Miriam Flippo (Cataclysmic Gerosha)

Miriam Ann "Sniperbadger" McLaine (née Flippo) is a major character in the Gerosha universe of Dozerfleet Comics. She features in the first two parts of both the webcomic trilogy and novel trilogy. She is also a main character in the show Sodality, which partially reinterprets both her personal character and her history. Miriam is a fraternal triplet of Candi Levens and an identical triplet of Marina Baret. She is the daughter of Stan and Shalia Flippo, and becomes the mother of Marie, Trina, and Larry McLaine. She also becomes the wife of adventurer/scientist Steve McLaine.

In the concept art for Sodality, she is portrayed by both a model from The Sims 3 and by Indonesian model Nanda Soebagio.

Character bio
Note: ''The following narrative is specific to Cataclysmic Gerosha. See below for explanations of how previous narratives differ.''

The early life and times of Miriam are fairly consistent throughout all of her five main interpretations. The greatest deviation in her narrative comes in Sodality, where the terms of how and where she flees from Gerosha are changed. Also changed is the nature of how her boyfriend, Phil Couric, meets his untimely end. She is something of a foil to her sister Candi. This is especially true of the Earth-G7 version of Candi; but is true of earlier versions as well.

While Candi is at times religious and is usually somewhat modest, Miriam was treated worse than Candi by their older sister Erin. This led to a desire to rebel, making Miriam more susceptible to worldly temptations. As a result, she became something of a "bad girl" when compared to Candi's fairly conservative demeanor. In spite this, she harbored no resentment toward Candi. In fact, Candi often came to Miriam's aid when Erin would go too far. Miriam has described Candi at times as being "like a second conscience," keeping both Erin and Miriam from going over the edge with their character flaws. Candi and Miriam remained closest of friends, even after Marina left and after separated from each other for several months with no contact.

In earlier versions she was, like Candi, under the Curse of Honeybee Samuel. Said curse made self-control near-impossible. This is not a major plot point in Cataclysmic Gerosha, since her ancestor Sam Wrikon never became Honeybee Samuel in the Cataclysmic universe. By extension, the Meshalutian Trilogy and its continuity are no longer canon in Sodality. Instead, repeated harassment and mistreatment from peers at school is part of why Miriam has her personality flaws.

Ancestry
See also: Ancestry of Candi Levens (Cataclysmic Gerosha)

Miriam is a fraternal triplet with Candi and Marina. She did not acquire the Centhuen Prototype genes that her father Stan Flippo received from Grandma Centipede after being experimented on by Phaelite scientists. However, she did acquire a lot of intelligence from her mother Shalia.

Early life
Miriam grew up in her earliest years as being like Candi in almost every way. Along with Marina, the triplets were sweet and innocent. The family situation seemed almost perfect. However, Stan and Shalia grew too comfortable in their assumption that the Hebbleskins were truly gone. In 2006, a young Gunner Soorfelt changed all that by going along with his mentor on a mission to assassinate Stan and Shalia. Their initial plan botched, they settled for running the couple off the road. This secondary plan proved successful, and the founders of Gerosha were reported dead. They wanted to cut up Stan and collect Shalia's head; but police were closing in too quickly.

Reily refused to assume custody of his young sisters, since they were even younger than his own son Kirby. Therefore, custody fell on a reluctant Erin Flippo. The wealth-yet-eccentric Japanese inventor Imaki Izuki became Candi's godfather after befriending Stan and Shalia in the earliest months of Candi's life. He decided to set up base in Gerosha so as to become a sort of "uncle" figure to Candi. In this way, he helped ease a fraction of Erin's burden of promotion to parental figure.

All the girls were psychologically damaged by the senseless murder of their parents. However, Miriam took it the hardest. She was always the one who knew how to get her mother's attention the most efficiently. But she couldn't manipulate death to get what she wanted. Life with Erin brought a lot of changes in the girls' lives, and Miriam was the slowest to adjust. Imaki tried to reach out to her too; but they never bonded the way Candi bonded with Imaki. Miriam gained a love of machines early on, leading to her eventually becoming the hacker Sniperbadger. She found that at least the machines could be bent to her will. She grew confident that even if she was not to be allowed to have her way with anything else, at least she could get the machines to do her bidding.

High school
Miriam attended the same schools as did Candi and Marina, and had the same catechism instruction at church. The three girls were confirmed at the same time. Unlike Marina, Candi and Miriam pressed for harder examination questions before being confirmed. They wanted to give better-thought-out answers than what was deemed standard fare for confirmands. Nobody of the three girls took it to heart more than Candi. The girls soon left eighth grade, leaving their horrible nightmares of Gerosha Middle School behind. However, they found Gerosha High to be much worse. What they had learned would be put to the test on a regular basis.

Of the three triplets, Miriam was the least happy about moving in with Erin. She claimed to envy Candi's situation, in which Erin had joint custody with Imaki. Erin responded by being the harshest on Miriam, even when advised by Candi and Imaki not to. Erin slowly developed a chemical imbalance in her brain, leading to mental and emotional instability as well as violent mood swings. Stress at school was made worse when the new politically-correct faculty began aggressively persecuting the girls for not playing along with the state-sponsored ideology. They didn't do much to fight back, since they feared it'd draw the Hebbleskins in. However, the girls' torment was made worse when the teachers started encouraging students who didn't share the girls' views to retaliate with sexual harassment.

After Candi and Marina were raped, they both developed a strong desire to replace their negative experiences with positive ones. Marina took matters into her own hands, and numerous boys at school began taking advantage of her. This came back to haunt Miriam, as the boys had trouble telling the sisters apart. As the growing persecution of Marina unfolded, Candi and Miriam started taking the fall for some of her transgressions. The three girls did what they could to shelter Erin from the fact that her younger sisters' reputations were soiled.

Erin's deteriorating mental health led to strained relations with all three of her sisters, in spite not knowing the truth about how many rumors spread about the girls. However, Marina eventually entered a committed relationship with Matt Baret - the one boy was wasn't simply taking advantage of her. He saw writing on the wall with Obama's re-election, and wanted to help his family liquidate assets in their car dealership and flee the country. Marina got pregnant via Matt, and quickly experienced Erin's wrath. The result was Candi and Miriam not being trusted with whom they dated.

While Candi aimed to negotiate peace, Miriam quickly got fed up with how Erin was treating her. She began dating Phil Couric, the only boy at school that repeatedly stood up for her - even at his own expense. As the nation was split in four following the fiscal cliff dive, Phil and Miriam readily saw writing on the wall as well. Miriam got a scholarship to study advanced programming in Hong Kong - and gladly pursued it. She moved in with Phil's family, even though Candi and Imaki advised against it. Phil's family, to put Candi and Imaki's minds partially at ease, made sure that Miriam and Phil had separate bedrooms.

Escape from Ameristan and Phil's death
The arrangement was short-lived. Phil's family, being black and conservative, was readily targeted by the new regime for extermination. It was deemed a "political anomaly" that had "no right to exist." Phil and Miriam soon found themselves as homeless freedom fighters, moving from place to place with a resistance force against the Ameristani dictator. Phil and Miriam eventually succumbed to their desire for one another, consummating the relationship. They determined that they would marry officially once they'd set foot in Hong Kong, as eloping in Ameristan had become a very dangerous thing to do.

The two of them ended up assisting a resistance force in developing an Exodus Agenda. Imaki began work on his own, as the regime persistently reneged on its promise of safe passage of registered Toklisanans out of Ameristan. What Miriam didn't count on was the full extent to which the Ameristani regime had gotten in bed with the Hebbleskin Gang. She used her "Sniperbadger" online identity, and her associated hacking talents, to create a breach in "the Wall," a force shield that kept anyone from crossing the border and leaving Ameristan. No sooner did Miriam work her online magic and flee the scene with Phil than Gunner and Skellig spotted them. A car chase developed, which led to Phil and Miriam being run off the road by Gunner and Skellig. However, Ameristani police began to chase the murderers down when they witnessed a Muslim man's car get damaged in the initial chase.

Miriam survived the crash; Phil didn't. Devastated, she dumped his body in the forest and fled on foot across the border. She traveled to Chimerican California with the help of a few other survivors. Alas, most of her company didn't make it across the border alive. She was able to collect her inheritance in California. She acquired several tattoos, and then boarded a plane to Hong Kong. She left a message on Candi's phone, warning her that the two might not be able to contact each other for at least a month or two.

Impressment
Miriam adopts the alias of "Hǎishuǐ," and spends her first month or so in hiding in Hong Kong. In spite her personal wealth, she takes a lowly job as a shelf stocker for a pharmacy, as a means of laying low. She buys fake glasses and adopts a new wardrobe to further disguise her true identity. However, she soon runs into trouble when she uncovers Hebbleskins in her neighborhood. She grows desperate for help, and lonely. When her employer ignores her warnings, he pays with his life. She heads over to the local police to share what she knows. However, the police immediately suspect that "Hǎishuǐ" is of more interest than what her looks alone would suggest. Agent Stung Hornet of the Chinese Ministry of State Security is called in to interrogate.

It isn't long before Miriam is recruited to a special team, one assigned specifically to aid in countering Hebbleskin activity. In addition to Stung Hornet, she gains teammates Black Rat, Tin Dragon, and Teal Hog. She has a brief affair with Black Rat; but decides against pursuing anything further with him. She begins receiving aid in her hacking missions from a scientists named "Guan." Several missions go by, and Stung Hornet decides the time has come for "Guan" and Miriam to meet. Guan reveals himself to be Steve McLaine, another American living in exile. A romance soon develops between Miriam and Steve.

Relocation to Alaska
The team is later re-assigned to monitor a research station in Alaska. Rumor has it that Russian spies have been plotting to take over the station, and eventually reclaim Alaska for Russia. Safely back on the North American continent, Miriam begins to establish regular contact with Candi. The team takes refuge in the fact that their work in Alaska is not nearly as busy as in Hong Kong.

One of the team's biggest challenges involves overcoming Melvin Markus, a Hebbleskin-affiliated hacker whose skills rival those of Miriam. Their cyber-war eventually erupts into a real conflict. Teal Hod is injured, though not killed, battling the Hebblekins when they launch an assualt on the research station.

Married life and children
Miriam and the team are called to embark on a dangerous mission to Toklisana, when it's revealed that the Ming-Yo has wound up in the hands of a madman known as "Captain Aardwulf." On the way down, Miriam reveals to Steve that she's pregnant. Their helicopter is crashed at one point, placing all of them in danger. Miriam and company end up having to join forces with Candi and her friends to defeat Capp Aard. The result is that Candi and Donte travel back to Alaska to visit. Steve and Miriam get married a short while after their mission in Toklisana ends. Her Chinese friends decide that she can be trusted without them watching over her; and they are sent back to China. Steve and Miriam settle down in the research facility, turning it into their home.

Miriam semi-retires from hacking in order to raise the children, while Steve becomes a full time scientist. She becomes the mother of twins Marie and Trina McLaine, who develop music talents later on in life. Her son Larry McLaine is born some time later.

Personality
True to the Hebrew meaning of her name, Miriam tends to harbor bitterness. She is not, however, as bitter as Jeral Cormier. She is very pragmatic in some incarnations, while insecure in others. She often fights to have a situation in her life that she can fully control, becoming flustered when in scenarios where she has no control. Her degree of respect for herself varies from one version of the Gerosha universe to the next. She is generally playful, but can be very vindictive if forced to be. She was generally quite helpless in her original incarnation. However, she was later interpreted to be quite adept at a variety of tasks besides hacking machines.

In Sodality, she is also able to learn Chinese rather quickly. Her skills at espionage, and determination to bring down the Hebbleskin Gang, rival those of her sister Candi. In fact, Miriam and Phil were the first to lead a small band of resistance to the Ameristani regime across "the Wall," making her an even more-determined freedom fighter in some respects than Candi. She goes about her quest to defeat the Hebbleskins in a different way than her sister, since she doesn't have the centipede powers. She is shown in this version to be skilled with negotiations also. In spite being considerably more competent at far more life skills than her predecessors, Cataclysmic Miriam is the most child-like in both appearance and in overall emotional maturity. She clings to Stung Hornet like a small child in search of a mother. She gains a little more adult confidence after meeting Steve, who challenges her to put aside her past demons.

Her "Haishui" alias, in which she adopts mannerisms more confined than her usual personality, was inspired by Dakota Fanning in the film Push. That film is also a major inspiration behind why Miriam chooses to hide from the world by living in Hong Kong. Her discovery of Hebbleskin activity leads to her drawing attention from the Chinese Ministry of State Security, which leads to her eventually conducting missions in mainland China.

Aside from Cataclysmic Miriam, Classic Miriam is probably the most willing to resort to ethically-questionable methods of fighting or fleeing danger. Preliminary work for Ciem 2 had her showing no hesitation whatsoever at stealing a car, when it suited her and Candi's need to escape a burning city. She also hits Captain Aardwulf with it, doing more damage to him than any of Candi's maneuvers.

Miriam is more manipulative than Candi as well, becoming adept at getting what she wants. She's also more open and honest with herself about her insatiable sexual desires, less ashamed to admit the lengths she'll go to in order to satisfy her cravings. However, this means she ends up in more trouble; brought on by her more-carefree attitude. Unlike Candi, who feels that her calling gives her an extra-special reason to have better self-control than Marina; Miriam ends up feeling forgotten, and devoid of most obligations. She soon realizes what a prodigal this makes her, and starts correcting course after some time dating Steve. This is especially true of Comprehensive Miriam, who takes things to the greatest extremes of any incarnation.

Miriam is sultry, passionate about what (and whom) she loves and believes in, and quite adept at survival - in nearly all versions. However, the trouble she gets herself into becomes a reminder to Candi of what could happen if Candi lets herself stray that far. And in spite handling herself in a reasonably more conservative manner, Candi is worried that she has often come too close to taking after Miriam in the worst ways.

Gerosha Prime
The character of Miriam was first envisioned in Gerosha Prime, at the end of production for the 2005 version of The Battle for Gerosha. Her name, and partially also her appearance, were inspired by the Dreamworks version of Moses' sister.

The Sims used for Stan and Shalia Flippo were given the Family Aspiration in The Sims 2, so the game was bent over backwards with hacks and cheats to fulfill this wish, before Stan and Shalia had to be killed off to make room for others on the lot. The PC in use was an HP Pavilion 8700 from 2000, which barely had enough processing power to handle Sims 2. The game decided not to count the wish as granted, due to the fact that only nine of Stan's ten children were with Shalia. The backstory about Ploribus/Darius being born of Insila Murtillo, and the half-cloning, was a cover for the fact that Stan was abducted in the original game. Abducted male Sims had a high probability of arriving back on their lots as "impregnated by aliens." There weren't the necessary tools installed to abort the narrative, so Stan wound up having a baby that was originally named Ploribus.

Ploribus was then rapidly aged up using cheats, so he could be moved off the lot. He was not originally going to have any role at all in The Battle for Gerosha, but was assigned one later on anyway. Battle for Gerosha was written with the initial goal of the Dozerfleet founder familiarizing himself with how to use the game's controls to make any DSHW he so desired.

After Candi was born to Shalia using the InSimenator, Miriam and Marina were born as twins. This was retconnned in the story are the three being triplets. Initially, there was only a desire to develop Reily as a character. However, Candi seemed to be an interesting challenge as a character that could be developed into something far more interesting than Reily. Therefore, plans for a sequel involving Reily and his family were scrapped. the 2005 version of Ciem switched the focus to Stan and Shalia's daughter. It was mentioned that Candi had sisters in the form of Miriam and Marina. The story began by alluding to Erin, first mentioned earlier in Battle for Gerosha, being murdered. There were plans to include Miriam in that original comic, and show her interacting with Candi. Those plans didn't materialize. Instead, Miriam was brought back as one of the main characters for the 2005 version of Ciem 2. She was shown as cohabiting with Steve McLaine, revealing that she was affected by the family's tragedies worse than Candi was. As a result, Miriam became a foil of Candi. She made a lot of the wrong choices in life, becoming a frame of reference for Candi as to which choices she should avoid making in her own life.

Miriam's "Sniperbadger" alias was first alluded to as "Snipebadger89" in Gerosha Prime. Melvin Markus, her archenemy, also debuted. Little was made of her hacker lifestyle, except when it was most-critically plot-relevant. She was retired from the plot almost immediately after Ciem 2, due to a lack of understanding at the time of how best to utilize her in the story. It was customary in 2005 that all characters not killed by the plot were to be retired from it happily. This included building homes, marrying off characters, and giving them children. Therefore, Miriam was given the twins Marie and Trina. Larry was a randomly-generated third child before the McLaine family was completely sent away.

Despair Gerosha
The 2006 version of Ciem was the first time that Miriam and Candi's years living with Erin were explored in any real detail. Miriam's role as Sniperbadger was expanded on, and she was seen carrying out hacking activities even before she and Candi went separate ways. Her relationship with Phil Couric was established in this version. However, he was little more than an ex mentioned offscreen, who committed suicide much to Miriam's grief. Other details were scarce. Much like with Gerosha Prime, this version of Miriam completely disappears from the story afterward. She was to pop up again for Ciem 2, with more detail put into her relationship with Steve.

Classic Gerosha
Classic Miriam expanded on the Despair Miriam's template, explaining that Phil drowned himself. Visuals are given of her past relationship with Phil, including how they got a hotel room in Canada. She actually confesses her relationship and details of it to her sisters, unable to keep it a secret to herself any longer. More emphasis was put into showing that she and Candi were best friends. This is the first version to explicitly state that at a party, she was arrested. The reason given in this version was that she was rounded up "for her own protection." She is able to leave the next day, and spends some time at Farrenville Community College before moving to Alaska. She ends up in a relationship with Steve McLaine a short time later. However, Melvin Markus frames her for hacking China's state department databases. Steve heads to China to clear her name, while she heads to Indiana to find Candi and stay safe. Agents Black Rat and Tin Dragon were sent to hunt her. So also was a CIA operative named Vienna Dockler. The death of Captain Aardwulf results in her name being cleared, and she goes off to live happily with Steve in Alaska.

Unlike Sodality, where she lives out the rest of her days in a natural manner, she is murdered at the age of 53 in this version. Her children move to Gerosha, and become characters in Ciem Tomorrow. Mistakenly believing that the "liPo" prophecy referred to the Flippos, Duke Arfaas orders as his lifelong and dying wish that all the heads of Shalia's daughters be collected as trophies and put in a Meethlite museum. He eventually gets his wish. While Candi and Marina are executed on the chopping block, Miriam gets the guillotine.

Comprehensive Gerosha
This version bridges the gap between Miriam as understood in Classic Gerosha and Miriam as understood in Cataclysmic Gerosha. Her situation growing up under Erin, combined with being under the Curse of Honeybee Samuel, resulted in Miriam having many problems with substance and sexual abuse in this universe. Instead of Phil committing outright suicide, he leaps into the river to keep vital secret information from falling into Hebbleskin hands. His sacrifice, however, takes a devastating emotional toll on Miriam. Her aggressive Sniperbadger career becomes a means of coping with loss. Erin never does figure out that Miriam has slept with Phil in this version, though she begins to suspect.

Miriam's party girl ways in high school in Classic Gerosha are played up in this version, complete with her showing a lack of common sense in her trip to the house where the party is held. While the Hebbleskins do still launch a raid outside, the police are called in because of a noise complaint. They discover that Miriam has been stabbed in the back with a syringe, filling her with a drug that lowers her inhibitions. Kenny Corsillo, who graduated with her from Gerosha High, takes advantage by dragging her to an upstairs bedroom. She is discovered by police while having sex with Kenny, and both are arrested. Darius Philippine, her half-brother, negotiates for her freedom. He also mandates that she move to Alaska and start her life over.

In spite the money, Miriam is very lonely in Alaska. The realization of what has been done to her and her way of life - including Gunner's murder of Erin - causes her self-control and self-esteem to spiral downward radically. She takes a job as a stripper named "Mila Fila," until she finds it too degrading. She ends up having four one night stands at various points to cope with her loneliness better. However, she eventually meets scientist-adventurer Steve McLaine. It is not long before she moves in with him, and becomes part of his research team. Her software expertise makes her highly valuable.

While Steve wants to fix her, his own lack of self-control does nothing for her struggles with sexual addiction. She acquires her tattoos as part of her inner rebellion against the highly-restricted life she led under Erin's house. Steve and Miriam do realize that their antics have gotten out of hand when a man that Steve thought was a friend begins hiding cameras around their house, and filming porn videos of them without their knowledge. "Mila Fila" soon becomes a famous porn star, and the couple strives to shut down the business that they accidentally generated before the Hebbleskins get wise to Mila Fila's true identity.

Otherwise, the narrative of Miriam's life ends up near-identical to her Classic Gerosha narrative. Even the description of her eventual death is similar. This extreme narrative of Miriam's self-destructive tendencies was deemed inappropriate for her Sodality reinterpretation, so she was slightly cleaned up. While doing so makes her redemption seem less spectacular, it also makes her more sympathetic to begin with. Even so, the choices she makes, and consequences for them, become a reminder to Candi of how serious a calling Candi has to make better choices.

Visual evolution
Miriam was first depicted with The Sims 2 in late May of 2005, around the time that The Battle for Gerosha was written. She was depicted as having fair skin, since the game decided to choose between Stan and Shalia rather than blending their genes together. She also wound up with Stan's gray eyes. She also originally had blonde hair, since the game chose between Stan's blonde hairstyle and Shalia's red one. Since Shalia's hairstyle was supposed to be a dye, her character file was edited to have black hair. Likewise, Candi first manifested with red hair due to being from Shalia. Her hair color also had to be edited to make it that she's naturally black-haired. Like Miriam, Candi also had gray eyes.

Miriam's Gerosha Prime Ciem 2 look featured her initially wearing a red shirt and black cap. This was her basic look throughout Gerosha Prime. For Despair Gerosha, her skin was darkened as efforts were made to blend Stan and Shalia's genes. She retained her trademark look with a black hat, a joke on her being a hacker. However, the rest of her wardrobe underwent changes. She was seen in promo art for this version wearing a black shirt with a Snakes on a Plane-inspired design on it. Having her be a fan of Snakes on a Plane became a running gag from that point onward.

Miriam was shown initially as a Teen Sim in the 2007 Classic Gerosha version of Ciem. Her and Candi's skintones were darkened even more for this edition, though not as much as for Comprehensive Gerosha. Her personality became more formalized, as did the iconic image of her hiding in a dark room and working behind a monitor while wearing a black baseball cap. She became slightly more sensualized, since it was consistent with the evolution of her personal character. The 2009 version of Ciem 2 showed her as adventure-prone, and also solidified her iconic costume: black shirt, black cap, khaki pants/shorts, white socks, black shoes. She is shown as being slightly less in-shape than Candi, both due to lacking centipede powers and due to getting less exercise overall.

In 2010, Classic Gerosha was abandoned in favor of Comprehensive Gerosha. The base narrative for the replacement universe was going to be the novel Ciem: Vigilante Centipede. The new narrative did little to change Miriam's overall iconic image or life's story. However, it did take advantage of new features made available in The Sims 3. After leaving home, Miriam got a set of tattoos. The difficulty with adding tattoos in Sims 2 is one reason that Miriam never considers getting one in previous versions. The 2010 version of Miriam takes her rebellion with the tattoos much further than her more-conservative 2012 Cataclysmic Gerosha counterpart. While Sodality Miriam gets a few tattoos on her chest and arms, the Miriam that was going to appear in Nuclear Crisis was much more willing to experiment with tattooing herself in inappropriate places.

Miriam's eye color was changed in 2010 from gray to brown, and has remained that way ever since. Her baseball cap was later defined as being a Detroit Tigers cap, in reference to the similar-looking cap worn by Moki in Hana-Barbera's The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible.

Model representation
In 2012, the first physical model representation of her came from a photo modified from the collection of British/Indonesian photographer Ardhana Galih Wicaksono, better known on DeviantArt as the user "Maleica." The original artist commented that edits to the originally-donated photo of Nanda Soebaigo were "a bit harsh," but said that the modified look for Nanda served the character of Miriam well. Ardhana also stated that he found Miriam as a character "very interesting." By "harsh," he was referring to how the background was changed radically from Nanda's original. Also, the USB drive Miriam is holding above was a cigarette in the original with Nanda. The baseball cap was edited in. She was originally without a hat. The straps on her shirt were painted, making it a tank top. In the original photo, Nanda wore a tube top. The pants were also a different color. Tattoos are from various pre-set shapes in Photoshop CS2, and were modeled after the tattoos Comprehensive Miriam acquired in concept art for Ciem: Nuclear Crisis.