Early Life Dune was born and raised a military brat. Naturally, she moved around frequently, but due to their careers and a kind of permissive parenting style, her parents weren’t around very much. Of course, Dune did what all kids did: try to get their attention and the method she chose was delinquency. She got into trouble for shoplifting and taking joyrides in stolen cars. She was truant more often than not. She was a scrappy kid too—not the cops’ favorite delinquent to pick up. These skills and that 'profession' followed her well into her teens. She didn't join any gangs--her family moved around too much for that--but she always made fast friends with suspicious characters wherever she went. Drugs entered the scene soon after, and even if she didn't partake, she made a pretty penny moving stock. She was a clever kid, with a stubborn streak a mile wide. Then she turned eighteen. Her first and only slip up landed her in the slammer but with her record, the judge seemed to pity her. The man decided on a somewhat unorthodox sentence: it was sweating it out in prison or straightening out and joining the military on a conditional sentence. This meant she needed to be accepted and not wash out--since many of her charges were minor and she'd graduated high school, she had a decent chance of being accepted into the service. With the promise that she could wipe her record clean, she picked attempting to join the military. Perhaps her parents pulled some strings, or the recruiters were desperate, because she got in. After proving this to the judge, she went to basic, got the shit beaten out of her until she wanted to quit. However, she couldn't quit, so she decided she needed a goal to make it hurt less: She’d be a pilot. A really good pilot. In fact, she’d join the Army Rangers. It was already a soaring goal, made even more difficult by her small stature and gender, but this became her north star regardless. It got her from boot camp to flight academy. Flight academy to special operations. Her singular focus and bulldog tenacity had her star rising hot and fast. The Military and NATO Due to her natural physical limitations, Dune never quite made the cut to serve in the ground forces for the Rangers. She could get close, and her superiors often praised her for her tenacity and physical prowess, but that was just reality. She couldn’t compete with the guys. Fortunately, the woman did the next rational thing and found her calling in the skies, flying missions for their airborne division. The military became her life, her purpose. She loved it, and the people she met. She loved being part of something, giving her a new zest for life and forming her in to the woman she is now. While on deployment, she saw the world on every chance she could, and met and got to know new people. She had many friends, lovers, and new experiences. By the time she began working for NATO, she worked out that there was much more to the world than she originally thought. Her commander, for example, told war stories that had to be at least a century old. Once, she caught her copilot sneaking off during a full moon. It wasn't long before she worked it out and the people in the know let her in on a world of secrets. She learned it all. Half-bloods, shifters, undead, the Exchange, the Codes of Conduct. She learned about magic, and things from other worlds. It made her a better soldier, allowing her become a pilot for NATO's supernatural division: Force Thoth. Although she was mundane, the knowledge was power by itself. She could cut a deal with a vampire, and talk a werewolf down from a shift. She could read runes enough to change them around, or nullify them, making her trouble for any arcanist. Discharge On her last operation, Dune was sent with the outfit to hunt down a rogue arcanist in Germany. The man was an arms dealer with a talent for dangerous magic and a warmonger. They raided his facility and when cornered, he tried to take them all down with a killing ritual. Fortunately for her comrades, he never pulled it off. However, in the ensuing battle, a stray bullet broke the circle of the active ritual, and Dune was at the tip of the spear. Everything went up in smoke. The army put her back together. Stitched up her arm with numerous surgery, put in pins and plates, but she couldn't fly anymore, and absolutely could not fight. To her great distress, she was discharged with honors, something her parents would probably be proud of if they hadn't washed their hands of her. However, she'd lost her purpose. Return to America At loose ends, Dune went back to America. She was injured and miserable, and nobody expected anything of her. For a few months, she wandered, traveled and did the things she always said she'd do if she got a furlough. This turned out to be drinking in seedy bars across the Midwest, meeting people, indulging in vices, getting fat, and swiftly getting bored. Then she learned that the Exchange existed in America too. It was a different beast than the one she knew in Europe, but she had the skillset and the knowledge. This became her new purpose. In Easthaven, MA, she walked into a little brownstone that said it was a PI and asked for the Inquisitor. It took some convincing, but she was set on continuing the work she'd done with NATO. Fortunately, with her credentials and a few solid references, by the time she walked out, her name was on the roster and she was looking for a cheap apartment. Being totally mundane and injured, Dune was put on desk duty; while she was still in physical therapy, she could offer her experience, but not much more. Still, her field experience was extensive and it kept her from dying of boredom while she healed. As her physical fitness improved, she was permitted to do field work with partners, and showed her mettle on Chinese New Year of 2022. The Curse While working for the Exchange, Dune’s injury began acting up and she suspected it wasn’t mundane pain. In 2024, Dune's curse took root at last.