Name: Cassandra "Cassie" Jane Ryan
Age: 22
Height: 5’5”
Weight: 125 lbs

Appearance: Cassie's role as a scavenger requires that she stay healthy and in shape. When she isn't out in the frozen wastelands of the city, she spends her time in the Fort's makeshift gym keeping her stamina and strength up. She is skilled in self-defense, having been trained by her stepfather for most of her life. Her light complexion matches her dark blonde hair, which she keeps somewhat long in the winter and shorter in the summer. She is not quick to smile, only when she is genuinely happy or excited. Her hazel eyes tend to change color depending on her mood, turning green when excited and almost brown when sad. She has a hard time masking her emotions as they always show clearly in her facial and body expressions. Although her work keeps her clothes and hands messy and dirty, she is quite fastidious and is clean and well-kempt outside of her shop. When out scavenging, she often brings home a backpack full of her favorite clothes: jeans and long-sleeved thermals in a variety of colors.

Personality: The few people that managed to get past Cassie's quiet, shy exterior, found themselves a funny and kind lifelong friend. Her loyalty is legendary and has earned her the respect of those who deal with her most often. Whenever she has her workshop open for trade, she is open and cheerful, full of energy and listens more than talks. After closing up shop, however, she keeps to herself.

Her relationships with her family has been strained for years, since even before her mother's death. After her mother died, Cassie moved out to her own space in the Fort to avoid them. While she has a congenial relationship with Ezra, the two of them find it difficult to connect these days, and conversations tend to be short and tense. Her relationship with her younger sibling is practically non-existent.

Society Role: Collector/Scavenger

Relationships: Cassie is the orphaned daughter of Charles Ryan and Genevieve Dolsen. Genevieve had another child, aged 16, with Ezra, who still lives at home with him. She has a few close friends, one of whom is Kessel Finnegan.

Background: Cassandra Jane Ryan was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Charles David Ryan and Genevieve "Jennie" Ann Dolsen. She had a normal early childhood, even as tensions began to rise in the world. Her father, a grocer, worked hard to provide for the family, but before Cassie turned 5, a riot in the city started during a war protest spilled into their neighborhood and resulted in Charles being shot and killed by a rioter.

Cassie and her mother tried to move on. However, the war breaking out overseas made life even more difficult for them as food and supplies began to get scarce. Jenny decided to move to her parents' house in the suburbs of New Jersey, so a month after Charles died, they left their home for the last time and headed to the subway. That day, as they headed down the ramp to the station, the nuclear bombs began to fall on the other side of the world.

Panic broke out in the station when the news hit. It seemed to most that all was lost, and riots broke out even down in the station. Caught up in the insanity, Jenny dragged her young daughter through the tunnels, attempting to reach the surface. But before they got too far, a group of men grabbed the two of them and dragged her mother off to a maintenance room. She will never forget the sounds of their laughter and her mother's screaming. Nor will she ever forget the man who risked his own skin to help a terrified child and her victimized mother, Ezra Alger.

Cassie's childhood ended that day, and the rest of her life she had spent scraping to survive. Though never truly alone, she always felt disconnected from the small society her parents and others were trying to build under the streets of the city she once called home. The birth of her baby sibling did nothing to help the situation, as all the adult gave all their attention the the child and left her out. She spent most of her childhood and teen years alone, using the opportunity to roam the tunnels and rooms of their sanctuary, bringing back her finds and stashing them so no one would find her treasures. As a pre-teen, she started using her stash to trade for items she couldn't otherwise get, and her new business was born.

To her mother's dismay, Cassie often brought home items she'd scavenged from pre-war stores up top. Though warned repeatedly of the dangers of such excursions, she continued to defy her mother's wishes. After a while, as her finds brought them more and more trade opportunities, her mother finally stopped warning her, though the fear in her eyes every time Cassie bundled up for a trip never went away.

The year Cassie turned 17, her mother died after contracting pneumonia. The whole community was devastated, none more than Cassie herself. She drew into herself even more, and rejected Ezra's attempts to console her. Around this time, her younger sibling began acting out and getting into fights, so again, all attention left Cassie to focus on the young teen's antics. Her relationship with Ezra never really recovered, and Cassie remained a self-imposed outcast in the community, although a generally liked outcast.

Skills:
-Self defense with hands and knives
-Able to get into hard-to-access places, whether through lockpicking or other means
-Diplomacy

Weaknesses:
-Unable to trust others
-Unconfrontational
-Need for control