OOC:
Alright, finally got around to it! I've been going off standard sci fi lore aside from the one mentioned in the setting information! Lemme know if something is not fitting or needs to be changed, this isn't supposed to be the end all be all character bible after all :D Introducing:
Mariella Solbjerg (she/her)
Spent almost all of her childhood and adolescence on the same planet, Ladon IV, known for it's awful living conditions and wealth of metals. A medium-largish, quite dense, fast spinning planet with an unusual amount of volcanic activity, which makes life on the surface - or really, life under the surface, too - not all that pleasant. Due to the frequent erruptions however, the planet is covered in heavy and rare metals, the only reason why anyone would live on this rock in the first place.
The planetary population is not large, a meagre few millions at best, with many on-world either having fallen to the false promises of achieving great wealthy through mineral extraction operations or simply nowhere better to go. The lack of any larger urban centers makes a tight government almost impossible, with the various settlements and colonies strewn across the surface - mostly concentrating around large deposits of metal and minerals - being quite self governing. In theory, Ladon IV is an elective democracy, but overarching parties do not exist, with most only fighting for the gain of their settlement. The only important position actually agreed upon is the head of state, who can rarely be found on-world at all, instead acting more as a overstated ambassador on an intersolar level, and who has no actual power. Due to economic competition with ones neighbouring settlements, there is little camradery across larger areas, when folks move it's almost always offworld.
Mariella's family has been on Ladon IV for four generations, where they mine tungsten for interstellar purposes. They aren't rich by any means - corporations from offworld don't exactly pay the best prices when there's plenty of suppliers on the planet - but had enough to afford a decent quality of life, certainly enough to protect themselves and their assets from the frequent volcanic anomalies or earthquakes shaking the crust of the planet. Mariella was born as the third youngest of four children - she has two sisters and a brother - of Hagan and Ismu Solbjerg, both of which were - still are? - in the mining industry. Her name stems from her mothers unrealized dreams of seeing an untainted ocean someday, something with Ladon IV very much doesn't have.
Young Mariella was educated until she was about 15, attending the local settlement school. However, with the place she grew up in - Lindtal - being no different from any other palce on Ladon IV a mining town, little education beyond general knowledge was tought. There was a certain scientific aspect, yes, mostly in the subfield of machinery and mining - no wonder - but theoretical sciences, the humanities or art fell short by quite a bit. Mariella didn't mind however, she was content to follow the footsteps of her parents and would never have dreamed of ending up in space - back then, anyways. Things changed when basic education was over and the joined her family in digging for valuables in the ground - it wasn't bad by any means, but quite repetetive. Soon, Mariella found herself to enjoy the act of hauling the raw material to the spaceport and meeting the often colorful offworlders in charge of interstellar shipping much more than crushing rocks everyday. She made some connections and became reasonably good at haggeling, something that her family had a distinct lack of up until that point, which is why they quickly made her the front face of the family unit.
This continued when Mariella was about 18. Growing curiosity for world, cultures, landscapes other than her own and the gentle push of her mother, who kind of imposed her own wanderlust onto her daughter, led her to secure herself a place on one of the mineral barges away from Ladon IV towards the stars and accompanying possibilities.
OOC:
That's it :D Lemme know what to change!