Player Character App (Shadow Ops Operative)
Name: Cynthia Marshall
Gender: Female
Age: 28
D.O.B.: May 20th, 1914
Physical Description and/or Picture: Chur cuz
Species: Human (Mundane)
Nationality: New Zealander
Ethnicity: Pākehā (that is, European New Zealander)
Religion: Anglican
Bio: Cynthia Marshall was born on the South Island on a sheep ranch, a family property dating back to 1850. The Marshall family’s celebrating ended quickly. In June 1914, the Great War broke out, bringing New Zealand as a Dominion of the British Empire into the war. Cynthia’s father enlisted to serve for King and Country. In early 1915, the unit Cynthia’s father was in departed to participate in the Great War. Specifically, the troopships departed to Gallipoli. By December, right around Christmas, Cynthia’s father returned to the ranch. Missing one leg, blown off by an Ottoman shell in the failed offensive.
With her father crippled, Cynthia was almost raised by her older brother four years her senior. As Cynthia grew, the two did everything together. When they were young, they played together, disobeyed their mother together, and went to school together. As they grew older, their responsibilities turned to maintaining the ranch, caring for the sheep, and exploring the countryside. They stayed close into adulthood. They became avid hunters, Cynthia using an old Martini-Henry that had been in the family for generations, while her brother used a substantially newer Browning Auto-5.
However, the growing shadow of crisis in Europe eventually exploded into full-out war. On 3 September 1939, New Zealand declared war on Nazi Germany. A week later, Cynthia’s brother signed up for the military to their father’s chagrin. After a heartfelt goodbye, he was shipped first to training and then to Europe. A couple of months later, Cynthia couldn’t just sit and tend to the sheep. She cut her hair short, dressed herself up as a boy, and departed the farm to join the military under the name “Robert Marshall”. By spring of 1940, Cynthia and her new unit were shipped out to Egypt to join the North African Front.
In June of that year in Egypt, a special forces unit was formed of New Zealander volunteers: the Long Range Desert Group. Cynthia was one of those volunteers. The premise was simple; a light fast-attack squad to harass enemy supply lines. She fought in the LRDG for over 2 years, serving as sharpshooter, spotter, machine-gunner, driver, and guide as needed; harassing the Italians and later Rommel’s Afrika Korps. However, in September of 1942, the LRDG raided Barce and a nearby airfield during Operation Caravan. In the ensuing engagement, Cynthia was struck in the leg. When she was admitted to a field hospital after the successful conclusion of the raid, the fact that she was a woman was revealed. She was honorably discharged shortly thereafter. After her discharge from the Eighth Army, she was approached by Shadcom with an offer to join a unit after her former CO recommended her.
Psychological Profile: Cynthia’s passion bubbles very near to the surface. Perhaps a bit overconfident, and prone to a bit of theatrics (partly the reason she got shot; she was quite the target with all her waving and shouting), she nonetheless is competent enough. She is intensely loyal, first to her brother, second to her unit, and third to Crown and Country. Not especially religious, but disregards magic in favor of conventional means that she believes are more reliable.
Why do you fight?: To serve the Crown and New Zealand, but also to try to find her brother.
Defining Quote: “It’s gone balls-up, but bugger it, keep firing!”
RP Sample: Chapter One.
