ELAINE HARPY

Quadrant 7 Politician. Born 3156

Minister of Foreign Relations, The New Republic (Greater Prosperity Party: her party won second place in the Elections of 3213 and she was invited by President George Forty of the Democratic Republican Party to join the Government.) This picture was taken during her inaugural speech to the New Republic Congress.

Early Years

Elaine was probably born in The Levels, a large underground slum district on Gorgon, then an independent Quadrant 7 world. Abandoned, or orphaned, she had an extremely tough life as a street urchin and developed high skill levels in unarmed combat in order to survive. “Harpy” is almost certainly not her original name, but she was using it when she joined the Gorgon Security Services at about the age of 14 as a cadet. She excelled at weapon skills, leadership and urban survival.

Career in Gorgon Security

Harpy was promoted quickly and was a Level Commandant by her mid 20s. She became celebrated for her ferocious defence of children in danger, and her impatience with any adult unable to be fully independent and self-reliant. Her political credo of tough libertarianism was probably developed during these years. This pic shows Harpy's robust approach to child protection.

Career in Interstellar Commerce

In 3185 Elaine Harpy signed up as Payload Crew, then very soon after as Combat Crew with Concordia Space Shipping, a small shipbuilding and interstellar trading outfit based on Gorgon. She travelled widely in Q7, Q5 and Q8 in particular, but over an interstellar career lasting ten years she visited many worlds including several in Q0. In 3190 she went through a form of marriage with a shipmate, a cyber tech called Donny Daugavpils, who was killed in a reactor leak accident in 3192. By 3193 she had reached the rank of Guard Captain. Despite her talents, she found it hard to gain further promotion, and she left interstellar space service in 3195, the year this pic was taken.

She spent a further five years providing security services to orbital installations and hyperspace transfer stations in Q7 before leaving to become a full-time professional politician.

Returning to her home world of Gorgon in Q7, Harpy spent many years in community-level politics among the tough and self-reliant people of The Levels, which by this date was a city of several million people with problems of extreme deprivation and crime. By 3207 she was a member of the governing body of Gorgon, known as the Collective. She was a founder member of the new Greater Prosperity Party, which has since been very popular on Gorgon and increasingly on other worlds of Q7, which now make up the New Republic, formerly known as the Eastern Defence Bloc, and centred politically on New Draconis and Gorgon.

The tenets of the GPP are individualism and libertarianism; a deep scepticism of redistributive tax systems which reward dependency and laziness; and a very robust attitude to crime. The political style of the party, very much embodied by Harpy herself, is informal, practical and non-hierarchical, with a robust frankness very popular with Gorgon citizens and citizens in younger colonies alike. The GPP is highly supportive of Transhuman 'cyborg' rights and very welcoming of colonists and people anywhere who are self-reliant and despise featherbedding and nannying. However, there is a strong streak of chivalrous defence of the weak [the genuinely helpless, not shirkers and layabouts!] which has led to the GPP being identified with an aggressive foreign policy.

Harpy's style is to be available to her voters at all times she is on duty, frequently visiting them and travelling the streets to meet and solve problems in person. She has little patience with bureaucrats and time-servers but is very loyal to those who show they can solve problems; and since her election in 3209 as leader of the Gorgon Collective she has surrounded herself with a team of very capable and popular party cadres on Gorgon.

By this stage the nascent polity of the New Republic was emerging from the ad hoc arrangments of the Eastern Defence Bloc, and by 3213 elections were held in all the systems of the NR.

Elections of 3213: New Republic

Elaine Harpy, by then First Minister of the Gorgon Collective was an obvious candidate for President. However, the majority vote went to George Forty of the DRP with his power base on New Draconis; and Harpy was asked to accept the role of Foreign Relations, along with GPP's Harrington Fox with the science portfolio, in a government mostly run by the DRP.

Since her arrival in the NR government, Harpy has developed a reputation for competence and determination, perhaps marred by her short fuse and impatience. The Galaxy is yet to see if she has the mettle to continue her political progress in interstellar diplomacy.

When not at her office Elaine guards her privacy but her hobbies are known to include parkour, spearfishing, dice games, crossbow hunting, watching Esteeler soap operas and breeding miniature megadons. She lives alone with at least one cat.