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backstory ellery was born in the city of kazimierz dolny in poland to a family with one older sister and his two parents who were both immigrants to the united states and had been visiting his mother's parents when they found out she was pregnant. they waited in the city for the duration of the rest of the pregnancy since she found out late. finally, ellery was born, before returning back to the united states-- he is their only child to be born in poland, like their parents. his family was more middle-class, never having enough for extraneous purchases, but having enough for what they needed. he was a bright kid, having started talking quite early and would continue this trend of always being extremely talkative. he would walk up to just about anyone and start having conversations, even if his sister and parents tried to stop him. his parents had two younger sisters with time. ellery attended elementary school locally, but when he entered the sixth grade, it was time for him to begin going off to the boarding school in the northeast. when his father came to the united states, his coworkers all sent their children here. they persuaded him that boarding school was the best idea-- and ellery's family was always focused on their children's independence, not the type to coddle their children. therefore, their kids all went to boarding school, which they saved up to do. he left, while his sisters attended another boarding school, they were still able to meet during breaks from school, which seemed to make them a little more distant than most siblings. ellery was always in trouble at school, a precocious child with a brilliant mind but zero interest in busy work or typical learning. when ellery was in the seventh grade, he fell ill for a week and wasn't getting any better— he was diagnosed with polycythemia vera, a rare blood cancer, and treated for it. he didn't return to his middle school after that, taking school at home or in the hospital. he finished his work quickly during these days, and had time spent over, which led his mother to buy him lots of educational games to keep him busy-- one of which was chess. he during these two years practiced chess. he looked at enough of the instructions to know where the pieces moved, and he started teaching himself while he was sick and also playing against himself. this is where his importance of being self-made was created-- since he (only sort of) taught chess to himself. when he played against his father for the first time, he beat him easily, surprising him. ellery was set to recover and it was all but sure that he would— it took time though, and it left him with a fear of hospitals, as well as draining his family of some financial stability. he developed blood conditions afterwards for life that proved to be challenges— his blood was thicker than it should have been due to an excess of red blood cells from myeodyplastic syndrome (resulting in hypoplastic syndrome, lowered hemoglobin, bleeding, bruising easily, bone pain, and can cause leukemia later in life). when he went on to high school, it was there that ellery's true free spirit was tested. he was clever, sure, but not really book-smart. ellery did well in school, but often ended up in trouble with the disciplinary board for things like leaving after curfew, having parties, cutting class, and many more fun and wild ideas. however, his brilliance at chess became the highlight of all of the chess clubs he was a part of. he would play simultaneous games against many people and win practically all of them. ellery was impressive, to say the least-- his biggest chess mentor was his teacher for two years and leader of the chess club named alexa weiss who instructed him in openings and specifics about the game named. he realized that he liked men, not women his first year of high school as well. he told his parents and family later in the year, after he'd had his first boyfriend. his younger sister was not happy with him and still has not spoken to him. his older sister was quite understanding actually, due to her open minded beliefs, even if the rest of the world wasn't. his parents were angry. they didn't talk to him for a while. however, he ended up being asked to leave at the beginning of his sophomore year for attendance since he was constantly skipping for tournaments, partying (he'd spend tournament money on this), and disrespect-based reasons, despite the good name he gave to the school which was the only reason they kept him for so long. he went home for a month or so before being sent to another boarding school willing to take him. his mother came into his room the day he came home after being expelled, much to ellery's surprise. she hugged him then, told him that she missed him too much to keep ignoring him. his mother still doesn't "understand" fully, and neither does his father, and sometimes they'll suggest that he find a nice girl, or point them out while they're walking. but ellery knows that they support him about as well as he ever could have expected. he was expelled from the second school for aiding in throwing a particularly crazy party. ellery didn't go back to school after junior year. he had a good chess ranking and dedicated his time to getting an impressive one-- he defeated good names in chess, and he's worked his way up over the years, studying more and gaining more in depth knowledge of the game over time.
