Masari Bonnefoy

"The terms of the deal are simple, the guns are just insurance."

One of the most influential groups in Portland is the Van Graff cartel that operates out of the trading hub-town of Junkflea, the local name given to the ruins of the Lloyd Center super-mall and Vault 56 beneath it. From this central location the cartel dominates every aspect of mercantile operations in the city, and holds an iron fist around the essential goods and supply lines that every settlement in the city depends upon to survive. The cartel is led by (any by extension Portland is intrinsically linked to/under the thumb of) one self-styled "Trade Queen of Cascadia", a woman named Masari Bonnefoy.
Despite being considered by many to embody the pompous attitude of the Cascadian Locals to an insufferable tee, Bonnefoy's origins actually lie in northern Nevada. There she was born, and there she would begin her meteoric rise to fortune working with the gangs of New Reno as a caravan runner. The ruthless business practices she learned from the at-the-time ruling Giordinni family would shape her into a woman destined for greatness, in her own words. After her contract with the Giordinnis was ended by way of an assassination that has yet to be solved or pinned on anyone, Bonnefoy took control of the caravan she had fostered and joined the throng of other businesses vying for a position on the Big Circle route; the lucrative path between the largest settlements in the newly established New California territory. There she met, schmoozed with, assimilated, and bought out half a dozen other caravans to grow her own ventures to the point of being noticed by some of the larger players.
In 2192 she met and married a man from another up-and-coming caravan business run by a clan of matriarchal traders from the New California heartland. By the same time next year her husband had been mysteriously murdered, and she inherited his fortune and was welcomed into the Van Graff family. Whom, it must be said, did investigate the death of one of their own, but found the woman who would bring a considerable amount of wealth into the family an unlikely suspect. Thereafter and henceforth Masari Bonnefoy slipped effortlesly into the role as a Van Graff, using the domineering accumen she already had to find rapid success within the family. Too rapid, perhaps.
By 2196 the New California Republic had grown in power and influence in the region, and the Big Circle became more regulated and less lucrative for businesses like the Van Graffs which lacked a government license. Still, Bonnefoy's amassing of influence never slowed. She simply learned to take her dirty deals further under the table. A lot can happen out in the middle of nowhere and it's not unheard of for caravans to never make it to their destinations. And if a town were sufficiently starved or drought-stricken, they'd gladly pay double to the outfit who showed up just in the nick of time with the exact amount of supplies they need to make it another day. Desperate people don't ask questions after all. But the NCR does.  A pattern would begin to emerge wherever Masari Bonnefoy's caravans went, and the Van Graffs are habitually averse to scrying eyes. They couldn't argue with the results she brought in, but Bonnefoy's methods were bringing unwanted scrutiny upon the family. Moreover her growing influence had begun to cause fearful murmurs among the family's higher members, who considered her unhindered rise a threat to their positions.
So it was that the Van Graffs struck a deal with the NCR. The new nation had begun sending its first probes out beyond the ancient Californian border, and in doing so they had become entranced by the secrets that lay behind the Oregon storm wall. In exchange for turning a blind eye to the Van Graffs' business away from the NCR heartland, they would sponsor an expedition into the uncharted territory beyond the Oregon strom wall; with Bonnefoy at the head. She would be given everything she needed to establish a new outpost and the freedom to do with it as she pleased, far away from the rest of the family she had been growing inceasingly poised to dominate and the ballooning presence of NCR interference. Bonnefoy was, of course, not happy with this arrangement. But she acquiesced and made the trek into the frozen North, reaching the city of Portland within a month. A record pace, especially after the hungry bodies of the NCR escorts were mysteriously shot in the back and left behind on the trail, leaving only Van Graff iconography to enter the city. Bonnefoy took no time in asserting herself as a powerful force within Cascadia. Considering the recent destruction of Portland's only prominent ruling government, it was remarkably easy to move into and seize control of the shellshocked trade market. She took up the reigns of the city's fractured supply lines and reforged them into a powerful network held together with favors, blackmail, irresistable deals, murders, and good old fashioned capitalism.
To this day Lloyd Center and the town of Junkflea remains the central hub for commerce in Portland, and the cartel that controls it has only grown in power. There are few individuals in the region who can claim to hold as much sway as Masari Bonnefoy, and those who can must spend their nights watching their backs in case the Trade Queen of Cascadia decides to make a deal with them.

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