Another zambambo character

[hider=Maria]

[b]Name:[/b] Maria Alo Gonzaga

[b]Age:[/b] 42

[b]Appearance:[/b] [hider=Maria][img]http://www.lawbird.com/img/Anna.jpg[/img][/hider]

[b]Gender:[/b] Female

[b]Family:[/b] 0, Maria was raised by a single mother who died when Maria was in her 20's, she was never introduced to her extended family and she has no children. Keeps things simpler that way.

[b]Personality:[/b] Her privileged upbringing shows. Maria is descended from kings, and she knows it. She openly scoffs at what she finds uncouth, commands those she sees as beneath her, and turns her nose up at that not worth her time. This was born of a lonely childhood filled with loneliness and mental struggle. She turns her posh and stoic acts up to 11 to hide her own insecurity; [i]"Do they know I'm crazy?" "Did my mother love me?"[/i] She is someone who wears a false heart on their sleeve.


[hider=History]
[b]Bio:[/b] Maria's childhood was spent in equal parts between Portugal and Brazil, her mother, royal ambassador Teresa, was hardly present, but she was brought up in the lap of luxury. As a descendent of Portuguese and Brazilian royalty, she lived a life of privilege. Teresa, while not present for much of her life, gave the young Maria a qualified staff to raise her as she went between countries, receiving the best available training in every subject in school, as well as public speaking and communication, and other generally antiquated Royal lessons. The most time she spent with her mother was the occasion the two needed to make a public appearance. 

Genes for "insanity" often run in Royal bloodlines, Maria was unfortunate enough to be the recipient of one of these genes after decades of Royal inbreeding in the past. Her mother never acknowledged it and the help simply told her to hide it. So hide it she did. Schizophrenia is and easy mental disease to overcome, but with a determination born in Maria, and medicine provided by occasional trips to the USA, Maria hid it.

It wasn't until she was 17 that she got her US citizenship, receiving precedence due to her regal bloodline. She received advanced lessons prior to her entry in the country, due to this and a lifetime of advanced lessons, she graduated with honors from her private American high school the same year, without pause she did her mother's bidding and went to an accredited university in Portugal and got a master's in business administration. 

Then Teresa died.

Not knowing what else to do, Maria moved back to America with a very generous inheritance, and used her connections, monetary resources, and Royal education to quickly move up the ranks in various jobs she found her passions in. She eventually settled on work as an agent, she enjoyed the job for it's similarities to the ambassadorship she had been trained for, as well as the wealth the private sector provided. By the age of 30, had become a major partner in several LA modelling agencies. By 40, her models and actors could be seen and heard on practically every major television channel in the US. By 40, she had gone international, and began to dominate the local Portuguese and European modelling scene. Then with 42, came an apocalypse that took that all away.
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[b]Job Before The Outbreak:[/b] Modelling agent, partner, and major shareholder at several LA-based and international modelling agencies

[b]Disability/Fear:[/b] Maria is actually an example of functional living with schizophrenia, from a young age she suffered from mostly auditory hallucinations as well as having an increased chance of paranoid, the medicine she takes for it keeps her mind relatively normal, but the thought that once her medicine runs out-- that's it, the thought gnaws at her. She wears glasses to help with her slight near-sightedness. As someone who has climbed the business ladder, she has participated in any number of vices, she has become attached to some more than others-- she may simply have a taste for some drugs, while she might be borderline addicted to others, she's certainly developed an addiction to caffeine and tobacco. Lastly, as someone who led a relatively sedentary lifestyle before the outbreak, it's unlikely she'll be anywhere near as capable physically most other people in.

[b]Weapon of Choice:[/b] A rapier wit. Maria relies less on an established weapon of choice and more on "desenrascanço"-- improvisation in the moment. When under threat of zombies this could be something like finding a weapon, exploiting the environment around her, or finding a quick route of escape, while dealing with people, this skill could become more charisma based.

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