WARNING SPOILERS
If you've never read any of the HBK stories, you might want to do that first. While these bios don't really give away the plot, the do give away a little bit of info about the characters. (That's why I called them bios O0 )
Given that I'm updating the stories pretty sporadically I thought it would be a nice to put something up about each character in case you forget who they are during the long gaps between my updates.
Seriously, don't go down more if you don't want spoilers.
Alright, I warned you.
Ohio James (alias)
What can I say about Ohio James, well, quite a lot actually, but I'm not going to, that would be telling. I will say that his name is an obvious alias, and, no, I don't think it's clever, he does, which should tell you all you ever need to know about his sense of humor.
Ohio alleges to be an archaeologist, scouring planets of the periphery for the proof he needs to complete his doctoral thesis and prove all those stuffy old buggers back at the University to be the idiots that they are. Of course, "archaeologist" in a universe were higher technology was used in the past equates fairly well to "treasure hunter", and proving those stuffed shirts wrong will be all the more satisfying when done from poolside at his new mansion.
Janet (Trapdoor) Kawoski
Janet Kawoski is a veteran Mechwarrior of exceptional skill who sets her sights on becoming known as one of the best in the Innersphere. Given her occasional grumblings about how certain other female mechwarriors are more famous than they deserve (meaning than her) and her talent for for ambush tactics, her call sign was a no brainer.
Oh yeah, she's also married to Mark Kawoski. The most common theory regarding their marriage is that Janet had enough sense to realize that only a man like Mark would be able to put up with both her capacity for, and talent with, hand to hand combat as a form of personal communication while Mark agreed to it because Janet probably had a missile launcher or something.
Mark (Man-Mountain) Kawoski
Mark Kawoski is big. If your picturing an American football player, your thinking too small, if your picturing Andre the Giant, your still thinking too small, and your old. He started going by the nickname “Man-Mountain” when his previous handle “Holy Crap I Thought You Were a Wall” was determined to be too cumbersome.
Mark is also a very talented Battlemech technician. Left to his own devices, he would probably never murder anybody, but alas, there always seems to be one of those guys who likes to try to climb the mountain just because it's there, and severe personal and property damage (not to mention landscape damage, what with all the shallow graves and all) ensues.
Mark's second most distinguishing feature is his deep and powerful voice. It's best described as a mix of James Earl Jones and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
Upon meeting Mark, and seeing his immense size and less-than-sunny disposition, many people are intimidated and decide to keep their distance. After a while though, most people come to the conclusion that he's really just a big teddy bear who uses his size and tough-guy act to keep people at arms length. Then he punches them and they realize they had it right the first time.
Rose Ishii
Rose Ishii is a very professional warrior of mixed Japanese and Irish descent, formerly of the DCMS. After losing her family mech in a raid against the Federated Suns, she gave up all hope of getting a new one from her decidedly misogynistic commanding officer and became a professional bounty hunter. She swore that she would earn enough money to buy one herself, and would die before she ever asked a Drac for anything again.
She was well on her way towards that goal when she met up with the future members of the HBK, and suddenly had everything she ever wanted. Not knowing what else to do with herself, she stuck around and became a mercenary, even though her uptight and professional mannerisms make her the butt of almost every joke told by the units members.
Karl Lebinac
Old Man Karl, as he is known, got himself into a tight spot. When he found out that his superior was going to take his battalion, under service with the Draconis Combine, off to the periphery to start his own pirate kingdom, Karl did the sensible thing and told his regimental commander, who asked him to go undercover, pose as a supporter of the pirate plan, and feed him the information he would need to crush the plan before it happened.
Karl was too slow though. Just as he was worming his way into the trust of the would-be deserters, they broke for the periphery and took him along for the ride, despite his best efforts at getting left behind.
Aurore Lebinac
When the Pirate King finally found a planet to hang his shingle on, he quickly moved to ensure his men's loyalty by providing them with wives from the local population. Not being the type to participate in that sort of thing, but also not wanting to be shot in the head, Karl picked Aurore to be his bride. While in public she pretends to be his bride, but in private she is treated as his adopted daughter. Karl and Aurore secretly spend their time training her to pilot a mech so that she can inherit his when the time comes.
Having come from a horrible family life in a backwater village on a practically unheard of planet in the periphery, Aurore is more than happy to accept Karl as an adoptive farther figure and works diligently at her training.
Marabelle (Bloody Mary) Vadnais
Wait until you meet Mary. She's a hoot. Unlike some of the other members of the HBK, she didn't earn her nickname due to any sort of talent for violence, but rather because it was what was said in connection to her name (as in: “Oh hell, it's Bloody Mary again”) on the most regular basis by her hero and idol, Ohio James.
