Elmyra Shirdel

> "*Is it wrong... to enjoy it?*"
> ― Elmyra Shirdel
>
>

A native of Avalon, Myra’s family was granted citizenship in the United Kingdom as refugees of the Six-Month War. While Myra’s older sister attended Oxford Academy to become a diplomat, Myra had the opportunity to enroll at West Point Military Academy, where she graduated *magna cum laude*. She was assigned under the “Wildcats” as a DAGGER pilot days after her graduation ceremony.

## Appearance

Myra’s figure invokes the image of a model. She’s tall and slim, her muscles firm but lacking definition. When she’s off-duty she enjoys wearing makeup with striking colors and jewelry like earrings, necklaces, and wristbands. Myra likes to keep up with modern fashion trends and often sports variations of popular clothing lines using knock-off brands she modifies herself. On more casual days, she usually wears an olive green military jacket that’s just a touch too big on her, a plain white a-shirt, and a well-worn pair of jeans.

Myra has olive skin and silky-straight dark brown hair kept to a shoulder-length cut. She keeps it in a tight ponytail in the cockpit, but off the clock she keeps her long bangs visible and partially obscuring her right eye. Her eyes themselves are a light honey, giving her an altogether monochromatic tone.

## Personality & Interests

Confident, loyal, and quick-witted, Myra makes for an excellent soldier in the heat of battle. While she may seem like the aloof type from afar, her breezy attitude quickly drops when she’s among friends. Even in the heat of battle she seems nonchalant; her grim sense of humor allows her to deal with the harsh realities of war.

Myra becomes frustrated when friends butt heads with one another, especially over something trivial.

### Interests

Having learned to sew from her parents, Myra enjoys making her own clothes and jewelry. As a child she hoped to become a model and would even put on mock fashion shows for her friends and family. She decided to stop pursuing her childhood dream by high school, but continued to run her own fashion blog in her spare time. Feeling as if she wasn’t pushing herself to her limits, Myra decided to dabble in something more intense: cosplay. She soon garnered a niche audience among the cosplay community for her faithful costuming and dramatic presentation.

Though she has never received formal training, Myra loves to sing. She rarely does so in front of others, however, and prefers the isolation of a shower. On occasion she has been caught singing drunken ballads at local bars on karaoke nights. She seems to enjoy modern, folksy styles of music with warm, earthy vibes.

Myra is also a keen practitioner of *tahtib*, an Egyptian stick-fighting martial art that has evolved into both folk dance and competitive sport. *Tahtib* emphasizes the importance and vulnerability of the head, which cannot be treated as easily as other parts of the body.

## Skills & Abilities

* **Melee Master:** Myra’s skills as a martial artist have conditioned her style of piloting. She views her machine as her own body and its blade as an extension of herself, making her particularly adept with melee weapons. Compared to most soldiers, Myra’s piloting is more fluid and natural.
* **Bullet Counter:** Relying on a comprehensive knowledge of various AA firearms and weapons systems, Myra keeps careful track of her enemy’s ammunition along with her own. She uses this to make up for a disadvantage in ranged situations, waiting for the moment her opponent reloads to close the gap.
* **Stealth Artist:** Myra’s talent with makeup and clothing have another use: changing someone’s appearance to blend in with their environment. Whether it’s a humid jungle deep in enemy territory or a colonial cargo ship smuggling weapons, her skills with a makeup brush and a sewing needle can help disguise her team.

## History

### Prior to the Menaulion

#### Daughter of Avalon

Elmyra Shirdel was the second daughter of Karim and Fadil Shirdel, born in the colony of Avalon on August 7th, 0361 PC. Her family was of meager means, but by the age of three her parents had saved enough money to open up a brick-and-mortar tailoring and alterations shop. Na’eemah Shirdel, her older sister, was a child prodigy; in addition to being a talented pianist, ‘Nea’ was involved with various student leadership groups. Myra was comparatively soft-spoken, more interested in learning martial arts and putting on ‘fashion shows’ for her friends and family.

#### The King of Kings

As part of his ‘fleetcrawl’, Myra’s cousin Ozymandias moved into the Shirdel household. A native of Babylon, ‘Ozy’ was an ardent supporter of colonial independence. This belief was amplified at the onset of the Six-Month War. Uncomfortable with having their son continue his journey or even return home in the midst of war, Ozy’s parents insisted his stay with Myra’s family until the chaos subsided. He would often butt heads with Nea, who criticized the actions of the MCC as hawkish and incendiary. Myra’s parents were unable to come between the two, leaving Myra caught in the middle of the conflict despite the fact that both her sister and cousin cared a great deal for her.

When the *Big O* colony was destroyed during Operation Stage Lights: Off, tensions erupted in the household. After a particularly nasty fight between Ozymandias and Na’eemah over the immense loss of innocent life on *Big O*, Ozy stormed out of the house. While Myra’s parents believed that he would soon be back, several days passed without any sign of the young man. Weeks of searching were stifled by the growing refugee crisis that overencumbered the local police. Following his digital footprint, Nea discovered that Ozy had boarded a merchant freight as a stowaway and could be anywhere in colonial space. His parents assured Karim and Fadil that it was not their fault and that Ozymandias had chosen his path. Impoverished by a severe economic downturn and distraught by their nephews’ disappearance, the Shirdels decided to take advantage of the ESU’s offer to accept colonial refugees based on the countries that had helped establish them centuries ago.

#### Living as a Refugee

The Shirdels slowly rebuilt the life they once had within London’s bustling refugee community. After Karim and Fadil found decent jobs in the city, they were able to find housing in the city’s suburbs, though they never regained a sense of normality. Nea studied hard to become a student at Oxford Academy where she decided to pursue a career in politics. Myra was expected to follow in her sister’s footsteps, but instead decided to accept an offer from West Point Military Academy. Though her parents worried over their daughter’s safety, the two eventually came around on it. Nea was opposed to the decision, already having interned for local politicians that advocated for peace between the Earth Sphere Union and the Martian Republic, but refrained from attempting to dissuade her sister. She refused to drive another wedge through her family after what happened with Ozymandias.

Myra proved more capable at West Point than she ever had before. The disciplined style of learning and rough-and-tumble attitudes of her peers made her feel more at home than any of the scholarly universities she’d been dragged around to visit. She was especially adept in the cockpit seat, where she employed her skills as a martial artist to become an effective melee combatant. Myra (rather unexpectedly) found herself drifting into a motley crew led by Sean Roland. She went on to graduate from West Point Military Academy *magna cum laude*.

#### The Wildcats

Mere days after her graduation ceremony, Myra was assigned as a DAGGER pilot as part of the “Wildcats” squadron. The Wildcats were not stationed out of a single base, instead operating near flashpoints where the Earth Sphere Union anticipated an attack from the Martian Republic. Their combat drills often aggravated tensions between the two and drew unflattering headlines. When the war began in earnest, the Wildcats were some of the first to see battle. Myra was part of the team that ransacked a fallen cruiser that housed advanced AAs. These would form the basis of a test pilot program that Myra swiftly signed up for.

### The Christmas War

#### Russian Front

In their first operation as a squadron, Elmyra and her teammates successfully fended off two enemy BLADEs and three Hoplites from the border between Russia and China. Four DAGGERs managed to slip by their defenses using a nearby mountain range as a ramp. Kara and Myra left to help defend the Grodekovo base while the others stayed behind. There, the two pilots regrouped with Linnea and Ernest before destroying the DAGGERs and extracting head researcher Cinco Deway.

Their second mission, Operation: Lucky Foot, split the pilots into two teams. Myra, Gabriel, Lin, and Kara were deployed close to the *Hare's Breath* naval base off the Sea of Okhotsk to destroy its dry docks while the others distracted the enemy at Baykovo. Myra and Gabe launched several missiles into the base's outer walls and over the hangar's roof, temporarily slowing the enemy's reaction as they infiltrated the base. The *Nemea* weaved through half-destroyed buildings as she engaged the Hoplites that emerged from the hangar, including a custom Hoplite called the *Garmr*. Myra was able to fend off the *Garmr* as it bared down on her machine, shooting her final missile towards the dry docks before the team retreated.

#### Shanghai Shuffle

The pilots were split into four teams for their third operation. While the other three teams were sent to infiltrate Shanghai and investigate leads on a smuggling operation inside the city, Myra and Ernest were deployed nearby in their machines to provide back-up. Their assistance was (fortunately) not required.

Soon after they returned to the *Menaulion*, sirens warned of an incoming attack. Myra and Kara were sent to infiltrate the dock operations building on-foot to disable to locking mechanism that tied the ship to the harbor, carried to their destination in the hands of the *Lucky*. There, they encountered heavy resistance from two men who had rigged the entire second floor with mines. Unable to proceed, they slipped down onto the first floor and used detcord to collapse the ceiling above the backup generator. It was a messy but effective solution, and the two were able to return to the *Menaulion* unharmed.

#### Battle over Mozambique

The *Menaulion* closed in on the Martian Republic's defensive line over the city of Maruppa, Mozambique. Three gusuku-class ships attacked the Loggerhead, dropping Phalanxes and Peltasts onto the field below. Myra, Lin, Gabe, and Lana were deployed to eliminate the enemy force, engaging with five maroon Phalanxes fielded by the *Rose IV*. A brief skirmish ended with the destruction of the Phalanxes and an injury that left Alaina unable to participate in the second part of the operation.

After the *Neu Alma* destroyed several key defenses around the Martian's factories, Myra, Lin, Gabe, and Ernest were sent into the facility to eradicate any remaining defenses. They discovered an elevator shaft that descended further down into the facility, making short work of three Hoplites that emerged. Before they could explore the lower half of the facility, their position was compromised by six enemy machines that had airdropped around them. The *Menaulion*'s forces quickly dispatched five of the machines, with an assist by 'Spittle' and 'Buffalo' on the final machine. Their new allies from the *Nias* remained outside the facility while they descended into the elevator shaft. Myra and Linnea guarded the inner depths of the facility while Gabe and Ernest pushed deeper inside by foot. The two machines created a makeshift barrier to slow the sudden rush of water that began to flood the facility, barely escaping its onslaught.