Gunsmoke Gretel

Gunsmoke Gretel is a famous Freelancer who primarily operated in the Western Reach, known for her iconic "Cyclone Pistol". She vanished while on a job and is believed dead though many have claimed sight of her since.

Early Life
Born Gretel Cho to a pair of refugees in the Barren-Lands, little else is known of Gretel's early childhood. Most historians do not even begin to catalog her life until she is adopted by an Adventure Corps survey team at the age of eleven. The common belief is that her parents had long died and some speculate that Gretel survived alone as long as she did by harvesting their flesh.

Adventure Corps
Embracing her new family, Gretel worked hard to absorb as much knowledge as possible. She started as merely a mascot but quickly earned her way to being a full partner before her sixteenth birthday. Her work within the Adventure Corps allowed her to explore much of the Barren-Lands as well as familiarize herself with the sociopolitical situation in the Western Reach.

It is also believed it was during her tenure with the Corps that she discovered her Cyclone Pistol.

Freelance
Shortly after turning seventeen Gretel left the Corps to pursue an independent freelance carrier. Starting small, she primarily served as an escort and guide to caravans and corporate research teams. This would change a mere year later when she got caught up in a dispute between various scavengers. Outnumbered and outgunned folk lore states that Gretel had little choice but to defend herself. That defense would see nearly thirty men dead and a way station in flames.

No one is certain how news of the gunfight spread but became a incredibly popular anecdote in the Western Reach and the more the tale spread so did Gretel's popularity. For the next fourteen years she was a media darling, one of the most iconic Freelancers if not the most iconic Freelancer in the Western Reach. Her fees skyrocketed and all too often Gretel found herself hired out by law enforcement, all of them eager for her to replicate the carnage from the way station.

The moniker "Gunsmoke" is believed to have come shortly into her popularity, a corporate officer using it to describe a particularly bloody engagement between smugglers and Gretel. Others disagree and state that the name was coined by the media in an effort to make her name more recognizable.

Cyclone Pistol
Nearly as popular and iconic as Gretel herself was her personal weapon, a revolver of unknown origin. Capable of holding almost sixty rounds in its cylinder the Cyclone Pistol had the uncanny ability of being able to discharge all of them in a mere second. Companies tried to replicate or reverse engineer the weapon but few came close, the sidearm deemed a piece of Lost-Tech.

Disappearance
While working for an undisclosed patron Gretel vanished near the town of Timpu. Some speculate the job was merely a setup for someone to get a hand on the Cyclone Pistol while others believe she got tired of the fame and decided to live the remainder of her life in privacy.

Her name is still whispered in the Western Reach, a boogeyman who will punish the lawless. Additionally there are people who have reported seeing her; hat tucked low over her eyes, ponytail swaying, and Cyclone Pistol holstered at her hip.