Arya Shah

Arya Shah is a character role-played by Thirteen.

Description
Arya Shah is a 29-year-old ex-business/financial professional-turned-criminal after her involvement with underground crime once she left Canada. She is often described as rambunctious but very level-headed when it comes to gang and business matters and maintaining relationships with acquaintances. She has a distinctive appearance given her long silver grey braided hair.

Arya's early goals in Los Santos was to work with and lead a skilled group of criminals to carry out crime with, while serving as a business consultant for those who seek her business expertise.

Background
Arya shared a close relationship with her parents. Her father had gotten her into cars and her favourite car is one that was gifted to her by her dad at the age of sixteen, the Imponte Ruiner, which was totalled in a car crash Arya, her mother and her father were involved when struck by a drunk driver. It was then that Arya lost her parents and came to the realization she was now an orphan as she lost her parents and was the last surviving member of her family.

Following the death of her family, she was adopted by her uncle and aunt who took her under their care and were able to provide a stable environment for her using the wealth she inherited from her parents. She followed in her parents' footsteps and pursued business once enrolled in university. However, upon graduation, she felt she didn't deserve the money her parents left behind for her and felt guilty that she survived the accident and her parents did not. As a result, she left the rest of her inheritance to her uncle and aunt and left the country to pursue various opportunities to build her own reputation and wealth.

Life before Los Santos
After college, she travelled the world working within a variety of industries for various client of various calibre and prestige, until she eventually found herself in Tokyo where she met Hiroshi Yamashiro, a flamboyant yet secretive fashion icon and businessmen who took an immediate interest in her professionalism and knowledge of the business world. By this point, Arya had enjoyed the patronage of several prestigious clients, yet prestige was about all she had to show for it. Hiroshi was offering money - and lots of it - for her to become his personal business/financial executive. She would sign a non-disclosure/non-compete clause that would involve her exclusively working for Hiroshi. It was by far the most lucrative offer Arya was likely to ever receive. Though it caused her a degree of discomfort to think that she might be hedged into such an obligation of exclusivity, she had to admit that Hiroshi seemed to be an impressive and influential figure in south east Asia and beyond.

For a few years, Arya threw herself into this work, living a lavish lifestyle and being showered with the adoration of all of Hiroshi’s associates and admirers. However, it was impossible for her not to eventually pierce the illusion that Hiroshi’s empire spanned both sides of the law. He had his fingers in many operations within the criminal underworld. Arya came to realise that her skills were being put to use to cover the organised crime that Hiroshi and his associates were partaking in Tokyo... and she cursed herself for willingly associating herself with it after realizing the true nature of Hiroshi's undertaking. The day came when Hiroshi expanded his operations to the United States. He insisted on Arya coming with him - for he would certainly have many people he would need to impress regarding his business plans and he had every intention of asserting his ‘brand’ in the new arena.

But something went terribly wrong one night. A few weeks into the new venture, Hiroshi and his retinue were hit by a local gang who objected to him moving in on their turf. The night club they were at was shot to pieces and Arya was there to witness the whole thing. Hiroshi himself was killed and so were his associates. Arya never having wielded a gun at the time was let go by the perpetrators with the understanding that she would never return and found herself cut loose in the US without an employer. While Arya had escaped unscathed, she had to seek safety and sanctuary as she aimlessly roamed the US and found herself in a place where she was sure no one would have heard of her before - the city of Los Santos.

Life in Los Santos
Upon arrival in Los Santos, Arya picked up her first job as a store delivery driver. It was her first day on the job when she was robbed at gunpoint and was faced with the reality that she had no one to have her back as she was now alone in a new city with nothing to her name. While she survived unscathed, it was this moment Arya realized she had to get a gun license to protect herself from the various criminals that roamed the streets of Los Santos. While she now wields a gun wherever she goes, Arya used to be hesitant and cautious to wield it as she does not believe in immediately resorting to violence and is afraid to face a similar situation as the one she faced on the fateful night in the nightclub where she could potentially lose her loved ones.

Affiliation with Street Team
As she became more involved in crime, she began diving into more organized crime and being involved with gang activity. Arya bought a house and became roommates with her long-time friend and Street Team member Capped 'Pigeon' Tarranova in Little Seoul, predominantly working in the shadows and supporting Tarranova's weapons and drug trafficking operations. She was Tarranova's primary weed harvester and transporter and initially served as the operation's warehouse owner. She also helped him on weed/gun drops via land, air, and sea with the rest of Street Team. In July 2022, the duo began their 'Faceless' entity, where they provided missions to smaller groups and gangs to carry out missions in exchange for the groups to receive a reward of guns and/or other, more rare, exclusive items not easily accessible by smaller gangs.

On April 9, 2022, Chang Gang member Randy Bullet suggested Jaylen Carter, then-leader of Street Team, recognize Arya as a hangaround. Jaylen said he'd talk to the Street Team "OGs" about it. Around a week later, after Street Team held a meeting, Arya accepted an offer to become a Street Team associate. After months as an associate, Arya was blooded into Street Team as a full member on July 28, 2022 after conducting a mission set up by Mercury Frost, Wayne Biggz, and Jaylen.

On June 4, 2022, Lilly Pandia, Arya's then-adopted daughter, and Street Team boosted and vin scratched a Toyota Land Cruiser for Arya. The land cruiser was converted on June 6, 2022.

Arya was involved in various areas of Street Team's activities. She is Green, Blue and Red Laptop certified, having successfully hacked the Fleeca Bank and Paleto Bank in August 2022 and the City Vault in October 2022. She also started to cook meth for Street Team at the end of August 2022 and achieved level 3 by the end of October 2022. She was the primary meth lab cook for Street Team and organized/coordinated the gang's meth operations. While she primarily focused on the external weed distribution network with Capped Tarranova, she also guided and aided the Street Team Associates with their internal weed operations.

Arya and her daughter eventually had a falling out over ownership and access to the Deja Brew coffee shop, resulting in Arya disowning her. Arya eventually the so-called "Triplets" of Street Team: Ace Tonnerre, Ant Gaboosh, and Leon Von.

In 2022-2023, Street Team purchased a meth lab, in which Arya was heavily involved in managing and procuring, which she referred to as her "baby". As of February 2023, Arya had reached 90% meth purity.

Affiliation with Chang Gang & Hydra Gang
As a member of Street Team, Arya maintained good relations with Chang Gang since 2022 and considered herself loyal to them, one time even saving the leader Mr. Kebun from police capture during a shootout in Little Seoul, sacrificing herself in the process.

By June 2023, Street Team had dissolved as a gang but a number of ex-members remained, including Arya. Daph Lilith had also returned to the city. Arya, Capped, and Ace inherited the gang's meth lab and planned to carry out a meth distribution operation, with the cooks all being in-house.

On June 9, 2023, Arya was added to the CG gang app, replacing Ace Tonnerre, who removed himself from his ex-Street Team family. Arya linked up with Capped, who had recently joined CG in May 2023, and they agreed to share their meth lab with CG and Hydra Gang, out of both loyalty and trust, and because they wanted protection and more personnel to help with their cooks. The meth lab key was placed in Vinny's warehouse, which Flippy had access to. Arya decided to cement her ties with the Little Seoul family, starting a new chapter and hoping for better days by strengthening her ties with CG and Hydra.

As part of Hydra's participation, Flippy declared that Arya's disowned daughter Lilly (who was at 97% meth purity at the time) could not cook anymore until she made up with Arya. They met at the lake in Mirror Park and largely reconciled their differences, ending the 6 months of bad blood between them. Nikolai Filatov, who previously tried to date Arya, reconnected with her and they promised to hang out with each other, an effort supported by Hydra and Arya chose to entertain. Arya and Niko officially began dating on July 15, 2023, but she ended the relationship on August 24.

She reconnected with Zolo on June 17, 2023, and they agreed to work together moving forward and settle old differences they had. She did a coke run with Zolo and CG on July 2, 2023. On July 14, Arya began pushing excess lock picks made by Mr. K on the street for $2,000 per, using the profits to buy paint thinners for CG meth productions. She decided even when not called upon for help, she would continue quietly supporting the gang behind the scenes. Arya also continued improving her hacking skills, particularly DDR. On August 31, Mr. Kebun gave Arya a Pill Box that CG bought from The Mandem for $5 million, making her the plug for pills. The same day, she successfully completed the DDR hack while robbing the City Vault with CG.

Expanding Horizons
As of Summer 2023, Arya is loyal to Chang Gang and the Little Seoul family, as she recognized how welcoming they remained to her after Street Team dissolved. However Arya also desires to branch out and make new acquaintances and friends throughout the city and is willing to hangout with anyone that is down for it.

On June 20, she reconnected with Mercury Frost and mended their relationship. By June 25, Arya began underground street racing again with a goal of one day joining Yokai with guidance from W'Kabi Aku. She also began establishing stronger ties with HOA, finding HOA members to be very welcoming to her.

Relationships
After dealing with a semi-love triangle with Hydra Gang member James 'Phantom' Thompson and Tarranova, Arya and Phantom officially began dating on May 26, 2022, during a nighttime walk together in Mirror Park. Drama and unresolved tensions related to the love triangle led to a falling out between Arya and Tarranova, who had known each other for over 14 months in Los Santos. As of July 2022, they have mended ties and are still working together.

On August 16th, 2022, James retwatted a twat about a dating show which Arya saw, leading her to take this as a sign that James was done with their relationship. As the two had already grown distant prior to this, she came to accept that there was no way to fix the situation, as the two engaged in a what started as a 'petty war.' On August 25, 2022, the two privately met up and officially ended their relationship. The two remained on good terms and there were rumors that the two quietly did romantic things together. However, due to animosity and tension brewing between Hydra Gang and Street Team, Arya no longer recognized any ties with James and stated the relationship would never be revived as she put her gang above her personal relations outside of the gang.

In June 2023, Arya reconnected with Nikolai Filatov, and after a few weeks of talking they officially began dating on July 15, 2023. She carried the "relationship" until August 24, when she ended the relationship since they barely saw each other. They are still friends.

Trivia

 * She is known for talking fast.
 * She once shot down 4 cops in 20 seconds on Forum Drive.
 * "The Triplet's" of Street Team used to all claim Arya as their mom.