Background
Vincent Masters
Vincent doesn't remember where he was born. His earliest memories are of a vampire attack on his home. So he suspects somewhere close to the South American border. Actually he was born in Europe, but his family were part of a gypsy group who eventually made their way to N. America. The vampires decimated everything in the attack and killed the whole nomadic tribe, Vincent survived by hiding in a rotted out tree stump until the sun came up and the vampires who had been chasing him had to give up the search.
He spent the next part of his life moving from place to place learning different skills, and eventually forgot about his Gypsy past. However the vampire attack is still fresh in his mind, so over the years he made enough friends and money, and adopted the unflattering title of mercenary. Vincent himself is a veteran of the Mercenary way of life, but his group is new to the field. The Maulers accept almost any form of contract, but they won't slaughter villages etc. Contracts against vampires are usually accepted no matter what the danger factor is.
Richtor
Richtor was a man at the end of his rope. His doctor told him that he had an incurable form of cancer, and he would die within a few months. The only way to live would be to undergo full bionic conversion. Unknown to him however, the doctor lied. Richtor was aloud to belive there was no hope, because he didn't have enough to pay for the conversion. Then by some "fantastic luck" there was a man who was willing to pay for a conversion, and not just the bare bones, he was willing to pay for an operation that would transform Richtor into a 9 ft. tall fighting machine. Of course this was all planned from the start by the man who was paying, and Richtor was suspicious at first, but he was also afraid to die.
The only catch was, Richtor had to work for the guy until he payed the cost of the conversion off. This seemed reasonable to Richtor so he accepted the man's offer. As it turned out, the man was obviously more than what he seemed, and Richtor soon learned that he was a Black Market dealer. Once in his new body, he worked hard to pay the man off, doing different jobs including ones that he didn't agree with, but the man kept reminding him of what he owed and Richtor was forced to keep working. After several years of fruitless working, Richtor was fed up and planned to escape. He jumped over the wall of the dealers compound when he was on guard duty and simply walked away. Broke, and without means of getting maintanence and repairs, he wandered around
N. America until Vincent Masters - the commander of the Maulers offered him a place among the Merc's as a heavy infantry commander. Needless to say Richtor readily accepted. And soon was promoted to 2nd in command.
Jonathan "Wraithrunner"
Jonathan grew up in a wealthy family inside Coalition territory near Chi-Town. His parents were very prejudiced against Dee-Bee's, magic users and psychics of all kinds, even including the military branch of the CS known as Psi-Stalkers. And so understandably they taught their son to hate all kinds of people who "weren't normal" too. Then a few days after Jonathan turned 16, he started getting "impressions" and "feelings" about people. He tried to hide what was happening to him from his parents, but to his horror he soon discovered that he was turning into one of the things that his parents had taught him to hate with such vigor. He secretely had himself tested for being a Psi-Stalker and despite all his hopes, the test results were positive. Rumors started to spread despite his trying to hide his new abilities. His parents found out, and that very night they disowned their son and told him to leave forever. Luckily Jonathan had been given a formal education and been taught enough to survive on his own at least for a little while. Eventually Jonathan met another Stalker named Blair. The older psychic took Jonathan under his wing and taught him to cope with what he was. However several years later, Blair died while holding off a demon from a Rift so Jonathan could escape. Jonathan employed himself from then on catching Dee-Bee's and Demons that appeared and terrorized towns and small cities in mid North America. That's where the Maulers first ran across him, they were hired to exterminate a band of evil Dee-Bee's that had been harrassing a town and Jonathan snuck through the Merc's security during the hunt for the Dee-Bee's and offered his services to Vincent Masters. From that point on Jonathan has been an indespensible part of the Maulers, and is well liked by the group.
Shania "Sparks" Wolfhill
Shania has been with the Maulers almost from day one. She was raised near the so called (by the CS) 'criminal' city of Tolkeen. Her Techno-Wizard powers were discovered early on in life, and she was formally taught all about them from a semi-retired Techno-wizard who lived in the same town and was the local 'handy man'. She joined the Maulers after being found on the side of the road where her A.T.V. had broken down, the Maulers (who only numbered 3 members at the time) saw only the lower half of Shania sticking out of the hood of the vehicle, with sparks flying every which way as she fixed something inside. She joined the Maulers an hour later after helping to fend off a hostile D-Bee attack, which had started as the Maulers were offering Shania help with her vehicle. She joined readily, and has since been a vital part of the group. The nickname "Sparks" came from Richtor, as he happened to walk by one time as Shania was making yet more adjustments to her A.T.V. (which has since been known as the Sparkmobile) and the sparks were flying around again. She takes all the jokes and digs from the group in good humor, and is actually one of the bigger pranksters out of them all.
Wesley Howell
Wesley has been alive since before the Great Cataclysm and only joined up with the Maulers because he was in need of some cash, and the Mercenary way of life was one of the few lifestyles he hadn't tried yet. Being over 1300 years old has seen Wesley go from political leader, to warlord, to explorer, to family man, to clan chief, to countless other lives. Wesley seems bored with almost everything, and only comes really alive when in the middle of combat. He doesn't take unecessary risks however, he's just tired of doing the same thing over and over again (even if it is over a period of several hundred years). He seems content to stay with the Maulers for the time being since it provides more "excitement" than most other lifestyles, so he hasn't made any plans to move along anytime soon. He won't ever initiate a conversation, but if talked to is actually a reasonably pleasant person. About the only person he really seems to talk most with is Rikimaru, who showed up in the Maulers only a short time after Wesley did.
Rikimaru
Rikimaru was kidnapped by ninja at a toddler age. He has never had any other life besides the one provided by his clan. However, on his first mission, which was to 'aquire' a mysterious black pyramid, Rikimaru was Rifted to North America. He appeared right behind a batch of Oni Demons who had gone through the rift before him, and were getting decimated by the Maulers. Rikimaru didn't exactly know what was going on, but helped the Maulers kill the rest of the demons as they tried to flee back into the rift. He joined the Maulers that same night, and through the course of several months, discovered the use of the black pyramid (it was a key) and also found that his clan leaders had kidnapped him after they had murdered his family. Wanting nothing more to do with the ninja, he has become the recon and stealth member of the Maulers. With his natural ninja skills, and the surprise addition of a symbiote, he has become a needed, and much welcomed addition to the team. For a Japanese person out of his element, he is surprisingly loud and assertive, but he is liked by the other Maulers.
Triad Coming Soon
Shaha’lyn Lora’ly Asemi
Hailing from the planet Chandria, Shaha'lyn was formerly one of the Royal Palace Guards. Charged with protecting the king and his family. After helping to thwart an assassination attempt on the King's life, Vincent Masters requested help for an upcoming mission to Atlantis on Rifts Earth. He was promptly assigned with Shaha'lyn (among others) in order to carry out the mission. Shaha'lyn accompanied the Maulers to Earth, but unfortunately, the Atlantis mission was delayed by the Coalitions war against Tolkeen. She sympathised with the Maulers wish to help Tolkeen, and decided to stay with them on a permanent basis. To her way of thinking, the Atlantis assignment is not completed, and so her duty to the Maulers is not done. Her magical abilities are a much needed asset to the Maulers, and she was quickly one of the favorite team members.