Ginerva McKenzie
¶ Overview
- Full Name: Ginerva McKenzie
- Aliases: Lyndsey Jones, Alice McCaster, Emily Frost, Ginerva Simon, Emilia Drake
- Codename: Moreau, Squeaks
- Species: Human
- Ethnicity: Scandinavian / Northern European
- Nationality: Terran
- Height: 148cm (4'10")
- Born: November 13th, 2670
- Place of Birth: France, Earth
- Gender: Female
- Sex: Female
- Sexual Identity: Aromantic/Pansexual
- Faction: Independent / Terran
Ginerva is a brilliant geneticist and former child prodigy. She got her first PhD at the age of 15 and was 'invited' to Terran Intelligence's 'Special Projects' division before she turned 18. She is often considered one of the most brilliant people in the medical field in centuries.
However, Ginerva is a morally bankrupt monster who sees people as potential experiments first, and anything else second. She's an intentional bigot, delighting in the pain of others and going out of her way to make everyone around her suffer. Her 'excesses' were so great even Terran Intelligence kicked her out eventually.
¶ Physical Description
Ginerva is a short, thin, mousy woman with straw colored hair, dull hazel eyes and buck teeth. She has a grating, high-pitched voice. Her pale skin is covered in freckles and she always looks young for her age. When she was younger she was often malnourished, stunting a lot of her physical development. She often looks sickly or exhausted, though that's mainly due to lack of sleep from whatever her latest obsession is.
When she's been eating properly and taking care of herself she can, in fact, appear quite pretty; a fact she will often try to take advantage of, whether she's been taking care of herself or not.
Ginerva is very physically weak, completely incapable of winning any wort of hand to hand confrontation. She was, however, military trained, is a decent shot with a gun, and knows just enough to defend herself, or get an opening to jab you with some mystery injection.
¶ Personality
Ginerva is a perky, often manic woman who isn't afraid to use her incredibly high intelligence against those around her. She is particularly sadistic, enjoying testing the limits of the human body without regard for her subjects. She views all other creatures as potential subjects, seeing herself as better than anyone or anything. She particularly views non-human species as scornful inferior forms of life. She comes off as argent and conceited, always acting as if she's holding something over you. She has no tolerance for attempts at being friendly or kind, often lashing out with a viscous verbal attacks at any attempt at kindness towards her.
At her core, Ginerva is incredibly insecure and self-hating. She has spent her entire life building up a fortress of argent bigotry's and callousness to protect what's left of her shattered inner self - a scared little girl who just wants someone to show her some kindness. If anyone ever gets close to learning this fact, Ginerva will do everything in her power to sever ties with them, including murder.
¶ Unphased Bluster
Ginerva is well known for never shutting up when she should. Even if she's being physically beaten, she will continue to taunt and arrogantly belittle the person beating her until either she's unconscious, they kill her, or they give up. She seems perfectly capable of understanding the likely outcome of her actions, she just doesn't care. She can't turn off her hubris or arrogance.
¶ Bodily Disregard
One of Ginerva's more peculiar tendencies is to disregard personal injury or show any concern for own body. Despite this, she appears to fear death and clearly doesn't want to die, but more basic injuries are brushed off as trivial to her. She appears to be a masochist from her actions, but it's clear she does not enjoy pain, despite subjecting herself to quite a good deal of it.
Another what this plays out is with her sexual proclivities. She is rather promiscuous, attempting to use sex to control and manipulate others. Unfortunately for her she so rarely takes care of herself, her attempts come off more comical and sad than sexy. She continues, undeterred, knowing full well that if she's aggressively willing enough, eventually her 'subject' will give in. To her sex is a power play, as she knows that the simple act will make the person more favorable to her in ways she can exploit.
¶ Special Abilities
¶ Genius Intelligence
Ginerva is a natural genius; even as a small child she scored higher on intelligence tests than anyone in modern history. There were debates at the time about whether or not she was the smartest person in the entire Republic.
While her specialty is genetics (and biology in general), she can generally leverage her intelligence to tacked subjects outside her comfort zone. Often times she has an answer to any technical problem long before the 'specialists', she simply enjoys knowing more than anyone else.
¶ Geneticist
Ginerva's medical and genetics knowledge is unmatched across the entire galaxy. She has made several breakthroughs that, if she shared them, would revolutionize medicine. She doesn't, because it would make harder for her to perform some experiments if people began healing too quickly or living too long.
¶ Military Training
While she isn't physically intimidating, she was forced to take Terran Military basic training and was required to recertify with standard firearms (and basic hand to hand / defense training). While hardly anything that makes her unique; it's unexpected for someone like her to be able to field-strip a service rifle, or hit a target with a handgun at 100 meters.
¶ Signature Weapon
While Ginerva doesn't have anything like a 'signature weapon', exactly, she always carries injections of various compounds to use either against others, to help herself, or just in case the chance for an impromptu experiment.
¶ History
¶ Early Life
Ginerva was born to wealthy Terran Doctors on Earth. Her family are descendants of a branch of the (now infamous) McKenzie family that defected several generations ago. Because of their family status as defectors, they gained a moderate amount of wealth and nobility. The family's stated goal is to eventually buy a title and become an official noble house. Ginerva's parents were less interested in that, and as such they were considered one of the lesser branches of the McKenzie family.
Ginerva's father died while on a classified mission for the military before Ginerva turned 1. Her mother did her best to raise the child, but was often too busy and left Ginerva's care to servants or family members. She was often watched by her Aunt, who had a son a few years older than her, named Seamus.
When it became clear that Ginerva was a gifted child, her mother made sure she was highly educated with private tutors and the family proper sponsored her education, pushing her to become the 'child prodigy' they were selling her as.
Meanwhile, Seamus saw something in his cousin: the potential for an amusing and useful toy. Seamus was a sadistic child, also very gifted, but smart enough to hide his intelligence from others. In secret, he and Ginerva 'studied' local animals and pets, dissecting them and often trying to reassemble them before they technically died.
It was under Seamus's 'tutelage' (and frequent physical, mental and sexual abuse) that Ginerva both earned her medical prowess, and her sadistic tendencies. Seamus taught her that all things were beneath him, and most things were beneath her. Others were tools to use, or subjects to study. The more pain the subject suffered, the more they could learn.
Seamus even one forced Ginerva to operate on a neighbor girl, removing her eyes, her spleen, gallbladder and appendix, several feet of intestine and most of her liver. Seamus then removed the girls tongue and hands, so she couldn't tell anyone what happened. (The girl lived, before eventually committing suicide years later.) Seamus and Ginerva got away with it, with no one ever accusing them of being the ones who tortured the girl. Ginerva's mother and the staff knew; not even her mother's skill could have kept the girl alive without a blood transfusion or anesthetic. While her mother said nothing, from that point on she viewed her daughter as a monster and refused to have much to do with her at all.
¶ First 'Graduation'
Ginerva's first 'graduation' from Seamus was when she was fourteen. It was a particularly challenging test. She had to steal her mother's cat; a spoiled, ill-tempered Russian Blue named 'Mr. Jones' that was the woman's only joy left in this world. Ginerva would have to demonstrate all the skills she'd learned, while keeping the animal alive for a full week with no food, water, anesthesia or blood.
The things she did to that cat still give her nightmares. It's the only thing she's ever done she's felt truly guilty about.
Seamus was impressed as he looked over her work and the pathetic, near-dead animal. However, as he inspected the animal, he saw a small injection mark carefully hidden; she'd given the animal anesthesia.
Seamus flew into a rage, snapping the cat's neck, beating Ginerva breaking several of her fingers and the brutally rapped her. After he finished, he explained she was to never lie to him again, or the punishment would involve her losing something of value. he forced her to burry the cat in the back yard with her broken hands, and then dragger her into the house to clean up. Later that evening his parents announced his and Ginerva's betrothal. They would marry upon his turning eighteen in a year, coinciding well with her expected college graduation date.
¶ Pregnancy
It didn't take her genius to realize that she was pregnant a few weeks after her first 'graduation'. She knew immediately that if anyone found out she would be stuck with Seamus until either he killed her, or she somehow found the strength to kill him. Being who she was, she not only performed her own abortion, but she took care to sterilize herself so nothing like this could ever happen again. She did preserve a few of her eggs, in the off chance that having a child would somehow be required or beneficial down the road, but baring extenuating circumstances, she'd never choose that for herself.
¶ Second 'Graduation'
After, in his mind, Ginerva had been declared his property, Seamus became much more abusive of her. The next few years are a blur in her mind and she often feels like they were a dream that happened to someone else. What became clear, however, was that she wasn't even going to make it to eighteen if Seamus was left unchecked. So, she did what she always does when faced with insurmountable challenges: she didn't sleep for three days until she'd perfected her plan.
Seamus had been getting particularly insistent that she didn't act like his future wife; wishing for public displays of affection on a somewhat grand scale. Finally, pushed to the edge, she planned their first and only date. The entire day was about him; taking him to some of his favorite spots, having a nice hand-made lunch, culminating at a beautiful dinner at the historic Atmosphere Bar in Bejing's China World Tower.
As they were waiting for desert and Seamus was making allusions to just what he planed to do to Ginerva in private on the ride home, Terran Marines stormed the room and arrested him. As they forces his hands behind his back, the sickening crack and crunch of bones breaking started everyone. Seamus let out a blood curdling scream and glared daggers at Ginerva demanding she tell him what she'd done to him.
Ginerva, through terrified, yet triumphant sobs explained she'd introduced a retrovirus into his food to modify his genetics. He now had something that mimicked Osteogenesis imperfecta Type II; meaning his bones were about as strong as stale bread. She then also explained she 'turned him in' for selling her breakthroughs to the League through a known intelligence broker. (In actual fact, she'd been doing that to amass a small fortune, and had just used him as a scape goat.)
As far as she knows, he's still rotting in the special medical ward of some Terran Intelligence prison.
¶ Third Graduation
Ginerva graduated with a 4.0 and honors at the age of 15 with a Ph.D. in "Biological Sciences - Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics".
Due to the investigation, her plans were put on hold for about a year while they made sure there were no other connections to the League. After which, she was allowed to join the Terran Intelligence Agency's 'Special Projects' division.
¶ Special Projects
As she was still technically a minor (at 16), Ginerva's mother was asked to give permission. Her mother's response was to dispassionately pull out a firearm, put it in her mouth, and pull the trigger.
After Ginerva's mother's suicide, she was declared a legal adult, and she began her dream job; working in a place where ethics almost didn't exist. She quickly made a name for herself and after a few short years, she was one of their most prolific project directors. She rubbed elbows with very important people and if she'd simply been content with that, she'd have had a good, morally ambiguous life.
¶ Incidents
Ginerva quickly grew bored with the 'mundane' requests of the military. Untraceable viruses, super soldiers, enhanced torture techniques... it was all so predictable and boring to her. So, she began 'experimenting' on her own. She even had her own special lab cloned Russian Blues, all of which she named 'Mr. Jones' before using them in horrific experiments.
When asked why she used that particular breed of cat instead of standard rats or monkeys, she'd just giggle and say they remind her of her favorite subject growing up. (Note: These cats are clones of the original Mr. Jones, which she did dig up after burring him and preserve his genetic material. She then took the broken, ruined body and had him stuffed. He's one of her only sentimental possessions.)
Her experiments grew in size and level of disturbance when they would break free. She created all manner of abominations, sometimes stealing genetic samples from her coworkers and building horrifying crossbreeds and monsters with human level intelligence. None of these creatures ever survived long.
That was when she began experimenting on her coworkers directly.
It was quickly discovered that people who she particularly disliked often caught rare diseases, strange mutations, or otherwise horrific consequences. These incidents were overlooked, given how good her work was, but she was quickly moved to much smaller teams.
¶ Meeting Simon
In a special collaboration with the Psychotronics Institute, Ginerva was given a peculiar test subject. He was already 127 years old and looked no more than mid thirties. He supposedly had strange abilities, and was once a famous serial killer. Ginerva didn't believe any of it till she talked to Simon for the first time. Then, she knew she'd found the only person more terrifying than Seamus.
Simon was heavily sedated for a lot of the time, but he remembered her and what she did. The next time he was free from the Institute for a brief amount of time, he visited her in her apartment. Over the next week, he visited horrors upon her that made what Seamus ever do look like nothing. He made it clear he would not kill her; in fact, there would not even be a mark on her body once he was finished.
Finally, after driving home his lesson about being careful who you choose as an experiment, Simon informed her that her employment was about to come to a close. He'd released one of her creations into a particular Admiral's private residence. Given the fact that she has been unreachable for a week; chances are she shouldn't remain in Terran space. He's made arrangements for her to stay with some friends of his; if anything happens to them by either her hand or someone else's, he'll visit her again. And this time, he won't be so kind.
¶ Bedlam
Quickly packing whatever she can and still reeling from her experiences with Simon, Ginerva ran from her apartment and from the life she knew. She met Linore and Hessa at the location Simon had indicated, where she joined the Raven crew as a part of Bedlam.
Since joining, Ginerva has tested both Linore's and Hessa's patience. Hessa has tried very hard to be nothing but kind to her, and hence Ginerva hates her more than Linore, who she respects, even if she taunts her relentlessly. Still, if there's been one thing to come from this unexpected turn, it's that Ginerva has, for the first time in her life, had the closest things to friends someone like her can ever have. She's still unsure how to feel about that.
¶ Major Associations
¶ Hessa Charon
- Relation: Crewmember
Hessa and Ginerva have a very tense relationship. Hessa can tell how broken and insecure Ginerva really is. Because of that, Ginerva hates Hessa, however, since she can't take any direct action, she's limited to psychological attacks to try to force Hessa to leave her alone. Hessa, on the other hand, just grows more determined to finally crack Ginerva's defenses.
¶ Linore Charon
- Relation: Crewmember
Ginerva wants to hate Linore, especially after finding out that Linore and Simon were once a thing. However, the truth is she thinks it's hot. (Linore's one of the few women she's actually felt any inkling of attraction towards.) Linore protects Ginerva, no matter what she says or does, and that's hard for Ginerva to internalize. But she knows deep down that if she gets into trouble, Linore will save her.
¶ Sonja Leist
- Relation: Crewmember
...
¶ Zarahemla Limhi
- Relation: Crewmember
...
¶ Jonathan Simon
- Relation: Her Personal Nightmare
Ginerva lives in fear, remembering what Simon did to her. It brought back the memories of her cousin, only worse. She is absolutely terrified of the man, and knowing that he will far outlive her means she knows she'll be terrified for the rest of her life.
And yet, for the first time in her entire life, she felt seen. Understood. She knows that a man like him, someone so terrifying he could even had made Seamus scared... he and he alone can understand him.
She wants him. Badly.