Character Biographies
In the Company of Shadows
3/11/07 by Sonny & Ais
Contact us if you have any questions or suggestions for other information.
NOTE: These ages should all be set to the main start of Book One unless we messed something up. This means that even characters who aren't introduced immediately (perhaps are introduced a year or more into the story) are still given ages that correspond to what they would have been at chapter one and on. (See the timeline at Story/World Info for more information, but in essence that means all ages are set to what the characters would have been in late summer/early fall of 2019, before November.)
Choose a category (all the bolded options) or person:
Administration and Authority
Connors
Character Quote:
"Didn't think so. The moment I actually believed you were sexually functional, I'd have you neutered. Dismissed."
Stats
- Full name: Jacob Allen Connors
- Nickname: Marshal
- Rank/title: Marshal, basically the CEO of the Agency
- Age: Early 50s
- Height: 6'
- Hair: Black, shot through with gray
- Eyes: Steel gray
- Ancestry: American
- Build: Average
- Languages: English, Spanish, French
- Likes: Order
- Dislikes: Disorder
Past:
Very little is known about Marshal Jacob Connors other than the fact that he was some kind of government and military official before entering the Agency. He rose quickly to the top position at the Agency when the previous administration perished in the bombings. His connections with the government helped as well. He had a wife, who died due to radiation poisoning, and two twin daughters (Lydia and Ann) who both worked for the agency. Lydia worked as an agent psychiatrist before an incident which caused her to become permanently disabled mentally and Ann who works closely with the administration.
First Agency Appearance:
It is unknown when and how he was specifically recruited.
Trivia:
Not enough is known.
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Vivienne
Character Quote:
"I am the person who will have to clean up after your public mistakes, and thus I must invest a minimal amount of interest in you. I will tell you this much clearly: I do not enjoy dealing with any, shall I say, 'fuck-ups,' and will not take kindly to any stunts you may think to pull when you believe you are out of our view. I assure you, in some way or form I will always be watching you - very closely - and without any sympathy whatsoever."
Stats
- Full name: Vivienne Amarante Beaulieu
- Nickname: Bulldog Beaulieu (a derogatory nickname at the Agency, never said to her face)
- Rank/title: Inspector
- Age: 38
- Height: 5'8"
- Hair: Pale blond, long, always held back from her face in a bun/french twist/etc.
- Eyes: Ice blue
- Ancestry: French
- Build: Slender and curvy
- Languages: French, English
- Likes: Her job, Cedrick, horseriding, the countryside, the wind, skirt suits, pant suits, the wind, jasmine tea, good pens
- Dislikes: Seems like nearly everything else
Past:
Vivienne was born in Les Baux de Provence, France, to Jacques and Alette Moreau. They lived in the countryside outside a small village, in a small home. Vivienne loved the countryside and was a very intense child who often exasperated her parents. She had a horse she named Rapide and her father was teaching her how to ride. Her mother enjoyed making crafts and often made necklaces and crowns out of flowers that she had Vivienne wear.
When Vivienne was 8, her mother was killed in anti-immigration riots in Marseille (Alette was pro-immigration; her death was possibly due to her friendship with the Nigerian immigrant Jumoke and her daughter Amadi who also died in the riots). Shortly afterward, Jacques died. Vivienne was sent to live with her father's mother Mireille who lived in Paris and had never taken much of a liking to Alette. Mireille was a strict woman whose personality was cold, removed, and she had high expectations of Vivienne.
Despite the fact that Mireille was wealthy, Vivienne worked throughout school. She had odd jobs but the longest she worked was at a café near her home. There, she ended up meeting Cedrick Beaulieu who was visiting the country and wouldn't leave her alone. Eventually, he won her over and they fell in love. She moved to the United States of America when she was a teenager/young adult to be with Cedrick, who she soon after married. She had Boyd when she was 19 and newly arrived for good in America. When Cedrick died suddenly in the second wave of bombs, she was 26, suddenly a single mother, and absolutely devastated.
She seems to have always been a little cold but when Cedrick was alive she was better than she is now. She honestly loved Cedrick and didn't know what to do when he was gone. She doesn't speak about her family or past, rarely even to Boyd. She does, however, constantly compare Boyd to his father or demand that he live up to the Beaulieu name. She loves Cedrick more than Boyd and has said that she would have preferred Boyd died in the wars instead.
First Agency Appearance:
Vivienne has an interesting position; technically she works for the Government as the very top rank of the Media/Public Relations division. She is not known to the general public as someone who has this position. As there are less than a handful of people in the Government even aware of the Agency's existence, even fewer people know that she is also the liaison to the Agency. She monitors the media to make sure nothing is leaked out about the Agency, its objectives, its location, etc. She is also in charge of cleaning up in the media if anything goes wrong, such as on missions. Media nightmares mean Vivienne is called in and no one likes that.
She has been with the Government for about 15 years and has been the Agency's liaison for around a decade. She has a reputation as being a huge bitch, especially among the lower ranks, but people also seem to have a strange sort of respect for her. She is very by-the-book but she also doesn't bother anyone who is doing their job properly. There is a lot of dissonance among the ranks because she's technically a civilian but, depending on the situation, her word can hold as much or more weight than Marshal Connors'.
Trivia:
Her maiden name is Moreau. There was a point in her life when she was not a bitch. When she was little, she liked to make crafts and was quite good at making necklaces and crowns out of flowers. She once had a horse she named Rapide. She has fond memories of Canada because Cedrick and his family lived there.
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Carhart
Character Quote:
"I've already attempted to reason with the higher powers but since I am apparently seen as Sin's blind protector, my word has very little weight with his punishments anymore. They think I am soft when it comes to him."
Stats
- Full name: Zachary Andrew Carhart
- Nickname: General or just Carhart
- Rank/title: Level 10 Operative, promoted to General and director of FO activity
- Age: 43
- Height: 6'1"
- Hair: Dark brown, short cropped
- Eyes: Hazel
- Ancestry: American
- Build: Muscular
- Languages: English, some Spanish
- Likes: Working out, cartoons, children, TV dinners, mountain climbing, sky diving
- Dislikes: Abuse of authority, Europeans, excess of wealth, drugs, alcohol
Past:
Carhart was raised in a family with strong ties to the military. His father, grandfather and great grandfather all served, so he followed in their footsteps. He quickly rose in the ranks of the military during WWIII and won several awards and honors before catching the eye of the agency. Most of his immediate family died during the bombings, including his fiancé and infant son.
First Agency Appearance:
Zachary Carhart was invited to join the Agency at the age of 23. It was after the first wave of bombs when many of the operatives had been wiped out; it was also after the deaths of his family. Heart broken and wanting revenge, he joined the Agency at first for a desire to get back at the people who took his loved ones away but after years of being an operative, he quickly found out the Agency wasn't all he'd hoped it would be. However, lack of hope in the world as a whole and the determination to change the problems within the Agency, he's stayed on and worked hard in his new role.
Trivia:
Carhart wants to adopt kids some day but he isn't sure that it is possible. He also loves to cook but only ever eats TV dinners.
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Field Operatives and Agents
General Carhart's team; Insurgency Unit, specialized
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Sin
Character Quote:
"What difference does it make? I don't need your pity. I don't make excuses for myself. If you knew me better, you wouldn't feel sorry for me. If you knew the things I've done, you wouldn't have that look on your face."
Stats
- Full name: Hsin Liu Vega
- Nickname: Sin
- Rank/title: Level 10 Field Operative/Agent
- Age: 28
- Height: 6'4"
- Hair: Black, crimson red at bottom
- Eyes: Pale green
- Ancestry:Mexican/Chinese
- Build: Muscular/Lanky
- Languages: Spanish, Mandarin/Chinese
- Likes: Junk food, Classic literature
- Dislikes: Civilians, Questions about his past, eating fish
Past:
He grew up with his mother in Hong Kong before being taken into his father's custody at the age of eight. From that age his father, Emilio, began training him to be a fighter and an assassin until the age of thirteen when his father died. Not much is known about his time with his mother or his training, although when he first arrived at the Agency at the age of fourteen he was easily the best fighter and assassin they had employed with them. He was, and still is, considered unbeatable. However, constant mental instability has caused him to be treated as a pet whom they keep on a tight leash so that he will never lose complete control and become a threat to them.
First Agency Appearance:
He responded to a call for his father to come into a debriefing and after being tested in several ways, was recruited as a field operative. His skill and exceptional fighting abilities quickly led him to become a level 10 field operative.
Trivia:
Although it is unclear what specifically his mental issues are, he is known to slip into fits when he feels threatened and does not seem to hear or see anyone but enemies around him, not stopping until they are all neutralized.
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Boyd
Character Quote:
"We cannot blame this dismal life on nature or the inevitable progression of destiny. We as a species have chosen this outcome, this era where the strong rape the weak, who then turn rabid and murder all the innocents around their oppressors as revenge. We have only ourselves as people, as humans, as supposedly the only 'logical' creatures on Earth to blame. I would argue that there is nothing 'reasonable' in war, but it would be futile. War and domination are as innate in humanity now as the sun rising through the sky is inevitable in nature. It has happened a myriad of times before. And it will happen just as many more in the future."
Stats
- Full name: Boyd Kadin Beaulieu
- Nickname: none
- Rank/title: Level 9 Field Operative/Agent
- Age: 19
- Height: 5'10"
- Hair: Blond, medium/long
- Eyes: Honey brown
- Ancestry: Canadian/French/American
- Build: Athletic (toned/thin)
- Languages: English, French
- Likes: Jasmine tea, reading, drawing, being left alone, the color black, sunsets, journals
- Dislikes: Being held down/in place, large bodies of water, disappointing people he respect, sycophants, bimbos, people who are cruel just to feel powerful, people who don't understand consequences
Past:
Boyd was born within a month before the first wave of bombs hit the USA. His father, Cedrick Beaulieu, was a journalist who was very busy but still obviously loved Boyd. On the other hand, Boyd's mother Vivienne never seemed too interested in him. His father died when Boyd was 7 during the second wave of bombs; a few years after that, his best friend Lou died. He grew up basically on his own with sporadic supplies and money that his mother would leave him when she thought of it. For months to sometimes years at a time she would completely disappear and Boyd would be alone in the house. Even when she was around, she all but ignored him. He's used to silence and can be very cold sometimes. He also has some issues that have developed due to all the time he had alone.
First Agency Appearance:
Technically, Boyd has been to Johnson's Pharmaceuticals to visit his mother but it was few and far-between. Each time he was there, he basically went to and from her office without stopping anywhere or acknowledging anyone. It is unlikely anyone remembers him from that time. His first official appearance at the Agency, when he finally joined, is around where the story starts.
Trivia:
He's never seen without a full-length long-sleeved shirt on, even when he's really hot or working out. When he showers in a shared room he always dresses in the bathroom before he comes out. Because of that, his torso is never seen. He is also fluent in French; when he was little, his mother tutored him. From the beginning, he hasn't understood why people can't understand the consequences of treating a human like an animal, then being surprised when said human acts animalistic. He believes it's ridiculous that such treatment got bad enough that it came to the attention of someone like himself who cares so little for humanity in general.
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Ryan
Character Quote:
"All joking aside, I'm not just some obsessed fanboy with a hard-on for assassins. I know he's done some bad stuff but I just think it's ridiculous to expect anything else from someone who has been treated so violently all of his life. I mean the collars and the boxes and all of that stuff is just plain ridiculous. It makes me automatically want to defend him just because everyone else is so determined to remain against him. That opinion can make me kind of unpopular around here but I can care less."
Stats
- Full name: Ryan Glenn Freedman
- Nickname: "Compound Brat"
- Rank/title: Level 9 Research and Development Agent; Subfield: North and South America, Caribbean and surrounding areas
- Age: 25
- Height: 5'3"
- Hair: Black, unruly
- Eyes: Dark blue
- Ancestry: Irish
- Build: Thin
- Languages: English, Some Japanese
- Likes: Manga, comic books, anime
- Dislikes: The cold
Past:
Ryan was born and raised in the Agency. His parents were upper tier on site agents and he grew up around many of the leaders before they were actually leaders. He knows a lot of the ins and outs of the agency, as well as a lot of its secrets but he also has a very deep loyalty for it because it's the only place he has that he can associate with his parent's memory.
First Agency Appearance:
He was born and raised in the agency but was formally recruited when he was 16 years old after showing extraordinary intelligence on several aptitude tests. He was recruited as a computer tech and engineer although he eventually tried for different positions before settling in the Research team.
Trivia:
He is obsessed with Japanese culture. He is also sexually open since he has very little romantic experience and believes in falling in love with a person instead of a gender.
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Jeffrey
Character Quote:
"What are you, going to beat me up about that? I'm not going to talk to you like this. Let me up and we'll have a civilized conversation." 'You asshole' seemed to hang in the air.
Stats
- Full name: Jeffrey James Styles
- Nickname: Jeff
- Rank/title: Level 9 Analyst; Subfield: Codes/Decryption
- Age: 30
- Height: 5'8"
- Hair: Black
- Eyes: Black
- Ancestry: American
- Build: Average weight but no muscles
- Languages: English
- Likes: Straight piles of paper, order, suits, encoding and decoding, computers, recognition/acknowledgment of his achievements, Café Americanos, Feng Shui, decorating and arranging his apartment, reading the newspaper, candles
- Dislikes: Boyd, Sin, stains, imperfection, drama, slackers, disorder
Past:
He comes from a rich family that afforded him the ability to go through life in a relatively untouched manner despite the war. His parents are both still around and call occasionally.
First Agency Appearance:
He started with a job at the government and expected to get a high-ranking, well-paying position immediately given his family. Thus, he was quite annoyed to realize he would have to rise through the ranks like anyone else. After two years working in a relatively low position it was discovered that he is brilliant with codes and decoding. At that point it was only a matter of months before he was recruited by the Agency. He still had to beat out competition to get to the position he is at now. He has been at the Agency for four years.
Trivia:
He has a sister named Erika.
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Owen
Character Quote:
"Thanks; now he's gonna be all pissy at me. Eh, don't listen to him, though. What you said made sense. I think his brain got squeezed out when his pride took over or something."
Stats
- Full name: Eóin Quinn O'Connell
- Nickname: Owen
- Rank/title: Level 9 Research and Development Agent; Subfield: Europe, Asia, Africa
- Age: 32
- Height: 5'11"
- Hair: Messy red
- Eyes: Black
- Ancestry: Irish, American
- Build: Average
- Languages: [fluently] English, Irish-Gaelic, Mandarin, Hindi, Russian, Italian, with a working understanding of many other languages including French and Spanish.
- Likes: Sleeping, marijuana, watching tv, staying up late, learning and using languages, calligraphy, cultures, helping people
- Dislikes: Mornings, having to wake up, coffee, having to look respectable, being ragged on by his family, being overworked
Past:
Owen was born in Ireland to an American mother (Hannah) and an Irish father (Tiernan). His mother was a doctor who had gotten her degree through Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland; his father was a linguistics professor at University College Dublin. Since he was a child they each stressed to his siblings and him the importance of understanding other cultures and languages; his mother often said that even if there were a lot of different people in the world, everyone bled the same and needed the same medical attention when hurt. He had two older brothers (Innis and Mannix), an older sister (Roísín, pronounced ro-SHEEN), and a younger sister (Caoilfhionn, pronounced KEE-lin).
The war hit when he was 13; no one he knew was killed but the tragedy galvanized his mother into wanting to volunteer her services. He and his family traveled all over Europe and Asia getting small jobs while his mother tried to help those affected by the bombs. He and his siblings were highly encouraged to learn the local languages, cultures, and befriend the people. He and his family spent the next several years living on next to nothing while they traveled throughout Europe and Asia. Everyone who was of age found whatever job they could to scrape by.
Owen found that he really enjoyed living like that; it gave him a chance to know people from many different backgrounds and ethnicities. He learned as much of the languages as he could everywhere they spent, and often even if he never became fluent he still could speak and understand bits of slang. His father made them write reports in the native language of every place they stayed for any significant time, and highly encouraged them to practice as much as possible, even if they were terrible. Owen had always loved languages so he was fine with it, though his oldest brother Innis and older sister Roísín were less enthused.
His given name, Eóin, was mispronounced and misspelled often enough that eventually he took to using the Anglicized spelling to make it easier for people to understand how it was pronounced. His sister Caoilfhionn had it worse so she did the same; the Anglicized spelling was the same as the pronunciation: Keelin. When they moved to America, they continued to use this spelling because it was even less likely in America that anyone would pronounce the names correctly with the original spelling.
First Agency Appearance:
By the time the second wave of bombings hit, his family had already migrated their way to America. Owen was 20 and fluent in several languages, and he wanted to help curtail any translation and cultural issues that could arise between the immigrants in the country and the locals. He started out as a low-level translator but after a year was recruited by the Agency due to his extensive knowledge of languages and cultures. Because he had direct experience in Europe and Asia, he ended up with those areas as his assignment when he later rose to the upper ranks of Research and Development and was transferred to Carhart's specialized Insurgency Unit.
Trivia:
Owen has freckles. He's had so many odd-jobs in his life that he has strange skills all over the place. He has more than one job with the Agency and often has to work extra hours on other projects, hence his constant sleepiness. But he also loves to sleep so he always wants to compensate for the lost sleep by sleeping in during the day. His siblings Mannix and Caoilfhionn/Keelin also work for the government. He can understand Italian, French and some Spanish but isn't very good at speaking them. His family is all still alive, including the majority of his extended family in Ireland (no one in his family has died directly as a result of the war). His Agency ID card lists the original spelling of his name but when informal letters are written to him from anyone he knows or he's informally signing something, the Anglicized spelling is used. When writing to him, Keelin uses 'Owen' but the rest of his family uses 'Eóin.' He has several nieces and a nephew due to his sister Roísín.
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General Stephen's team; Insurgency Unit, non-specialized
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Kassian
Character Quote:
"When I'm around people on my team I feel like I have to continue being Senior Agent Trovosky and I don't think I can handle that anymore at the moment."
Stats
- Full name: Kassian Eric Trovosky
- Nickname: none
- Rank/title: Level 10 Field Operative, Senior Agent
- Age: early 30s
- Height: 6'2"
- Hair: Dark blond hair, typically kept very short
- Eyes: Light blue
- Ethnicity: Third generation Russian-American
- Build: Muscular
- Languages: English, Russian, Spanish
- Likes: Training, Playing the guitar, Guinness
- Dislikes: Undercover assignments, immaturity, romantic relationships
Past:
Kassian is a minority in the Agency in the way that most of his immediate family is still alive and in contact with him on a regular basis. Kassian grew up with a large Russian-American family in Philadelphia before they all relocated to a small suburb in California because of his father's job. This move is probably the only thing that saved he, his parents and his three sisters from a series of bombs that destroyed many areas in Pennsylvania during the first waves of attacks that hit the country. These attacks wiped out most of his extended family and is also what prompted him to graduate high school early and enlist in the military at the age of 17.
After a successful two and a half years serving as a Marine, he was recruited into the Agency where he also quickly rose in the ranks. His friends and immediate family believe that he was invited to join a private military organization which operates as security contractors and mercenaries-- a company which is used by the Agency as an official cover for active field agents with family. Other than that, they know nothing about what he actually does other than the fact that his work is highly confidential. The secrecy causes strains between he and siblings but he still keeps in contact and visits them when he has downtime although he frequently has to cut visits short in order to return for an assignment.
Kassian lives off-compound and maintains a private life with people who exist outside the Agency. At the age of 24, he married a civilian but they divorced three years later due to his refusal to discuss his work with her, his constant trips and suspicion of infidelity. Since then Kassian has maintained that he would never get into a long-term relationship again.
First Agency Appearance:
Kassian was recruited into the Agency at age 20 after serving as a Marine in the war and achieving a variety of medals for accomplishments in combat in only two years' time. After extremely impressive results in both physical and mental training, Kassian was immediately given the rank of 8-- the highest level a standard field agent can achieve unless they are invited to begin training for level 9-- which occurred not too long after.
Trivia:
His ex-wife's name is Kelly, he was in a local band for several years, he has a cat named Peaches who is taken care of by his neighbor's daughter when he is away.
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Blair
Character Quote:
"David Nakamura's good people, we trained together. You know how he names his moves sometimes? There's one called the helicopter? ... Well. I named it."
Stats
- Full name: Jonathan Blair Jones
- Nickname: Blair
- Rank/title: Level 9 Field Operative, Kassian's team
- Age: 31 at the beginning of the story
- Height: 5'11"
- Hair: Black
- Eyes: Very dark brown/Black
- Ethnicity: German and English, many generations back
- Build: Lean
- Languages: English
- Likes: Music, helicopters, flying, airplanes, headphones, dogs, milk, hoagies from Brownie's
- Dislikes: Studying, having to exert a lot of effort, being stuck in one place for a long time, funerals
Past:
Blair grew up on a farm in midwest United States; his family had lived in the same two hundred mile radius for over five generations. Blair was young when he learned how to drive (on the four-wheeler that he used to alert his father, Oscar, when it was time to come in to eat) and later when he was taught how to fly his father's crop duster to spray pesticides on the crops. Blair had two older brothers; Matthew and Christopher. Even as a kid, he refused to answer to any variation of his given name 'Jonathan;' this eventually prompted Matthew to tease him as "Little Baby Blair" who was "such a whiner." When Blair responded to the name, it stuck.
When the bombs hit the US both times, they were aimed primarily at large cities although some agricultural areas were hit. The Jones farm was several hours by car from the nearest decently sized city; their land was not hit and no one in their extended family was hurt. However, the war created a rift between the urban and rural population, especially within the agricultural community. Although his family was not directly affected by the Crop Riots in which some urban mobs overwhelmed some rural farmers, destroying crops and killing their family, the fear and distrust of urban cities and the people who lived there remained. (See Crop Riots/urban vs rural America for more information.)
The Jones farm had relatively few troubles until Blair was 15, when his mother, Mary, grew ill from a simple sickness. Mary had always been the one who encouraged the imaginative and strange side of Blair the most; she said it was healthy and important for everyone to be themselves and he should follow his interests. His father didn't trust the cities; he was afraid that if they went anywhere seeking better care than they could get with the local doctors, then somehow the scavengers would realize he was a farmer, and the mobs would return and destroy everything he owned, maybe even killing his family as well. In the end, Mary was confined to her bed and died within a few months from complications. Overcome with guilt and grief over the loss of his wife, Oscar swayed between spending even more time in the fields and trying to keep his sons close and safe.
Christopher helped him in the fields and Blair took over all the crop dusting responsibilities, all the while feeling like he wished he could do more; he could tell his father was wasting away the way his mother had been, and he could see the same happening in the families surrounding their farm. He hated the idea of sitting out in the middle of nowhere, isolated from the rest of the world, while that same world could at any time come in and destroy their way of life out of jealousy, anger, or politics. He wanted to be able to do something to fight back.
When he was 16, Blair joined the the cadet program in the Civil Air Patrol, a civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force; during this time he lived in the city. When he was 18, he was awarded the Amelia Earhart Award and returned home after having been absent for two years. He found that Matthew, devastated by their mother's death, had left home to become a doctor, Christopher was planning to marry their neighbor Denise, and their father Oscar was nearly working himself to death. Despite Blair and Christopher's attempts to persuade him to take his health better into account, within six months of Blair's return Oscar had a heart attack while out in the field and died without anyone realizing it for a few hours.
Three days after Oscar's funeral, Blair left home. He wanted to be able to affect life on a grander scale than he could there; he wanted to do something to keep moving, to get away from the memory of his parents' funerals, but also to make it so this sort of thing didn't have to happen again. His brother would have children who would grow up on that farm and he didn't want future wars to create the same issues; the war was what had destroyed their lives so he wanted to stop the war from coming again. He immediately joined the United States Air Force, starting as Airman 1st Class.
From there he trained for two years for Pararescue and was one of four out of his original twenty-person class to actually graduate. He was a Pararescueman in the Air Force for over three years and only stopped when he joined the Agency.
First Agency Appearance:
Blair was recruited by the Agency at the age of 24 and started at Rank 5 due to his extensive history with flying and rescue missions. He started in the Aerial Support Unit, a medium-sized unit with many tasks and a large amount of people, including ten people who were had the additional job of being specially trained and on call as Pararescuers.
He worked Aerial Support and Pararescue (part of the Special Ops Division) for over two years and was often partnered with Josephine Davis, who he got along with extremely well and who had also been in the Air Force in Pararescue. When he was 26 and she was 29, Blair was heavily wounded and Josephine was killed by insurgents as they attempted to save two Rank 9s and a Rank 8 who had disappeared on a mission. Blair was severely affected by her death; he'd been falling in love with her and for the past several years she'd spent more time at his apartment than her own. To remove himself from the memories, he moved off the compound and requested a transfer to another unit; part of this was due to the fact that the highest rank in the Aerial Support Unit was Rank 8 and if he passed the training and test for Rank 9, he was open to even more units with more proactive goals.
He failed his first immediate, attempt at Rank 9 but spent more time in training, a lot of it working with and around David Nakamura who he had trained with when he'd first joined the Agency. He was promoted to Rank 9 at 28. He joined the Insurgency Unit and was assigned to Kassian Trovosky's team under General Stephen, which he'd been in for four years by the time he was introduced in the story. He's still on call as a Pararescuer but is currently listed as one of their reserves. Although Kassian's team has a Captain that they reported to while Kassian was on his extended undercover mission, Blair ended up doing a lot of back up support for Aerial Unit during that time.
Trivia:
He has a Huskie dog named Chewie. He still ends up spending time in the Aerial Support Unit, mostly because he's never lost his love of flying and he's friends with about everyone there. They let him take the helicopters and planes for flights despite the fact that although he is a rank higher than the highest of anyone there, he doesn't technically always have specific clearance to be flying the particular machines he chooses. He and Christopher still talk over the phone occasionally and Blair has two nieces and two nephews that he sends birthday and holiday presents to (usually somehow related to flying). As far as Christopher knows, he works as Pararescue for the private military contractor Murphy Corps, used as a cover for agents with civilian relations.
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Other Agents
Emilio
Character Quote:
"Never assume that you can trust someone because of your relationship to them. Feelings change, relationships end, loyalty wavers—never make yourself vulnerable, no matter how close you become to a person. Trust nothing but your own ability and your weapons, but even weapons can be turned on you which is why I emphasize hand to hand combat. Real men don't need steel to defeat their opponents in battle. Unfortunately the majority of real men seemed to have died out with the Spartans."
Stats
- Full name: Emilio Alvado Vega
- Nickname: Information N/A
- Rank/title: Level 10 Field Operative
- Age: 28 at time of death (would be 44 at present)
- Height: 5'10"
- Hair: Black, straight, cut short
- Eyes: Pale green
- Ancestry: Mexican, Ecuadorian, Brazilian
- Build: Athletic
- Languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese (some Chinese)
- Likes: Alcohol, Marijuana, Cocaine, Women
- Dislikes: Being told what to do
Past:
For the past several years, not much was known about Emilio's past but recently the physical file containing his history has been unearthed for a variety of reasons that are not readily available to the public.
Emilio's father was Christian Immanuel Vega, an American citizen residing in Mexico City, Mexico and a notorious drug and gun runner who was a prominent member of the MS-13 gang in that area. He carried on operations in Mexico and America, as well as South America, which is where he met Emilio's mother, Yaritza Aguilera Ferreira. Yaritza was the teenage daughter of a wealthy Brazilian businessman and an Ecuadorian model. They met by chance at the international airport outside of Rio de Janeiro when Christian complimented Yaritza on her brilliant green eyes. It didn't take long for the two to begin a whirlwind romance and during Christian's brief stay in Rio, the two fell in love and Yaritza ran away from her wealthy family to live with him.
Their next few years together aren't well documented but it seems as though Yaritza engaged in numerous criminal activities with Christian and eventually gave birth to three children; twins Veronica and Marissa and eventually to Emilio. The couple had moved to Southern California shortly after getting together but after Emilio was born, they returned to Mexico City. Yaritza had a strong reaction to the change and although she'd engaged in petty crimes in the past, she could not handle the life style Christian began in Mexico.
Her mental health began to deteriorate after awhile and soon it became obvious that she was afflicted with a severe disorder, most likely bipolar, although it remained untreated. Her instability grew over the years and finally the situation came to a head when she murdered the twins in front of Emilio, fully intending to kill him as well. However, before she could turn the knife on him, Christian returned home and stopped her. The two fought and it ultimately ended with Christian killing Yaritza as Emilio watched; whether it was self defense or deliberate is unknown.
Unable to deal with what had happened and caring for a young son on his own, Christian took Emilio to Rio de Janiero and dropped him off at the home of Yaritza's parents, assuming he would be well taken care of there. The assumption was wrong and Yaritza's parents refused to take the illegitimate child in, turning the five year old out on the streets with a handful of money and some food. Three hours after being sent away from the house, Emilio was robbed by a homeless man and was left penniless and lost in the large city.
The next few years of Emilio's life are also largely undocumented, although it is known that he was homeless most of the time and spent most of his days scamming for food and money, stealing and avoiding the death squads that notoriously hunted street kids in Rio. It was a difficult life, a dangerous life, and not something he would ever talk about very much in his adult life. By the time Emilio was 7, he'd seen more death and violence than most people would see in a life time and by the time he was 9, he'd already killed for the first time. His entire childhood was spent in this way and that is likely the reason why he went through the rest of his life with the mindset of never trusting anyone and never depending on anyone, always looking out for himself because if he didn't, no one else would. It is also likely the reason why, in later years, he had no idea how to raise Sin. After all, no one had actually raised him and all he had known as a child was defending himself against people who wanted to hurt him or take advantage of him so it was important that he knew how to fight, knew how to be self-sufficient and strong; these are things he felt were important for his young son to know as well.
At the age at the age of 11, Emilio was arrested but he managed to escape and fled Rio, heading back to Mexico City with the decision that he would search for his father. He was unable to locate him, but he did locate other members of MS-13 that his father had been affiliated with and it wasn't long before he was formally recruited. His no nonsense attitude, street smarts and willingness to do whatever he had to do allowed him to rise in the ranks fairly quickly and by the time he was 15, Emilio was a major player in their arms dealing ring. It was at that age that his gang began doing business with a Chinese group of smugglers and this business relationship took him all the way to China, where he met and impregnated Zhang Lien, a 17 year old prostitute that he met in the Mongkok District of Hong Kong.
During the next few years, Emilio's reputation in the underground crime world grew and he caught the eye of the Agency after engaging in the beginnings of a business relationship with what turned out to be a terrorist group. Initially he was brought in for interrogation but when it proved that he wasn't actually involved with the terrorist group and that he hadn't had real knowledge of their intentions, he was released. For one reason or another, no one is sure why, Emilio agreed to become a temporary informant for the Agency to help them subdue the group. His skills, willingness to 'fight enemies of the US' despite his own criminal history and lifestyle, resilience to their interrogation techniques and large pool of contacts prompted them to bring him in as an official agent.
First Agency Appearance:
When Emilio first entered the Agency, he was the polar opposite of just about everyone there and he didn't care at all. He was undisciplined, unruly and completely disrespectful. His attitude, appearance and the fact that he didn't have military training (while at the time, most agents did) caused many to underestimate him. But his self-taught fighting style proved almost impossible to defeat and he quickly rose to level 10 field operative status, after they decided he was trustworthy enough to handle the rank. At 20 years old, he was the youngest agent to ever reach that rank and many people were resentful of it, especially because of his murky origins and behavior.
Trivia:
As an adult, Emilio finally met his father again but it is unknown what went on at the reunion. Emilio has other illegitimate children aside from Sin, but it is unknown who they are or if he is even aware of them. It is alleged that he was married as a teenager but whether this is a rumor or truth is unknown. If it's true, it is also unknown what became of his wife. Emilio was typically a very healthy eater; after years of eating scraps, the ability to eat decent, well-balanced meals with proper nourishment was very important to him. Emilio smoked marijuana almost daily when not on assignment (and sometimes while on) and was known to do cocaine every so often.
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David Nakamura
Character Quote:
"What, is your partner too stupid to find you if you're not standing right in front of him? Humor me a little here. Let's go spar. I want to see if you've improved."
Stats
- Full name: David Keisuke Nakamura
- Nickname: none commonly known
- Rank/title: Level 8, Head Training Instructor
- Unit: Training department
- Age: 37
- Height: 5'9"
- Hair: Black
- Eyes: Dark brown/Black
- Ancestry: Japanese-American
- Build: Stocky, muscular
- Languages: English, Japanese, some Hawaiian and Hawaii Creole English/Pidgin
- Likes: Training, weapons, B movies, a variety of martial arts, traveling, Hawaii, Japan, his family
- Dislikes: Stereotypes, ignorance, intolerance
Past:
David was born in Michigan and is a third generation Japanese-American. He has one sister, Alanna Yuna Nakamura, who is 2 years younger than him. She has two jobs: one working as a satirical cartoonist for a large newspaper and another as a freelance technical writer. Their parents are both still alive and occasionally overbearing.
Since he was young, David was a workaholic who became almost obsessed when engrossed in things that interested him. Due to that, he excelled in school in the subjects that interested him but was only decent in the other classes because he didn't give himself enough time to devote to them. He attended a dojo since he was very small, learning a variety of martial arts; at one point he lived several years in Japan, staying with extended relatives.
He didn't often use vacation or sick days and would spend his free time training or working on something productive. One summer, David let one of his friends, James, talk him into an extended trip to Hawaii. James had gone to Hawai'i for college and insisted on showing David all the best places.
David didn't know it until they arrived, but James had an ulterior motive; he was convinced that David needed a love interest before he worked himself to death and lost out on life. He happened to know a friend of a friend who lived in Hawaii and he thought she would be perfect for David. So, one night David was introduced to Aolani Kalaiwaa, a native Hawai'ian woman who went by the nickname 'Lani.' As James had predicted, they got along very well right away and they started dating. It wasn't long before they were married.
Aolani, who'd been working in the government in Hawai'i, transferred to a position in the new city and eventually was recruited into the Agency as a civilian position in upper level Human Resources. They had a little girl named Yumiko who was 5 1/2 years old at the beginning of the story.
First Agency Appearance:
David joined the Agency at age 23; he was recruited after he was spotted in a few local martial arts competitions in which he won first place or showed great promise in most. He started at Level 1 and quickly rose through the ranks, finding training to be relatively easy but interesting. He was Level 8 by the time he turned 25 and they immediately put him in the training rooms. By the time he was 26, they realized that his pupils were doing particularly well in their initial missions and he was getting consistently good marks. He was promoted to Head Training Instructor, one of two people to hold the position over lower ranked training instructors who work with lower level classes. He became the main instructor for advanced field agents,from Level 7 and up, and trained several people who later became Level 9, such as Blair.
He has received notice several times in his career that he would be eligible for Level 9 if he was interested in testing for it, but each time he has refused.
Trivia:
David's family is still in touch with their extended relatives back in Japan; they try to visit Japan every few years. Alanna often tries to get information out of David about where exactly he works and what exactly he does but she's repeatedly denied, which she finds to be very disappointing.
Many people have wondered over the years why he keeps refusing promotion; if he promoted, he could potentially eventually be in charge of the entire Training department and replace the captain in charge (currently Captain Morgan Chase, who he's become friends with over the years). Although there are a number of speculations, when asked David simply says that he enjoys his job as it is and sees no reason to change.
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Non-Agency Affiliates
Thierry
Character Quote:
"I am beginning to wonder about the human resources of your organization. They seem to hire such beautiful young men. It is almost too much for me to bear. And so well dressed, both of you," he continued in French before transitioning to English effortlessly. "Even you, Sinful. Whatever has become of your ripped pants and vulgar t-shirts? Bloodstains and old hems, everywhere. This transformation is incredible."
Stats
- Full name: Thierry Beauvais
- Nickname: None
- Occupation/title: Entrepreneur
- Age: 26 when the story began
- Height: 6'
- Hair: Wavy chestnut colored brown hair
- Eyes: Dark blue/greyish
- Ethnicity: French
- Build: Slender
- Languages: [fluently] French, English, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, with a working knowledge of many others
- Likes: Jazz, red wine, clothes, manipulation
- Dislikes: A great deal of unpleasant things
Past:
Thierry was born in Paris to parents Chloe and Bailey Beauvais in 1994, prior to the beginning of the war. His parents both came from extremely rich families and owned a variety of property and businesses. He spent most of his childhood in boarding schools and thus was not very close with his parents. At a very young age he was known by family, friends and teachers to be very intelligent and apt at manipulation and deception. Most people chalked it up to him having a vivid imagination but his parents were not pleased to find out that he often told people that he was an orphan and that a generous philanthropic couple was funding his education (this began when he was 7).
Thierry was interested in the arts from a very young age and saw himself developing a career as a violinist or pianist in the future however despite his ambition and talent, he was often in trouble at school because of his habit of causing 'minor rebellions' among the students and teachers, and his tendency to be a compulsive liar. Despite that, he had a relatively enjoyable childhood as he went from school to school but this all came to a halt when his mother was killed in 2007, when American forces attacked and destroyed most of Paris.
Of his parents, his mother was the one whom he'd had some inkling of a relationship with but after her death, he was forced to return home only to find that his relationship with his father was more indifferent than ever, their interaction even more strained by Thierry's openness regarding his homosexuality. But despite their distance, he was kept from finishing his schooling abroad and instead had tutors to complete his studies as the war and attacks raged on. He finished school early and was making plans to attend university when his father began to use his vast amount of wealth to fund rebel groups. Bitter and angry because of his wife's death and because his own government quickly seemed to 'patch things up' with the United States, Bailey became one of Janus' first and biggest benefactors. He became very closely tied with the organization but in 2011, when Thierry was only 17, Bailey was murdered by an unknown assassin.
Alone and suddenly with a multi-billion dollar inheritance in his grasp, a young, bored and ambitious Thierry took control of his father's businesses better than anyone could have imagined when he was just a teenager. Well aware of his father's involvement with Janus, Thierry followed in his wake and continued in that vein, donating funds to the group. However it would be a while before anyone actually took the young, colorful teen seriously. When they finally did embrace him as the son of Bailey, they didn't realize that he wasn't exactly his father's son. For a variety of reasons, mostly the fact that he'd never actually 'taken a side' during the war, Thierry began corresponding with a large variety of rebel groups and politicians, playing them against each other and never really choosing a side.
To this day, no one knows exactly what Thierry's true intentions are or even if he has any at all.
First Agency Appearance:
Thierry first appeared on the Agency's radar as a person of interest in 2012, when he was only 18 years of age.
Trivia:
Plays the piano, violin and the flute. He is not fond of computers and thinks people rely on them too much. Plays up his flamboyance because he enjoys when people underestimate him.
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Cedrick
Character Quote:
"Children are children. I do what I do because I love Boyd. You do too, right?"
Stats
- Full name: Cedrick Alan Beaulieu
- Nickname: Ced
- Occupation/title: Journalist
- Age: 27 at death (would have been 39 at beginning of story)
- Height: 5'10"
- Hair: Brown
- Eyes: Brown
- Ethnicity: French-Canadian, American
- Build: Stocky
- Languages: English, Canadian French
- Likes: Murder mystery novels, investigating problems, uncovering truths, reading, telling stories, Vivienne, Boyd, life
- Dislikes: Lies
Past:
Cedrick was born in Canada to an American mother (Amy) and French-Canadian father (Braeden). Even when he was young he asked a lot of questions and was never satisfied with the answer, "Just because." As he grew, that evolved into him informally interviewing people to get to the bottom of any topic that interested him. This eventually drove his parents nuts and caused them to tell him to go elsewhere with such questions.
He also thought it was important to tell the story of those who could not tell it themselves. That was part of the reason he later liked the idea of writing murder mystery novels; it gave him the chance to set up details for others to investigate on their own and it was as if he got to tell the stories of the dead and give them closure.
In high school, he worked on the school newspaper and school yearbook committees. He started as the reporter that wrote the most widely-liked articles and eventually became head of the school newspaper. He was constantly writing Letters to the Editor that were published in the local newspapers and occasionally in national. He went on to win several awards in local and nation-wide competitions. He graduated from high school a year early and enrolled in a Canadian university.
The first year he was enrolled, he also applied for the EU-Canada Young Journalist Award, which he won first place in. The award was a trip to Brussels, Belgium-- host of the largest permanent press corps in the world-- where he had the chance to meet many important people and was given a one week tour of Europe. He decided to stay in Europe for the summer term rather than return home, and ended up in Paris, France.
One evening he was sitting at a local café working on his travel journal when he knocked his coffee over on his server, who happened to be Vivienne. Although she thought he was basically a klutzy idiot, he thought she was beautiful and started returning to the café to see her more. He decided that he loved not only the way she looked, but the way she moved, and spoke, and the flash of a smile he saw occasionally on her otherwise cool and removed expression. He began a dedicated wooing of her that took a lot of effort on his part and several long weeks. She didn't believe he truly liked her as a person and thought that he was just looking at her superficially as someone who was attractive. But after weeks of him doing his best to find out what she liked and offering it to her in the form of gifts or invitations to places she enjoyed, she began to doubt that thought.
At first she called him her stalker but she knew he would never hurt her and he backed off immediately any time he felt he was honestly making her uncomfortable. She was unaccustomed to such fervent, sincere attention paid solely to her with the hope of making her happy, so it was unsurprising that although she was slow to trust his intentions, she ended up being swept off her feet and falling in love with him as well.
When he became especially excited he tended to lapse out of the more international version of French he was speaking and fell back on his heavier Quebec French, with regional accent, idioms, slang and other vocabulary that she couldn't understand very well. At first, this difference in their French caused her to act rather snooty about it but it was mostly her way of teasing him and seeing how far she could push him.
At the end of summer, Cedrick found a way to directly enroll in a Parisian institute so he could stay close to Vivienne. They eventually moved to America together where they were married and both worked and continued their schooling; Cedrick transferred to an American university due to a few journalistic programs it had that his Canadian university didn't, and Vivienne was interested in working with the media and improving her English and accent. Cedrick wanted a large family and talked about children a lot; Vivienne was not as enthused about the idea but ultimately she went along with him. When Vivienne was 19 and Cedrick was 20, they had Boyd.
Cedrick was thrilled and a very proud father; he carried pictures of Boyd that he showed constantly to his coworkers, who became annoyed and started avoiding the subject of his son. Cedrick was determined to create a family life that would allow Vivienne to relax more (she was working quite a bit and going to school and although she enjoyed being busy, Cedrick thought it was too much) and would provide Boyd with a relatively easy life. He was also very involved in some projects he was looking into through work and as side projects. As a result, he was gone from home more often than he would have liked. And as much as he loved Boyd, he also had a tendency to become extremely focused on projects he was working on so he would sometimes end up ignoring his son without realizing it.
Cedrick was very excited about life; he loved to explore new things, make new discoveries, and in general have fun. Despite that, he was also very serious about his profession, something he and Vivienne had in common.
In 2007, when Cedrick was 27, he was following a new lead in New York City when the city was bombed. He was one of many people who did not make it out of the city alive.
First Agency Appearance:
Cedrick was not affiliated with the Agency.
Trivia:
His parents had a thing about giving their children Celtic names but spelling them a little differently than normal. Cedrick got the 'k' on the end of his name because his mother Amy wanted to name him Richard while his father was set on Cedric. They compromised by making the name look more like Rick. He was supposed to be nicknamed Rick but somehow it never caught on. Cedrick's father was named Braeden, and Cedrick had always liked the alliteration of B. Beaulieu which is partially how Boyd got his name. He had two brothers.
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Lou
Character Quote:
"First you steal my clothing, then you steal the camera. And I'm the one with the bench warrant. I think you need to be arrested for petty theft, not me."
Stats
- Full name: Louis Ivan Krauszer
- Nickname: Lou
- Occupation/title: street kid/thief
- Age: 16 at death (would have been 19 at beginning of story)
- Height: 5'11"
- Hair: Curly blond
- Eyes: Blue
- Ethnicity: Polish-American
- Build: Lean
- Languages: English
- Likes: Marijuana, Boyd
- Dislikes: Authority, Vivienne
Past:
Lou was the only child of liberal, left-wing politicians; his mother was in Congress and his father was a Senator. His parents were very into activism and civil rights; campaigning often for everything from the environment and the importance of being Green to rights for gay marriage and adoption. They were very open minded about most things, and in the few years that they lived to be Lou's parents, they tried to teach him the same things. However, they also gave him very little discipline and thought that raising him that way would keep him from being restricted in the choices he would make in life later on. They thought freedom was very important and didn't want to infringe on anyone's in any way; even a seven year old boy. This is generally the reason why Lou had a tendency to run wild and do, or say, whatever came to his head.
Later, Lou tried not to dwell on the untimely deaths of his parents and did so by looking forward to the future, a future he always included his best friend and young lover in. He didn't talk much about his parents after they died and instead made big plans for what he and Boyd would do when they got older; getting an apartment together, getting small time jobs or maybe even opening their own little shop.
However he also continued to follow in the vein that he'd been raised in; having basically no discipline and not expecting any of it. Because of his lack of authority figures as a child, he only grew into a teen who didn't feel he had to answer to others. He made his living by petty theft, small time scams and pickpocketing and generally tried to hide this fact from Boyd because he knew the other boy would not approve. However, because of this, Lou got the reputation in certain neighborhoods of being a small time crook and even a troublemaker, even though most people liked his sense of humor and outgoing personality. Some people, though, weren't impressed. The gang his murderer was in remembered him from their childhood when he was just a spoiled rich kid and they never let him forget that, no matter how hardscrabble his life was after the war reached them. This led to several confrontations between the two and ultimately resulted in his murder at the age of 16.
First Agency Appearance:
Lou was not affiliated with the Agency.
Trivia:
Lou was most recognizable by his extremely curly, wild, and big, mane of blond hair.
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Tayla
Character Quote:
"Mi información, su información. At a price. You know how it is."
Stats
- Full name: Tayla Kiri Madden
- Nickname: none known
- Occupation/title: Smuggler/pirate, one of the Snakes
- Age: mid-to-late twenties
- Height: 5'7"
- Hair: Dark brown with deep blue streaks, longer in front, short and choppy in back
- Eyes: Pale blue
- Ethnicity: New Zealand (Kiwi)
- Build: Lean, toned
- Languages: English/New Zealand English, Spanish, Māori, Indonesian, with a working understanding of Fijian
- Likes: Skull and crossbones, pirate paraphernalia, traveling, trying to mimic native accents of languages even when she doesn't speak or understand it, playing with peoples' minds, spontaneity
- Dislikes: Doing things by the book, predictability
Past:
Not a lot is known by the public about Tayla. With enough digging, it can be determined that she was born and raised in Hokitika, in the southern island of New Zealand. She had a half-Maori brother who was one year younger, named Rawiri. Her mother, Lilli Madden, raised her two children alone. There is no information on Tayla's father except that he was not from New Zealand and he was involved with ships.
When Tayla was young, she left New Zealand and began a journey that took her many places in the world, including Jakarta, Indonesia where she met Liani. Tayla spent years on ships and has connections that she later put to use in smuggling.
First Agency Appearance:
Tayla is not affiliated with the Agency.
Trivia:
She has a deep blue tattoo of a snake wrapped around her upper right arm, ending with its head curving onto the front of her shoulder and the tongue flicking out onto her collarbone. She has a few stupid human tricks she can do that she likes to show off and has an uncanny sense of direction. Tayla's favorite clothing is the type that has an extraneous amount of buckles, straps, chains, or other unnecessary items. She often layers her clothing, so she may have 3 tank tops, a skirt and pants on all at the same time. She developed her love of pirate paraphernalia somewhere after her time of going to sea; it's unknown why, but when asked she says she's just showing pride in her job.
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Liani
Character Quote:
"You should quite clearly consider your question before you create this to be your perfect answer."
Stats
- Full name: Liani Bintang Sujatmi
- Nickname: none known
- Occupation/title: Smuggler/pirate, one of the Snakes
- Age: mid-to-late-twenties
- Height: 5'4"
- Hair: Long, thick black hair often held back
- Eyes: Clear dark brown/black
- Ethnicity: Indonesian (Minangkabau)
- Build: Average, toned
- Languages:English, Indonesian, Minangkabau, Malay, Spanish, with a working understanding of Cantonese, Tongan and Filipino
- Likes: languages, the sea, the sky
- Dislikes: oppression
Past:
Very little is known about Liani's past. What can be found shows that she was born in a Minangkabau village to a very traditional family. She has one younger brother and sister. It is not known how or why exactly she left home but she seems to have done so rather quickly, and she ended up in Jakarta where she met Tayla. They left together and eventually formed the Snakes.
She appears to have a high affinity for languages and seems to be very intelligent, although because she is a relatively quiet person not many realize this. It is suspected, but not confirmed, that Liani has not returned to her home or been in contact since she left years ago.
First Agency Appearance:
Liani is not affiliated with the Agency.
Trivia:
She has a deep red tattoo of a snake wrapped around her upper left arm, ending with its head curving onto the front of her shoulder and the tongue flicking out onto her collarbone.
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