Badz Maru is a male dwarf, 120 cm tall, weighing 54 kg. He has blonde, boardering on white, hair and dark brown eyes. His face, although weathered is unlined but rarely smiles. He wears heavy coveralls and canvas work shirts with combat boots, and usually goes armed with a wrench or crowbar in addition to a pistol. He is perpetually moody and grumpy, disdainful of people and machines, resentful of any intrusion into his personal space, and only approaches a state of melancholy when on the road between destinations.

Originally from the CAS, Badz Maru first appeared on the smuggling scene after the Border Intrusion of '58, where an entire Azzie brigade sortied into Cal Free only to be repulsed by a coalition of Corporate military forces led by Ares and staging out of Barstow. There aren't any indications that he was involved one way or another, but he certainly profited from the excitement. In the aftermath, he and several compatriots made some money running back and forth between Los Angeles and destinations east; Phoenix and New Orleans. Following that lucrative start, the crew began running the northern lines as well: weapons and medical supplies to St. Louis and Chicago, telesma from the Northern Crescent to the campuses at UW-Madison and MIT&T.

It was on one of these later runs, about a year and a half after they got their first big break that the team ran into trouble. Apparently one of St. Louis' newly elected officials made good on his get-tough-on-crime platform and ordered Hard Corps to set-up passive smuggler interdiction points on the most likely ingress and egress routes to the city. Unfortunately Maru's team didn't get the word in time and ran headlong into a heavily armed ambush. Most people wrote them off.

In a twist of fate, though, Maru wasn't with his team on the last leg of the run having stayed behind at their last camp because of vehicle trouble. So it wasn't strange that he was greeted with some surprise and not a little suspicion upon his return to New Orleans. Nevertheless, he returned to plying his old trade, this time going solo. Contracts were slim at first, most people not realizing he survived, until he met a fellow dwarven smuggler: Thorinn.

The partnership resulting from that chance meeting has continued to the present day. Maru handles the land-based side where Thorinn and crew cover the high seas. It has turned out to be a profitable relationship, and both sides are fiercely protective of the other. Maru, despite his gruff and snappish manner will deal fairly with all customers and make every effort to complete his contracts on time and intact. Which is the most you can hope for in a business like this.