Gao Xin Tou was born August 26th, 2489 on the planet of Osiris to Gao Feng Gui and Rosa Guerrero. He was the couple's first child, born in the year of the boar, and as such, had great expectations of his future thrust upon him. First, a bit of family history. The Gao family had traditionally been a family of notaries and legislators. Well-respected property-owners, but not particularly wealthy. That is, until 2459, with the official formation of the Anglo-Sino Alliance. Although the two empires had been working together for many years, they had finally decided to formally declare their joint coalition. The man responsible for drafting much of aforementioned declaration was Gao Cheng Lei, Xin's grandfather. In doing this, the Gao family's fortunes instantly increased, as they became one of the first founding families of the Alliance.
In the next generation, Feng, just as if not more so dedicated to the Alliance than his father, became a high-ranking official, responsible for much of the early Alliance's legislation, responsible for drafting up much of their first land acquisitions, etc, etc. Although he seemed to have passion for little else except his work, at the age of 39, Feng married Rosa Guerrero, from another high-ranking Alliance family, 20 years his junior. Within the first year of their union, they produced a healthy baby boy. Rosa, who didn't have a very strong grasp on the Chinese language, was responsible for her son's name. "Xin" which meant heart and "Tou" which meant head. She had a romantic personality, unlike her husband, and mistakenly thought the name could translate to "letting the heart rule the head". Feng scoffed at this, but in spite of his outwardly cool demeanour, he was enormously proud of his son and in turn, Xin greatly respected his father. Xin proved to be an exceptional student at a very young age, with an almost aggressive determination to search for further knowledge. Additionally, he had a quick, almost desert dry wit, and a rebellious attitude that always put him at odds with his father. If he was ordered to do one thing, you could be sure that in the next moment, he'd be off doing the extreme opposte of whatever he was supposed to do. Throughout his teenage years, their relationship proved to be very frictional, despite their many similarities. Friends and families often commented on these physical and emotional similarites, much to each man's mixed feelings of chagrin, resentment, and pride.
Xin's relationship with his mother was much less tense, even gentle. She was not worldly by any means, and her son would become her intellectual superior before he had turned double digits. Because of this, Xin found it necessary to shield his mother from much of the familial unrest and political discourse occurring all around them. Xin did have three siblings, all separated from him by a great deal of years. His oldest sister was ten years younger than he, Gao Isabella. His two younger brothers were born after his departure, twins Gao Nian Zu and Gao Abelardo, making them eighteen years younger.
At the age of seventeen, Xin committed his final act of defiance against his father by joining the Independents in the Unification War. At the time, Xin was a wide-eyed medical student, having fallen in with Browncoat students his own age, with his political opinions being changed rapidly. When he dropped out of medical school and registered as a combat medic for the Independents, two things happened. One, the Alliance blocked Xin from ever receiving his medical license and two, he was immediately financially disowned by his father. These losses struck him to the core, but he consoled himself by knowing that this just made his devotion to the cause even more pure and that nothing great came without great sacrifice.
Two years into his tour, Xin was captured at the battle of New Kasmir, along with a fellow combat medic, and subsequently held in captivity until the end of the war, three years later. Little is known about Xin's imprisonment except for a few, almost haphazardly written notes on his personal file. Apparently, the first six months of his imprisonment were marked with "unfortunate instances" with "potentially dangerous, unstable guards with sadistic tendencies" that resulted in "prisoner mutilation, extreme neglect, and the death of fellow prisoner". Gao Feng Gui had been made aware of his son's imprisonment, but either due to a broken heart or ridiculously stubborn pride, made no efforts to have him freed. The wide rift that existed between father and son now widened only further at the end of the war, when Feng made a point to be one of the many Alliance officials on hand for the Independents' unconditional surrender. There was never a reconciliation between Feng and Xin unfortunately, as the former passed away eight weeks after the surrender, and two weeks before Xin was released.
In the years following the war, Xin became something of a wanderer. He had intermittent contact with the family that still spoke to him (namely, his mother and younger sister), but had no travel companions for years. He went from place to place, offering, in his quiet way, his medical services to all that needed it. A medic for a tour ship, a teacher for border planets, etc. Additionally, for unknown reasons, he began to seek out radical body modifications after the war, resulting in his dozens of tattoos and piercings. His taking up with the Vega is possibly the most permanent position he's held since the war.
Recently: Xin has been practicing medicine on the rim planet Angel, under pay of the Alliance. Due to this, the restrictions levied against him have been slightly modified, and he actually has received something of a medical license. Technically, it only qualified him to perform check-ups and the most basic of procedures, but it was better than nothing.
Living relatives:
Rosa Guerrero - mother. 51 years old, living on Osiris.
Isabella Muireadhaigh, nee Gao - sister. 21 years old, living on Bellerophon.
Richard Muireadhaigh - brother-in-law. 29 years old, living on Bellerophon.
Rosabella Muireadhaigh - niece. 3 years old, living on Bellerophon.
Gao Abelardo - brother. 12 years old, living on Bellerophon.
Gao Nian Zu - brother. 12 years old, living Bellerophon.
And then an assortment of distant cousins spread across the 'Verse that had pretty no much contact with him.
