✘ eight lives.

WARNING

THIS POST CONTAINS MONDO SPOILERS.
(Yeah, I know. It's weird for me to say that, too.)
{If you want more basic info on Rey, go here.}

NOTES

Of all the memories Rey has been imprinted with, there are a few common threads: ⬤ Her age: She is 29-years-old, born on April 21st. ⬤ First memory: A dream of being torn apart by wolves until all that’s left of her face is a shiny skull, and waking up crying but no one comes. ⬤ First combat memory: The first person she ever kills in combat is a little girl who Rey had wrongfully shot, inspiring a firefight with her platoon. Though the memory is fake, she recalls being reprimanded and nearly being dishonorably discharged due to her unstable mental state afterwards. (Each incarnation of Rey reacts to this memory differently. It is how Gregory gauges her personalities.) ⬤ Her scars: Before she is dispatched on her individual, unique missions, Gregory is always sure to “mark” her. Just to clarify, these women do not act as separate personalities or anything of the such. Rey’s interactions with them is nothing more than how one would interact with a dream or a memory. She can recall them, maybe even make better use of their knowledge and experiences, but she can’t really become any of her past lives. EIGHT LIVES Stone ⬤ Marine Corps veteran who was promoted to Special Forces, due to her aptitude on solo missions. ⬤ Born and raised on the streets of Ashwater, Washington. ⬤ An orphan who never knew her parents and never had a family. Was a bit of a loner who managed to make it on her own until she was taken in by a gang of other homeless kids. When she was sixteen, however, they were all killed in a police raid. ⬤ At seventeen, the now lonely homeless girl ran into a military recruiter (Gregory Tremond) who promised her a new family in the armed forces. She looked to him like a brother figure and confident, like many of her later incarnations so foolishly would. ⬤ Honorable and dutiful, Stone is a personality who tries to do what is right, but she’s also a survivor. She isn’t very book-smart, but she’s street smart and perceptive enough to be able to carry out solo missions without much guidance. She’s strong-willed and independent. ⬤ Closest one of Rey’s past selves who became self-aware of her nonhuman existence without going completely insane (but this may be because of her self-destructive tendencies shortly after unlocking this knowledge). Was also capable of utilizing her heat energy with little difficulty, based on instinct due to her intuitive disposition. ⬤ Stone’s memories and personality was based off a former American combat marine named Ryan Stone. Died in 2056 when the Long Winter Wars began. She could climb five-thousand meters of Mount Elbrus, run the Galway terrain, and swim across the Red Sea. When it came to elaborate mathematics and complex problem solving, such as how to deal with a shut-in living weapon, Stone was miles behind in that marathon. Silva ⬤ Argentinian. ⬤ Comes from a family of deadbeats with no ambition in life. Silva thinks that she joined the Argentine Navy in order to distance herself from her nonexistent kin. ⬤ Linguist who is able to crack various languages and code. Works in intelligence. Language is just about the only talent she is really adept in, as her combat and people skills are somewhat lacking, and she’s average in just about everything else. ⬤ Pretty agile, though. ⬤ Awkward as fuck. Doesn’t talk much. ⬤ The goal here is to have her work on several aptitude tests to see how well she operates with others. Gregory Tremond learns that Silva has not been much a team player in any of her previous incarnations. ⬤ This personality was based off an Argentinian woman, Alicia Silva. Deceased in the year 2059 during her tour in South America, when their ship is attacked by an enemy Naval fleet. She couldn’t make out what they were saying, exactly. It didn’t even sound English, or any of the languages that were rolling about inside Rey’s memories of the other women she had been. But one of them was Silva, a former linguist who was fluent in at least eight different languages. Somewhere, in the recesses of her mind, Silva was able to discern the sort of code that the Prizrak guards were speaking. The words came to her, the translation processing from her ears to her mind and all at once she understood them... Steyn ⬤ South African. ⬤ Grew up in a brothel; raised by prostitutes. ⬤ Mother was a call girl who was murdered by one of her clients when her daughter was 7. Father works in human trafficking, and runs the brothel that Steyn was born and raised in. ⬤ At age 17, Steyn’s father threatened that she would be shipped off to slave auction if she did not start taking clients at the brothel she was living at to “earn her keep”. Afraid that her father would be good on his word, Steyn enlisted for the South African Army to escape her family. ⬤ Has mondo intimacy issues and very negative views towards sex. Is oftentimes referred to as a “frigid bitch” by many of her peers for this reason, and also her catty attitude. ⬤ Doesn’t get along with people very well. Not much of a team player either. ⬤ She is sent to South Africa to assist in an outbreak of civil wars. ⬤ Original memories belonged to a South African soldier, Marilyn Steyn. Died in 2068 as a result of friendly fire on the field. Steyn, a woman from South Africa who had thought her father to be a drug lord also working in human trafficking, had joined the military to escape his threats of sending her to a brothel. Now, Steyn was conveying a different message from the recesses of Rey’s memories. She had been an engineer. A valuable identity, no doubt, as Gregory needed someone to be able to crack the codes when infiltrating the GRIGORI’s defenses. The memory of Steyn was telling Rey that she needed a retinal scan in order to proceed. She believed her past self. Sarfati ⬤ Israeli ⬤ Jewish descent. Non-practicing religious. ⬤ She hails from a family of protesters who were killed when their hometown was attacked. Orphaned and alone for most of her life, she enlisted into the war and had been part of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army ever since. She feels that “God” has let her and her “family” down. ⬤ First one of Rey’s incarnation to have befriended anyone. In this case, it’s a mechanic named Eli who worked on various aircrafts. Sarfati learned from Eli, who was showing her how to understand schematics. While no expert, she has some basic mechanic knowledge, and is capable of rewiring and reprogramming certain aircraft mechanisms. ⬤ This personality was based off a woman named Jana Sarfati. Deceased as of 2076 during a conflict in the Middle East. Her meager engineering skills were rusty, but she had a certain memory from a soldier named Sarfati, who had once befriended a mechanic named Eli. Together, they worked on various aircrafts. None of them were zeppelin-shaped prison ships, but the control panel itself rang a bell from a particular memory. As that Israeli soldier, Sarfati frequently worked with her friend, Eli, as he showed her how to read and reroute the cabling. Sarfati was no fool, and she knew what she was doing. Schuyler ⬤ Dutch. ⬤ A woman from the Netherlands with a heavy Dutch accent. ⬤ Specializes in winter warfare. ⬤ Watched her mother murder her father while both were in a drunken argument. She ran away from home when she came home to finding her own mother having shot her father in the face. Since then, she joined the Korps Mariniers, the marine corps section of the Royal Netherlands Navy. ⬤ America is allied with both the Korps Mariniers and British Royal Marines. Schuyler meets Helena Lyonene and Adam Moskalenko in Washington DC, both who are assigned under the Sergeant Schuyler’s command. Helena’s father oversees Schuyler taking control of his troops as they depart DC. ⬤ The language barrier was originally intended to keep her alienated from others, but before long she becomes close friends with Helena Lyonene and Adam Moskalenko — another rarity. Adam helped Schuyler with her English, to a point where she’s even lost her accent. ⬤ While she is bound to her mission, Schuyler has a sense of loyalty and self-sacrifice, almost to a fault. She puts others before her mission, making Schuyler an illogical personality. ⬤ Original personality and memory belonged to Anna Schuyler. Deceased in 2091. If she released the prisoners, not only would she be alerting the synthetics on board of her presence, but she’d only be sending these little lambs to their slaughter. The Rey she had been six years ago who was an empty vessel with no memory or identity wouldn’t have thought twice about it. Using children as a diversion seemed to be a logical course of action. Schuyler, however, was the reasonable one. She had been there during the Julian Massacre, choosing between tending to her fallen comrades or to chase the traitor who gave their position away. Schuyler chose to stay, saving Helena Lyonene from blood loss by cauterizing her leg. Years later, she would thank Rey for the actions she had made as Sergeant Schuyler. . Sheridan ⬤ Irish. ⬤ United Forces of Ireland, allied with the Scottish and British Royal Army after the country had been invaded by the Chinese. ⬤ Born in the countryside of Galway to a family of drunkards (although she herself is loath to any manner of substance abuse. This has more to do with her inability to taste than her fabricated memories). ⬤ Of all her personalities, Sheridan is by far the most amiable one, who is kind and personable with her superiors and peers. She even learned how to feel love and affection towards another person, which also makes her an illogical personality. ⬤ Sheridan was based off of a woman named Casey Sheridan. She died in 2021 on the “Highway of Death” while serving the army stationed in Kuwait, several years prior to Rey’s birth. Sheridan had been with people before. She even had a relationship with a man once. What was his name again...? Marcus Sullivan, came Sheridan’s tiny voice. Sheridan was not only a fighter, she was a lover. Other than that she had come from a family of drunks, Sheridan thought she had a normal upbringing. She had served the Defense Forces of Ireland, who were allied with the Scottish and British Royal Army during a time of war with China. Sheridan hated alcohol, for what it had done to her family. All of Rey’s past lives shared a common theme. They were unapproachable women. Cold and detached from their emotions. Only Sheridan was genuinely hurt by this, always wanting so badly to be loved. Marcus Sullivan seemed to be the kind of man to give that to her. He was a gentle giant, dark and somewhat plain looking. But he treated her with a kindness that she was not used to. They shared a bed, and when Sheridan had expressed discomfort in their fleeting relationship, he never asked anything more from her. Sheridan didn’t hate him for it. She hated herself for not being able to feel safe with that sweet man. Schmidt ⬤ German. ⬤ Parents both died on drug overdoses, after she came home from school one day to find them. Because of this, she has a very negative outlook on drugs and alcohol and avoids them altogether. ⬤ Cold and detached, avoids people whenever she can. ⬤ Fully capable of utilizing her heat abilities, the legend of “the Salamander” begins with Schmidt. More brutal than her previous selves when it comes to carrying out her missions, Schmidt is a violent one, but more subservient to orders. ⬤ As she is the first one innately proficient in her abilities, Schmidt was the first one of Rey’s selves who learned how to completely control her heat energies to create fire, and even absorb it from her body. This promoted Gregory Tremond to design the Exurosuit to better adapt her on missions without constantly burning her gear off. ⬤ Schmidt expresses sociopathic tendencies, spreading the Salamander’s reputation throughout the Long Winter battles in Europe, and various other countries as the soldier with the affinity for fire and cannot be burned. ⬤ Because she is a sociopath, Schmidt is antisocial and guarded, oftentimes reacting in volatile ways even for Gregory. Easily frustrated and angered, and quick to erupt into violent actions. She is unable to form any attachments towards other people in any way, completely lacking in empathy. ⬤ Schmidt was a personality constructed almost entirely by Gregory Tremond. Rey Schmidt does not exist. These Russian men only happened to be passing by when she was on her way through the mountains, where she had requested refuge in their camp to rest. Most of them are independent — rebels who want to have nothing to do with the Long Winter, the war waging for seven decades now. Although Schmidt claims to be a revolutionary herself, they do not invite her into their tents or campfire at night. Instead she sits in the shadows, watching the trees and listening to the forest. From far away, the wolves howl. Through the varying descriptions they had, many of the rebels decided that Sergeant Schmidt was the spitting image of their ghost story. She listens to their talk of a pyromaniac who can walk through fire. Schmidt stalks their circle as she listens. When they sleep, she protects them. One night a twig snaps off in the woods, followed by a crunching of snow. Schmidt leaves with her gun, and returns a few hours later. When the rebels wake the next morning, they see her sitting by the dying embers of their campfire in bloodstained fatigues. They whisper amongst themselves that Schmidt smells strongly of ash and sulfur. People cannot help what they are, so Schmidt does not blame them. She can’t stand her own skin. Safronov ⬤ Russian. ⬤ Unique from the other identities. Safronov is actually capable of overriding Gregory Tremond’s attempts at writing her code and chooses her own personality: Ruthless and by far worse than Schmidt, Safronov has memories of a Russian sniper who had been trained by her family to kill. She is more of an assassin than she is a soldier. She is by far the most difficult personality for Tremond to control, as she acts independently and is swift to disobey his orders. ⬤ She is typically ostracized even from soldiers. While her brutality has gained her respect, it has also earned her a great deal of horror stories as well. The Salamander is now less of a tale between enemy soldiers and deserters, and more of a warning when they start to see massive plumes of smoke and flames carrying a stench of burning corpses. ⬤ Similar to Schmidt, Safronov had the same amount of control over her abilities, also coming into possession of a more modified Exurosuit to better carry out her missions. ⬤ In contrast to Schmidt, Safronov is a psychopath. Unable to form any emotional attachment, and uses her “comrades” only to her own advantage. They are either meatshields or social disguises. Safronov can pretend to be a normal person, even likable and charming at times. However, that doesn’t stop her from fantasizing about slitting your throat in your sleep. ⬤ Unlike the others, the memories of the Russian sniper are actually based off a woman who is still alive. Valentina Safronov is an elderly woman who lives in isolation in a small town in China. She escaped shortly before the Kristiv Resurgence during the Long Winter. She was born sometime in the 2080s. Schmidt and Safronov, two women who wore the monikers “the Salamander” and proudly took to their roles of being monsters. Safronov in particular was not a very kind woman. Even she was obsessed with the idea of revenge, of giving the Prizrak what they deserved for the Russian blood spilled across her homeland — or what Rey had once perceived to be home. In the end, she had no home. FREYJA (Fiona) ⬤ Arguably the “real” Rey. Not actually a fabricated identity with false memories, but the original vessel. Was considered too mentally unstable to be effective in the field, but Gregory Tremond took a gamble on her anyway after faking her expiry, utilizing her for his own reasons. Rather than sending her off as the empty vessel Freyja, he installed memories of other women to make her more adaptable to situations and blending in. ⬤ There is a duality to “Freyja” and “Fiona” — while Freyja is the compliant solider that was created by PROJECT SERAPHIM, Fiona is the daughter of Lucas Coffey and Undine Stransky. She had only expressed her façade as Fiona towards Undine, who she genuinely saw as a mother and one of the closest friends until her eventual death. ⬤ Personality-wise, Freyja is more robotic, and rarely ever spoke. Fiona was a bit more talkative, but only with her mother-creator. Rey speaks more like Freyja/Fiona than her fabricated identities, avoiding the use of “I” and “me” and “my” in her sentences. When she breaks that front, she is taking more from her later memories that Gregory gave her. ⬤ Appearance-wise, she is the most different. She is tall, blonde-haired, mechanical lime green eyes, and of course devoid of the facial scars. ⬤ She is obviously self-aware.