Iron

Overview
An unparalleled champion of industry, Iron's influence is so widespread that it is often discounted entirely, or treated as a universal constant. Her personal life has been more or less entirely consumed by her business pursuits, and her main way of handling a personal problem is to retreat further into her work. She tends to view herself negatively, but when organised and focused she displays incredible talent.

Iron has dark eyes and red hair, streaked with early grey; she usually wears several-day-old semi-formal work clothing, such as a wrinkly blouse or food-stained jacket. On formal occasions (usually on the prompting of others in her company), she wears more formal business dress, though she has a habit of staying at the office as usual after such events, sometimes staying with a suit for several days.

Relationships

 * Carbon: Iron and Carbon were involved in a passionate teenage romance, only to be complicated by Iron's unexpected pregnancy. Iron was sixteen at the time of their daughter Steel, and the unexpected new pressures and responsibilities of raising a child took a toll on her, eventually leading to her fleeing her home and vanishing. Her abandonment of Carbon and Steel haunts her to this day, and the failure of that relationship still haunts any and every interaction Iron has with others in the present day. Iron is jealous of Carbon's more recent lovers, but does not feel like she is in a position to truly resent them after she left.
 * Steel: Iron has next to no relationship with her daughter beyond descent, a fact which haunts Iron every minute of every day. She attempts to support Steel in secret, though she usually lacks the subtlety necessary to do so successfully; she has considered trying to contact her daughter more directly, but can never talk herself into doing it, worrying that she would just make things worse for Steel and Carbon.
 * Zinc: Zinc was one of the few members of Iron and Carbon's old friends to side with Iron, largely out of concern for Iron's well-being. Zinc is one of the few people outside her business that Iron sees on a regular basis, and is one of the few people that Iron believes actually cares for Iron herself, though Iron often worries that Zinc puts Iron's life ahead of Zinc's own and worries that she is just Zinc's dead weight.
 * Nickel: Nickel is a member of Iron's staff, though largely ignorant of the details of Iron's private life. Starting as an intern in the early days of the company, Nickel has become one of Iron's more trusted employees, handling a wide variety of tasks that Iron would otherwise be too busy to handle herself.
 * Aluminium: While Aluminium's business is second only to Iron's, causing the highly competitive Aluminium to see Iron as her rival, Iron is largely confused by the attention that Aluminium pays her. She does take professional interest in Aluminium, largely because a business partnership would be valuable to them both, but is baffled by Aluminium's personal behaviour, even when it doesn't involve Iron herself.
 * Manganese: Another childhood friend of Iron's, more torn between Iron and Carbon/Steel than Zinc is. Manganese takes a harsher tack with Iron than Zinc does, often bringing blunt criticisms and advice to “toughen [Iron] up”, but seems to have learned over time when her kind of advice is useful and when it might not be.