Miri Crackham

Miri Crackham is the Lead Medic of The Crescent Elites and a famous one, known for her skills that by now has surpassed quite a lot of her colleagues. A calm yet stubborn person, Miri hates unnecessary violence. After all, it was always her passion to heal those harmed by conflict even though her agenda sometimes shifted towards other matters. First, it was just Lune returning to home with a couple of bruises and, after some time, it turned into the job of handling the medical needs of an entire regiment, as well as training the medics of the Crescent Elites. She even went as far as to publish a famous book detailing the usage and effects of many medical items within the Imperium that the Inquisition, frankly, didn't burn.
She is also the foremost critic of Lune's actions, who nonetheless values his sister's advice and criticism greatly. She has, after all, almost always stood tall alongside her brother and saved Lune's skin on many occasions. She would be there when things seemed to hit rock-bottom, on more than one occasion, and it would be her stubborn attitude, which appears to be a common ground for the siblings, that would be what help things turn out for the better.
==Biography==
=== Early Life ===
Miri was born 2 years before Lune, on Holy Terra, to a relatively poor family. Her mother, Verina, raised them both with care yet was rather reclusive when it came to how she managed to put bread on the table. This piece of crucial information would be revealed to them much, much later in time. She was, after all, their sole gem and source of solace. Indeed, the Crackham siblings never actually saw their father but only heard tales of his brave personality from their mother. That's why they were broken into a million pieces when their mother suddenly died. What made the matters worse was that her mother had whispered into Miri's ear a most grave secret while Lune rushed to get help: Poison. That single word, combined with the death of Verina scarred Miri in particular for the rest of her life and made something stir up inside her, something that urged her to never fall into this situation again. Being already a skilled medic, it was this catastrophe that both triggered her passion for medical arts as well as will to resolve how Verina had passed away.
However, surprises of far greater scale awaited them. Shortly after her mother's death, Miri and Lune were visited by a strange man who claimed to be a man related to their father. He left a strange set of gifts and a note intended for her mother, which ultimately revealed a location in Cadia. While Lune did manage to secure a spot inside a small cargo vessel and wished to head there, Miri fervently insisted and eventually convinced him to take her along.
=== On Cadia ===
Miri played a rather trivial role on Cadia when Lune secretly left her behind and went to the island their father had described. However, much to Lune's dismay, she knew. She was simply more concerned with finding what had actually happened to their mother instead. Cashing in a lot of favors that came with her skillful medical skills, she discovered a vague lead describing a merchant who was dealing with untraceable poisons. She managed to track him down to Cadia and while Lune went to the coordinates hidden in the note, she went to investigate her lead. However, the trick was that the merchant had regularly resided in an Imperial Outpost. Luckily though, the outpost was mostly guarded by whiteshield Cadians, thus Miri miraculously managed to infiltrate the place and only anesthetized the guards guarding his room. When she busted isnide, she was surprised to see that the man she wanted to question was lying dead and another Imperial Guard officer was right next to him, cleaning his sword. He was surprised to see Miri, however said nothing and finished cleaning his sword and carefully looked at Miri only after. 
"You don't belong here." He said.
"Yet I am here, and the man you killed had answers I needed." Miri's reply was swift.
"He needed to be silenced. Just like you will be."
The assassin then lashed towards Miri just as she drew her archaic autopistol, the Beauty of War. However, before she could even fire, the assassin landed a perfect punch to her nose and then tossed the pistol away. To her surprise, Miri took out her wrist knife, the Resurrection, with which she managed to cut the right wrist of the assassin and rushed to grab her pistol. Immediately after Miri grabbed her autopistol, so did the assassin drew his. Before he could shoot however, an actual Imperial Officer barged in and quickly stabbed the would be executioner. He then looked at Miri, quite surprised. He finally asked:
"Who in the cursed warp are you?!"
"I was after this man." She said, pointing at the assassin's target.
"That man was a Rogue Trader! His retinue was in orbit, waiting for him to leave the planet! What business could you have with that poor soul?" the officer asked loudly.
"He was entangled in my mother's murder." Miri, sure of herself, coldly replied.
Alexius, still not convinced, carefully investigated the desk and a document that caught his eye made him freeze in shock. The document was detailing almost all of the Imperial bases and patrol schedules of their region alongside a map showing the very island Lune had set foot on. What's worse was that there was a note scribbled below:
"Make sure to tell about my help and generous advice to your superiors. All Is Dust!"
It was obvious that this was an incomplete report and that the rogue trader was most likely sending off information to someone. Miri also looked at the document before Alexius could even act and hastily turned towards him in visible fear:
"By the Emperor! My brother is there!" she almost shouted. Colonel Alexius Kazanov, perhaps out of curiosity or maybe even humanity, spoke clearly and slowly:
"Normally you would be shot in a firing line, girl. But since you technically killed no one and managed to anesthetize these useless soldiers lying near the door, I can make an exception. Go back the way you came. Do not tell anything to anyone, not even your 'brother' and if he is still alive, I will save him. However, you both will in return join my regiment." Miri accepted the offer in a single heartbeat.
Hours later, they were onboard an Imperial ship and were en route to Holy Terra, back to their home. Lune was saved without any casualties and Alexius was impressed with them both. He felt that he was going to need a lot of favors to take them in, but was determined to do so. Not to mention he most likely had to adopt them, which he also planned to do.
=== Years Under The Terran Rangers ===
While Miri remained silent, Lune eagerly told her almost everything he had managed to uncover. However, much to Lune's own dismay, he was unable to recall what happened when he was inside the artifact room. While his side of the story gave Miri great discomfort coupled with suspicion, she nonetheless decided not to make a huge fuss over it. She was just happy to see her brother alive and well. However, she did notice some differences in her brother's actions.
And once they arrived back to their homeworld, so began a new chapter in their life. The Terran Rangers were a rather seclusive Imperial Guard Regiment and this brought the Crackham Siblings enough flexibility to specialize themselves in certain ways. Thus, while her brother was committed to destroy the enemies of man, Miri decided to focus on something harder: healing the soldiers of man.
Eventually, after Alexius deemed them to be ready, the Crackham siblings began accompanying their adoptive father. They traveled across the stars, restored the Imperium's authority on many planets and destroyed countless heretics. However, no one knew their last campaign would lead them to Hethgar Prime. Sent there to neutralize an arising ork threat, the Rangers were mostly responsible of neutralizing key threats and organizing an effective resistance. However, a disaster soon ensued. Orks took the Terran Rangers by utter surprise and ambushed them. Mass confusion spread as ork kommandoz easily scattered their force as Miri and Lune got pinned down by Orks. They fought for hours and killed a lot of the vile greenskins, but when the last bullet left her gun and Lune's shotgun jammed due to extreme heat, she closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable. Then, all of a sudden, she heard bolter fire. A group of Space Marines, clad in black power armor, had appeared out of nowhere. Bewildered, the Orks were easily routed by the Space Marines and when she overheard their conversation with her brother, Miri jumped into the conversation and hastily asked:
"How did our father find you?"
"It was during another long lost mission. Your father was shot by a cultist and bleeding. We helped him and when your father discovered our purpose, he broke into the artifact room. Normally, those who try perish in but a mere moment, but your father survived. We do not know what happened there but when he emerged, he knew exactly what to do. Like he was TOLD what to do." The marine replied right before they bade Lune farewell. They parted ways there, but Miri was almost certain that they would meet again. Fate too would deem it so.
The war ended two year ahead of Departmento Munitorum's plans and soon the whole regiment was called back to Holy Terra. Everyone had thought that this was due to their resounding success. When they arrived on Holy Terra, however, they faced yet another ambush. explosives shook the ground beneath them and when Miri came to her senses, she saw the whole regiment, or what's left of them, was in utter chaos. However, Alexius had no time to spare for he knew more than better to not keep the High Lords waiting. Taking the confused siblings with him into the halls of Senatorum Imperialis, his expectations of a promotion or even a commendation was quickly crushed when they delivered him the grave news: Simultaneous attacks had wiped out almost all of his regiment and the High Lords had called him to receive his last report. Indeed, Alexius had been carrying the most prestigious honor of reporting directly to the Lord Commander Militant, or sending reports to his aides at least, all thanks to the fact that his regiment was a prototype project, a hand of the Imperial Guard tasked with gathering information. Wherever they waged war, Alexius had collected every bit of knowledge he could and sent them as reports to the Lord Commander Militant of the Imperial Guard, some of these reports even reaching the other High Lords as well. Of course this revelation shocked both of the siblings, but what's more disturbing was that the High Lords were going to determine whether their "project" would be expanded or scrapped completely in the following weeks. 
After the session, Lune, strangely optimistic, convinced them to visit their training grounds for one last time. Unknown to Alexius and Miri, however, Lune had already brewed up a new project. When they arrived, they once again saw the same marines Miri and Lune had seen on Hethgar Prime. After a small shock, a massive debate ensued and they decided that using Alexius' connections, the marines' combat expertise and Lune's knowledge as well as Miri's medical expertise they would lay the foundations of a new regiment: the Crescent Elites.
=== The Crescent Elites ===
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==Personality And Traits==
Miri can most plainly be defined as someone who loves tinkering and acts of selflessness. She is also quite fond of conducting detailed cultural analyses, be it human-centered or xeno-oriented. While she does this to have a strong understanding of new cultures, she also uses this knowledge for planning and strategizing, so that their enemies are weakened and demoralized easily. However, she is by no means a cold blooded person. In fact, she defends her actions by claiming to do them to stop unnecessary bloodshed. In her defense, her kindness and compassion does surpass that of many and is most often viewed as a liability by some of the more "old guard" elements within the Imperium. Miri also strongly believes that duty is sacred and should be put above anything else, which naturally adds on to her selfless character and demanding attitude as a teacher to the other medics under her command.
A person who wholeheartedly supports intuition and personal initiative as well as clever ideas, Miri also possesses a strong grasp of military tactics as well, a trait she earned thanks to her brother. Perhaps due to this, or because of some harmless sibling rivalry, The two Crackhams also like to compete on matters of planning and prowess as well. The most important example of this was seen on Meridian, during the First Aurelian Crusade, when Miri found a fatal flaw in the defense plan Lune made to protect the Angel Forge and prevented a devastating blow to The Crescent Elites and the people of Meridian. 
Overall, Miri can generally be considered as the calm and tempered counterpart of the Crackham siblings, as opposed to Lune's brave and bold approach. However, the Killer of Wounds is also a Lionheart herself, just a bit more quiet.
== Wargear ==
* Beauty of War: The main handgun of Miri Crackham, The Beauty of War is an archaic autopsitol that passed down to Miri after her mother's death. It was the only thing on their house which was worthy to be sold yet her mother never did so and eventually it was uncovered in her last will and testament that she wanted the pistol to be given to Miri while an heirloom that belonged to their father, a heavily modified combat shotgun, was given to Lune. What makes the Beauty of War unique is that it is an archaic pistol of an unknown pattern, yet has a range and damage value nearly equal to a ripper pistol and, thanks to Miri's tinkering, it is also compatible with Ripper Pistol ammunition. 
*The Resurrection: Originally designed by Miri as a way to both defend herself and take care of Lune's wounds better, The Resurrection is a hand crafted piece of equipment that resembles a small Narthecium. While it was extensively modified over time as she gained access to more and more funds, the weapon's primary purposes remained the same, those being providing Miri with a decent melee weapon and help her perform field surgeries easier. It can also drill through basic plating and armors like flak and light carapace, but is in no way capable of performing extremely complicated tasks like a Narthecium. It is also worth noting that she upgraded it with an injector and a chain knife after her "unofficial" mission on Vostroya. 
== Trivia ==
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Category:Imperial Characters