Miri St. James

Nora Miranda "Miri" St. James is a courier for the Mojave Express, close ally of the Followers of the Apocalypse and, by mid-2282, the ruler of New Vegas. After the collapse of the NCR and the Legion's takeover of New Vegas, she is recruited by Jessica Lexington, Arthur Young and Jules McAllister to help oust Caesar and restore a semblance of order to the Mojave.

Early life
The youngest of Stephen and Alice St. James' three daughters, Miri was born in San Francisco, California while her mother, a sergeant, and her father, a medic, were both stationed there with the NCR's army. The family moved often during her childhood, finally settling in Beacon Station, California when she was thirteen as her parents joined the reserves. While her sisters, Helena and Claire, had different ambitions, Miri always wanted to follow in her father's footsteps and become a field medic, and she studied and trained for it until she was 18.

Growing up, she was always closest to her oldest sister, Helena, who took Miri under her wing despite a seven-year age difference as Claire, the middle sister, kept mostly to herself. While Helena was much more feminine than her sisters, she and Miri shared an interest in pre-war history and in medicine, though in contrast to Miri's goals of becoming a field medic Helena preferred working in local schools as a nurse. She helped develop her little sister's silver tongue, somewhat accidentally creating the most persuasive member of their entire family and quite possibly their entire town. All three girls were taught how to shoot from a young age, mostly handguns with the occasional rifle and shotgun.

Shortly before completing her training, Miri realized that she was on a path she no longer wanted to follow. She'd grown up wanting to enlist and serve the NCR, but the more she thought it over the less appealing it sounded. This realization led to a minor existential crisis: all her training, all the time she'd put into studying to be the best doctor she could be, and she didn't want to be one after all. Soon, however, she caught wind that the Mojave Express needed couriers to deliver mail, and, eager for adventure, she said her goodbyes to her family and left for New Vegas.

Arrival in the Mojave
Miri's first few months in the Mojave were...rough. Nevada was drastically different than California, just on a day-to-day basis, never mind the brewing war between the NCR and some intruders from the east calling themselves Caesar's Legion. Luckily she didn't have to deal with the Legion at all, and very rarely the NCR, but she did have to deal with bandits, raiders and wildlife at every turn, quickly learning that playing nice wouldn't always work and that sometimes a bullet was the best way to solve a problem. If not for her medical skills, she very likely would have died at least seven times.

In the spring of 2277, after delivering a mysterious package to a town called Hopeville, Miri found herself at the Followers of the Apocalypse's outpost, where she met and befriended Arcade Gannon. With her incomplete medical training she couldn't become a full Follower herself, but after she assisted them considerably at both the outpost and their main location in Freeside, going above and beyond her call of duty as a courier, they made her an honorary Follower and allowed her to wear their insignia on her salvaged black combat armor. Her association with the Followers would go a long way in keeping her alive as the Legion crept closer and tensions rose higher until they came to a head on November 9, 2277 at the First Battle of Hoover Dam.

The First Battle of Hoover Dam and aftermath
With the narrow victory at Hoover Dam, the NCR needed all the help it could get and enlisted the assistance of the Followers. Miri's training came in good use as she accompanied them, but she stopped cold when she saw the body of her sister Helena's husband; he'd been killed in Boulder City while luring veteran legionaries into the Rangers' trap. Due to the Followers' need for personnel she wasn't able to deliver his dog tags home herself, but she sent them off with another courier along with a personal letter to her family.

The situation in the Mojave grew tense, especially when the Legion set up camp directly across the river at Fortification Hill, which made couriering even more dangerous. The Legion got bolder as the years passed, venturing closer and closer to New Vegas but still leaving the Followers, and by association Miri, alone. She continued her duties and her work with the Followers, making occasional trips back home to see her parents and Claire, as Helena and her son had moved east to the Commonwealth after the battle at the Dam.

In late 2281, as another war was coming to a boil between the NCR and the Legion, Miri was contracted to deliver one of six packages to a contact in Freeside. She mistakenly picked up the wrong one but delivered it anyway, a little perturbed she wouldn't be getting the pay she was promised for her intended delivery, but this other one didn't pay too poorly either. Several days later, she heard rumors of one of her fellow Mojave Express couriers who'd being kidnapped and left for dead in Goodsprings, only to wake up and thankfully make a full recovery.

Events of Fallout: New Vegas
To Miri's dismay, things began deteriorating very quickly towards the end of 2281, with the Legion making several advances they hadn't previously been capable of but now were thanks to a new and mysterious benefactor, widely rumored to be the courier who'd come back from the dead. Miri's letters home became more and more distraught as she told her family what was happening, as did theirs to her. Her sister and sister's fiancé were considering a move south to Baja California, her parents were looking seriously at the possibility that they might have to rejoin the NCR's army. Miri, for her part, worked more and more frequently with the Followers and with Arcade Gannon as relations between the NCR and Freeside worsened. In December, a small blonde woman Arcade seemed to recognize stopped by the Old Mormon Fort to speak with him; Miri didn't overhear their conversation but she saw Arcade leave with her. It would be the last time she saw him for months.

Things went from bad to worse in the new year with the assassination of President Kimball, followed almost immediately by a barrage of nuclear missiles hitting the Long 15 and several cities in California. All communication from Miri's family ceased, leaving her to worry herself sick over their fate, on top of all the other chaos in the Mojave.