Early Life and Midlife in Post-WW2 England

Maria Torres was born to a poor refugee family in New Years' 1956, just one year after the Soviet collapse and the Portuguese Azur Revolution, Torres spent most of her life in Britain, where she would eventually grow to treat it as a second-nature homeland, her mother decided to move to America after she heard reports of America accepting European refugees, leaving her alone with her father, her mother sent both of them gifts and letters every two months, cheering up the two, Torres went to school fairly quickly in her life and managed to finish it without remembering anything specific except for an incident regarding alcohol and alleyways, soon, after she completed her education, she joined the British Army in 1976.

Life in the British Army was okay, ever since the British allowed women to join the military during the closing days of World War Two, she was allowed to join the ranks of the regular frontline soldiers, she was deployed primarily to places like France or Germany to help the reconstruction efforts that still went on even two decades after the Azur Revolution and the collapse of the USSR, when the Russian Confederation decided to help them in 1977, she couldn't help but wonder why the Russians were so passive and friendly after their loss, soon, after several years in service, she joined the newly-established GDI as part of the British contingent, then she rose to the rank of Colonel.

Colonel Torres

After attaining the rank of Colonel, Torres grew a bit of an ego after seeing soldiers salute to her, once a poor girl born to a refugee family, and after a few more years, her ego soon became very inflated, though unlike most people, she preferred to be friendly and passive as to earn more praise from them instead of just flaunting it around, she earned a devoted following during her service as a Colonel in the Global Defense Initiative.

She was deployed to other places around the world to help in reconstruction efforts, though her planned tour to Poland was cancelled upon hearing Poland's refusal to join the Global Defense Initiative, Torres would continue building up her ego by attaining more followers, but mostly through charisma and some convincing, soon after, her followers tended to be 'almost cult-like' according to some, though not the level of Nod, it was still concerning, eventually, after a lot of complaints, Torres herself had to inform her followers to disperse, much to her sadness.

Torres would continue being of service to the GDI as a Colonel for a majority of her life, with one of her deployments being in the place she was born in, London, after a religious sectarian uprising took over some buildings, the GDI had to step in and clear the area out, she led a team of Minigunners and Grenadiers to clear them out using gas grenades and automatic gunfire, she was soon deployed to various locations across the globe for assignments like this, oftentimes with the aggressors surprisingly having modern equipment and ammunition.

After some more years in the GDI and improvement in leadership skills, Torres was contacted by General Mark Sheppard and offered the future position of Administrator over the GDI forces in Portugal, at first, she was skeptical, but after news of the GDI annexation of Portugal hit her, she jumped upon the chance of finally returning to her glorious homeland, especially after the Azur Revolution and the liberation of Lisbon from the dreaded communists, she was then placed in as Administrator of Global Defense Initiative Garrison A in Portugal, and appointed Franco as a figurehead politician to cover her back.

Administrator Torres of Portugal

Torres soon revitalized the nation, further improving the infrastructure, education, healthcare, and other miscellaneous quality of life things that Portugal would definitely appreciate. Due to her actions in surprisingly helping Portugal get back on its feet further after Salazar's death and after the Azur Revolution, she earned a large following and support, alongside support for Franco. This in turn helped cement her rule over Portugal, using Franco as a political shield, she began to make not-so-subtle threats towards various foreign powers who sought to meddle with Portugal's historical affairs, especially ones related to the Azur Revolution or World War Two.

Torres, despite her narcissism and ego, was known throughout Portugal as a friendly woman who came back to her home nation in an attempt to guide it, she jokingly admits they're not wrong about that, alongside those, she also enacted various laws prohibiting violent religion, such as the latest string of uprisings she had to put down during her service as a Colonel to the United Nations, which earned her some ire throughout Portugal as they saw the action as an affront towards the Christian past of Portugal prior to the Second World War, but she managed to appease them by assuring that the peaceful elements will remain unhit by this policy.

"All hail the Supreme Ruler and Peacekeeper of Portugal, that's right, all hail me!" - One of Torres' narcissistic speeches, circa 1991.

"Yes...I know I'm a narcissistic person with an overinflated ego, but that's a reward for myself in my opinion, after doing good for my nation, I think it's best I wind off and relax by letting me overestimate myself, it's fun doing that, especially when your followers blindly...well, follow you." - An Interview with Maria Torres, 1992.

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Torres is a strong pro-GDI supporter for more than obvious reasons, but also a devoted Portuguese patriot, always focusing on helping her ethnic homeland grow back on its feet, she shares a lot of sentiments towards communism though, as that ideology is what wrecked Portugal in the first place, so Torres has a reason to hate them, in her words, she also shares a dislike for any violent sectarian religious cell, probably due to her experience in the London Sect incident, which got so bad the United Nations had to be called in to quell this uprising.

In a surprising twist, Torres also does not like being around capitalists, while she does see that Communism is a bad ideology, she despises the people who take advantages of an actual working ideology and twist it to near-death, she views profit-motivated capitalism as nothing more than a cultist attempting to earn the recognition of their god, money, she also shares a similar hatred towards communism, especially anarchism, due to the CNT-FAI's existence during the Spanish Civil War, viewing them as nothing more than idiotic children who'll get themselves killed under forty-five minutes.

Torres is a good diplomat despite her boasts about only knowing how to beat people to death when it came to 'diplomacy', Torres was capable of actual diplomacy, and is a smooth diplomat known throughout the GDI for her no-nonsense yet casual behavior, getting straight to the problem without any foretalk or any miscellaneous information, like her speeches and her help towards Portugal, this is another reason why she has an amusingly large following, especially in places like America.

She also views racism and sexism as annoying obstacles that need to be resolved with ASAP lest the GDI dissolve after mere bickering between man and woman over who's useless and who can't drive, join the army, or fly aircraft, she would have been a popular feminist heroine if it were not for the fact that Torres dislikes anything putting a certain gender above another, as, in her words, 'GDI and These People have picked the different threats and advantages of blaming men, they see the best solution, I just see chaos.'

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