lands of the centaurs - but they alone could not hold back the darkness. As tribes across the Kournan plains fell to the might of Joko and the Mordant Crescent, as the banner of the Sunspears became more and more scarce, and as more and more centaurs were rounded up and dragged into the desolation to an unknown doom - his family knew the end was near. Learning of a direct assault on the tribe's ancestral lands by the Crescent, Ilyas's family and tribe took one last look at home and decided the war was lost. In the night, they escaped to the coast and made the long journey to Kryta (which involved bartering the rest of their wealth for passage to Central Tyria on corsair ships) with as many members of the tribe remaining.
At a young age and as is tradition; Ilyas was trained to master the way of the Weaver - an Elonian branch of elemental magic developed by the Veldrunners and passed onto his tribe, which harnesses the power of two elements at once. His passion and dedication to this art granted him great prestige and recognition, the latter of which had him recognized by Queen Jennah and chosen to be apart of the delegation to aid Elona in their current crisis.
Now with the way clear to the Crystal Desert and beyond - Ilyas prepares himself to embark on his greatest journey and his deepest desire: to see his homeland and set it free from the grasp of the Undead Lich.
It was time - his family, his tribe: THEY had survived. And through him, his ancestors would exact revenge.