William McGrady

Exarch William Jakodi McGrady, 1st Duke of Wallerstein KCU GCMT KCSM KCGE GSIC OV OM (30 October 2643) is a Terran spacer politician and soldier who is a State Security General officer, State Secretary for Strategic Security, and Commander of the State Security Forces. The second-eldest son of Shannon McGrady, he is a member of the McGrady political and noble family. He has served in his current position in the State Security apparatus for over 25 years.
Prior to 2667, he was an enlisted soldier in the Imperial Army and a member of the National Humanist Imperial Labor Party. After proving himself as a war hero, he received a political appointment and was rapidly promoted as an officer in the Imperial Strategic Intelligence Agency after his honorable discharge from Army service, achieving the rank of Colonel.
In 2670, McGrady played a critical role in the formation of the modern intelligence and national security establishment. The myriad of bureaus and agencies that dealt with intelligence operations were amalgamated into the Imperial State Security Department, and McGrady was promoted to the rank of Prefect and was appointed to be the director of the Security Forces. He was promoted to marshal rank when the ISSD became the Ministry of State Security, solidifying his position in the chain of command.
He is listed as one of the wealthiest individuals in the Milky Way galaxy, and is often cited in news media as one of the most powerful figures of the current Galactic government, enjoying the confidence of Lord Maximilian Compton and popularity amongst members of the State Sec armed branch. His rivalry with fellow State Security general Xander Vox is well known.
==Early life and education==
William McGrady was born on 30 October 2643 to Shannon McGrady, the matriarch of the Irish-American-descended McGrady political family, and her husband, asteroid and gas giant mining magnate Patrick David McGrady (nee Drake). He was raised at the family estate in the orbital habitat Wallerstein, in orbit around the gas giant Kolossen of the Edel star system of the Rosetta Nebula. He had a troubled upbringing, being involved in several altercations at school. He attended St. Ignatius Elementary School from age 5 to 10, and the Wallerstein Catholic Academy of St. Francis and St. Claire from age 10 to 18. It was during his schooling that he first met his eventual wife, Zenzi Rothschild. Upon matriculation from the St. Francis and St. Claire, she graduated valedictorian and he graduated salutatorian, and both were expected to have fine careers in law and politics. He held various jobs throughout his latter years in secondary education, though none of them for very long.
Post-education, he was hired on as a junior intern to his elder brother, John P. McGrady during the latter's term as a Councilor for the Kolossen colonial legislature. During this time, he also enrolled for college-preparatory school. He was expected to continue his service under his brother during John's political campaign for Senator to the Inner Colonies Provincial Parliament in November 2662. However, dissatisfied with living in his brother's shadow and eager to prove himself, he enlisted for military service in late 2662 with the illustrious Cavalry Corps before school could begin.
==Army service==
McGrady enlisted two days before his 19th birthday in October 2662. He shipped out for boot camp at Bittrich, the Inner Colonies provincial training depot on New Year's Eve. He graduated basic combat training in March and continued onto Infantry School and Harsh Environment Training until April. His first posting was a quiet garrison duty in the Outer Colonies in the 12th Guards Cavalry Division.
However, starting in 2664, the 12th Guards Cavalry was deployed to the Perseid Frontier due to increased insurrectionist activity. McGrady was transferred to 1st Platoon, 505th Dragoons Battalion, which was deployed on police duty on the populated world Nausicaa. At Nausicaa, he and the other members of his squad were key to foiling the terrorist siege of the Windy Heights Academy school building. He was personally awarded the Close Combat Badge for his dispatching of several terrorists. However, the crisis was viewed as a debacle due to several dozen civilian deaths and injuries.
In September 2665, the Great War began and the 12th Guards Cavalry was mobilized for immediate deployment. The division first saw action against the Soviet Republic in December as reinforcing ground forces at the battle for Kalabaska, a large, hot terrestrial planet with vital industrial infrastructure and orbital installations. Half of C Company was wiped out in the orbital shuttle drop, along with all of its officers, with the survivors coming under the leadership of company First Sergeant Edward Pepper,, who was given a field promotion to First Lieutenant and placed in command. This earned the company the moniker "Lonely Hearts". Their hard-fought journey to the battalion rendezvous point was only the start; over the next several months, the 505th Dragoons bitterly engaged Soviet forces across the planet's single large continent. McGrady was remarked upon in a field report, "He was a tough little fighter, mean as hell when he had to be. And near about the most fearless trooper in the whole damn division!" Pepper recommended him for promotion, and McGrady was duly promoted to Lance Corporal near the end of the Army campaign to capture Kalabaska.
McGrady and the 12th Guards Cavalry were garrisoned at Kalabaska from March to May 2666. For almost a year afterwards, they were redeployed for policing duties on various other worlds in the end-stages of capture. In May 2667, they were deployed as part of a large task force to capture the Khoz System. Along with two Marine divisions, and another fourteen reinforcing Army divisions, the 12th Guards Cavalry were landed on the surface of Khoz Prime. The Battle of Khoz turned out to be one of the largest battles of the Great War, with Khoz Prime being the locus of the battle. The fighting lasted six months, during which the 12th Guards Cavalry at first encircled Soviet forces but then themselves became encircled. McGrady served ninety consecutive days on the front lines, earning several decorations including the Close Combat Badge in Silver, the Infantry Assault Badge, and the Distinguished Service Cross. He was promoted to Corporal in June, and placed in charge of the reconnaissance squad's maneuver fireteam.
He and the Lonely Hearts company were dispatched on November 4 to re-establish communications with the 503rd Artillery Battalion. Along the way, they assisted Army forces in City Zone 231 in breaking through Soviet patrol lines. However, half of the squad died in the city, including Lieutenant Pepper. McGrady himself was injured along the way during an encounter with dangerous wildlife, and was further injured after the squad left the city during an engagement with enemy armored forces. With his arm broken, he was forced to recuperate upon arrival to the 503rd Battalion's headquarters. McGrady insisted on being made combat-capable, and was outfitted with a powered arm brace to allow him temporary use of his broken limb. The Lonely Hearts joined the 503rd Battalion's assault on a Soviet fortification, and McGrady again distinguished himself in combat during an infiltration of the fort's powerplant. Upon return to base on November 9, McGrady was awarded for bravery and meritorious action, earning the Iron Cross as well as the Close Combat Badge in Gold and the Infantry Assault Badge in Silver. He was further decorated with three Wound Badges and recommended for a medical discharge from the Army. Due to the strain on his broken limb, his right arm was amputated on November 12th and replaced with a cybernetic arm. McGrady wasted no time in beginning his recovery, and soon was able to use his replacement arm as if it were his natural limb.
On the recommendation of the battalion commander and the battalion political officer, McGrady was promoted to the rank of Sergeant on 31 December 2667. He was honorably discharged the following day.
==Political and paramilitary career==
Being the son of a powerful political family, William McGrady was expected to make a political career in his adulthood. He had joined the National Humanist Imperial Labor Party at a young age, at his mother's insistence. He was part of the Wallerstein chapter of the party's youth wing until reaching 16, when he reached the age of suffrage. He voted for the National Humanist party in the 2660 county elections, and took a job as a junior intern for his brother's political campaign for the Provincial Parliament. He also voted for the NHILP in the 2662 Imperial general election in May.
After joining the Army in 2662, McGrady seemed to drop out of politics. However, during his tours of duty during the Great War, he frequently cooperated with National Humanist political officers attached to his unit. After his discharge from the Army, he came to work for the Party security bureau as a field agent under the supervision of political commissar Henry Heavenly. As the Party organization was aligned strongly with the national intelligence community, he was also employed at the Imperial Strategic Intelligence Agency. He was promoted quickly to the rank of First Spear, a senior enlisted-level rank with considerable prestige. In 2668, he was commissioned as an officer with the rank of Lieutenant. In October 2669, he was promoted to the rank of Major and a couple months later to Colonel, and granted political supervision over an elite special action team that he was serving in as an ISIA agent. In January 2670 he was appointed commander of the mother unit of that team, the 9th Joint Special Forces Brigade.
In November 2670, with the amalgamation of the various national security and intelligence agencies into the Imperial State Security Department, William McGrady was promoted to the rank of Prefect and appointed to be the managerial director of the new Strategic Forces division of the ISSD. His career in party politics came to an end with the abolition of the National Humanist party, and all other political parties, in 2675. He began in earnest his new career in government service as Director-General of Strategic Operations for State Security. In the 2686 reorganization of the Ministry, he was promoted to the civil rank of State Secretary.
Between 2676 and 2679, he served as a Senator representing the State Security Forces as one of the organization's 100 elected representatives in the Central Galactic Congress. He resigned his elected seat to take his life term as a Lord in the Congress upon conferral of his baronial title. McGrady has also served as Chairman of the State Security Forces Congressional delegation. 
In 2679, he was granted a baronial title of nobility, and the right to hold a hereditary seat in Congress. In 2686 he was made Earl of Wallerstein and in 2693 he was further raised to a dukedom.
==State Security career==
William McGrady had a significant role in the establishment of the modern State Security organization. In 2670, it was decided that the Party security apparatus would be aligned on a one-to-one basis with a new national security institution. That institution was first established in 2670 as the Imperial State Security Department. Compulsory Party membership was mandated for all employees at the ISSD, and equivalency of rank was established to eliminate any "grey area" between the Party and National organizations. McGrady was promoted to the rank of Prefect and appointed by Emperor Maximilian personally to be the director of the Strategic Intelligence Agency, with responsibility for pacifying occupied territories, collecting foreign intelligence, and policing the Armed Forces. The agency was referred to by Maximilian as the Empire's "political soldiers", signifying their place as an ideologically-motivated yet professional paramilitary force.
By the conclusion of the Great War in 2675, McGrady had been promoted to Praetor, equivalent to a Field Marshal. In the subsequent reorganization of the human Confederation into the Central Galactic Union, the ISSD became the Ministry of State Security. McGrady's agency was greatly expanded in its scope and size, and was given authority to govern and police the occupied territories referred to as the "New Colonies". After the revolt by remnant alien factions in 2679, McGrady's agency was given further responsibility as the highest echelon of strategic command in the military campaign against the remnant forces. In the same year McGrady was ennobled as Baron of Wallerstein by the Central Galactic Congress, the first of his family to attain a hereditary title of nobility from a modern state. He was raised to an earldom in 2686 and to a dukedom in 2693. The State Security Forces have, alongside the Galactic Marines, been the vanguard of the Union's forces in the conflict in the Outer Rim and have played a predominant role in governing and pacifying the Rim territories.
==Personal life==
William McGrady is part of the large, wealthy, and powerful McGrady political and noble family. His mother, Shannon McGrady, is the Secretary General of the Central Galactic Congress, and previously served as a Member of Parliament to the Imperial Terran House of Commons, as well as the Speaker of the House of Commons. His father, Patrick David McGrady, was the CEO of Drake Industries and has been the President and CEO of the industrial and financial conglomerate McGrady Corporation since the 2630s. His grandfather, Proinsias McGrady, was once the Chairman of the McGrady Financial Group but stepped down after bankrupting the company; after years of self-exile in the McGrady estate, he appeared at the manor house in 2687 and died in his bed at 114 years of age.
He has one older brother, John Patrick McGrady; and an older sister, Genevieve. He has six younger siblings, Anne-Marie, Cynthia, Fiona, Petyr, Hillary, and David.
William met Zenzi Rothschild in secondary school. Her father, George Francis Rothschild, was the 9th Baron Rothschild of Rothstein, and held his lordship at another colony cluster orbiting the same planet. However, he worked at Wallerstein as it was the more populous of the orbital colonies, and he sent his daughter to school there. McGrady and Rothschild later became reacquainted with each other in the 2660s as soldiers of the 12th Cavalry Division, both serving in the "Lonely Hearts" infantry unit during the Great War. They later served together in Imperial Intelligence and in the Party security apparatus as field agents, during which time her father was named the 1st Duke of Nieuwvaalia of the second creation of that title. Their mutual hardships earned each other's trust and in 2670 they became engaged. With the approval of her father and William's mother, they were married in a lavish ceremony on 6 February 2671. The ceremony was held at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Martin in the planetary capital of Martenstad on Rothschild's ducal seat of Nieuwvaalia, and was officiated by William's sister Cynthia, then Bishop of Rotterdam.
William and Zenzi McGrady have three children. A son, Jakodi Sean McGrady (born 1 August 2671); a daughter, Shannon Lucille "Lucy" McGrady (born 8 May 2675); and a younger son, Malcolm Michael "Mike" McGrady (born 21 June 2685).
In 2679, William was granted a noble title in his own right in the peerage of the Republic for his services to the State and to the human race. He was created Baron McGrady of Wallerstein, entitling himself to be referred to as Lord William McGrady, 1st Baron Wallerstein. He is the first member of his family to receive a hereditary grant of nobility by any modern government or state. Previous members had been made knights and baronets during the Empire, but all were non-hereditary titles. He was created Earl of Wallerstein in 2686, and Duke of Wallerstein in 2692.
William McGrady is a fairly tall man and stands at around 193 centimeters in height. Spacers, like General McGrady, tend to be very tall and slender due to the effects of low gravity on their bodies. McGrady is also noted to be an experienced fencer and marksman, having participated in sporting competitions for both sports. It is presumed that fencing is where he obtained his signature scar across the left side of his face. General McGrady has refused to comment to the press on the subject.
McGrady possesses significant private landholdings and other real estate and industrial interests throughout the galaxy, independent of his family's corporate holdings. These have made him an independently wealthy individual, partly through the extensive use of servile alien labor.
==Summary of Army and State Security career==
Enlisted in the Terran Imperial Army on 28 October 2662. Went to Basic Training from 1 January to 2 March 2663, Infantry School from 12 March to 12 April 2663, and Harsh Environment Training 15 to 30 April 2663. Assigned to C Company, 505th Dragoons Battalion, 2nd Armored Brigade of the 12th Guards Cavalry Division from 8 May 2663 to 1 January 2668.
Honorably discharged from Army service on 1 January 2668.
Warranted as an Agent of the Imperial Strategic Intelligence Agency on 2 January 2668. Went to Army Airborne School 7 January to 28 January 2668. Went to Army Ranger School 1 February to 1 April 2668. Attended Political Training and Leadership Course from 21 June to 20 July 2668. Commissioned an Officer of Imperial Intelligence 21 July 2668. Commissioned a General of State Security 3 November 2670.
===Dates of rank===
====Army====
*Private (OR-1) 28 October 2662.
*Private First Class (OR-2) 2 March 2663
*Lance Corporal (OR-3) 25 February 2666
*Corporal (OR-4) 6 June 2667
*Sergeant (OR-5) 31 December 2667
====Imperial Intelligence====
*Agent (OR-6) 1 January 2668
*First Spear (OR-9) 3 February 2668
*Lieutenant (OF-2) 21 July 2668
*Major (OF-4) 31 October 2669
*Colonel (OF-6) 25 December 2669
====State Security====
*Vice Prefect (OF-9) 3 November 2670
*Prefect (OF-10) 6 May 2671
*Legate (OF-11) 31 December 2674
*Praetor (OF-12) 2 March 2675
*Exarch (OF-13) 5 January 2686
===Notable decorations===
*Grand Star of the Iron Cross
*Grand Cross of the Iron Cross
*Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
*Member of the Order of Merit
*Member of the Order of Victory
*Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross
*Iron Cross
*Distinguished Service Cross
*Distinguished Intelligence Cross
*Distinguished Command Cross
*War Merit Cross
*Military Spaceflight Badge
*Panzer Badge
*Infantry Assault Badge (in Silver)
*Close Combat Badge (in Gold)
*Wound Badge (3 times)
*Defense Service Medal
*Army Service Medal
*Civil Service Medal
*Distinguished State Honor Award
*Perseid Frontier Police Action Medal
*Kalabaska Campaign Combat Service Medal
*Sigarit Campaign Police Action Medal
*Urahaz Campaign Police Action Medal
*Baharat Campaign Police Action Medal
*Annos Campaign Police Action Medal
*Khoz Campaign Combat Service Medal
== Titles, honours, styles, and arms ==
=== Peerage titles ===
* 1 November 2679: Baron McGrady of Wallerstein
* 7 January 2686: Earl of Wallerstein
* 1 March 2693: Duke of Wallerstein
=== Styles ===
* Lt-Gen Sir William McGrady, KIC OM (3 Nov 2670)
* Gen Sir William McGrady, KIC OM (6 May 2671)
* Gen Sir William McGrady, KIC OM (30 December 2672)
* Col-Gen Sir William McGrady, KIC OM (17 August 2674)
* FM The Hon William McGrady, Bt KMT KIC OV OM (2 March 2675)
* FM The Rt Hon The Baron McGrady of Wallerstein, KCMT KIC OV OM (1 November 2679)
* FM The Rt Hon The Baron McGrady of Wallerstein, KCMT GCIC OV OM (11 December 2681)
* CM The Rt Hon The Earl of Wallerstein, KCMT GCIC KSM KGE OV OM (5 January 2686)
* CM His Grace The Duke of Wallerstein, KCU GCMT KCSM KCGE GSIC OV OM (1 March 2693)
=== Honors ===
* Knight Commander of the Order of Union and the Republic
* Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Mary of Terra
* Knight Commander of the Military Order of St. Michael
* Knight Commander of the Order of the Galactic Eagle
* Knight Grand Star of the Order of the Iron Cross
* Member of the Order of Victory
* Member of the Order of Merit
* Knight Commander of the War Merit Order
* Commander of the Legion of Merit
* Knight of the Order of the Aztec Eagle
==== Terran Imperial honors ====
* Privy Counsellor
* Lord Lieutenant of the Inner Colonies
* Warden of the Occupied Territories
* Warden of the New Colonies
==== Foreign military honors ====
* General of the Orion National Guard
* Police Marshal of the Empire of Sagittarius
* Police Commandant of the Federation of Cygnus
* Royal Police General of the Kingdom of Crux
* Marshal of Gendarmes of the Norman Empire
==Behind the scenes==
William McGrady, and the rest of the McGrady family, were originally developed by Jamere Rice as part of a roleplaying game by the Unionverse creative team. He created the character with the concept of an "evil Jack Kennedy". He played the character, referred to colloquially as "Billy", as a "comedic" sociopath with shades of seriousness. As the character and his backstory developed, and as the character became increasingly displayed in gameplay as a villain, this psychological element became one of the dominant parts of Billy's personality. In-story, he was diagnosed as a sociopath but the matter was brushed under the rug by his very powerful mother, Shannon, who allowed Billy to climb the social ladder to increase the family's national prestige. The disorder manifested itself during his childhood, as Billy often acted out in a violent and aggressive manner. His mother went so far as to implant him with a personality-correcting cybernetic that forced him to feel emotions he didn't understand in order to make him more empathetic. The effect did little to curb his violent urges, and he wound up joining the Army to satisfy them. His brain adapted to the chip's presence, however, and it stopped working at an unspecified point.
Billy is also sexually promiscuous as a form of risk-taking behavior. It is an open secret that he has had many dalliances with men and women. Sometime in 2668, he began a sexual affair with Gracie Gray, a Naval Intelligence cryptoanalyst. She clandestinely bore him a daughter, Lydia Gray. She revealed this information to him, sparking a physical confrontation from which he obtained his scar, before deserting to start the resistance..
He has long been engaged in a vicious rivalry with Xander Vox, a former mercenary who rose through State Security the same way Billy did: serving in Beaumont's Raiders and parleying this into a close association with Emperor Maximilian. Both men are high-functioning sociopaths and have enormous state resources at their disposal, and both have positions of power and prestige both in the State Security apparatus and in polite society.
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