Grace O'Malley

=== Early Life ===
Born after the Great War in Charleston in 2078, Grace and her family were survivors. A decision by her grandfather to move the family from the town to head east with the intention to carve out a portion of the land for themselves would, on one hand save the family from the destruction of the Christmas Flood, but on the other, doom them to the same fate. The O’Malleys, and a few other families and loners that were picked up along the way, settled near Spruce Knob and the Twin Lakes. Their goal, as a community, was simple: help each other survive.
=== The Raid ===
Although the clan had escaped the devastation of the Christmas Flood, their luck would run out. Situated so close to Spruce Knob and the bordering influence of the Savage Divide, there were the occasional skirmishes with local raiders. These typically came from a depletion of resources, as the Twin Lakes clan had, for some years, an understanding of trade with the pockets of raiders close-by. Falsely believing that the relationship was steady enough to endure any of the chaotic upheavals and shifts of power within the raiders, the Twin Lakes clan was not prepared when the gangs became more unified and focused on cementing their southern territories in response to the push of the northern gangs vying for power and territory. Grace was seven when the raiders came for Twin Lakes, and was enslaved with the rest of the survivors.
=== Trappers ===
The first lesson Grace learned while enslaved by the Trappers was ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ Anything that would garner attention was to be avoided, even if that attention was more of the positive slant than the negative. Children, she quickly realized, were a form of sport or tools for jobs that adult hands and sizes just couldn’t do, and those that wanted to survive beyond slavery had to swiftly set their innocence aside. Sometimes it was playing bait on the road for a caravan of traders. Sometimes it was replacing the bait in a trap. Sometimes it was far more insidious. 
Grace was nine when she killed for the first time. His name was Sam and he had been her childhood neighbor at Twin Lakes. There hadn’t been a reason to kill Sam other than the truth that the boy was a threat to her own survival. Pitted against one another, the Trappers called it separating the wolf from the dog. Later that night, high on Calmex, Grace cried for the last time. Skulking off with a bit of her new-found freedom, she accepted this reality as her sole truth. 
Her life with the Trappers was no different than any other as she learned the tracking, hunting, and trapping skills of those around her; she did, however,  make somewhat of a name for herself for the possession and consumption of chems without ever seeming to suffer from the effects of an addiction. Handy with rifles, her petite size gave her more a of scrappy fighter identity within the Trappers, which was coupled with a feisty personality and bad habit of losing her temper. At some point, the memories of Twin Lakes and who she was in childhood were so distant that Grace began to doubt it was even real. 
=== Alone ===
When the Super Mutants kidnapped Walter Griswold and increased their attacks from Huntersville, the Trappers put up a request for assistance in clearing out the town from the other raider groups. Each time the Trappers asked for aid, their requests were ignored. Numbers depleted and the Super Mutants becoming an even greater threat, the Trappers broke away from their southern territory in the Savage Divide and disbanded. With small pockets and splintered groups now trying to assimilate into other groups, Grace migrated between a few different pockets but never staying for too long. Either the reality of newfound self-will or the shattering of the only stability she’d known for 18 years settled a level of restlessness within the raider.
When news of Vault 76 opening reached the Divide, Grace was mildly curious and crossed out of the mountainous region to satisfy that curiosity. Unimpressed with the blue-clad morons in party hats that didn’t know how to manage basic survival, Grace put a few out of their misery, stole a Pip-Boy, and headed back to the Divide, content to be alone and pick away at the newly discovered technology. Occasionally coming into contact with small groups within the Divide, Grace caught wind of a new group forming up north in the Divide through the assimilation of smaller groups. Skirting northward, Grace was curious about who or what was not only managing to reform such a fractured network, but also fully supported by Rose. Calling themselves the Vultures, Grace kept to the outskirts of the Vulture’s ever-expanding territory to learn what she could, either through patient observation or deliberately seeking information from those that would talk. Despite the charismatic (and ruthless) leadership, Grace ultimately decided to head back south and away from aligning herself with them.
=== New Responders ===
It was during a foray into the Ash Heap where Grace met her first New Responder. Low on supplies, she spotted a two-storey structure that lacked the typical burnt-out husk design of most of the area. Curious about what it was, and what could be salvaged for herself, Grace investigated. The lettering on the front marked it as New Responder building which puzzled Grace. Since when had the Responders reformed? And why the hell were they even in the Ash Heap? Acutely aware of her appearance and the history, Grace opted to avoid the place altogether--no reward was worth the risk by herself.
Unfortunately, her tactical retreat was cut short by the press of a heavy gun to her back, the Trapper trapped. With little choice given the business end of the gun ready to turn her into a meat pile, Grace surrendered. Believing herself about to be the latest example of Wasteland justice, she could not have been more surprised when he lowered the gun and began to talk to her. His name was Bill Reece, and he was with the New Responders. An older man, scarred from war yet pressing ever-onward towards a belief in the future, he invited Grace in to his house where he offered her food, water, supplies, and even a place to sleep--provided she listened to what he had to say.
Five days later, Grace walked with Reece into the Morgantown HQ of the New Responders, turned in her raider paraphernalia, and signed on to the New Responders.
=== Current Day ===
Her time with the New Responders has been chaotic; often clashing with superior officers, Grace is not always the best at following orders. Her blunt manner of ‘shoot first, then talk’ isn’t ideal, though she does make up for it with a seemingly endless capacity for snark, wit, and gambling. She does, however, struggle at times separating her old life from her life. She has visions that haunt her, songs that she hears, and temptations that plague her; and although she nearly left the New Responders to return to the raiders, the friends she has made in the New Responders have been the one grounding force during these crises of conscience that she frequently experiences. Much of Grace's time is spent back in the Savage Divide, actively hunting down the very people who stole a lifetime from her, utilizing the very skills, strategies, and knowledge they gave her to do so.
Category:New Responders