Stephanie Barrin (Cataclysmic Gerosha)

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Character bio
Stephanie Amanda Tannuli (neé Barrin) is a superheroine in The Gerosha Chronicles of Dozerfleet Comics, featuring in the Pilltar Adventures volume. She is a native resident in both Comprehensive and Cataclysmic Geroshas, and is the main pilot for Strawberry. She is a sidekick to Seth Lambrelli, the initial main pilot of Pilltar, and later teaches her father Ron Barrin how to be Seth's replacement. She is the daughter of Ron and Theresa Barrin, eventual wife of Jonathan Tannuli, and eventual mother to Ricky Tannuli. She is the co-creator of Strawberry, the creator of Strawforcer, and the creator of the AI known as G.E.O.R.G.E.

She is enlisted as a member of the Sodality of Gerosha during the events in the series Sodality, where she begins piloting the second generation of Strawberry units. She moves on to piloting the third generation in Sodality: Battle for Metheel, though her actions during the Senator Gobar scandal result in her being placed on probation. She later marries Jonathan Tannuli, whom her father considers a possible heir to Lambrelli Labs.

During the Kirby Act hearings, her ties to the Sodality result in a warrant being issued for her arrest. She surrenders without incident, but goes insane while in SCALLOP custody and winds up requiring hospitalization. She later is placed on parole via the SCALLOP justice system, and starts looking for someone at Lambrelli Labs who can replace her as Strawberry's pilot. She eventually retires from superhero work altogether, to lead a quiet family life - though she does take over the company when Ron is ready to retire as CEO.

Pilltar
See also: Seth Lambrelli history in Pilltar, Pilltar (story)

Stephanie was always a happy child, one who wished her father Ron Barrin could be around more often. Ron was an army ranger, who eventually had a breakdown when on a "peacekeeping" mission. Events leading to the breakdown led to disagreements between Ron and his wife Theresa, and resulted in Ron having to live somewhere else. Theresa tried to make the most of it by getting involved with a school in the area that promised to be a good place for Stephanie. However, Stephanie was turned off by the school's legalism and questionable religious teachings. Even so, they made her do canvassing in the neighborhood for them. That was when Stephanie met Seth Lambrelli, a wheelchair-bound man who seemed to be busy about tinkering with things. As Stephanie grew curious about the man who had an answer for everything she threw at him, she began to find herself drawn more and more into his world. She decided that working for him would give her a better education than the school she was attending. This caused friction between Stephanie and her mother, but Ron eventually got involved and took Stephanie's side. Theresa was heartbroken at first, but changed her mind about things after Stephanie was abducted by some of the teachers at her school. It became the largest alarm bell to the Barrin's that there was something really not right with that school. Stephanie was fearful at first, but was then rescued by Pilltar.

Stephanie began working for and learning under Seth full time, and soon discovered that there was a sinister cannibal cult at work in town. Seth's efforts to use Pilltar to defeat Scott Morrisson and the cannibal cult were met with some frustration, as the cult was somehow heavily armed and Scott had a demon-like ability to fight. At one point, Seth gets injured by the Morrisson goons that break into his home. While Seth is in the hospital under Ron's protection, Stephanie tries to man a Pilltar unit to avenge her mentor. However, she soon finds out that she is no match for Scott's ingenuity and brutality. She has some difficulty interfacing properly with Pilltar, as the Pilltar unit was wired for Seth's brain. Right as Scott destroys her Pilltar, Seth recovers just enough to attach himself to a control device for another Pilltar. The two are able to defeat all of the present cult members except for Scott, who flees the scene to join his remaining members at another location. Seth agrees with Stephanie that they need a new version of Pilltar that will interface with Stephanie more easily.

Pilltar 2
Main article: Pilltar 2

Stephanie finds herself able to test out the Strawberry unit interface in field battle for the first time. She reveals herself to be quite skilled at it, but is somewhat distracted by the family politics involved in her parents reconciling their marriage. This proves an awkward time for her, as she also is sent to jail for two days for confessing to being Strawberry to a judge in order to avoid Seth being needlessly legally penalized when he is sued for stopping a knockout game. She is issued a restraining order to not use Strawberry to stop knockout games, for fear of the city being sued by major political figures in Washington. While unable to get the absurd conviction off her record, she does have the moral support of her family. They agree with her that the reason for her going to jail is "stupid." Seth promises her that her job performance rating will not be affected by her having been arrested.

She does at one point fly one of her Strawberry units a little too close to the ground during an EMP blast event caused by the Screwworm Network, leading to her Strawberry shorting out mid-flight and nearly putting Stephanie herself into a coma. She is able to recover from the shock and get herself into another Strawberry in time to help Seth and Roger take out the Screwworms. News of Seth dying, however, causes her to realize that she will have to be fully committed to training her father to become the new Pilltar.

Pilltar 3
Main article: Pilltar 3

Stephanie's hopes for a normal graduation fall apart in 2018 when the US collapses on itself. Affadidah and his regime create their own nation dubbed "Ameristan," which employs a scorched earth policy to take over as much of America as it can. It's blocked by a freedom resistance that becomes known as "Toklisana." China invades the west coast, and creates "Chimerica" to further block the efforts of Affadidah's regime.

Lambrelli Labs begins the process of transitioning more and more of its stock to Oklahoma. However, Stephanie and Ron find themselves to be among the last to be allowed to leave. They must carry with them enough to start their lives over - but also a good many of their Pilltar and Strawberry units. Scott Morrisson resurfaces, having stolen parts from damaged Pilltars to create his own monstrosity: Stagtar. Morrisson vows the agonizing deaths of Ron and Stephanie both, as they dared take on Seth's legacy while protecting him so that Scott could not dispose of Seth his way. Stephanie ends up traumatized for years by her experiences in trying to get away from Stagtar, especially after Theresa is murdered. Stephanie fights long and hard, but is eventually separated from her Strawberry unit and left with only a gun to defend herself from the then-Stagtar-less Morrisson. When the gun reveals itself unable to have much immediate effect, Stephanie panics. Ron rises to the challenge, letting Stephanie serve as a distraction long enough to merge with a damaged Pilltar and finish the fight.

After finally making it to her new home in Oklahoma, Stephanie decides to be a normal college student for a time, putting her remaining Strawberry units in storage.

Sodality


A calmed-down, more-financially-and-emotionally-stable Stephanie is considering dating a man she has met: Jonathan Tannuli. However, her love life is cut short when her and Ron's company is under attack by goons that are linked to the Phaletori and Judge Terry Beliah. Investigation into the matter reveals that he was after Pilltar and Strawberry, lest the two robots should be able to pose a threat to his agenda of cultural rot in Toklisana. It's also revealed that he had been targeting various Phexos and Marlquaanites for imprisonment in Marluqaanite prison field containers, placing them in suspended animation. Stephanie's personal world becomes threatened enough that she decides to resume being Strawberry for more than test runs. Her Strawberry units have been updated at this point to Mk. II specification.

Stephanie's experience as Strawberry is put to the test when she must help Candi escape from Senator Gobar's assassins into protective custody. The girls both use their tools and their wits to avoid being killed; but have some share of luck on their side. SCALLOP agent Brian Mizgel arrests both girls with the aid of a state trooper at a laundromat in Waco. Candi spends the next three weeks in protective custody, where as Stephanie is allowed to go home after one evening and most of the next day in jail, but with the need to return after getting some business attended to. She is asked to remain in custody until the black box from her most-recently-destroyed Strawberry can be recovered - to prove that the deaths of those SWAT members were self-defense rather than murder. Her name is cleared within a month.

When the Phaletori unleashes an army of True Centhuen warriors to help it and Beliah stage a coup on Houston, Strawberry and Pilltar end up joining the Sodality of Gerosha to stop him. They earlier assist the Sodality in rescuing the powerful Marlquaanites Extirpon, Gray Champion, and Mapacha. They are assisted by Ciem, Navyrope, Emeraldon, Mukade, Botan the Plant-Man, and more. After deciding to pursue a romance with Jon after all, Stephanie prepares for the possibility of training her own eventual replacement as the pilot of Strawberry.

Battle for Metheel
Main article: Sodality: Battle for Metheel

After surviving and getting over a traumatic rape on campus, Stephanie is poised to graduate ahead of schedule. She is in line to become the new president of Lambrelli Labs. However, she and her father Ron are abducted by King Morzhuk's forces. She is freed by Yemodan; but gets separated from the group headed for Phaelon. Instead, she and Ron find themselves on Metheel. They join Shabika and the resistance to overthrow Morzhuk and restore freedom to Metheel. Unlike Ron, who travels with Pilltar to Phaelon to rescue Hea Pang from the time stream; Stephanie and her Strawberry units stay behind on Metheel to aid Shabika's rebellion. Strawberry proves useful in the final battles to oust Morzhuk from power. After the adventure, Stephanie returns home to achieve her life goals.

Battling the Kirby Act
Main article: Sodality: Vindication

Following events in season 3, Stephanie can no longer operate Strawberry freely and openly. She is also under constant surveillance, though that has been compromised with the Icy Finger having attacked nearly everywhere at once and SCALLOP resources spread thin. Due to Jim Oisdaat selling out SCALLOP to the Icy Finger, they now know who Stephanie is and where to find her. They send some Screwworm operatives to her house to apprehend as much of her tech as possible. Having gotten married merely 13 days earlier to sweetheart Jonathan Tannuli, this was not the sort of honeymoon Stephanie was looking forward to. The couple only just discusses the possibility of children before they receive Jack's distress message. The Screwworm agents attack the house, and Stephanie tells Jon to get to safety. He worries about the Kirby Act, as he could end up also going back to jail if not careful. She assures him that if he runs to his family for help, they'll ensure he lays low enough to stay out of the limelight. He embraces her for her courage in being willing to take the heat for him, then runs to safety while she provides cover fire.

Her desperation to ward off the attack leads to her ignoring her terms of parole and activating a Strawberry unit. She escapes the house as well while her Strawberry provides cover fire. Once safe, she attempts to kill every last intruder in the home. They activate an MPF generator in the hopes of damaging Strawberry and then capturing the Tannulis. Repeated attempts to get the upperhand on the intruders lead to Stephanie making the desperate decision to detonate her Strawberry's self-destruct on the MPF generator and destroy it. This synchronizes with a self-destruct system she builds into the house itself, killing all the Screwworm agents but also blasting the house to smithereens. The fire spreads, setting a neighbor's roof on fire.

Using the clues given to her from Jack's distress message, Stephanie heads to Jack's hidden Sodality headquarters to meet up with the other members of Team Caged Dove. Lex gives her instructions on where to go to peacefully turn herself in. However, she gets distracted by a boy being attacked by some bullies. She uses her wits to save the boy as the bullies flee the area. However, the police locate her. She identifies herself and admits to being wanted under the Kirby Act, begging that the boy she saved be given protection from the bullies. She is assured he will receive that protection, and is then immediately arrested.

Efforts to repress her feelings of guilt over the neighbor's roof catching fire begin to wear on her sanity. As she is sent to trial, she attempts to distract herself by looking for ways to make sales pitches. She is sent to the SCALLOP Women's Containment Center with the other Sodality women, often sharing a cell with either Emily Cormier or with Dolly Malestrom.

Stephanie spends her days advocating in court against the Beliah Amendments, or manning the comms for Team Spaghetti Liberation when she is granted permission to. She also assists Emily and Dolly with their inventions, and catches up with Candi on old times. She and Dolly co-invent a new line of robots that could effectively merge Lambrelli Labs and the struggling Malestrom Industries into a single company. They decide that given their lack of faith in the state, and given the fact that SCALLOP's personnel are being spread thin, they will invent their own parole officers. They realize they would have to install several safety protocols into the AI to prevent it from going excessively haywire.

From prison to mental institutionalization
However, Stephanie's psychological and emotional problems begin taking a toll on her as she becomes obsessed with inventing things. Pregnancy hormones take an even further toll. She volunteers to fix the plumbing at the Containment Center, while pointing out all the items that are broken - and how outdated and ineffectual the entire system's security measures are. She is left alone in the cafeteria one evening, and invents an AI program dubbed "G.E.O.R.G.E." She installs him inside the cafeteria ceiling fan, along with a variety of upgrades to the fan itself.

Her invention of GEORGE is later discovered when a fight breaks out between Marge and Maria "Peeping Squaw" Blacklake. The two activate their powers, and Marge accidentally sets off GEORGE's sprinkler system. GEORGE puts out Marge's flames, then gives a status of the room and an external weather report. Everyone in the room, astounded, sees a crazed-looking Stephanie cheering on her creation and announcing his name. Marge and Maria are taken to their cells, and Stephanie is pulled aside to be studied. She is quickly determined to have suffered a severe mental breakdown, and is sent away from the prison to be hospitalized.

Post-Vindication life
After the SCALLOP Juvenile Containment Center is destroyed by an Icy Finger agent raid, all of SCALLOP is placed on notice that it must parole its prisoners or else have them transferred to a Texan state-run correctional facility. Stephanie, now in a mental hospital, is given special arrangements so she can eventually return to live with Jonathan and Ron. However, the crisis on Phaelon results in a need for her to return to battle. Since her terms of release forbid her to pilot another Strawberry, she builds a taller, sentient version dubbed "Strawcenary" to go to Phaelon and self-destruct without her piloting the droid. Ron and Jon are likewise forbidden from piloting Pilltar into battle, and Stephanie is given the tools via Lex to build "Pillcenary" as Pilltar's replacement. Both sentient beings are the result of her work with Dolly at the SCALLOP Women's Containment Center. She also rebuilds GEORGE, albeit with a thick Yooper/Wisconsin accent.

After Stephanie's release from the hospital, Ron and Jon help her build a new house with improved security systems - and ensure that she is not as likely to burn it down. Her high-tech house comes equipped with the tools to build robots; though she is forbidden for several years as a term of her parole from piloting Strawberry outside the house's perimeter. Her work with Dolly had also resulted in her inventing Strawforcer. This new machine finds work as a bodyguard/parole officer to assist Lex in addressing the issue with SCALLOP personnel wearing thin. Like with Candi and Donte, Stephanie is issued a SCALLOP-custom ankle monitor in the event that she should ever come under Icy Finger or Screwworm attack again - and to ensure she doesn't leave her neighborhood.

An exception is when she gives birth to her son Ricky. Ron moves in with the Tannulis temporarily to help out with the baby, befriending Strawforcer along the way and also teaching Jonathan how to pilot Pilltar just in case they should ever need a regular Warrior Class Pilltar again. Stephanie is required to visit regularly with a therapist. Her therapist winds up being Hadley Mint, who had herself gone insane back in 2008.

While she nearly gets charged with parole violation for it, Stephanie upgrades GEORGE to version 2.0 and installs him in the computer systems of her house; adding voice boxes for him into the ceiling fans. The state, overrun with Icy Finger sympathizers, hijacks the Strawforcer program from SCALLOP; and demands Stephanie turn Strawforcer into a lethal weapon like Strawberry was in order to hunt down Tabitha Pang. By that point in time, however, Tabitha and the Swappernetters have convinced Team Gray to join forces with them, the Navyrope Foundation, and Team Extirpon to start a revolution in Arkansas and eradicate the totalitarian Icy Finger sympathizers from power.

Stephanie refuses to put her skills to use to assassinate a former Sodality member like herself - especially one whose cause she agrees with - and is nearly sent back to prison for her refusal to take Tabitha's life. The threats to her safety are interpreted as a declaration of war, resulting in the rest of Lambrelli Labs' staff siding with Tabitha's revolution. Once her parole terms are over post-revolution, Stephanie's tether is removed. Strawforcer is once again put under SCALLOP control, and is assigned to another parolee. Stephanie finds a young new recruit at Lambrelli Labs to replace her as the pilot of Strawberry, taking on a role in the company and retiring from superhero field work completely to focus on her job and her family.

Personality
Stephanie is portrayed to be very curious about the world around her, and very dutiful to what she believes is right. She aims not to be rebellious, but will challenge an authority figure that she believes to be plainly in the wrong. She has a fine grasp of justice and kindness, and is quick to point out abuse when she sees it. She is also a quick learner, becoming adept at Seth's mechanical schemes with very little training. She has always been more emotionally fond of her father Ron than her mother, Theresa Barrin. However, she fears that neither of them will ever be truly successful in life. She looks at her encounter with Seth as having been God sending Seth her way to give her a chance at a better life than the cards her parents were dealt.

In spite of what she is capable of while piloting Strawberry, she can still be quite feminine and shocked by violence when operating outside of those confines. She has a regard for life even in the interface that bothers her when she sees innocents get hurt, whereas Seth appears a tiny bit more desensitized due to the horrors he has encountered in life. This desensitization begins to take hold in Stephanie after she is forced to kill some of Senator Gobar's men in order to protect Candi. Attempts to repress her feelings of shame over having to destroy her own house also cause her to start losing her sanity. Being in the SCALLOP Women's Containment Center during the Vindication timeline also wears her down mentally, until she becomes a depressed shadow of her former self. The stress of life on parole - added to the stress of childbirth - eventually leads to her becoming too traumatized to operate Strawberry effectively. She and her eventual husband Jonathan go on only a few more missions together as Pilltar and Strawberry, before training their replacements at Lambrelli Labs. Once she trains this final replacement, Stephanie abandons the Strawberry alter ego completely to focus on family life.

Children and inventions
Stephanie conceived Richard "Ricky" Amadeus Tannuli just five days before she and her long-time boyfriend Jonathan Tannuli eloped. The couple were married for 13 days before the Screwworm Network attacked her home. During her first month in prison, pregnancy hormones contributed to her already-deteriorating mental health. She was able to give birth 8 months after her transfer to Gum Arabic Mental Hospital took place. Her son was born healthy.

In addition to Ricky, Stephanie is considered the "mother" to several mechanical "children" of (mostly) her design:


 * Strawberry, Mk. I: Stephanie's first major invention. Based on Seth Lambrelli's original design of the Pilltar Mk. I., Strawberry threw better punches and had flamethrowers inside her forearms that were not present in the original Pilltar design.
 * Strawberry, Mk. II: A slight upgrade with solar panels on the head. This unit is tougher than the original Strawberry, but also can move faster.  Unlike the Mk. I, this unit doesn't use Marlquaan bonds to place the soul of the individual inside the machine.  It is more of an AI system that interacts with neurons and voice commands to function as a sort of remote-control, making it safer to operate in the event of the need to self-destruct.
 * Strawberry, Mk. III: This version uses fuel more efficiently, and also has a better self-destruct sequence built in should that be necessary. Communications devices are enhanced to send its blackbox feed to interested parties quickly.  This version has also shown itself to be highly useful on Metheel during the fight against Morzhuk.


 * Strawcenary: A sentient, tall variation of Strawberry that uses AI rather than avatar-like interfacing to operate the droid. Strawcenary was designed to be suicidal, so that she'd most likely destroy herself during the Second Battle for Dephinapolis rather than live long enough to become bitter and resentful of her creator.  Stephanie modeled Strawcenary's body modifications on some of Dolly's ideas for an improved Earwig armor.  She modeled Strawcenary's personality on her own, to further decrease the likelihood of the AI rebelling.


 * Strawforcer: A sentient, tall variation of Strawberry that was flightless. Functioned as her parole officer / nanny when she was given a new house to live in, in order to prove that she would neither be piloting Strawberry units during her terms nor starting fires.  She was also allowed very-limited contact with the Sodality, and was not allowed to leave the neighborhood most times.  Her own invention would come after her if she suggested anything that would break the rules.  In spite tough protocols, Chrome Kite spies did manage to abduct and attempt overrides of most of Stephanie's programming to make Strawforcer a killing machine.  However, Stephanie refused to put the finishing touches on this; as she would have no part in the plot to murder Tabitha Pang, or any other Frontliners.


 * Get Every Odd Reference Good Everyday ("G.E.O.R.G.E.") Mk. I: An AI with the voice of a NOAA weather radio announcer, built into the SCALLOP Women's Containment Center prison cafeteria ceiling fan. He could control the fan blades, vary their spin, learn everyone's name, and contained a smoke detector and a sprinkler system.  He also came equipped with an air freshener and satellite WiFi.  His discovery is what led to Stephanie being committed to a mental institution.
 * GEORGE Mk. 1.5: A sentient ceiling fan built into the ceiling of Stephanie's room at the mental institution. He possessed all the same features as the original 1.0 version, but had a Yooper-Wisconsin thick accent and various verbal tics.  He also was fascinated with sports game results, and had a knack for missing the point in conversations.
 * GEORGE Mk. II: A complex AI that was interwoven into Stephanie's new house after she got out of Gum Arabic. While was given run of most things in the house, he still primarily communicated via speakers located on the ceiling fans throughout the house.  He was given an Australian accent, as Stephanie and her house guests often found this more pleasant than the Mk 1.5 and his accent.

Characterization
Stephanie was actually thought through as a character even before there was a clear vision of who Seth was going to be. It was originally envisioned that she'd be an angry and insecure girl sent out by a legalistic school she didn't entirely agree with to canvas in her neighborhood for them. She'd get the usual door-to-the-face from neighbors, until she'd meet a wheelchair-bound man that would instead convert her. As ideas bounced around for the direction this story would take, it eventually evolved into a plot where Stephanie would team up with Seth to remote-pilot a robotic pill bug avatar and defeat a cannibal cult.

The concept of Pilltar developed a short while later. It was competing for time with the first draft of "20,000 Legs into the Backstory," the first chapter of the since-canceled novel Ciem: Vigilante Centipede. All Comprehensive Gerosha continuity for Pilltar was then transferred in late 2012 to Cataclysmic Gerosha.

Stephanie began as a lowly teen looking for a purpose in life and wanting to find a religious school that she not only feels is telling the truth, but will also appreciate her tech talents and offer her an outlet for them. She evolves quickly into an inventor after Seth's own heart, in love with all things related to Lambrelli Labs and easily a potential heir to the company. However, her family relations are strained by her job. She attempts to reconnect with her family by the Pilltar 3 timeline, and to reconcile family and job and education responsibilities throughout most of Sodality.

By season 3, however, she made a desperate decision in order to save Candi's life that caused her to question her sense of direction in life. She began to reflect on everyone who had ever died either directly or indirectly as a consequence of her being too close, and the guilt began to damage her psychologically. Being dragged into more and more battles against her and the Sodality's common enemies also took its toll, and she began showing some of the same PTSD-like symptoms that her father struggled with. Her first time in a SCALLOP jail showed the early beginnings of her eventual descent into clinical madness, worsened by the brain damage she suffered during her mission to save Des Moines years earlier.

By the Vindication timeline, she had become obsessed with her work almost to the breaking point. Her attempt to move past it by getting married proved futile, as the Kirby Act put a price on her head. Her fugitive status forced her to accept a role in Team Caged Dove. This snapped her sanity past the breaking point, and she became a full-blown mad scientist. Her increasing willingness to crack inappropriate jokes, make inappropriately-timed sales pitches, and celebrate her inventions whilst seemingly in a trance, revealed the extent to which she started losing her mind. SCALLOP personnel showrf particular interest in repairing the damage to her mind when she was revealed to be pregnant, as they felt her illness made her a danger to her child.

Finally, Stephanie was able to calm down and settle back into civilian life. She took great pains to stop herself from ever being tempted to become Strawberry again. She grew to accept a less-busy work life, so she had more time for family. Time with family - especially after she got off parole - accelerated her healing, and showed her take on an interest in her faith again. She was brought full circle, but with wisdom to tackle the facets of her life more insightfully.

Visualization
Stephanie was little more than an idea all throughout 2010-2012. In the early spring of 2013, however, Stephanie was finally visualized for the first time in The Sims 3. She was modeled in facial appearance initially after Kelly Deward of Ferris in Focus, but with red hair. In 2015, DeviantArt stock model Patrycja Dorynek lent her likeness to the character. The Sim was re-designed slightly to ensure she would look less like Kelly, and more like Patrycja. Due to this, Patrycja's friend and Polish model Klaudia Piszczek was offered the chance to portray Michelle Winston on May 20th of 2015, though she declined the role in a Facebook message.

In 2022, in The Gerosha Chronicles, According to an AI, Stephanie was visualized by the AI app Wonder for the first time.