Eyes: Blue
DOB: February 22
Age: 32 at start of FFVII
History: Cid was born in Rocket Town, so named because it was the site of one of the largest aerospace design and testing centers on the continent. Cid's mother died in childbirth, so he was raised by his father, who worked as a test pilot. As a result most of Cid's life was spent at the airfields, and it was soon realized that he had inherited his father's love of aircraft. Cid had a few friends in his childhood, but no one that he was really close to. He didn't like school, and was absent more than he should have been, but his father, seeing that the boy had a real knack not only for the mechanics of aircraft, but of their design as well, pushed him to keep at it. Cid eventually did graduate, although his grades were nothing to brag about.
They were good enough, however, to get him into an aeronautics design school, and, now that he had something that really interested him, he excelled.After he graduated he and his father worked togther as a design and testing team for a number of firms, and they were soon well known in the industry.
During this time Cid and his father built a small aircraft, the Tiny Bronco, for their own use.
Soon after they came to the attention of Shinra Corporation when the company was looking for someone to design a new airship. This was a much larger job than any they had undertaken to date, and they were determined to make an impression. They worked night and day overseening every aspect of the construction. They both knew that if this project was successful their careers in the industry would really take off (Sorry, I couldn't help myself).
The Highwind was a success, and Shinra put them in charge of it's entire aeronautics design division. Though still a skilled pilot Cid found that more and more of his time was now spent in front of the design table instead of in the air. His father, however, was still a test pilot at heart, and, knowing that his son was much better at handling the design aspects, spent much of his time in the air testing Shinra's experimental aircraft.
Although he was now one of the top men with the largest firm in the business, Cid had bigger things in mind. From the time he had been a child he had wanted to fly, but after he had become a pilot he still hadn't been satisfied. Now when he turned his eyes to the sky he was looking at the stars.
When he heard that Shinra was looking into building just such a craft he lobbied hard to get the job, and after his success with the Highwind his stock was high enough that he was successful. Not only did they agree to let him design the spaceship, they also would let him be the first to fly it. He and his father started on it immediately, giving it the same meticulous attention they had lavished on the Highwind.
His father continued to test fly other aircraft, and two months after they were awarded the space project an experimental aircraft he was flying malfunctioned. Instead of bailing out over a populated area his father tried to bring it down himself. As he tried to land in a narrow field just outside of Rocket Town he lost control and the plane nosedived into the ground, killing him instantly.
The loss of the man who had been his best friend his whole life was a serious blow to Cid. Though urged to take some time off by his friends and coworkers, he was soon back on the job. Working kept his mind off what had happened, and he knew his father wanted this project to succeed as much as he did, and now he was more determined than ever to fufill his dream. He took solace from the fact that at least the old man had gone out the way he would have wished to.
One of the technicians working on the spaceship along with him was a young girl named Shera. She took an instant liking to Cid, admiring his air of command and dedication to his work. Cid had had his share of relationships, but none had ever become serious. His first and formost love was his aircraft, and now more than ever, he was suffering from a serious case of 'space on the brain'. He ignored all of her subtle, and some not so subtle, hints.
Shera remained devoted to him nevertheless. Happy just to be working with him, she thought that if she put as much effort into the ship as he did, perhaps he would notice her.
But the pressures on Cid had begun to mount. The Highwind had been a big project, but this was huge, and without his father to help there just didn't seem to be enough time in the day to get it all done. Beyond that he had started to hear rumors that Shinra was having second thoughts about it's entire space program, and it was possibile that they would shut it down. He decided he had to get the ship finished and ready for launch as soon as possible, thinking that if they could just see that it worked, they couldn't possibly shut it down.
He redoubled his efforts, and urged everyone on at the fastest pace possible. But it was difficult to keep up the quality of the work under such conditions, and Shera could see that there were potential problem areas that weren't being addressed.
When she brought them to Cid's attention, however, he dismeissed them, telling her she was worrying too much. She became afraid his obsession about getting into space was blinding him to the reality of the situation, and could just get him killed. She decided to be extra cautious with her own work.
Still not satisfied when Cid determined that the ship was ready to go, she decided to do some checks of her own while he was making final preparations for launch. She discovered some erratic readings in some of the oxygen tanks, which, if not resolved, could cause potentially serious problems.
As the countdown began Cid annouced for all personel to evacuate the ship, but Shera did not do so, still concerned about the tanks, and continued to attempt to solve the problem.
As the countdown wound down Cid realized that Shera had not evacuated. The area of the ship she was in was not shielded, and she would surely be killed if the ship launched while she was still there. He desperately ordered her to leave, but she refused, willing to sacrifice herself to ensure the success of the mission. As the countdown reached single digits Cid was left with the choice of killing her or scrubbing the launch.
Even as the engines roared to life he hit the cutoff switch. A few feet off the ground was the farthest he got in his spaceship. There was some damage, but he never got a chance to repair it, for the next day Palmer, head of the Shinra space program, came by to tell him the budget had been cut and Shinra was no longer interested in spaceflight.
After coming so close, it was difficult for Cid to accept that his dream now might not ever come true. For a long time after he tried to find other investors to back the project, but at this point in time the entire aviation industry was going into a slow period, and it became difficult for him to find projects with aircraft companies, much less spacecraft.
Although he blamed Shera to a large extent for the projects failure, she remained with him, hoping to someday, somehow make up for what had happened.
He tried to keep the ship in repair from out of his own pocket whenever possible, but he didn't have the finances to foot the entire bill himself. The best he could do was to keep the ship from falling apart and hope that someday Shinra would restart it's space program.
Thus it was that one day a small group of people appeared in Rocket Town and came to him to ask him if they could borrow the Tiny Bronco, and his real adventures began.