Quinn Santiago Guerra Driscol was born vessel-side in 2494 to Leñora Guerra and Kellie Driscol, a young couple on their way to a moon orbiting Athens. Kellie, an engineer from a wealthy family on Ariel, had been commissioned to oversee construction on a mining facility meant to harvest minerals from the moon's shallow ocean. Leñora grew up in a poor farming community on Three Hills, later becoming a nurse when her family saved enough to buy her way to Ariel.
Quinn was a wild, stubborn child. She resisted her mother's efforts to mold her into a proper little girl and favored her father early in life. As an adolescent Quinn decided she wanted to grow up to be a man, and although this ambition eventually faded, she did maintain a more masculine personality.
In 2499 Kellie was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. The disease progressed quickly and rendered the man unable to work ten years later. The engineer's sizable pension was revoked on a technicality suspected to have made its way onto Kellie's contract after his illness came to light. With few options left, the family split so Kellie could receive treatment on Ariel - his family refused to allow Leñora and their grandchild live with them, so they went back to Three Hills with the plan of reuniting when he was well. This never happened, and Quinn grew to resent both her father for his evident betrayal and the Alliance for acting as the catalyst. Her anger intensified at the spark of the war and she enlisted as an Independent at the age of sixteen. She met and befriended Shaiyat Oth'fyrr before the pair went to fight in Serenity Valley, where Quinn lost her leg and nearly her life.
Quinn's subsequent time at a veteran hospital cemented her hatred for the Alliance and desire to continue fighting against them after she healed. She met back up with Shai on Whitefall and took on the captain position on the Vega, a Firefly-class ship with a dark history.
Quinn has a pear-shaped build and works continuously to maintain a more muscular physique. Her broad face is weathered and freckled with sun damage, crows feet etched into the corners of light gray eyes. The bridge of her nose has an indent and scar across it from a poorly healed break, and she wears a silver ring through her left nostril. Straight blonde hair has a bleached look and is cut tidily above her shoulders, spending most of its time held back in a ponytail. She's missing most of the lower half of her left leg, a simple rod prosthetic with neural-electrical transmitters in it's place, and has an awkward gate and occasional limp as a result.
