Cassiopeia Royer
She/Her
26 years old
Violent
50 kg
Personality
In casual interaction, Cassi presents herself in a formal, sometimes overly formal, manner. She watches people closely, learning as much about them as she can in order to understand the kind of person they are and use that to her advantage in her interactions. Keeping people friendly to her is a survival technique she uses to stay alive and keep allies and friends. She will often behave altruistically, being giving to others and doing things without requesting anything in return, seeing such actions as an investment in gaining people's trust.
Beneath the surface level amiability, Cassi is a person whose experiences in the new world have given her powerful convictions on morality and freedom. She believes that sacrificing freedom for security will only make one helpless because, in her mind, that security will fail. This is what she learned from living under Providence occupation.
Furthermore, she believes that it is up to every individual to fight for themselves and the others around them. Instead of one group controlling and "protecting" the helpless, every person should be doing all they can for both themselves and the people around them. She resents those who sit back and allow themselves to be helpless.
Moreso than the helpless, Cassi holds a hatred of those who prey on others. She has seen the benefits of helping people in her time in the militia. She believes that desperation is just an excuse used by those who, to her, simply engage in evil for its sake. Violence is her answer to such people, being on the alert to find their weaknesses and strike first when the time is right.
Appearance
Cassi is a young woman with pale skin, brown hair dark enough to appear black when out of the light, and light grey eyes.
Standing at 5'6", she has a slim, but fit build from years of active travel and combat against the infected and hostile groups.
She possesses angular features, marked with a small constellation of beauty marks that dot the right side of her face.
Aside from a scattering of small scars and marks on her body, her right arm is emblazoned with a tattoo of the numbers 08, styled in flames. A mark of her unit in the Torchbearers.
Background
Born April 1st, 1984, Cassiopeia Astoria Royer initially lived a sheltered life of privilege, being raised in an area not far from Denver, Colorado. Her somewhat overbearing parents ensured that she was given a “classical education” in philosophy, literature, and the arts. Part of this involved her fluency in French, which was also her mother’s native language. Cassiopeia seemed to be a natural at researching, gathering information, pattern recognition, and investigation.
Her parents, who always instilled in her that she was “destined for great things” pressed her to take on leadership roles in her extracurricular activities and schooling. She would go on to attend a private boarding school in Denver. While socializing did not come as naturally to her as other skills, Cassi, as she was called by her fellow students, used her abilities in observation to strategize and execute plans to meet the expectations of maintaining social status. Cassi’s life seemed like it would be a mostly typical, if privileged, one until the spring of 1999.
With the outbreak of the Daisy epidemic, Cassi witnessed many people, including friends and teachers succumb to the effects of the pollen and the bites of the things that they became. Cassi, along with a few of the remaining survivors were brought to a Quarantine Zone in the rural north of the state.
After initially settling into the QZ, Cassi, for the first time being both separated and having no way of contacting her parents, if they were even alive, found herself alone. She found a new routine and comfort in learning from Dr. Ismael, who had set up as a teacher of sorts for the younger people in the QZ. Under Dr. Ismael’s teaching, Cassi continued her education, studying and learning from the collection of books that were in the Quarantine Zone. She quickly became close friends with Dr. Ismael’s daughter Nadine.
After a short few years of this life, around 2002, the Quarantine Zone was annexed by the growing State of Providence. Conditions for the people of the Zone suffer as Providence places strict limitations on non-citizens, those who do not serve in the SOP’s expansionist military. Cassi came to become familiar with the beliefs and teachings of Providence and their faith. She resented the The Providence occupation and the authoritarian ideals they imposed on them.
Eventually, the occupation resulted in a crisis for the QZ, the exact cause not being sure. The three of them fled from the zone, where in the chaos, Dr. Ismael didn’t make it out, being caught by the infected while Cassi and Nadine escaped. Shortly after, Cassi and Nadine were found by a group that claimed they were dedicated to resisting the State of Providence. Needing shelter, they both accepted and joined. Cassi was motivated especially by wanting justice, or revenge, on the people she blamed for taking away the life she had gotten used to.
At the age of seventeen, the pair were recruited into a scouting sub-branch of the resistance at about called Torchbearers. This organization’s mission was to travel to distant parts of the wasteland to find supplies, weapons, potential allies, and recruits for the resistance. The leader of the pair’s specific unit, a former US Soldier, became a mentor for the pair, teaching them proper use of weapons and tactical strategies.
During her years in this wandering militia cell, Cassi became accustomed to violence, both against the infected that roamed the wasteland and fighting against hostile raiders along travel routes. She also used her investigation and studying abilities as a scout to gain intel on groups and factions so that they could make informed decisions on how to handle confrontations.
The militia’s strength began to decline, with the 2007 sudden expansion of the Deadzones cutting off their supply lines and destroying many of the friendly communities and safehouses. Shortly after, it seemed that the entire resistance was destroyed, with Cassi losing her mentor and everyone else but Nadine.
Looking to find a new home to rebuild the organization she had devoted so long to, Cassi and Nadine first found shelter in the town of Liore, which fell soon after.
Joining with a caravan heading to the Knox County region, Cassi strategically remained to set up a position a far distance from the KQZ. To gain advanced intel on the Quarentine Zone and its denizens, she tells Nadine to enter first, watching and waiting for her reports.
