Born and in San Francisco to Chinese expatriates in 1999, Simon Tang joined the United States Marine Corps in 2017, and began serving at the US Embassy in Beijing as a Marine Security Guard (MSG) – in part due to his fluency in Mandarin.

By 2030, Gunnery Sergeant Tang had become the Beijing Embassy Detachment Commander, when the embassy was taken by Chinese forces; he sustained serious blast injury during the assault, including partial paralysis from spinal burst fractures, pericardial tamponade resulting in permanent damage, and massive pulmonary contusion.

During his internment in Liaoning he was given tertiary medical treatment, but continued to suffer considerable pain and disability. Additionally, he had become infected with the ‘Red Flu’ (the same disease which he would later learn had killed his parents in San Francisco), and was quarantined in poor conditions. His official records with the US Armed Forces are lost, either as a result of the global internet collapse, cyberwarfare, or deliberate action.

In 2033 he finally returns to America. Sickly, crippled, and traumatized. He faces accusations regarding his loyalty, demands of evidence of his citizenship and military history, and bureaucratic mismanagement – it takes three years to reinstate him, during which he has no income or proper medical support.

He serves two years behind a desk before taking his pension.

Tang comes into contact with US Patriot Militia members in 2040. They share his deep hatred of the Chinese, and offer to correct his debilitating spine and heart injuries in exchange for his services as a mercenary – this begins his career as a soldier-of-fortune, specializing in guard detail and assignments involving Chinese targets or agencies.

He remains deeply suspicious of the government, hates and fears most modern technology which seems to pervert the human soul (including his own augmentations), and does his best to remain off the grid.