Siva Gupta

Siva Gupta is a well known philanthropist and diplomat who was born and raised on Cubeo III. He has a long career of work across the planet, but he is most well known for his role as president of Wellspring Philanthropic. He had a prestigious upbringing. His father was a wealthy and influential noble with Cubeo Patron Principles - a fact he has tried to distance himself from in his older age.

Childhood

Siva Gupta was born in Bauschinger City on Cubeo III on October 26th, 3221.He was the 6th son in a large family. His father, who was an avid patron and benefactor of a Sikh Gurdwara in the city sent Siva there during his formative years to be trained as a Granthi and steep himself in the religion. The young Siva bucked against this decision of his father, preferring to have been sent to a standard Imperial school in the city with his friends. His father refused him this, and forced him to attend the Gurdwara and train to become an Amritdhari Sikh.

Siva did not take to his training well, and at the age of 16 he ran away from the Gurdwara with a serving girl from a local restaurant named Haasini. The children fled south together, into the Evermore jungle. Both wanted to escape from their pasts and start a new life together. They attempted to head south to the territory controlled by the fractured Evermore tribes - who they believed would take them in as refugees from the Empire. This plan did not work, and the pair soon became lost in the jungle.

The pair spent the better part of a year living in the jungle together. Siva used survival training skills to make a wooden hut for them to live in. With food abundantly available in the forest, and the assistance of several modern supplies they had brought with them, they lived a comfortable enough life in the beginning. Things took a turn for the worse when Haasini became pregnant. Siva wished for them to return to the city, but Haasini, fearing the wrath of her vengeful father, refused. Haasini and the baby died in childbirth later that year. Devastated, Siva buried Haasini and the baby before returning to civilization.

Young adulthood

Upon returning to Bauschinger City, Siva's father was overjoyed. He relented, and instead of sending Siva back to the Gurdwara sent him to the Imperial school. Siva attempted to forget his past, and threw himself into his schoolwork. He worked incredibly hard, and proved himself quite adept at the diplomacy track in school. After finishing his schooling he attended Emerald University in Capital City and began studying to be a diplomat. At the age of 27 he graduated and was accepted into the Cubeo III Diplomatic Corps.

Work as a diplomat and first marriage

Siva was transferred from Capital City to Zespea where he met his future wife Meher Alexander - a secretary for the Diplomatic Corps offices in the city. They were married in 3251 when Siva was 30 years old. Siva worked as an administrative official, whos job it was to mediate disputes between CPP cities. He excelled at this task, rising rapidly through the ranks.

Though his career life was going well, his personal life was not. His marriage with Meher was highly strained, and in an attempt to solidify their marriage and solve their problems they had several children. By the time Siva was 42, he had five children with Meher. This did not solve their problems, and their marriage continued to deteriorate until they got divorced two years later. Ironically, their relationship improved somewhat after their divorce, and they remain friends to this day.

Work as a philanthropist and second marriage

After his divorce, Siva suffered a "mid-life crisis" of sorts. He realized that while he was good at diplomacy, it wasn't where his passions lay. At the age of 45 he made a career change and began working in the area of philanthropy. He began his philanthropic work as a conservationist, working with animal rehabilitation shelters and zoos around the planet. During this time he also rediscovered his Sikh roots, and began exploring the religion on his own terms. Over time, he would come to be a devout believer, and adopt many of the practices of the religion.

His career path changed once more when he met his second wife - Anastasia Rosa - at a philanthropic convention off world on Capital. Anastasia worked as a diplomat for a consortium of Imperial philanthropic groups, and the pair quickly hit it off at a cocktail party during the event. Siva discovered through Anastasia that his true passion lay in philanthropic work for the downtrodden in society. Anastasia was the first to introduce Siva to progressive ideals within the Empire - something that was still widely frowned upon at the time.

In 3278 the pair were married when Siva was 57. The two worked together for nearly a quarter century, focusing their philanthropy largely on the Cubeo system. Their work was disrupted when the Prismatic Imperium burst onto the scene. Anastasia took this disruption as an opportunity to retire, as she was beginning to have health complications from her prolonged exposure to hazardous materials growing up. Siva continued to work through the chaos of the system restructuring under the Prismatic Imperium.

Wellspring Philanthropic

In April of 3307, Siva was contacted by senator Marina Yao and recruited to be the Deputy Vice President of the Lu Wu Guan Workers Relief Fund - the precursor of Wellspring Philanthropic. Siva agreed, as he saw this as an opportunity to use the power and influence of a CMDR to drive a great deal of philanthropic work. Within a year, Marina Yao had resigned from Wellspring, allowing Siva to take over as the organization's president.