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Everyone's got their own stories. How do you decide whose is right?  People say a lot of things about a lady - their stories spread like wildfire, but nobody ever stops to ask hers.  Yet she revels in rumors, thrives on gossip - whispers of who she might be ensure no one knows what to expect.  So far as she's concerned, she does she must.  If other see her differently.. well, every story needs a villain.

Maria is an adaptable woman if nothing else.  She has seen enough things go down in her lifetime that she's come to believe change is one of life's constants.  For her those who aren't on top of developments and ready to act in response to them are bound to be left in the dust of history.  It's not out of spite that she feels this, it's just merely how the world works.  To this end she has become very observant of non verbal communication, ready to act on the slightest hint that something might be amiss.  This can lead to moments of silence that are awkward for some but simply serve to allow her an opportunity to read others.  Learning more about others by observing how they react to this silence is also an interesting thing for Maria.  Her life is much like a game of chess, in which she wants to ensure that she is capable of staying ahead of her opponents (both current an potential).

Those who actually have spent time in The Queen's company have experienced personally her charisma and natural leadership capabilities.  She's awfully charismatic to the point that she can convince others of plans that might seem a bit too risky.  In the face of danger, she exalts in the opportunity to prove herself more heroic than anyone who might rival her.  This relates to her personal goal of establishing her own, lasting and powerful, kingdom of the underworld.  Her ambition to achieve the goal overrides all other concerns and makes her willing to take risks when others would not.  To her the greatest rewards are not without risk, and she therefore lives by the old commando's motto of 'who dares, wins.' Maria, despite her knack for observation, becomes quite spontaneous if she perceives there to be potential reward in an opportunity.  Seizing opportunities is something that causes her to view people as pieces in that great chess game.  Some are more valuable, more capable than others, but in the end they are pieces which will move and change over time.  Several times in her life she's turned her back on those who once outranked her once they'd shown a sign of weakness.  Just a way to outmaneuver them and replace them with her own pieces.

Given the world she lives in Maria can be slow to trust others and assumes that those she meets are potentially as capable as herself.  Therefore they are a potential risk to her own ambitions until proven otherwise.  Or at least demanding of observation until she can determine where they stand on such a scale.  Once someone has proven to be useful or even friendly Maria will make use of them as much as she can.  She's willing to honor agreements and alliances when they stand, but she's still willing to change her relationship with others when it suits her ambition to do so.  Those who are close to her or working for her organization can expect her support and protection, even kindness.  A good leader is one who treats her followers well, rewards them for their service and holds herself to a heroic ideal.  People need an example to follow, and Maria's ambition demands that she be the one to follow.

In her worldview Maria is actually doing something heroic.  Society deems such behavior deviant and criminal, but history will not remember those who play by confining rules.  She grew up on stories of heroes who flouted the rules and conventions only to achieve great things.  Maria believes that whatever she can do to better herself is completely reasonable to do, no matter what laws a society has put in place.  Thus she justifies her actions as being heroically defiant of conventions that others sought to place on people such as herself.  As a leader she can be heroic by taking care of her followers, expanding her influence and achieving victories over foes.  Also worth nothing is that Maria has quite a temper when triggered, and tends toward violence as a first resort when angered.  This has gotten her a reputation that's perhaps less heroic than she'd like.

+Music - In particular Maria enjoys listening to classical music and chants.  She finds them soothing after a long hard day of doing whatever it takes to survive.  Whenever she's in need of time to reflect or plot her next move, she's likely to be listening to something in private.  Of course it also helps mask the sounds of less savory activities - an added bonus.
+Spices - Maria's work has taken her to many places, so she's picked up a taste for various spices encountered in her travels.  She's apt to put them on dishes that would not normally be flavored as such.  
+Language study - Maria loves finding the commonalities between languages, brushing up on her own capability and learning new things.  It's useful for her work as well.  She's worked on learning French, English, Arabic and Latin in the past, with an interest in Turkish and German as well.
+Swords - With an eye for heroic tales, Maria has a big interest in swords and their use.  She has a small collection of various types and has tried to learn how to use each one, at least in theory.  
+Fine clothing - Despite her quite questionable employment practices demanding rugged clothes, Maria has a taste for the fashionable.  For her it's part of looking noble and heroic.  She won't let it interfere with a job, but those who meet her will attest that she dresses well.

-Heat - Although she has learned to tolerate it to a degree, Maria really dislikes hot temperatures and climates.  Despite spending a good amount of time working in such climes, she's never gotten used to it.  Possibly because she sunburns rather easily.
-Conventional politics - Maria is a firm believer that the politics of the 'lawful' are just a public euphemism for people who don't want to be identified as criminal even though they act like they are.  For her political parties aren't worth the paper they print campaign material on.  Real power can only be exerted when you through the conventional playbook out the window.
-Being ignored - As someone who strives to be heroic, she can't stand being ignored by those she engages with.  Her ambition drives her to a desire for making these people pay for ignoring her.  
-Weak leaders - To specify, she dislikes weak leaders within her own organization.  Leaders need to be strong to survive and effectively lead.  Those who become weak must, by necessity, be cast aside.
-Boats - Due to past experiences which were less than pleasant, Maria does not like boats or sailing.  Both seem rather too risky in her mind, so they're not worth as much of a time investment.

+Control of the London underworld - Ambitious as she is, Maria's desire is to do nothing short of conquer the criminal world of her new base of operations.  Her Kingdom is to be the most powerful; anyone who doubts or impedes this will be painfully shown the folly of their ways.
+Become a hero - In addition to wanting control of the underworld she strives to be seen as heroic.  Not to the 'Lawful' upper section of society, but by those who are downtrodden by that section's standards.
+To meet the Pope.  Despite her distaste for conventional lawfulness, Maria is still a Catholic at heart.  She's heard so much about the head of the church and since she was young has desired to meet him.

-Being betrayed by allies or subordinates.  Maria knows she can defeat enemies she is aware of; those from within are something she fears much more.  
-Dying unknown.  The glory hound in Maria wants to be remembered no matter what else happens in her life.  To die quietly would negate all that she's worked so hard to achieve.

- Drowning - of any way to depart this mortal coil, Maria fears drowning the most.  Someone close to her drowned before her eyes, and every time she hears about a ship sinking she gets a knot in her stomach.

Maria doesn't know who her parents are or were, having been left in the care of an orphanage before she was old enough to remember them.  For all she knows they are dead and buried; she really doesn't much care any which way.  The Sisters who ran the orphanage named her Maria, and she's pretty sure she's part French.  Other than that her childhood was a blank slate from which to create an elaborate picture.  Starting off with literally nothing, she worked hard in school but tended to get in fights with other kids over petty disputes.  Often scolded, she blamed those who made the rules for not seeing how she was talented at creative thinking rather than mending her ways.  Still she showed a gift for languages early and studied whatever foreign language books she could get her hands on.  Improving herself was the only way to be sure she was going to survive - she couldn't count on others to save her very often.
Eventually she got herself into more trouble than even the caretakers could cover or make excuses for.  Flouting curfew she'd sneaked out with a few kids she'd managed to win over (now that her social skills had improved) and went on a spree of thievery.  Several shop windows had been smashed, many items taken and the children had foolishly returned to their orphanage feeling quite proud of themselves.  The authorities showed up the next day and took the older children involved into custody; Maria had managed to spot them coming and hide from them.  Knowing they'd be back she took her few belongings and ran away.  As it happened one of the shops had been a front for the local mafia, and soon she was in the hands of their boss.  Having observed she had some talents, the boss offered her a chance to make amends for her actions.  So it was that at the age of 12 Maria entered the service of a mafia boss in southern France near the Italian border.  After stealing some things for the boss, she asked to stay on as she had nowhere else to go.
For a few years she was effectively part of the family, claiming she was Italian-born and doing odd jobs occasionally for them.  Life became rough when a new boss took over after his predecessor's assassination by a rival family.  The new boss mistreated Maria physically and she sliced him with a knife.  After making her escape Maria managed to steal enough to pay for a boat trip to the middle east.  One other girl accompanied her, having taken the opportunity to flee when Maria did.  During this flight the girl, a close friend of Maria's, fell overboard and drowned.  Without much other recourse and some rough talent for stealth and fighting, she eventually joined the Israel Defense Force as a volunteer.  
She served in a conventional armed force for eight years, until she was 26, refining her fighting skills and various other underhanded skills to boot.  Things that could help her when she went back to take revenge on the boss and the rival family.  For her this wasn't a chance to reform so much as to lay low, learn new skills and prepare for the coming storm.  At this time she also began to develop contacts with arms dealers.  Once she finished her service Maria had earned Israeli citizenship but almost immediately she left the Holy Land for France.  Unfinished business awaited there.
At first she made contact with her old employers, going by a pseudonym and offering her services as a wetworks specialist.  Gradually she worked her way into the family's good graces, calling upon her contacts to arm them more heavily than their rivals.  After 5 years she'd gotten in enough that she was included in a hit on the rival family's leadership.  This turned out to be successful, achieving her first goal of revenge.  A further 5 years later she had been entrusted with most of the family's enforcement work and had gained the trust of very capable people.  With the boss aging and losing some turf to a new enemy, Maria knew it was time to act.  Accompanied by the trusted subordinates she called her 'knights', Maria attacked her own boss and took his life as well.  Many of her "knights" fell in the process and the family disintegrated into warring factions.
Sensing it was time to move on, Maria relocated to London with the intention of beginning over again.  What 'knights' had survived had been told to go in their own separate ways, to better avoid retribution.  For a year she kept to herself, taking occasional jobs doing various nefarious things for a lot of money.  The itch for glory was still there.  She could do better than those abusive bosses - she needed to prove herself superior to them.  So she began to assemble criminals whose own organizations had fallen apart for various reasons.  The cast-offs of dead families and syndicates became the foundation for her own organization, dubbed the "Kingdom of Heaven."  A motley assortment of nationalities were represented in its ranks, specializing at first in weapons trafficking (owing to her contacts) and money laundering.  Occasionally another group would infringe on her territory, and in such times she and her Kingdom acted swiftly and violently to remove their threat.  
Now the Kingdom of Haven group has established itself as having staying power that none in the underworld doubt.  Maria has allowed there to be peace for now, but always has her eyes on everyone's movements.  This is a grand game of chess and she is determined to do whatever she has to in order to emerge victorious.

Acrid air filled the flat as indication of events which had just transpired.  Its stench was a mix of the smokey residuals from gunfire and the sickly sweet scent of the dead.  The latter emanated from large unmoving forms on the floor of a room which had been a lively private gathering moments before.  A pair of heavy shoes clomped past one of the forms, barely avoiding a collision.  Maria d'Hauteville found the idea of getting blood from this scene on her boots rather distasteful.  After all the forms on the floor were half a dozen bodies which had been hit with a hail of bullets.  Her boots were new after all, and she hoped to wear them for things other than moments of action such as this.  Bodily substances had a nasty habit of being very difficult to get off of things.  

Eventually they'd get bloodied; such as the nature of her work.  The fact that some of the gunsmoke smell was coming from a weapon stored in a shoulder holster testified to that.  She worked a kink out of her neck as she gingerly stepped over another body en route to her destination.  This was a bit messier than she usually liked to be, but it was a special occasion.  Every new skill, new language, new job that she'd gotten had been built up to the present.  Taking down her old boss in France had set the ball in motion, and now in England she was finally seeing her plans take fruition.

There was one of the bodies that wasn't quite dead, propping himself up in the corner.  Such admirable courage to be trying to stand even when his body was rapidly quitting on him.  Maria hadn't seen someone with that many wounds keep going before.  It was impressive, she had to admit that.  All the same she couldn't have the man alive to tell people who'd been responsible for this hit - it was intended to cause war between two gangs after all.  Word getting out that the Kingdom of Heaven had attacked would only get her unwanted attention.  She stopped just short of his form, crouching so that she could look the man in the eyes.  For his courage she would at least reward him a direct dialogue.

"Very impressive," she commented with a nod, motioning to his wounds, "Those hurt quite a lot, don't they?  Your brothers didn't possess this much determination, it seems.  I applaud your courage but this can't go on.  You know that as well as I do, don't you?"

"Wh-who.. the hell are you?" he managed to grunt out as he attempted to get his damaged arm working.

Maria smirked, "Why, I'm the Queen of course.  This will soon be part of my domain.. you lot just happened to be in the way."

The man maintained a defiant look but couldn't summon the words to speak.  He smiled as footsteps were heard behind them, but Maria just stood up and chuckled.  She put her hand on the hilt of the sword that was at her side, "I wouldn't be so relieved, these are just my Knights.  You didn't really think I did this alone did you?"

She drew her blade out and tapped the tip, "I imagine you're wondering why this is happening.  Let me enlighten you."


"HRG!" the man gurgled painfully as the sword was shoved into his chest.

Maria twisted the blade a bit until the man's eyes indicated he'd passed.  As she drew her weapon out, "That's simple... Deus lo Vult."