Elizabeth McKinley

Elizabeth was born on a military base in California where both her parents were stationed. Her father, Danniel, was an Irish immigrant who moved to West Virginia at the age of 10. He joined the American military at the age of 17 and was Vertebird pilot and mechanic before retiring after 20 years in the service. In 2073 he decides to return home to West Virgina, and concedes to a long distance relationship with his wife while she continues her work, splitting time with their child through alternating years.
Her mother, Sandra, was born and raised in California. She studied at the California University of Science and Medicine, receiving her bachelors in microbiology and virology. She went on to gain a career with West Tek in 2064, and joined the  Pan-Immunity Virion Project team in 2073. She was one of hundreds of scientists who were murdered at the Mariposa Military Base in October of 2077. This fact had never been disclosed to Elizabeth, and she currently doesn't know whether or not her mother is alive. 
While living in Morgantown, WV, Elizabeth and her father had been accepted into vault 76, thanks to her parents employment records.
Elizabeth's education was average at best, encountering occasional problems with mathematics and writing, yet excelled in P.E. and alternative classes like wood and machine shop. Academically, she never stood out, but was usually the first to offer a hand if anyone needed it.  
At the age of 20 her father took his own life, and she found his body unresponsive in his room. This triggered an emotional melt down, to which the remedy was to administer a sedative and a 24 hr watch. That didn't go over well for her, and once released from lock down, she threw herself into an apprenticeship with the vault's engineering crew, as well as becoming a gym rat. Staying active and busy was the only way she could manage staving off depression, which had it's ups and downs. A few years later, she began using buffout to enhance her workout sessions.
2102 the door to the vault opens, and Elizabeth set out, only to find her home devoid of human life. She set up camp in the Alpine river campground nearby before making her way to Flatwoods and became conscripted into the Responders, helping rebuild the faction with some of her fellow vault dwellers. Using her trade skills, and several instruction manuals, she spends part of her time crafting weapons, armor and tools, fixing or re-purposing various appliances, generators and water pump and filtration systems, electrical and plumbing. 
The  other half of her time is spent exploring the vast landscape of Appalachia. She retained that eagerness to help she held as a child, and was taught that if there were to be good in the world, you must lead by example.
== Details ==
==== Personality ====
Elizabeth is a very mild tempered person who might seem reclusive at first glance, yet is rather friendly and welcoming to anyone at her doorstep. She is not a timid woman, and is sometimes blunt with her words, or lets her actions do the talking for her. Yet other times she has a way of speaking that is quite soothing and comforting, having developed the tone from growing up with her father, who suffered from PTSD and would go through panic attacks. 
She almost always appears to be in high spirits, or calm and rational at other times, to the point that it might seem like she's incapable of anger or sadness, which is far from the truth. She just doesn't express those emotions outwardly around others. It is a continuing ideology revolving around the need to stay strong for others, especially if they're having a rough go at it. That, and the last time she'd had an outburst, she'd been drugged up to the point of drooling on herself. 
But as bright and friendly as she is, she also enjoys some solitude and the quiet that comes with it, spending lengths of time just trekking around to find some wild niche in the woods. 
==== Other details ====
* Elizabeth is multi-lingual, her second language being irish gaelic due to her father.
* The two large scars on the left side of her face are from a run in with a deathclaw, which she swears is a dinosaur, a couple months out of the vault. She narrowly escaped by jumping back into the river and swimming across. This nearly cost her her left eye.
* Her primary weapon is a super sledgehammer, although she is quite capable using her bare fists. She can't effectively use long range weapons due to her eyes being unable to focus down range on a target. Now, if you handed her a heavy rapid fire machine gun, it's the method of spray and pray that'd work. Otherwise she prefers dancing toe to toe with an enemy and using her strength, stamana and agility in a fight. She has a mean swing, and even meaner right hook.
* She really, really wants to get a set of T60 PA to fiddle with, but that's a nigh impossible dream at this moment. 
* She loves listening to stories about folklore or fairytales. Old radio dramas or just sitting around the camp fire and listening to a tall tale. Even stories meant to be spooky. She finds them fun and fascinating, and the wilder the better. As a child, her father would tell stories about the little folk of his homeland, and that enjoyment persisted on into adulthood. Now, she doesn't believe any of that exists, other than in the imagination of the storyteller. She'd have to see it to believe it, and so far all she knows is that there's scorched, the walking dead, and a dinosaur in the middle of the river. 
* She has her father's accent but it's not as pronounced in a conversation. Muttering to herself, that's a bit of a different story.
* She's curbed her addiction to Buffout since leaving the vault, and rarely uses it unless absolutely necessary (almost never). Due to fighting that battle, she's supportive to those wishing to kick the chem habit.
* Knows a bunch of Irish songs and shanties and likes to hum or sing them in private while working.
* Choice of clothing involves a lot of tank tops, loose fitting cargos, boots, some belts and gloves. 
* In 2076, she was treated with a dose of the Pan-Immunity Virion that was developed to counter the plauge, as well as a number of other old world diseases, by her mother. After having developed the virion and found it safe for consumption in humans, Sandra administered the shot out of fear of her daughter contracting the plauge that was sweeping across America at that time. As a result, it provided an immunity to viruses and most bacteria, however there's no accounting for newly developed strains of some diseases, including the scorched plague. It also doesn't prevent radiation damage, but does prevent cell mutation by unchecked mitosis or altering the now quad helix DNA. The downside so far is that she tends to overheat easily. (A side note: It also doesn't prevent poisons/toxins from affecting her, or prevent the contraction of parasites.)
* Many of her basic survival skills were learned from her father while in the vault. Things like how to read a map, how to use a tourniquet, or start and keep a fire going, how to build shelter and set up snares and traps for food. 
==== Goals ====
Elizabeth's main goal to help rebuild Appalachia, starting out small by fixing tangible things. Water filtration systems, energy, even indoor plumbing. Yet with the influx of problems, especially Raiders, it seems nigh impossible. So her focus wittled down to doing what she could with her own two hands. Driving out the Raiders, and offering help to those in need who cross her path. 
She LOATHS Raiders, and she isn't shy about going off about the selfishness and disgusting nature of those who prey on the weak. She has heard the stories of slavery, rape, and pillaging, and it makes her blood boil. But there's little one person can do, and the Responders are by no means an army, so she takes satisfaction of taking them out one at a time, chipping away little by little.
Category:Characters