>>699
Sorry if there was a disconnect. When I was thinking of the character up, I intentionally left the guy/girl question open, but when the character was by and large complete, I decided that having it be a girl would have more of an impact and less cliché. It's just my idea, so if you don't like it, say so; I'm open to criticism.
For the first story arc, she hears at her inner city school Shathole High that Arc Royal (her country) was invaded in the north by a neighboring country called Cos. You would think that Arc Royal and Cos are at war because Cos is an evil communazi dictatorship, but the truth is quite different and much less cliché: Arc Royal is a free country and so is Cos, but arc Royal is founded upon Ayn Rand-style selfish capitalism (with a slightly socialistic capital, Arc Royal City) and Cos is founded upon Altruistic serve-your-country selfless almost-capitalism (with a totally free capital where the rich frolic). Not only is that not cliché, it is also a little bit fucked up, which is why I like it.
The war, Sonya hears, is being fought in and around the Graveyard, Arc Royal City's smaller sister-city in the inland north whose skyscrapers have come to resemble a giant-sized graveyard thanks to the war. So, having nothing at all to lose in way of her lousy two parents, school, and life, she takes some of her parents' welfare money, buys a rifle and some ammunition, and hoofs it up to the 'Yard to fight in the First Arc War. Setting up as just a rifle looking for Cos to kill, she uses her near-colorblindness to her advantage with being able to see in the dark and detect motion more capably that others; this earns her a positive reputation with the Royals and a bounty with the Cos.
And now to explain the coat: Some kind of Cos officer -a real shitbag- finds her while she's covering a Royal unit and the two of them have a go at wrestling. For whatever reason (RAPE) a bunch of her clothes come off and she beats him to death with his own helmet. She picks up the coat and looks it over. “Is this General's rank?” She takes the General's pins off the collar and puts on private pins, flaunting to the enemy that a Royal private is apparently better than a Cos General. She's branded an enemy of the state by the Cos.
If it's going to be a guy, then he just pummels the General upon meeting him- there would be no attempted rape for obvious reasons.