Althea Kane
Though not her ideal job, Alt works as a Tamer - a breeder and trainer who works almost exclusively with Microshan animals - and learned the trade from her late husband. She studied and worked as a microbiologist, was disenchanted with the work environment, and turned to animal training and husbandry at the Trading Company to make ends meet. She is a self-proclaimed workaholic who often needs a reminder to come back to reality and slow down her thoughts in order to communicate with the rest of the world. She is brilliant and bold, and she's happiest when she's working on something challenging. While she loves the animals that she cares for, her passion lies with her mission to re-create the Serum (for more than one reason).
After the kidnapping and subsequent death of her husband, Alt swore that she would fight to end the blood trade, as it disproportionately affects and kills poverty-stricken communities. She often volunteered money and time to the cause, but that came to a halt when she and Dane found notes in an abandoned Serum factory. Though the notes were old and incomplete, Alt believed that she had enough information to start piecing together the work in order to make something like the Serum. She felt that if she could bring the Serum back, then there would be no need for the blood trade any longer, as the Serum was a permanent, legal solution to immortality lost. For over a hundred years, she's been working on the Serum between taking care of and selling her animals.
Alt took in Dane when he was fourteen, a few days after he was abandoned by his father. She and her husband raised him for a time until her husband's kidnapping and passing. Though Alt raised Dane into the no-bullshit-Trader he is today, the two are more like siblings than mother and son. Dane stays mostly out of her way and supports her by managing sales and their finances for them so she can better focus on the Serum. Alt and Dane live as frugally as possible, as they are saving up money for when Alt actually makes a viable Serum. She wants to be able to produce enough privately to give to the entire world and do it free of charge.
Mental characteristics
Mental Trauma
A few years after taking Dane into their home, Alt lost her husband. He was one of the first of the Missing, the name given to those kidnapped for their blood. He was one among hundreds who were bled dry and discarded by those wealthy enough to pay for a blood supply that would "grant immortality" the way the Serum used to. When they found his body, Alt swore she'd never stop fighting to end the blood trade.
To this day, no one is allowed to call her "Althea" because it reminds her too much of her husband.
