User Profile

Cortex Profile
Name: Gwendolyn Shilo MacKenzie
Alias: Gwen, Shi, Kenzie
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: March 30 2487 (30 Standard Years Of Age)
Home Planet: Verbena
Last Known Location: Cressida
Loyalty: Independent
Occupation: Captain
Title: Captain / Lieutenant
Family: Father - Abraham 'Abe' MacKenzie (60- dead), Mother Annabell 'Ann' MacKenzie (55- dead), Jonathan (35- dead to the family, serving in the Alliance Armed Forces), Brian (33- dead at the 2nd Battle of Verbena), Seri (22- MIA), Wil (19- dead at the Battle of Tietam), Josiah (15- dead)
Flags: Carrying a concealed weapon, drunk and disorderly, resisting arrest, various assault charges, transporting illegal goods.

Physical Description
Height: 5'5"
Build: Slender, a dancers grace but a fighters frame
Hair Color: Red-auburn
Eye Color: Emerald green
Noticeable Features: At times, Gwen could be taken as an easy mark. Even if she has a pistol strapped to her side her shorter frame belies the hidden fact she knows quite well how to throw a few good punches or is an asset in a fight. She makes no point of trying to stand out in a crowd finding comfort in keeping eyes upon those about her and ears open to any possible goings on. Her features are soft in a country girl sort of way. Commonly there is a little knowing smile upon her face that is warmer only for those in her crew. Red-auburn locks of hair hang lose about her face in various degrees of layers giving an almost fly away sort of look that is rather becoming.

For those who are lucky enough to see such things, there are various scars she wears from wounds taken in battle as well as those from outside of it. It isn't an aspect of life she likes to discuss but they are there and can be noted at times.

Clothing wise Gwen doesn't seem to care what she is in as long as it is comfortable. Or can hide a piece of two- which ever the situation really calls for. A few common elements of her wardrobe generally consist of a patched up light brown duster, the fabric faded around where sets of patches or rank would have been, tannish pants with a darker brown ribbon running from cuff to waist seam, and knee-high cavalry style boots that are well broken in.


Psyche Evolution

Kenzie is a very loyal, very dutiful person even if her ideas of how to go about doing these things might be a little in the gray area. Her first and foremost dedication is to that of her ship, crew, and job. She will never put them into a situation that she herself would not be willing to do which, at times, can cause a bit of a pickle. If they were to get pinched by the Feds over hot material she would drop it to save the reputation of the company and her new found family from taking a hit. Thankfully a situation hadn't risen yet that required such drastic measures but the thought always would remain at the back of her mind.

She isn't one to talk about the War or her past. Those things are done as well as gone with no need to be reliving them. 'verse has a whole lot more troubles going on than dealing hands to an old War vet. Not that she doesn't draw on these experiences with such a young crew. Gwen tries to do good by them hoping to keep folk like her first mate in line or a shoulder when someone needs it. Heartless is one thing that Gwen isn't. Seldom do her emotions ever get worn on her sleeve but when they do she is passionate and vivid about what the cause or situation may be. Cool heads always prevail even if there is a sense of longing for more space to soar through or a way to deal the Alliance a few good blows.

Education wise she had some good book learning from the teacher in the town she grew up near. Most of her understanding of life centered around the ranch her father built up from scratch. While she might sound like a country bumpkin with her accent at times she could be as sharp as a tack or as smart as a whip which got her as far in the Independent forces as the war ran on. Gwen has no problems about getting her hands dirty and often can be found wanting to help keep Cressida up learning from her mechanic, or watching the different things her pilot can do with the ship. A person, in her opinion, would never be done learning anything as long as they were breathing.


Personal Records

Born the third child to a cattle rancher on Verbena, Gwen was her mothers hopes of raising a good child outside her two oldest boys and her fathers wishes for marrying into a good family. Needless to say this wasn't going to be something Kenzie wanted a part of. She was very much the tomboy learning to spit, cuss, fight, shoot, ride a horse a straddle, climb trees, fish- anything her older brothers were willing to depart on their younger sister or she was able to pick up from them. Scrapes and bruises were an every day thing from the younger MacKenzie child which often got her bottom whipped on more than one occasion. Quickly she learned to take it with a grain of salt before running about tearing holes in the nice dresses her mother would make her.

When she was in her teens the rebellious streak lessened enough that she could start becoming her own self. Boys she liked and they liked her- but she wouldn't hesitate to drop a single one of them into the dust if they so much as did something she didn't want. Her older bothers were being molded to take over the now family business of running the ranch. All the while her mother never gave up hope of getting her daughter into a respectable arrangement with some of the upper class boys whose fathers dealt with their cattle trades. There were many a day she sat in the parlor of their house doing needlework watching the hands work the herds and wishing she was out there with them.

The Alliance had always been around on Verbena and not in a glorious sort of way the waves made them out to be. They hassled the locals, undercut her Pa when it came to business, and sometimes even forcefully recruited young folk into their ranks. When the call for independence took to the air the family no undoubtedly supported independence. However, not all of them did. When her eldest brother, Jonathan, joined with the Alliance forces on his own will, he officially became dead to the family. Brian, the second eldest, was quick to toss his hat in with the Independents and with the family honor at steak, Gwen was soon to follow. Her father was so mad when she came home after sneaking out, wearing the uniform of a private in the Independent forces along with Brian and their mother wept.

Neither MacKenzie kid had a feeling they would be kept together as they were shipped out to boot camp. Gwen's knack for guns and curiosity toward motorized modes of transportation quickly got her placed into the 501st Mounted Calvary Brigade, one of only 400 pulled into the mix and into a group that would later be known as the Red Devils. She moved up the ranks quickly as the war progressed from Private, to a NCO Sergeant, to later Lieutenant by the end of the war. More times than she could count she was wounded, even fell in love with a man who was her Captain, and buried him in a rocky valley along with a good portion of her troops.

Things after the War weren't as pleasant either. Upon returning to Verbena she discovered her family had been murdered by Alliance forces as they had taken the planet over and claimed the family ranch as theirs with 'no living heirs' to be found. She managed to reclaim the place and get it going again hiring old friends who she had served with and locals returning home hoping to find something left on the beaten up piece of rock. Needless to say Gwen wasn't expecting four years later to be handing the deed for her family plot back to her only living brother. Quickly she took to jumping about the 'verse doing various odd jobs and stunts until she came upon the Spencer-Dai Company. It was a second chance at a second life.

Life on board the ships wasn't easy. While Gwen was used to manual labor and having been through the War, becoming adjusted to the constant need for something on the vessels was different. Learning the ins and outs of the different classifications of ships within the Spencer-Dai company became almost an obsession- if she was going to be living on a flying death trap she might as well know as much as she could right? It wasn't long before an old friend named Jasper Hughes requested her over to the Cressida after an opening for a first mate spot. She was more than hesitant to take on such a position. Running a ship was not like running a platoon through field work or directing the lines. While she might have been up to learning the ropes of captaining her own ship, there was still an underlying feeling of doubt on her part.

A year later found herself reluctantly wishing Jasper a happy retirement as he officially passed on the position of Captain to her. It was also within that year she learned the real dealings of the transport ship and one she was determined not to see be repeated with her young crew. Cressida didn't just haul materials for clients or passengers- she was the seat of a possible rebellion against the system. Every member of her crew had been associated with the Browncoats either by serving in the War or having grown up in Indepdence supporting families. Gwen swore to herself that the crew and ship came first over anything that the rebels might need of them- she wasn't going to lose them like she lost at Serenity Valley.

Since becoming Captain of the Cressida, Gwen has been shot, stabbed, beaten, arrested, tied up, tossed off moving objects (horses, MULES, hover craft), yelled at, cursed at... you name it and it's probably happened to her. None of this will ever stop her though- to much is riding on her shoulders to let the little things stop her.

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This is an OC based within the Firefly 'verse. All credit for creating the 'verse goes to Joss. Because Joss is Boss.

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