Chapter 1: Seas of Sand

This is Lee Specter. At age 19 she joined Errol on the Tessa after it broke down a few miles from the Hardhold she grew up in. He was impressed by her mechanical inclination and offered her a job and a new home. Now, at age 26, she continues her career as the Tessa's mechanic, in service to her friend Dart. Lee isn't hard to look at, but the wiry frame, freckled face, and penchant for being covered in grease and oil at any given time has made it hard to hold down a relationship. Doesn't matter to her much, she's more married to her work as it is.

Lee supports Dart as the new Driver, but will often offer her advice (away from the rest of the crew as to not embarrass her) if she thinks she's making a bad call.

Obviously Tessa's crew. Other than that his girlfriend at the time, her name is Line, an angel in profession as well as in Errol's eyes. She lived in a hardhold we came through from time to time and didn't really like Dart. But when Errol went missing she helped Dart and the crew. When they gave up, she returned to her home, but the relationship between her and Dart had bettered over the year.
The crew generally consists of the PCs, with some part time additions for various tasks if needed. But there is one guy who Dart visits every time they come to his hardhold: Sammy, her maternal grandfather. He's a quiet guy who has seen the world before whatever happened, and he helps her out with advice as well as supplies.
That would probably be Hammer. He's the boss of a gang of raiders who have attacked the Tessa more than once. It has been some time since the last attack though, so Dart is a bit on edge everytime they get close to Hammer's territory.
Just to a small hardhold to get some fuel. But a week ago they've been in a ruined coal plant to salvage some stuff.

Lee was born in a hardhold deep in the Desert Wastes, known simply as 'Oasis'. Built in the remains of a long-forgotten quarry (supposedly before the Desert was deserted), it is a fortress of stone and steel. At the deepest point of the Oasis lies a pristine lake of vibrant blue water (a precious resource in the Wastes), upon which sits the palace of Lotus, the beautiful but deadly queen of the Oasis.
The high-class residents of the Oasis live either in the palace, or in large estates carved into the stone near the lake. The vast majority live in homes and huts made of scrapped wood and steel.
Lee lived with her father, Ethan Specter (known as Ghost) in a nice home near the palace. Ethan had made a name for himself as a capable engineer and machinist, developing the Oasis's water filtration system that made the lake-water drinkable (the quarry's various residues made the water very toxic). Lee inherited her father's mechanical savvy, and would do odd jobs around the hardhold. Fixing armor and weapons, even developing some, as well as helping her father fix the variety of warmachines that comprised the Oasis's mobile defense.
In her free time, Lee liked to scavenge for parts in the desert outside the safety of the hardhold's walls. Her little acts of rebellion did not sit well with her father, who was very protective of her after her mother's 'death'. Lee never met her mother, and wasn't entirely sure if she was dead.
It was on one of her scavenging runs that she came across the Tessa, broken down after a run in with some unknown assailant. With the scrap she had on hand, and a few parts she found within the Tessa, she got her up and running again, but not before putting together that the 'assailant' was one of her father's war machines. The Oasis wasn't always kind to visitors. She intends to keep that discovery with her until the day she dies.
Lee is running from her old life. Her father. The lies about her mother. And the realization that her father's inventions, while saving the Oasis, were threatening innocent lives.
Lee still cares for her father, though she doesn't have the stomach to face him, even after all these years. She has a respect for Lotus, whom she met on a few occasions, but fears her like most sane people do. Lee would love to meet her mother, if given the chance (Lotus may be her mother, but both Ghost and Lotus would have wanted to keep it secret. Lee would have no idea). Lee also had a healthy respect for Dart's father, who was much kinder and down-to-earth than her own.
Lee is sure that her father is still out there, worried about her and hoping she will come home if he is not actively looking for her. She'd like to say the same about her mother, but who knows.
Lee loves being aboard the Tessa. It feels much more like home than the one she had in Oasis.

- Have you been to that fateful gambling house since?
Yes, I have one time, but nobody recognized me. Places like this see so many faces and I had completely changed. well , not completely but enough that I was anonymous. I had hair on my face, clothes that I actually owned, and a certain care in my step I didn’t have last time. I sat down and played an honest, low stakes game and lost on purpose. I took in my surroundings. Not much had changed in a few years, and yet things had. The building was the same but the people were different and so it felt like a different place. Security is a little tighter than it used to be though..
- Does Vasquez remember the whole ordeal? How did she get out?
After our ordeal with the gambling and the coin, our gang was found out, we weren’t street punks anymore - we had to disband, become regulars again, dissolve into the street. Vasquez had grown accustomed to the reputation her affiliation with us had gotten her, she wore it like armor on the street, so without much else to go on, she decided to cast her luck with what she knew and come along - maybe rebuild the gang, maybe hang on by a thread to the family she cared about.
- How do you owe Gams?
Gams took the fall for me. As I was escaping back then, I had almost been caught. Gams got caught instead of me, knowing almost nothing of what I had been up to with Snipes. They caught him thinking he was me (at first). They brought him in, roughed him up a little, pulled his nails that sort of thing, but since he didn’t know anything they let him go, although they still harass him from time to time. I owe him and he knows it.
- Why is Lits your worst regular?
Freaking Lits is unfortunately Toyota’s girl and he won’t let her go, so they always come together. She stirs the pot, and the last thing I need is someone stirring the pot, bringing attention to the low-key quiet, not-getting-caught establishment. It’s always something, you can’t plan for what it’ll be this time, one time she had a flu and infected everyone, one time she carefully started a fight between two random patrons that escalated so hard that a bunch of my stuff got messed up. One time she poured all the liquor into different bottles so we couldn’t make a decent drink until we had sorted it out, sometimes she just talks too loud, one time she stood outside and took an ‘entry fee’ for people coming in. That kind of stuff. This is how the phrase (Lits’ tits!) became a pejorative when something goes wrong around the place - we even have a bell we ring when someone breaks a glass or loses everything in a single gamble
- Why is Toyota your best?
Toyota is great - I totally get why he’s with a troublemaker like Lits - because he can handle it. Collected, smooth and likable, toyota knows he can smile and chat his way out of any situation (including a crazy one induced by Lits), so when things get crazy he sits back and smiles and continues his drink and only diffuses the situation when someone asks him to, or it comes to his doorstep directly. Toyota is not only a pleasure to have around and trustable (as much as you can expect a regular customer to help out around the place) but he also talks good about my place everywhere he goes. Most of the new faces I see have heard good things from Toyota and have decided to check it out for themselves.
- Outta all of ‘em, who do you care about most? Can be someone yet unarmed.
My favorite, my secret favorite is a younger guy who comes in sometimes. I like him because he reminds me of myself. He mostly keeps to himself, occasionally chatting with whoever is near him. It’s obvious to be, but not to everybody else that even coming to my little traveling place is a bit out of his league. I think he likes coming because of similar reasons I liked going to places that were out of my league when I was younger...I don’t know much else about him, he carries a spear, which is a slightly unusual weapon for just anybody, but I’ve never seen him use it.

- I used to live with the geckos underneath the sand.
- The Tessa spoke to me, called me to her. What, am I the only one who can hear her speak?!
- I had a twin. But I don't know where they've gone. I wonder if they're looking for me?

Scab. Hx +1,
Everyone else. Hx -1

+1 to Scab because I find them the strangest.
-1 to everyone else because I'm kind of strange myself.

• Which one of you once got me out of some
serious shit?
This would probably be Grave, so he gets +1
• Which one of you has been with me for days on
the road?
Feels like Lee, because she has been with me on the Tessa for a long time. +2
• Which one of you have I caught sometimes
staring out at the horizon?
This could very well be Scab. +3 for them.

Any objections? Technically I am supposed to ask you guys for this.
If the Battle Babe joins later on, they'll get -1.

No objections here - sounds about right