The Beginning

Emelyan Pugachev made himself known not only throughout all of Russia, but also across Europe—and even North America. Some called him an impostor, an adventurer, a foreign spy, a murderer. Others saw him as a champion of the people and a seeker of truth, recognized him as the rightful Emperor Peter III. And it was precisely this ambiguous man—at the height of the largest peasant uprising—who is where our contemporary gets thrown in: a distant descendant of Emelyan Pugachev.