Maria Lúcia Vasconcelos

Although she stands quite tall at 5'9", a strong dislike for the traditional images of beauty has made Malu very proud of the fact that she has a curvy figure rather than a skinny one. Her shoulder-length dark blonde hair and grey eyes, on the other hand, have often led others to tell her she looks far more German than Brazilian.

Not particularly fond of wearing too much make-up, Malu will usually only be found wearing lipstick and eye shadow that match the colour of her pale skin. When in the field, her long blonde hair is usually tied back in a smart ponytail. Although in Brazil she was used to wearing skirts and dresses for most of the year, moving to the city she calls Londres has caused her to sadly conform to the fact that her wardrobe needs to mostly consist of trousers and long-sleeved tops. Very prone to feeling the cold, when out of the warm central heating of her house Malu will often be found wrapped in several layers and a thick jacket.

Malu's parents will often say that they should have known what their daughter's personality would be like from the very day she was born. In Brazil, the 21st of April is a bank holiday called Tiradentes, after the nickname of a man called Joaquim José da Silva Xavier who participated in a movement to overthrow the Portuguese government reigning over Brazil in 1792. Much like Tiradentes himself, Malu has always been very much involved with politics and is a firm believer that with determination and a strong will, anything is possible. If she really believes something is right, Malu is a like a dog that won't let go of a bone - she'll fight for it until the end. She's also very vocal about her opinions, which can concern anything from society to international affairs, but one of the issues she actively tackles it that of the image of beauty that publications such as fashion magazines put across to women. Very much of the opinion that beauty comes from within, Malu resents any image that appears to be anything less than real. Unfortunately for her, her strong personality can often come across as arrogant or superior, and many people (particularly men, she finds) are either intimidated by her or just end up strongly disliking her. She's also been accused before of being hypocritical - the main argument people use against her is that it's all well and good for her to preach that beauty comes from the inside when she herself isn't all that bad-looking.

Malu is also very outgoing and will treat people she's just met as though she's known them for years. She never actually realised she possessed this trait herself until she moved to England, where she found people to be a lot more reserved, and ended up getting strange looks when she greeted those she'd never met before with a kiss on the cheek.

Her time spent in the United States and later in England has made Malu's English very fluent and grammatically correct, although she still retains a noticeable accent in her second language. Still a Brazilian girl at heart, Malu often misses different aspects of her home country such as being able to go to the beach on a regular basis. Above all, she misses the food from Brazil - the good-quality meat, the standard dish of rice and black beans, the fizzy drink called guaraná and the snack called pão de queijo.

Maria Lúcia Vasconcelos was born in the south of Brazil, in the city of Florianópolis, capital of the state of Santa Catarina. Often affectionately called 'Floripa' by its inhabitants, most of the city is situated on a small island off the coast of the country, although there is also a portion on the mainland connected by three bridges - one of which, the Hercílio Luz bridge, is unable to support traffic and serves mainly a local landmark. Florianópolis is also known throughout Brazil and also abroad as a coastal city bathed by forty-two beaches which regularly pay host to world surfing championships. Malu herself was never particularly good at surfing, although she did have friends who were and, like many teenagers in Florianópolis, in her spare time could almost always be found either at the beach itself or taking a walk down the long stretches of pavement often built nearby. Christmas was always the best time of the year as far as Malu was concerned - her parents always rented an apartment overlooking Praia Joaquina, perhaps the most well-known beach in Florianópolis.

Originally descended from German and Portuguese immigrants, the Vasconcelos family made up part of the Brazil's relatively small middle-class and Malu's parents, Renato and Fernanda Vasconcelos, worked for the largest Brazilian bank, Banco do Brasil. Malu herself was an only child, and fortunate enough to attend a private school - something which, in a country with a fledgling and struggling public school system, was not a luxury everybody in the country could afford. Malu was always very socially and politically aware, however - when she was a teenager and the local council was considering bringing down the Hercílio Luz bridge, Malu's was one of the loudest discerning voices. It was her determined personality, in fact, that got Malu noticed when she was spotted by a Selector Agent who operated out of São Paulo but had come to the beaches of Florianópolis on holiday. Although Malu's original intention was to become a politician and she was hesitant about whether or not the English she'd learnt at school was good enough for the United States, after much deliberation she eventually accepted a place and by 2103 was voted Hannay Team Leader. Having graduated with good grades, Malu fully expected to be sent back home to Region Jade, only to find it had been decided she would become a Region Red agent instead. She is now stationed in London, England and, having had her Babel Chip removed with the implementation of the Freedom of Thought Act, when not on active duty Malu can often be found working hard to learn the many languages of her new home - the European continent.