Rachel McCallum is a player character played by Divided Crown.¹⁾

Height: 5'8'' Mass: 155 lbs Measurements: 35C-28-36 Build and Skin Color: Her skin color is very light, with a bare hint of freckles in her face. She is of a medium build, although her physical training shows somewhat.

Eyes and Facial Features: She has relatively large, green eyes that are the most notable part of her otherwise relatively round, plain face. As mentioned above, freckles dot her face although they are not as visible as they have been in the past.

Ears: Her ears are round and relatively small, but nothing of note.

Hair Color and Style: Rachel's hair is of a fiery red color with few traces of blond in it. She usually wears it slightly over shoulder-length and tied together in a pony tail.

Distinguishing Features: Rachel usually keeps a straight back to look ready and aware, and speaks with a medium-pitched, controlled voice. When under stress, her voice occasionally gains a higher pitch and becomes even sharper and harder, while still keeping a (depending on the stress level more or less) high degree of order. She usually shies away from physical contact beyond a handshake.

Personality: Given her history, it is ironic that Rachel has developed a trait that very closely resembles her father: her ability to judge people based on their perceived intellect as compared to her. She does not consider herself generally superior, and thinking along similar lines as Rachel does much to make one a likely friend, but at the same time, she instinctively tends to surround herself with people who can fill in the gaps of her occasionally less well-formulated ideas.

That is not to say that Rachel is an isolated person, but she certainly tends towards the dominant end of the scale. She dislikes playing the second fiddle to anyone but the ideals of her nation themselves and this is precisely where a trait comes in that has been called anything from rare, through questionable to dangerous: nationalism.

As her history shows, Rachel has found a parent-substitute in the concept of the Nepleslian nation itself, and adorned it with her own perceptions of how a great society should work. She tends to be oblivious to societal problems around her and often criticizes those who question her resolve. Unfortunately, this has somewhat deepened into an acute case of black-and-white thinking, with all the problems associated with it.

At the same time, Rachel strives to be the best she can be, a well-oiled machine at times, and an intellectual. While the former is successful mostly due to her rigorous training, the latter does suffer from her inherent inability to actually explain her ways of thinking. She is prone to making intellectual leaps of faith that others may find confusing and has caused some irritation among her superiors. Then again, judging from her system of belief, being a good teacher is not something that is needed to receive a commission - being a patriot, however, is.

A final note however should be made concerning her judgment of people. While Rachel is quick to dismiss those who do not conform to her personal standards as not worthy of her attention, she has yet to see actual combat action. If she was ever involved in such an event, it is likely that she might develop a protective instinct for those involved with her.

Likes: Any national and nationalist symbol and motif, natural science and related trivia, people who can follow her thoughts, anyone who stands beside her in a battle, weapons and technology Dislikes: Cats, people she perceives to be traitors, selfish behavior, her parents. Goals: Concrete: Become an officer, make a career in the military and be the best she can be. Abstract: Demonstrate to herself her ability to diverge from the path her father had seen for her, despite being still somewhat oblivious to the fact that this is exactly the path she is following.

Private clone commissioned by Aaron McCallum (scientist) and raised by him and his wife, Diana McCallum (housewife).

Rachel was cloned on order of the Nepleslian weapons researcher Aaron McCallum who desired a female child despite his wife’s apparent infertility. Since Dr. McCallum had his will without consulting his wife, Diana McCallum refused to accept the child as her own, leading to Rachel being raised mostly by her father.

From a young age on, Rachel was exposed to the complicated research and busy work-schedule her father followed. What made matters even worse was that, after a particularly violent fight between her parents over the child, young Rachel refused to trust her mother or be alone with her. Her early vocabulary consisted of technical terms the meaning of which she hardly understood and her bedtime often shifted depending on her father’s schedule. Aaron McCallum eventually solved the problem by hiring a nanny to help raise the child, but Rachel remained strongly attached to her father.

Being the child of a scientist allowed Rachel to enter a decent non-military private school and go through a relatively undisturbed educational career. Certainly, there were fights and rough times, but all in all she proved to be very resilient and headstrong, in addition to the baseline Nepleslian stamina and strength that the cloning procedure had granted her. School allowed her to further her interest in technical sciences and to make friends among other students. Being part of the female Nepleslian minority earned her some recognition, but also helped to stir a doubt within her about her heritage. Beyond basic school science, she had never been taught the difference between a vat-grown and natural Nepleslian until her pre-teen years, and when she comprehended which side of the fence she was on, her reaction was violent.

Rachel was ten when her father took her aside to tell her his side of the story of why she was born, the story of why her mother refused to exchange any but a few cold words with her every once in a while. He told her about his wish to have someone to teach, someone to follow him, and by extension, a replacement for his wife who, despite being truly and dearly beloved, did not always manage to keep up with his complicated thoughts and theories. It was a selfish endeavor, and the sheer thought of it took Rachel months to process. And when she did, she confronted her father again.

If it had been her father to whose use she was created, what would be her use if he was no more? If he had only wanted a wall to bounce ideas off of, why go through the trouble of raising a child? And after all, how could he assume that she wanted to follow suit? She was truly angry when she asked him all that – and much more. She could not avoid the feeling of being a tool of one person’s fancy, but at the same time of a person she instinctively wanted to be happy. Every word she shouted at her father, every threat (including telling his superiors even though she did not really know who exactly they were) hurt her more than him. And in the end, it was her father who laughed.

His wife had never managed to raise an ethical question against their daughter’s creation. With her, he said, it had always been ‘what about me’ and ‘it is not my daughter’. But now he had been challenged on a level fully separate from the emotional, domestic debates that he was so tired of. A ten-year-old had questioned the ethics of his choice, and that was all he ever wanted. He told his daughter that he was proud of her, and she told him that she hated him.

Dealing with her identity became a tough part of Rachel’s life in the years to follow. She found her new vocation in a wave of growing nationalist sentiment that swept up her friends and herself. Together, they decided to join the military academy and fight for their country.

While her friends slowly but surely lost their nationalist enthusiasm and became more grounded, rational and efficient soldiers, cadet Rachel found her new father in the Nepleslian flag. Although she was prone to hesitate when given orders, she never strayed from the veritable belief that her service and every fiber of her body were dedicated to serving Nepleslia. Although this did raise some eyebrows amongst the academy brass – who assumed cynicism and more chaotic conduct to be the status quo among cadets – it earned her some commendations, but few friends.

There were those who thought alike of course, and with those she truly got along. But apart from that, Rachel detested most people she thought to be dishonest about their desire to serve. She amended her radical way of thinking when she was called out for her lack of universal camaraderie by her superiors, but is still on her way of losing her somewhat elitist attitude in this regard.=

From her early childhood on, Rachel has acquired a broad knowledge in many fields of applied physics, especially in the area of ground- and space-based weaponry (her father's specific field). While her knowledge would not be enough to become a scientist just based on that, it is enough to assess the physical groundwork involved in a specific situation with relative ease and swiftness.

Being a technician, Rachel has received training in vehicular and equipment maintenance and repair, as well as related fields of knowledge. She displays a special talent for this kind of work.

Rachel has received basic communications training. In addition to that, her technical skills helped foster a deeper understanding for the underlying technology.

Being vat-grown, her physical abilities are on par with most soldiers. She can be considered an above-average shooter and average close combatant with physical endurance just slightly above the average level of other female Nepleslians. While she is able to adequately perform her duties, she does not excel in any of these areas.

Rachel McCallum has received general survival training and is proficient with survival techniques and equipment.

Rachel has displayed a good understanding of military tactics and is known to employ creative solutions to problems. At the same time, her discipline in the field is outstanding despite showing a severe lack of camaraderie in the field and support for team members in training exercises. It is likely that this might either pose a grave threat to her crew/squad or be amended upon first contact with lethal combat situations.

She has displayed a great aptitude of anything technological and as such excels at handling even unknown technologies with ease. Her father's background and her upbringing helped, but during her training days, she displayed a great ability to put this to use.

Rachel McCallum is currently a Private 3rd Class in the Star Military of the Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia.