Gertrude Babbage

From Brass Goggles

Name: Gertrude Winifred Babbage (a.k.a. "Gertie").

Age: 25 years.

Nationality: English. Born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire.

Physical appearance: Gertrude is a petite, bespectacled woman, reaching just under 5 feet 4 inches in height, with what some may call a boyish figure. Her oval face and pale complexion, however, create a distinctly feminine air around her appearance. Her hair, falling just above mid-back, is an ash brown and often pulled into an unruly ponytail. Her thin lips are commonly pursed, as if she is concentrating, relaxed only on the very rare occasion that she smiles. When she was young, many remarked that Gertrude would've been a handsome girl were it not for her best feature - two striking eyes, the color of legume vines - being ever hidden behind her glasses. Her father, however, often stated that these famously violet eyes, the same as her mother's, make her quite smart-looking. She is most often seen donning a black wool vest atop a red or white collared shirt, suspenders, and a pair of striped trousers, haphazardly tucked into calf-high workman's boots. She carries a leather satchel around her waist. She takes great pride in never having worn a dress.

Profession: A thief, formally. Though she is a student of many sciences, by her own design.

Biography: The daughter of Christopher F. Babbage, a coal miner, and the late Winifred Loftus, Gertrude was born in a small cottage on the outskirts of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire. Her mother died due to complications during childbirth, leaving Gertrude in the care of her father and five brothers. As the next descendant in a line of allegedly cursed Nordic Gypsies (her mother was the grandaughter of famed Seer Olthema Loftus), Gertrude's highly unusual eye color and evident disinterest in popular female pursuits alienated her from her peers, creating an even deeper bond between her and her family. She expressed, at an early age, great interest in reading, writing, history and mechanical science. Her father, a hobbyist of technology and light, often invited her to observe as he tinkered away in his workshop with gears and wires. By the age of ten, she had read nearly every book in her father's small library. Her two eldest brothers were killed in a mining accident when Gertrude was thirteen. The third died of pneumonia a year later. As a result of these deaths, the family became ever more reclusive, and Gertrude became very close with her two remaining brothers, Oscar and Frederic.

After their father's death (details unknown) when Gertrude was nineteen, Oscar and Frederic, both miners by trade, began tinkering away in the workshop as he had done, mulling over his experiments in an attempt to decipher his mysterious efforts. Gertrude became their interpretess, relaying what she had learned through observation to further their discoveries. Three years ago, they abandoned their home in Eastwood, bound for London, where a friend had promised to arrange lodging and a meeting with a known Technocrat whose work their father had admired. Their trip was interrupted by an unusual twist of fate when the train they rode was held up by mercenaries and Gertrude was mistaken for a disguised heiress. In their attempts to prevent her capture, both Oscar and Frederic were killed. She was taken to an unknown location in Camden, but escaped before her captors could realize their error. With no family left and nowhere to call home, she took to the streets of London, carrying only a copy of her father's favorite book in a leather satchel around her waist. She stole first to keep from starving, but she's become a bit of a professional. Her desire to continue her father's work with oil and gears, as well as (of course) avenge her brothers' deaths) still burns within her like a lamplight...

Gertie's current activities can be found in Steam London