Maria Mercurial

Maria Mercurial

Maria Mercurial was a novahot rocker star in the late 2040s. She rose to fame in 2048 but quietly receded from the public eye in 2050 when she married her then-agent, Armando Hernandez.
Maria made a particular impression on Dunkelzahn, who wrote in his will:

To Maria Mercurial, I leave my collection of vintage jazz and blues albums. May they bring you as much enjoyment as your music has always brought me.

— Dunkelzahn's Will

Maria's talents included singing, playing synth and acoustic guitar. She mostly performed solo, but occasionally worked with other musicians. She has played live at the Weekday Eclipse, a nightclub in Denver owned by Perianwyr. She has not made any public appearances since 2050, where she played a final set at Underground 93 before the club was attacked by samurai. Some people speculate that this event led her to quit the business, but this has never been confirmed by anyone in the know.

Once, long ago, when troubles came your way
You couldn't take them on yourself,
But you knew just what to do,
To find someone who would help,
When they burn out the farm,
Or ravish your sister,
You put your hat in your hand
And take it to Mister,
Take it to Mister

Then, as they will, all these things changed their way.
The ones who guarded you proved false.
The lord, the patron, the grand seigneur,
Helped themselves and no one else.
So they ravished the land
And whored with your sister,
They made you rip out your pride
And take it to Mister

Now, we have learned there is another way.
To face the future for ourselves,
We all know what we must do.
If you want to take back what they stole
Feed the rage in your heart
Till it's ready to blister.
Now put your gun in your hand
And TAKE IT TO MISTER!

— Take It To Mister, by Maria Mercurial (2048)

Maria attempted country music on one occasion, as Dunkelzahn notes:

To any person who possesses a ticket stub to Maria Mercurial’s only foray into country music, performed at My Brother’s Place in the Nashville sprawl: present yourself to the Draco Foundation at any time, and the Foundation will grant you one wish. I believe the saying is, be careful what you wish for—you may well get it.

— Dunkelzahn's Will

No-one is known to have claimed a wish due to this clause.

Physical Description

Body Features

Silver skin, likely the result of custom dermal sheathing

Specialized Equipment

Significant cyberware, state of the art when it was installed (~2045)

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Maria used to be a bodyguard, secretary and mistress to Reynaldo Texamachach, a senior Aztechnology exec, until she killed him during a trip to Seattle in 2045 and ran away to the Barrens . Prior to this, however, he had significant amounts of cyberware installed in her body.
He had hoped to keep her compliant by getting her addicted to BTLs, but clearly this didn't work. When she escaped Aztechnology, however, she was still addicted. Maria turned to prostitution in order to fuel her habit, singing in various dives to try to deal with her emotions. There, she was discovered by Armando Hernandez, who decided to try to get her voice out to the world.
Armando helped her beat her addiction to BTLs and tried to smooth over her damaged psyche whilst promoting her on the rocker circuit. After a series of bizzare events in 2050 (in which both of the two nearly died), Maria chose to retire from rockstardom and married Armando in a quiet ceremony. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

Gender Identity

Female, she/her

Sexuality

Unknown, but likely heterosexual or bisexual.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Maria's first song, Who Weeps For The Children, catapulted Maria into the public eye in 2048. It was the number one single for two months before she released Take It To The Mister, which replaced it as number one.
Her first album, Night Tears, includes both these songs and was released in 2048. Her second and final album, Puta, was released the following year.

Mental Trauma

Maria had a tough life before rising to fame in 2048 with her hit song, Night Tears. She suffers from some kind of fractured personality disorder due to her previous addiction to BTLs. In the 25 years since she left the public eye she has mostly recovered, but still struggles from time to time.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

To live a quiet life.

Social

Family Ties

Married to Armando Hernandez.
Other family unknown.

Species

Humans

Year of Birth

2028 CE 47 Years old

Eyes

White, no pupils (cybereyes?)

Hair

White, long

Known Languages

English and Aztlaner, both fluent.